Volt mods on an ABIT KT7A-RAID

[MrP]

ok,

i have had to revert back to a duron instead of the 1400 tbird i have been running.

so, i have a duron 750 currently runing at 930 with 1.88 vcore with temps of 36 full load. I think it would do 950 or a bit more when i unlock it.

but i cant be bothered, i fancy doing something a bit different (well for me anyway) so with my tempsnioce and cool i thought about throwing some more voltage into it.

so whats the prcedure, what do i need and where does it go. i suppose the other question is, is it worth it, how much extra speed will i get?

or should i just say sod it, and go buy myself a nice cheap DDR board and get an xp1800+?

i feel th need to play people, but i need to play cheap:(

toodles

[mdzcpa]

Here's a couple of good links to the KT7A voltage mod:
TweakHardware (http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/kt7-voltage/)
ExtremeOC (http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/howto/Extreme_Voltage_Mod_1.html)
VRZone (http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/kt7/)

That should be enough to get you going:).

With very good cooling, a mod like this may buy you another 100mhz or so. But, again, I always hinge the success of a voltage mod on good cooling. Without it, the chip will only become too hot and fail long before any real mhz gains are acheived.

If your cooling is good as you say, it might well be worth a shot. It would not cost much at all and allow you to tinker around for fun.

I would have some fun with that first. You can always jump to a new DDR/XP system. It's not like you would need to spend much money to do the voltage mod...and it's good practice too. Cause once you do the voltage mod once, you will want to do it on all your mobos:)

[MrP]

put it this way,

had a 1400 tbird running 1.85 volts @ 1600mhz with a full load temp of 45 - 47 degrees

this duron is running 38 at the mo so that should give me some head room.

would really like to crack 1 gig on a duron stable, had 3 or 4 durons now and never ot one totally stable, mind you, the highest rated one was a 750!!

i remember getting a duron 650 up to 968 stable, best clocker i had.

ho well, such is life

toodles

[MrP]

Originally posted by mdzcpa
Here's a couple of good links to the KT7A voltage mod:
TweakHardware (http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/kt7-voltage/)
ExtremeOC (http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/howto/Extreme_Voltage_Mod_1.html)
VRZone (http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/kt7/)

That should be enough to get you going:).



hmmmmmm,

seems to be 2 different ways, either solder a resistor in from the mosfet to a solder point next to the agp slot, or a similar method but with a couple more cables (the one from extreme overclocking)

i seem to remember alot of people using variable resistors could those methods be modified to use a VR or would that blow somerthing up???

toodles

[Player0]

Mosfet? Hmm...not sure where your looking. The Abit board uses a HIP6305 switching power controller. Yeah. LOL.

Anyway, look between your AGP slot and the 6 mosfets...by some largish capacitors, you should see the HIP controller chip.

There are two parts of this mod.

Soldering to pin 7 on the chip allows you to change the voltage. Doing this alone will get you about 2.1v or so.

Part two involves sodering to pin 10 on the HIP chip. This allows you to modify the HIP chip's overload protection (basically, lets you turn the voltage upwards of 2.7v).

I wouldnt worry about the second part of the mod...you only need concern yourself with pin 7.

I highly recommend using a 47k Ohm linear potentiometer (you can find small ones at RadioShack, or whatver you have over there).

Solder wires to the pot, one to the center of the pot, the other wire to either edge of the pot. Solder the other end of the wire you attatched to the center of the pot to ground. I usually use the leg off the parallel port, but any ground on the mobo will work (like near a screw mounting hole.

Solder the other lead on to pin 7 of the hip chip. Make sure the POT is turned all the way up (full resistance) before starting. Remember that 'up' depends on how you wired the pot, so either check this with an OHM meter or read the pot's packaging really well.

Once you boot up, go in to bios, and go to HardWare monitor. Once in there, adjust the pot in slow increments. You will see your CPU core voltage updated in near real time on the BIOS screen. Once its up to where you want, start the pc as normal.

