A couple Questions on the A7V133 (BIOS settings, registers, etc.)

[Ruahrc]

I just had a couple questions on the A7v133 board that I am going to install.

I became unhappily aware of all of this PheonixNet BullS%#* today. This is truly the bottom of the barrel, sheesh. What really gets to me is that companies such as Asus and Abit (who are very popluar with tweakers/overclockers/people-who-know-computers because they usually don't go for the "consumer friendly" ****) are on the partner list! This is truly a sad, sad day for the computer industry and every company on that list should be ashamed to show their faces again. (OK, maybe a little harsh but I had to put my $0.02 in)

Anyways, with regards to the PhoenixNet stuff, is the A7V133 one of those ill-fated boards?

Then, upon reading the manual I came across a couple BIOS settings that I was unfamiliar with:

1. Under the "advanced" menu there is an option for "Bios Update". The manual lists it as this:
"This functions as an update loader integrated into the BIOS to supply the processor with the required data. In the default position of [enabled], the BIOS will load the update on all processors during system bootup. Configuration options: [Disabled], [Enabled]."

Is this the switch for PheonixNet? Or something else? I don't really understand what they're talking about in the description. Should I enable or disable it?

2. If you go to the "Chip Configuration" submenu under the "advanced" section, the last option is the Video Memory UC/USWC Toggle option. By default it is set to [UC], and the manual claims [USWC] will yield higher performance if the video card supports it. Well I'm going to get a GeForce3 card, does this card support this USWC thing? Enable or Disable?

That about covers it for the BIOS, but still a couple questions:

1. I know about setting register 52 to EB with WPCREDIT/WPCRSET results in cooler chips (Did it on my last PC) but I heard some boards enabled this by default. Is this board one that needs to be modified or is it already set to EB?

2. How do I ensure that 4-way memory interleaving is enabled? Do I use the little patch thing that is avaliable on www.viahardware.com (http://www.viahardware.com) or do I need to manually check in the BIOS or WPCREDIT?

Well I think that about sums it up for the questions. Thanks so much for your time.

Ruahrc

[Ruahrc]

bump

[camaro]

I'll bump this for ya. I have(or had) A7V and the bios is probably the same. I'm curious as to the answers myself.

I'll say what I think.
1.This seems not needed. There is the bios update thing on the mobo CD. You know the file/internet thing. You can download the new bios point it to the file and it will flash. I'd disable it.

2.If it supported it, it probably would say. I don't think it does jack. There are always benchmarks to prove me wrong http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

3. or again 1. I don't follow. How does it make the chip cooler? Turns something off?

4. If you get this answered let me know. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Dudster]

I've got an A7V but it's close enough.

1) I'm not sure what this does but I'm practically certain that it's not this PhoenixNet ****. There are two other PCs here with slightly different ASUS Pentium II boards and they both have this setting in the BIOS (one of them is like one of the original PII boards). I always leave it enabled, as far as I know it does something good http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

2) I've got a GeForce 256 and although setting it to USWC could improve performance a bit, it can cause problems. I leave it at UC but you could try it.

3) I don't know. I've also heard that this tweak will have no effect on some boards. I think it's something to do with idle mode or something.

4) I don't know but there is a setting in my BIOS called DIMM Interleave Setting - Auto or Disabled. It defaults to Auto on mine and I left it that way.

[This message has been edited by Dudster (edited 07-08-2001).]

[Ruahrc]

The Register 52 EB Hack is basically what happens is it allows the processor to fully idle whereas with some default settings it doesn't actually get total idle action. This results in cooler temps.

I put this in on my A7V133 and got audio that was all scratchy. (like it was being interfered with or had a spotty connection) put it back to default setting and it cleared the audio up.

With my old A7V I actually manually checked with WPCredit and saw that 4-way was enabled (with no tweaking on my part) so I'm going to assume that this board is the same too.

Ruahrc

[Dudster]

Good stuff. So I have got 4-way interleaving http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

If you get a GeForce 3, you'll be able to get more info on USWC (and most other stuff) here www.geforcefaq.com (http://www.geforcefaq.com)