Intel D975XBX (Bad Axe)

[tiberius69]

Pulled some RAM that will POST out of another desktop and got things running again. Opened a support ticket with OCZ. Both Intel and OCZ responded quickly with suggestions that were actually helpful.

The OCZ RAM is back in and running after a BIOS update on the Bad Axe 2 and jacking the RAM voltage up to 2.32v One of the sticks would POST at 2.12v, but the other didn't wake up until I hit 2.32v. I've asked Intel and OCZ support why the sudden need for such a high voltage and how long they think it will last They both posted at 1.84v when I put this system together in Jan '07 and ran a 2.12v for a good year.

[Caraway]

Hello all, I recently upgraded to this mobo and a Core2Duo x6800, but noticed that cpu intensive programs tend to ramp up the fan's speed, causing it to output noise at vacumn levels.

I attempted to use Speedfan, but it seems as if Speedfan is not affecting the fan's rpm at all. I went into the bios to tweak the settings of cpu fan control and system fan control; testing whether it made a difference if they were enabled/disabled, but it didn't make one difference. Does Speedfan not support this motherboard series? If not, is there an alternative? Or am I doing something wrong here. Thanks.

[Sandog]

Welcome Caraway,

I have the same CPU and mobo.

I've never used Speedfan but I read it does work well with the BA2. Sounds likes you might not have the HSF installed properly. Are you using the stock HSF? Do you have the CPU fan hook up to the correct fan header?

[Sandog]

Here is a 3DMark06 score with the X6800 on top at 3.2GHz and a 4GHz Wolfdale below it. I have the NVidia 8800GTS and the Wolfdale has the new 9800GTX.

wolfdale.JPG

[Caraway]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Welcome Caraway,

I have the same CPU and mobo.

I've never used Speedfan but I read it does work well with the BA2. Sounds likes you might not have the HSF installed properly. Are you using the stock HSF? Do you have the CPU fan hook up to the correct fan header?

Thanks, and yes...it's the stock HSF as far as I know, in the cpu 4-pin slot available to match.

[Sandog]

The stock HSF for the X6800 can get quite loud under loading. My X6800 HSF came with the blue fan on the HS which is bearable noise wise but still gets very noticeable under load.

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by Caraway

Thanks, and yes...it's the stock HSF as far as I know, in the cpu 4-pin slot available to match.

In using SpeedFan you have to disable Intels fan control. You can do this in BIOS. You will know it is off because the fan will run at full speed. You can also do it in SpeedFan I believe if you go to Configure, Advanced and set the PWM output to manual. Now you should be able to let SpeedFan adjust the fan speed to the CPU. I know Intel treats the CPU fan header differently than the other fan headers, you can not have it turn completely off when temps are low like the other fan headers. Not sure if Intel fully releases control of the CPU fan or not but again, SpeedFan is suppose to be compatable with the BA2.

[Sandog]

FYI, I found a wealth of great OC info. and examples for the BA2 here.
Semi Official Intel 975XBX Badaxe motherboard info - i4memory.com

After having this board for almost a couple of years it is still very enjoyable to play around with the BIOS settings and try OCing. I have not had a lot of luck in the past but I am still finding things out. I could probably OC the board to a 400FSB but I really don't want to run my X6800 past 3.33GHz. It can get quite toasty and even run up my QX9650 fan. Also I don't really want to run higher than 1.35V (max limit on CPU box label). Right now I am running stable in Windows at 333FSB but I have yet to verify it cold boots properly which has always dogged me in OCing. Vcore droop is more prevelent with OCing and I believe is helped by enabling Power Slope in BIOS but I do not have it enabled yet. One of the things that I read is if you have the watchdog timer enabled in Maintainance (set BIOS jumper to lost password) then you will have trouble booting with higher than default Vcore settings. This may have been one of my problems before.

Right now I am at 333FSB and have Vcore set to 1.35V and I upped the MCH and FSB voltage one notch above default and memory is set to 2.2V and lax timings. I am OC my memory above it's rated 800 FSB speeds finally at 333FSB. In 3DMark06 I do not get much of an score increase which is to be expected from a 3D benchmark but Windows is much snappier. Also with disabling the Watchdog Timer in BIOS, I have had no problems opening IDCC in Windows. Things are looking better.

In the above link, it mentions that you can easily enable the unlocked-multiplier options in BIOS for other than engineering sample CPU's or the extreme edition CPU's. This is a very good find. You just jumper two pads together next to the BIOS jumper connector and you will have the same BIOS options as having the X6800. There is a guide in the above link for this.

Here's the guide I posted before for setting the FSB speeds on BA board.
http://www.peakin.com/xbx2/calculator.html I find this very handy for calculating speeds.

