Gregger

I had an SI-97 before I switched to water. It performed well. It ranked in the top 10 percent of the higher end coolers not too long ago. If you already have one, stick with it. It isn't worth spending the money to get a minor boost in performance. You won't gain much more unless you go to water.

Beep Code Meaning 1 long, 2 short - Video adapter error so look there for bad video card or seating etc. Repeating beeps - Memory error 1 long, 3 short - No video card or bad video RAM High frequency beeping while running - Overheated CPU Repeating high and then low beeps - No CPU 1 short beep - Found everything and I'm starting to POST Found this list of beep codes. 1 long and 2 short says to check the video card. Hope this helps. Check your video card closely especially the mount for your waterblock. http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm Here is the link

If you have the option to purchase a higher capacity flow pump, vs a lower one, go for the higher flow unit. The Swiftech MCP655 pump is excellent in that the flow can be adjusted through a potentiometer on the pump. Is good for high pressure (Storm) and high flow (Apogee) blocks. Remember that on a NF2 board, your primary concern is the CPU. Most Northbridges can be cooled well enough on air so that they don't usually hinder high overclocks.

For the most part, the Storm is the best performing water block out there. It needs a pump with some performance (high pressure) to really shine. The higher the pressure drop accross the Storm, the better the performance. Of course, this has it's problems downstream. It you are only cooling the CPU, not a problem, but if you have several blocks in series, the pressure drop across those other components will be a lot less with a resulting performance drop. The Apogee is a low pressure high flow pump with very good performance. It will outperform the Storm in lower flow applications. It is an excellent block when used in series with other blocks. The Storm is twice the price of the Apogee The MCW600 is also a good block but from what I've read, does not perform as well as the other two. The Storm and Apogee work on pretty well any NF2 board equipped with cooling holes. You should use some kind of backplate behind the mobo when fastening the blocks. Don't secure directly to the board. Too much chance of damaging components.

Welcome to the forums, You purchased a NF2 Ultra B, great catch. Was it new? Didn't know there were any still around. They are getting harder and harder to find. You should have a lot of fun with the board so long as you treat it with respect. Your sig states you have OCZ platinum 2 gig kit. Great stuff for gaming. This ram is also ok for mild overclocking. Usually get a max of 220 on the FSB at 2-2-2-5 /2-3-2 5 timings. If you want to get into heavier overclocking, you might want to purchase an extra bios chip but I'm not sure if those 1 gig dimms will let you.

When I said remove the devices, I meant disconnect them one at a time. You could have a floppy, dvd, harddrive that is grounded/shorted out that is shutting down your board/power supply. You stated that you reflashed the bios. Is that all you did? Did you do anything else to the computer before these symptoms started? Add any components. Spill water on a Keyboard, etc etc etc.

It sounds like something is grounded/shorted out. Is your heat sink contacting anything close by (capacitors, resistors, etc)? You might want to also remove your devices one at a time to see if any of them haven't shorted out. I once had a 3.5 floppy give me the same symptoms you described. Removed the power wire to the floppy and everything was fine.

Update Just received my RMA'd board from DFI. They replaced 3 missing resistors (You needed a magnifying glass to see them), the cpu lock mechanism, the vga slot, reflashed my old bios chip and reinsulated the components around the cpu. Everything works like new. (Made sure I used a new fastening mechanism for my water block so this won't happen again) The price, $30 including the shipping to N Ont. Canada. Talk about excellent service considering I'm the one that messed up. My next board will be a DFI. Glad things happened the way they did. Found out about this forum. Now I have a lot of new info/resources to try on this board.

Typically when this happened to me it was because of a change I had previously made in the bios. Usually associated with lower voltage on the CPU. Sometimes it would boot to Windows and run and sometimes it would loop. To elliminate it, I would have to raise the core voltage a slight amount. Have you adjusted anything recently in your bios? I'm assuming when you installed the Windows cd you were still in a loop mode.

Your Swiftech is a good all around sink. If you want to continue running at 2200 mhz, don't change it. If you want higher speeds, I'd consider water because the Typhoon is extremely heavy. (It is a good sink and extremely quiet) Are you using a shim under the sink? If so, check the installation and thickness. Also, verify the sink is installed properly by removing the sink carefully and inspecting the imprint the core left on the sink. Should be uniform. On the install, use Artic Silver 5 (or substitute) for thermal conductivity. Do not install dry. Which way are your case fans blowing? In order to get the best cooling, you need the lowest ambient temp. One thing to try is to remove your case side door and install a table fan blowing against the mobo. If temps drop a lot, your airflow through the case is not the best. Can you get your hands on a thermal probe? If so, verify the temp you have recorded on your software before making changes. You might have a temp recording issue. CPU Idle works well. I'm using it and typically drop my idle temps by 6 - 8 degrees C. Does not affect benchmarks running in the background.

I doubt you will be able to get 2X1gig modules to run at that speed and those timings right now. I don't think the BH5 chips have been used on these modules yet but I might be wrong. These modules have not been around that long and probably need a bit more development to hit those overclocks.

ATI cards are very fussy when it comes to drivers. Any old drivers especially nvidia ones have to be completely uninstalled before the new ones go on otherwise you usually end up with all kinds of problems.

I have run the mobiles up to 2 volts but that is with water cooling and for benchmarking only. I typically run at 1.85 volts max. Some of the other fellows on other forums have stated they run 1.9 full time with no problems. Their logic being that given the price of the xp, if you toast one, it really isn't a big loss. That system with a 6800 should be a pretty good gaming rig for some time to come. You might need more ram for some of the ram hungry games on the market though. Happy New Year to you also.

Typically the Vcore for the standard setting on an Athlon XP CPU is 1.65volts. You increase from there. Leave the settiing at 1.65 and slowly increase your settings until you have instability (Rule of thumb, if you leave the FSB at stock settings and just increase the multiplier, the voltage setting for the ram should remain unchanged and is taken out of the equation) then increase the CPU voltage and the cooling capacity correspondingly. What is a safe Vcore? It really depends on how well you can cool the CPU. With the ram comes another set of variables. You stated that the Vdimm is 2.8. Is that the maximum allowed for warranty purposes or what the ram runs at? I think it is the max allowed. You can go higher but at your own risk. In order to find the highest ram speed, reduce the multiplier to a low setting (say x 6). This keeps the CPU voltage out of the loop. Increase the FSB and voltage on the dimms correspondingly as you would with the CPU. As you increase the Vdimm relax the timings on the ram. That can be played with later. Once you know the max of your cpu and ram the voltages they need, you can work to tweek your system. It doesn't hurt to install a fan on the chipset sink. I have never really had any issues with running the chipset at 1.6 to 1.7 volts. Hope that helps.

I use AS-5 and a Thermalright NB-1 with an active fan on my northbridge with excellent results. The sink does get fairly warm under severe overclocks which means it is doing it's job. Concerning the warm mobo problem, I would get my hands on a thermal gun or use a thermal probe and verify the actual temps. Don't rely on the software to give you accurate readings. When in doubt, verify with another source. Your case appears to have proper airflow since your Abit runs fine. If the thermal gun reads normal, then the problem is the sensor. Also, didn't see where you posted the voltages used for your ram, chipset, and vga card. If too high, heat!!! Also you are concerned that heat is causing the shut down problem with the DFI. Could it be caused by the low voltage you are hitting you CPU with? 1.55 volts at 200x11=2200 mhz could be a tad low. I normally run mine at 1.65 at that speed. I noticed you are hitting the CPU on your Abit at 1.68 with no problems. Hope this helps. Guess I should have read the end of the thread before I posted. Glad to hear you found the problem.