on adjusting voltage and updating BIOS...

588 Views 18 Replies 5 Participants Last post by mindonhiatus, Mar 12, 2009

mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · Mar 12, 2009

Hello everyone! Just to briefly introduce myself, my name is Ben, I'm an EasyTech at staples, just started playing around with overclocking for the first time the other day and have a few (hopefully easy) questions.

OK so first, I have an ECS NFORCE6M-A mobo and an Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (not the black edition), and a thermaltake liquid cooling system (average core temp is about 18-19*c)

I can adjust my FSB but there is no way to adjust my voltage, not sure if this is a matter of flashing my BIOS or not (I've never done that)- I went to the manufacturers site and downloaded the updated BIOS, it came with a proggie called WinFlash but when I tried to update with the file they provided (.bin) it said that it didn't match the size of my current BIOS (when I backed up my current one it was like 1mb, the new one was only around 500kb).

Any clue what I'm doing wrong here? Flashing the BIOS scares the b'jesus out of me (being as I've never done it before and I've heard how bad you can screw things up).

Thanks for the help in advance. (and YES, I did use the search field and came up with 0 results, for those of you who will most likely whine about it).

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wamubu

· #2 · Mar 12, 2009

It appears there are now 3 revisions of your motherboard - so determining which version you have might help. All I'm finding is Rev 3.0 of your motherboard on thier site.

Double-check to see that the BIOS you downloaded is the exact same size that is from their site. The file you download should be a .zip file, and so you will need to extract the .bin from the .zip before trying to install it. NEVER FLASH THE BIOS FROM WITHIN A ZIP FILE! I'm looking at the .bin, and it is 1,048,576 bytes. The zip also has the flash utilities. It is recommended to boot off of a floppy, flash, or CD, to DOS, but the WinFlash util should work from Windows - I've flashed many a PC from Windows, but still like to boot to DOS (or my latest system has the ability to flash from BIOS too).

I'm downloading the manual at this time, but it is taking next to forever... I'll respond again when I can see what your BIOS looks like.

wamubu

· #3 · Mar 12, 2009

There is no way to adjust the CPU or FSB voltage with the manufacturer's BIOS that I found. There isn't any jumper I could find on the motherboard either. So you are left with advanced techniques for modding - either by wire/resistor or by pencil.

Or find a custom BIOS (but that still doesn't mean you'll be able to mess with voltages). I don't remember any memory voltage settings either...

Sorry, dude - that motherboard isn't OC friendly. Probably the best you can get is +10% speed for your CPU. Don't forget to turn off Cool 'n' Quiet before you OC.

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mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 12, 2009

3

Quote:

Originally Posted by wamubu

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There is no way to adjust the CPU or FSB voltage with the manufacturer's BIOS that I found. There isn't any jumper I could find on the motherboard either. So you are left with advanced techniques for modding - either by wire/resistor or by pencil.

Or find a custom BIOS (but that still doesn't mean you'll be able to mess with voltages). I don't remember any memory voltage settings either...

Sorry, dude - that motherboard isn't OC friendly. Probably the best you can get is +10% speed for your CPU. Don't forget to turn off Cool 'n' Quiet before you OC.

Yeah, that's what I was worried about

Unfortunately I had no intentions of OCing back when I bought the MB, oh well... I'm not that advanced that I would risk my PC by trying to OC by those methods you'd mentions either!

I did turn of the cool'n'quiet feature before I started just because I didn't like how it made the clock speed change back in forth in cpu-z and I couldn't get a good idea of what speed I was at, but what is the reason you recommend turning it off?

BTW, I have a v1.0 MB.

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t_russell

· #5 · Mar 12, 2009

Volt modding really isn't that hard. But you could just as easily buy a board that you can overclock. Once you get a taste for it all you will want is more more more.

mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by t_russell

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Volt modding really isn't that hard. But you could just as easily buy a board that you can overclock. Once you get a taste for it all you will want is more more more.

lol! don't say that! I can already feel it happening, grrr!

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t_russell

· #7 · Mar 12, 2009

All you need is around $100. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128385

LuckySe7ens

· #8 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by t_russell

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All you need is around $100. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128385

and for only 55$ more you can get a nice Kuma or for 100$ more a nice 710 x3 that you can possibly make into a quad and then theres always PSUs and GFX cards... hehehe

Its totally a never ending cycle.

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t_russell

· #9 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckySe7ens

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and for only 55$ more you can get a nice Kuma or for 100$ more a nice 710 x3 that you can possibly make into a quad and then theres always PSUs and GFX cards... hehehe

Its totally a never ending cycle.

More! More!More!

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mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 12, 2009

You guys are evil!

*mumble* I knew I shouldn't have joined this forum *mumble*

t_russell

· #11 · Mar 12, 2009

Seriously though this is a great hobby and can be done on almost any budget. From the extreme to the modest. Welcome to the addiction.

wamubu

· #12 · Mar 12, 2009

I like my mobo, but it is a bit limited on voltage options. If I was to go near $100, I'd get a mobo with a SB 750 in it, which means a NB 790 and toss the Phenom II X3 710 or 720BE in it. Don't forget to get some decent 2x2GB 1066 RAM too!

Yeah, the bug bytes, and it bytes hard!

On the dream list is a nice SSD - 128GB, but 64GB would do... lol

mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 12, 2009

Well for now I'm just gonna stick with what I have and hang around here- maybe I'll learn something and when $ becomes less... evasive... to me, I will most likely be overcome by the urge to upgrade ^_^

t_russell

· #14 · Mar 12, 2009

The more you know before you buy(or tweak) the better. There are plenty of resources for the beginning overclocker. Just remember to have fun.

wamubu

· #15 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindonhiatus

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I did turn of the cool'n'quiet feature before I started just because I didn't like how it made the clock speed change back in forth in cpu-z and I couldn't get a good idea of what speed I was at, but what is the reason you recommend turning it off?

That is the reason right there - CnQ makes the fluxuations happen, and doesn't allow very good OCing on some systems. Just better to turn it off when OCing, unless you're really concerned with saving energy and ******ing performance when you're afk.

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wamubu

· #16 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by t_russell

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The more you know before you buy(or tweak) the better. There are plenty of resources for the beginning overclocker. Just remember to have fun.

I spent many months reading here before buying my system, and I didn't realize how much I gleaned until I got my hands on it. It has made my OCing experience much easier than knocking my head against wall after wall... Best suggestion I can make: Read all the guides in each section!

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mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 12, 2009

OK, so cpu-z said my MB was ver. 1.0 but I just looked at the physical board and saw that it said "NFORCE6M-A" and after that it said "3.0".

On the ECS website the only NFORCE6M-A that is ver. 3.0 is an AM2+ - I thought that I had an AMD2 socket... can somebody explain this

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Biatch

· #18 · Mar 12, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by mindonhiatus

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OK, so cpu-z said my MB was ver. 1.0 but I just looked at the physical board and saw that it said "NFORCE6M-A" and after that it said "3.0".

On the ECS website the only NFORCE6M-A that is ver. 3.0 is an AMD2+ - I thought that I had an AMD2 socket... can somebody explain this

I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135062 is this the same as your motherboard?

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mindonhiatus

Discussion Starter · #19 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biatch

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I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135062 is this the same as your motherboard?

Looks the exact same (not where I bought it tho) but notice the model # in the middle of the board says "2.0" and mine says "3.0"

[edit] I just read that an AM2 CPU will fit in an AM2+ socket- I for some reason that that wasn't the case... so what I'm guessing is that I have an AM2+ socket on my MB and that my CPU is just AM2 (Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane).

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