PCA Forums

Updated #s and PICs in my last post.


Got my Iwill XP333R today and have had it up now for about 2 hours. Was able to install it without trashing my RAID array too which was nice. Change over from VIA KT133A to the ALi MaGik 1 drivers was a breeze, having removed the VIA stuff prior to my last shut down.

Have to tell ya that these XP333R's ( rev. 2.1 ) are SWEET boards. I haven't really begun to tweak the thing yet but I'm able to run 1700 MHz stable as heck with an 1800+ cpu still locked for right now. Only 1.82v required too. Haven't tried higher but it doesn't seem to be even breaking a sweat. Some of the more prominent components are........

Iwill XP333R ( o/b RAID and sound disabled )
AMD 1800+ ( 1.53 @ 1.7, 1.82v, 11.5*148 FSB)
Dr. Thermal Ti-V77 70mm fan/hs, AS-II
Kingmax PC2700 (-05) DDR333 cas2

I'm extremely happy with this combo and if you're considering the XP333R, don't be afraid to jump in!

Awe Shit

Looks as if mine is going to be cruizing as well, soon as it gets here:

IWILL XP333R
AMD 1900+
Volcano 6 CU+ or SK6 with Delta
512 OCZ PC-3000 DDR

Vid, what OS are you using? I am using XP Pro, hope it doesnt upset the force

I have been hearing good and bad things about the OCZ PC3000 DDR though, hopefully it'll work for me!

Here's the whole mess as it stands....

AMD Athlon 1800+XP (locked, 11.5*148, 1700 MHz, 1.82v )
Dr. Thermal Ti-V77 70mm fan w/ copper core HS
Iwill XP333R rev 2.1
256MB Kingmax PC2700 DDR333
ATI Radeon 7500 ( 8500 next week ?)
2 x 30GB WD300BB's RAID 0 on Hpt370 PCI RAID controller card
20" Dell D2026T ( Sony trinitron ) 1152 x 864, 32-bit, 100 Hz
19" Gateway VX900T ( Sony trinitron ) 1152 x 864, 32-bit, 100 Hz
Hercules Game Theater XP 6.1 w/ breakout box
Altec ADA 880's spkrs/sub ( 4.1 )
Intel Pro 10/100 NIC
Inwin QV500 full tower w/ 120mm side panel blow hole
4 x 80mm case fans and 2 x 90mm twin fan Bay cooler
Sparkle 350W pwr supply
Sony floppy drive
Toshiba SDM-1502 16x/48x DVDROM
Plextor W12/10/32A CDR/W
XP Pro with Windowblinds

After a little more messing around, I've upped the ram settings from "normal" to "fast", turned down the ram voltage from 2.7v to 2.6v, and upped the cpu vcore from 1.82v to 1.86v. Noticed a nice increase in ram bandwidth and system stability. Might try inching it up a little further today as I have PLENTY of voltage left. For right now tho, 1.7 up from 1.53 ant bad at all.

Also, for anyone interested, the cpu has the following code: AGKGA with a Y starting the 3rd line and it appears to be a week 44 ( 0144 ). I got it from http://www.tcwo.com

Hey, Todd, did TCWO send you Lifesavers in the package too? Thought that was a nice touch.

Unfortunately, I was doing business with them because I incinerated the 1.33 I got from you.

Lesson #1: If it don't POST with the new HSF, check the contact patch!

Edit to seem like I'm on-topic: I had to spend the money earmarked for an XP333.

Funny you mention that as when I read your post I didn't know that the heck you were talking about ! ( Lifesavers?? ) . I just went up to the USPS to mail Blade a cpu and rummaging thru the box I find........a pack of Lifesavers.

Sorry to hear about you turnin' that 1.33 into a "crispy critter". That was a sweet cpu. I ran that thing for months @ 9.5*161 FSB.

Moment of silence everybody.

Hey Vidman how are you liking the board? I'm in the market (or will be soon) for a new motherboard and want to avoid VIA because of the problems that have been associated with VIA chipsets, mainly PCI and IDE preformance. Also, if you have a RAID array on the HPT370 would it still work on the HPT372? Do you know? It would suck if I had to remake my array and somehow find space to store all the stuff (Recently made a RAID0 array w/ dual 80GB drives ).

I really like it. OCs nice and is very stable. The thing I like BEST about the XP333 boards is that there's no more AGP/PCI stuttering like on VIA boards. Very smooth bus transfers.

If you overclock, your ram and cpu will run out of room before the XP333R does.

As far as your RAID 0 array goes, I'm pretty sure that if you match the setup in the Hpt372 o/b RAID controller that you have on your Hpt370, you'll be allright. Can't guarantee it tho, of course. I'm using a separate PCI controller ( Hpt370 ) card that I was using in my last system. My HDDs are only ata100/7200's so I just swapped the whole array, including the card, onto the new XP333R.

Just curious but where did you get the Iwill and how much was it?

I wouldn't count on that RAID array working. I went from an Abit KA7-100 w/HPT370 on it to an EPoX 8K7A+ w/HPT370 and when it booted it said my raid array was screwy, "press any key to continue" Worked fine for a while (about a month) 'till it finally crashed on me to the point where I couldn't do anything but format and forget

Just some words of caution. Might work fine, but definitly back up anything important no matter what. It can't hurt....

Originally posted by Busby
Just curious but where did you get the Iwill and how much was it?

http://www.webuildpcs.com

hey you know? I've never played w/ a ALi MAGiK1 board before... mainly due to the supposed crappy memory performance...

But after playing w/ Soyo's K7ADA... I've got to admit... it's pretty decent!.. and quite stable and overclockable... I likee...

I think alot of peeps were put off by the bandwidth #s of the ALi but they seem to fall in between the AMD 760 and the KT266A. I've read a few things tho that have said that VIA's high burst rate actually stresses their IDE-PCI bus which causes the stutter in data transfer as I mentioned above, whereas the ALi solution seems to have a better all around AGP, IDE-PCI throughput. Who knows? I ant that smart to figure that stuff out. :lol Like you said tho, the ALi MaGiK ant a bad solution at all.

I think they're still trying to shake out the memory settings on the Iwill version. I get like 867/880 mem on Sandra using the "fast" settings in the BIOS. They have Ultra 1 and Ultra 2 presets and most peeps ( me included ) can't get even get the machine to boot using those, even at default speeds because they are set so aggressive ! DOH ! I wonder if they are for some kind of Super DDR RAM that isn't out yet! :lol I don't like the mem presets and would rather be able to manually set the mem timings.

There's a new BIOS out dated 1-18-02 that I've yet to try. Maybe they've sorted some of that stuff out. I'm currently using the 11-29-01 BIOS that shipped w/ the board. Aside from the mem #'s being a bit off the KT266A ( I knew that going in ) everything else seems smokin' fast and stable.

Sandra:

mmedia: 9362/10799
cpu:4754/2384
mem: 867/880

** That's with all my tray progs open and running and a few windows open etc.

yeah you're right...
i can't for the life of me run the damn thing w/ any of the ultra/ultra2 settings...
not that i'm complaining...
hmmm i wonder if i can kick my duron up to 8.5x140 (i'd try 143 but my crummy crucial memory doesn't go above 142)

i'm a believer!!!!!!
ALi MAGiK1 is dah shiznitz!!!!
http://www.pcabusers.com/forums/showthr ... adid=16373