| Get the most out of your BP6 |
|
auteur: Maurice, geplaatst: 2002-04-06, laatste update: 2003-01-02, populariteit:  15200+ |
|
Let us be honest: The Abit BP6 is an old board these days, and yes, it has some flaws. But I'm (and many users with me are) still very happy with it. But... are you sure you are getting the most out of your board?
This article is a must for any BP6 user running WinXP, who wants to optimize his or her system, probably for the last time. It explains which HPT366 drivers to use and offers a fully optimized and customized BIOS for download.
Opmerkingen laatste update
Note: I also tested the 1.30 driver with the same result as 1.28. Conclusion: use 1.25
But I also have another note: it seems that the 1.30 driver works when XP is installed using the 'MPS MultiProcessor' mode instead of 'ACPI MultiProcessor'. You can change this setting afterwards in the device manager:
 In 'My Computer'->right-click 'ACPI MultiProcessor'
Select 'Driver' tab
Select 'Update Driver'
Select 'Install from a list or specific location (advanced)'
Select 'Don't search .. etc'
Select 'MPS Multiprocessor PC' or the one of your choice
Don't forget to change ACPI in the BIOS. Set it to DISABLE to use MPS, set it to ENABLE to use ACPI. Note: it must be enabled in the BIOS when ACPI Multiprocessor is being used in XP. Otherwise it won't startup.
1. Why is the BP6 such a special board?
Why is (or was) the Abit BP6 such a special board? Well, it was a dual (SMP) socket 370 board, based on the BX chipset. SMP is not officially supported by the BX chipset, but Abit managed to couple two processors on one bus.
Furthermore, the Abit BP6 was (together with is brother the BE6, a single Celeron board) the first to provide UDMA/66. UDMA/66 is also not supported by the BX chipset, so Abit just added the HighPoint HPT133 controller chip. This chip provided two UDMA/66 channels. Together with the two IDE (UDMA/33) channels there can be installed a maximum of 8 ATAPI (harddisks/cdroms) devices.
The BP6 was a real hobby board. Many people succesfully overclocked dual Celerons on this board. Unfortunately users had many problems with the board, not only caused by some flaws of the board (the SMP implementation and the HPT366), but also by the lack of standard NT/2K drivers.
Some problems that plagued BP6 users are:
Difficulties of installation of WinNT, Win2K, WinXP, because of the lack of Microsoft supplied HPT366 drivers.
Incompatibilities between the HPT366 and several harddisks.
Instabilities under Linux, which where transparent under WinNT/2K/XP systems.
I'm not going into detail for any of these problems, because there are many good faqs for these issues.
I'm currently owning two BP6 boards. I'm using one under WinXP in my desktop computer for daily tasks. The other is used in my webserver, running stable under Linux 2.4 SMP. On both boards the CPU's are overclocked  .
2. Get the most out of your HPT366
There are many BIOS and driver updates available for the HPT366. But be aware: I found out that the newer beta-drivers (eg. v1.28b) and BIOS of the HPT366 are actually SLOWER than earlier versions!
I tested different drivers and BIOSes. I used the tool HD Tach for benchmarking. The benchmarking and testing is done under WindowsXP. The harddisk is a Maxtor 30GB, 7200rpm, UDMA/66 one.
Please look at the figures below (click on the images for real size).
Harddisk on HPT366 with BIOS and drivers v1.28b
Harddisk on standard IDE (udma/33)
Harddisk on HPT366 with BIOS and drivers v1.25
As you can see, with drivers v1.28b the harddisk is even MUCH SLOWER than on UDMA/33!!
When using the v1.25 driver you will benefit from the UDMA/66 mode as you can see in the figures. The burstmode is almost as twice as high as with the 1.28b bios/drivers!
The numbers:
HPT366 1.28b
Accesstime: 15.6 ms
Average: 8562.8 kps
Burstmode: 9.5 mbps
CPU: 2.7%
UDMA/33
Accesstime: 14.1 ms
Average: 18475.5 kps
Burstmode: 28.5 mbps
CPU: 8.0%
HPT366 1.25
Accesstime: 14.1 ms
Average: 24826.6 kps
Burstmode: 53.9 mbps
CPU: 4.2%
3. Files, resources and links
To optimize your system, install the v1.25 driver and a BP6 BIOS update, which contains the v1.25 HPT366 bios.
As a service of RuweBit.NET we offer the latest BP6 BIOS, known as release 'RU'. This BIOS has been optimized by us by merging v1.25 (instead of v1.22) of the HPT366 BIOS into it. It is also customized with a homemade Abit-logo on bootup.
Downloads
Click here to download RuweBit.NET's optimized, customized RU BIOS.
Click here to download the Abit logo as BMP.
Click here to download the Abit logo as EPA.
I'm not going to explain how to flash: there are many resources on the internet that explain the subject. But be warned: flashing can destroy your motherboard!
Resources and links
http://www.abit.com.tw - Abit's Home
http://bp6.gamesquad.net - BP6.com, very good resource for BP6 owners
http://www.highpoint-tech.com - The manufacturer of the HPT366 controller
http://www.wimsbios.com - Wim's BIOS page, excellent BIOS resources
Tags Tweaking Projects Drivers
Copyright © 1999-2008 Maurice de Bijl
Dit artikel is gepubliceerd op 2002-04-06
Laatste update was op 2003-01-02
|
Reacties op dit artikel
Er zijn nog geen reacties geplaatst op dit artikel. Je kunt de eerste zijn.
Reactie toevoegen
Een reactie toevoegen is simpel en registratie is niet nodig!Je IP-adres wordt gelogd, maar niet gepubliceerd, alle reacties hebben een E-mail bevestiging nodig en worden stuk voor stuk gemodereerd. Misbruik wordt niet getolereerd.
Naderhand wijzigen van je reactie is niet mogelijk
|  |
|
)
)
)
){kind=link}