More good info. on the BA1/2 can be found at the main page here.
GTJ's Intel® 975XBX2 Bad Axe 2 Guide

[Caraway]

Hmm, I set both fan controls to disabled in the BIOS, and then set PWM 1 mode to manual control in advanced, and now the fan sits at 1200 rpm'ish, but it doesn't seem to want to obey Speedfan's settings to let the fan sit at 40-70%.

[Sandog]

Do you have IDCC installed? This may be interfering with SpeenFan even when you do not have it opened. I have never used SpeedFan but there should be some help files for it explaining how to set it up and how it works.

[Sandog]

OT but I got past one of my driver hurdles finally with running Vista and that was not having a modern printer driver. The new driver only cost me $127.00 delivered. I still have Vista 32 Ultimate running with SP-1 on a second partition and with this new printer I now feel more comfortable using it.

New model Cannon All-In-One printer (MX 700).

Gone is my venerable and ancient HP 6122 printer and my Win98 era Visioneer scanner that I used in the past to scan all my CPU chips. So far it is running very well and I am satisfied with it.

[ATINUT]

Originally Posted by Sandog

OT but I got past one of my driver hurdles finally with running Vista and that was not having a modern printer driver. The new driver only cost me $127.00 delivered. I still have Vista 32 Ultimate running with SP-1 on a second partition and with this new printer I now feel more comfortable using it.

New model Cannon All-In-One printer (MX 700).

Gone is my venerable and ancient HP 6122 printer and my Win98 era Visioneer scanner that I used in the past to scan all my CPU chips. So far it is running very well and I am satisfied with it.

Don't worry, my 3870X2 had the fan and Power Play problem, as I mentioned in another thread, but I didn't know what it was until Friday. I flashed to the new bios Visiontek had posted on their forum, and everything is working better than before.

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by ATINUT

Don't worry, my 3870X2 had the fan and Power Play problem, as I mentioned in another thread, but I didn't know what it was until Friday. I flashed to the new bios Visiontek had posted on their forum, and everything is working better than before.

Glad you are having success with the X2 card. If I remember correctly that dual GPU solution is still using Crossfire is it not? I am going to wait for ATI's next single card solution and decide then but I would definitely like to move over to ATI. The current single 3870 card is perfect in many ways but I find it a little bit underpowered and not enough of an increase in performance over my old 8800GTS.

[tiberius69]

Originally Posted by tiberius69

Pulled some RAM that will POST out of another desktop and got things running again. Opened a support ticket with OCZ. Both Intel and OCZ responded quickly with suggestions that were actually helpful.

The OCZ RAM is back in and running after a BIOS update on the Bad Axe 2 and jacking the RAM voltage up to 2.32v One of the sticks would POST at 2.12v, but the other didn't wake up until I hit 2.32v. I've asked Intel and OCZ support why the sudden need for such a high voltage and how long they think it will last They both posted at 1.84v when I put this system together in Jan '07 and ran a 2.12v for a good year.

OCZ sent me an RMA for the RAM so it looks like they are not jazzed about runing the RAM at 2.32v either. BTW: Digging out the old recipt and seeing what I paid for this RAM in Feb. '07 about made me cry

[emgarf]

Hello all,

New BIOS for BadAxe2 at: Link

Release notes below.

Cheers,
emgarf

***
BIOS Version 2831
About This BIOS:
• April 23, 2008
• BX97520J.86A.2831.2008.0423.2112
• SATA RAID info:
• Intel(R) RAID for SATA - v5.6.2.1002
• Marvell 88SE6145 SATA BIOS – v1.1.0.34
• PXE UNDI: Initializing Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.28
• PXE Base Code: Intel(R) Boot Agent GE PXE-2.1 build 085
New Fixes/Features:
• Fixed issue where system keep looping when there is 3GB memory and
3 PCIe x16 display card present on the system.
• Fixed S3 Resume more than 2 second.
• Fixed 0xC4 blue screeen when running Driver Verifier on TPM.SYS.
• Fixed failing TCG TPM Interface Test with Microsoft Vista* Windows
Logo Kit (WLK) 1.1.
• Added workaround for STMicro* PVG TPM parts to pass the Microsoft
Windows Vista TCG TPM Integration Test.
• Added workaround to prevent 82573 disappears in PCI Configuration
Space when L0s and L1 PCIe* Link.
• Fixed issue where the boot order is not synchronized in Intel®
Integrator Toolkit with F2 setup when boot devices are disabled in
Normal mode and re-enabled in Advance mode.
• Fixed issue where Intel® Desktop Control Center fails to
initialize.
• Updated processor support.