Some pictures of mine may help:

Pin numberings...you want #7. Pin #10 is at the edge, so count back three pins in from the right.

http://www.liquidninjas.com/albums/p0_gamecube/p0_volt_mod.jpg

See where i soldered, right to the legs of the chip. Easiest place. Use a 15-20w iron, use a very fine tip and thin solder. becareful!

http://www.liquidninjas.com/albums/p0_cube2002/mobomod_vmod_closeup.jpg

See the third wire...its soldered to the leg of the serial port (blue), thats my ground connection.

http://www.liquidninjas.com/albums/p0_cube2002/mobomod_vmod_controls.jpg

[Player0]

PS - this mod can be difficult unless you have soldered before.

I find that durons dont like much more voltage as a rule. If you have time, patience, booze, and a steady hand (more booze)...you should get it. just be careful not to use too much solder or you will 'bridge' the pins, shorthing things out. Youll need to desolder it all and start again (obviously dont turn the pc on if you've bridged pins together hehe)

[mdzcpa]

Good instructions there Player0:)

And MrP, if your nervous about soldering on your mobo, you can always try the clip-on voltage mod.

You need the following (note the Radio Shack part #s may not apply on your side of the pond):

2 leads, preferably 3 or so inches long (I used 9v battery leads)
1 Micro Size 47k-Ohm Potentiometer Part #271-283
1 Micro Allegator Clip Part # 270-373B
1 Insulated-Crimp Spade-Tongue connector Part #64-3125
1 package of heat shrink wrap tubing Part #278-1610

Solder in order:
Spade-Tongue-->battery lead-->47k Pot-->battery lead-->Micro Clip

Use shrink wrap if you prefer to cover the solder connection, but leave some battery lead wire exposed for fexability of the lines. Connect the Micro Clip to PIN 7 on the IC chip, and connect the Tongue-spade connector to a mobo screw mount. (Note, I prefer to mount the ground connection firmly to a mobo screw mount so as not to run the risk of having the ground clip come off while the clip on the IC chip is still connected...this would be very bad and would probably short something out.)

This is a nice little mod that avoids having to take the soldering iron to the mobo itself. It is also easily removable (and leaves no traces of tampering should you fry a mobo which is still under warranty;) )

Here's a pic of the mod:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mdzcpa/images/Picture_035.jpg

Sorry I don't have a pick of it installed. I need to take one.

[Player0]

Yeah, its certainly an easier way of doing it :) Ive always been terrified of trying it tho, that allegator clip looks prone to pop off :)

[mdzcpa]

Yep...definitely a possibility I suppose. The clip does stay on surprisingly well and it hasn't happened to me yet. But that's not to say it cannot happen.

So far it has worked great on my KG7, KR7A, and now the KX7. I just make real sure the case is not moved much after it's on.

I guess it's a trade off of that risk of it popping off vs. the risks associated with soldering the mobo directly:)

[MrP]

i thinki prefer mdzcpa's way with the aligator clips, i aint done any soldering like that before, and although my board hasnt got any warrenty, i would prefer not knackering the board totally.

it does bother me that the clips would come off, esp with me moving my PC around so much, so me thinks this is something i will try when its been moved for the last time :)

need to plan this one i think

toodles

[WolfMan]

What about a little hot glue to keep the alligator clip on? think it might work? That is if you dont plan on removing it.

[dicki]

welcome to the board wolfman :)

nice idea with the hot glue though it does kind of defeat the point of using crocodile clips... i guess you can allways warm the glue up again if you need to remove them though

dicki

[Player0]

I use hot glue or silicone glue, and its quite easy to remove :)

[WolfMan]

Thanks for the welcome Dicki! I was wondering if The Liquid Ninjas would do an article on the "Clip on Volt Mod" for us slow witted peeps. This could be a good thing Martha :)

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by WolfMan
I was wondering if The Liquid Ninjas would do an article on the "Clip on Volt Mod" for us slow witted peeps. This could be a good thing Martha :)

Sure, I can do this. I already have plenty of photos and most of the explanation ironed out.

Give me a week or two. I already have a few reviews lined up in front of that, but I will whip something up right after.

Sound good? :)

[WolfMan]

Man thats great! Im ordering my KX7 soon so i would like to see this volt mod in action. This is my new favourite place :)

[mdzcpa]

Alrighty then...it's on the agenda:)

And I'm glad you have found this place to be a good site. BTW, be sure to throw a link in your signature at other forums so that we may continue to attract more great members:)