AMD AThWiper MP is a disaster - even the AMDroid Cheerleader sites are bashing it !!
"After reading message boards and talking to other editors regarding the Thunder K7 board, it was become apparent that we weren't the only one with problems. Other users were reporting that boards have been refusing to boot, restarting at random times, and detecting CPU speeds improperly (for the record we got a Thunder K7 to boot with dual Duron 750s, but it identified them as Duron 900s). Clearly, there were some issues that needed to be dealt with. "
Tyan Thunder K7 : An Update
www.gamepc.com
7/10/2001
Update - 7/10/2001
Just over three weeks ago, we took our first look at AMD's Athlon MP and Tyan's Thunder K7 motherboard, based on AMD's 760MP chipset. Back then, we were the first site to scald the freshly new 760MP platform for instabilities and quirks that were apparent in the platform, showing that it wasn't ready for full on server use.
After reading message boards and talking to other editors regarding the Thunder K7 board, it was become apparent that we weren't the only one with problems. Other users were reporting that boards have been refusing to boot, restarting at random times, and detecting CPU speeds improperly (for the record we got a Thunder K7 to boot with dual Duron 750s, but it identified them as Duron 900s). Clearly, there were some issues that needed to be dealt with.
The first Thunder K7 board we used came by default with Tyan's 1.01 BIOS version, which we called "unworkable". Once we updated the BIOS to 2.06, most of our problems seemed to disappear.
Tyan was certainly interested in the difficulties we were having and sent us out a new Thunder K7 board right away. Just to be safe, they also sent us out a new NMB 460W power supply and Taisol coolers, all "Tyan-approved" (and AMD-approved) components.
Board Number 2
Our second board also came to us with the 1.01 BIOS, but this one seemed much more stable from the get-go than our first board. With the second board (supplied by Tyan), we were able to do a complete Windows 2000 installation on the first BIOS, although once inside Windows, we did encounter some issues. With the 1.01 BIOS, for some reason, nVidia based video cards would not function with the Detonator drivers. With the 1.01 BIOS and Detonator drivers, Windows would hang when finally clicking into the OS and enabling the driver. When we updated the BIOS to 2.06, the board worked absolutely fine with GeForce2/3 cards.
When all is said and done, configuring and getting the board to initially work correctly can be a bit difficult. Once everything (OS, drivers, etc.) is installed correctly, the board has been incredibly stable. With a gig of Registered ECC memory installed, we've had great success with both Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems, using dual AthlonMPs and the latest AMD Driver Pack.
Things To Note When Installing On A Thunder K7
1. Make sure you update the BIOS to 2.06 from Tyan's website as soon as possible.
2. Download the addendum to the manual from Tyan's website. The FSB jumpers for socket 1 are mislabeled in the printed manual. If these are not set correctly, the board will not post.
3. Make sure to install the AMD drivers from the Tyan installation CD.
4. Check the length of your IDE cables. We had problems booting with IDE cables longer than the specified 24 inches.
5. While the board will boot with dual Thunderbirds or Durons, there are some performance problems in this configuration. Again, AMD is offically supporting only the AthlonMP in dual CPU configurations. T-birds, Duron and AthlonMPs are work fine as a single CPU in this board.
6. If you are not using the on-board SCSI, you should disable it with the appropriate jumper.
Updated Conclusion
Each individual Thunder K7 board seems to have its little quirks. After these problems were identified and fixed, we put the boards through massive testing, and they've stayed stable. We've put the boards through 100+ hour loops of Content Creation 2001 (Heavy on CPU/Memory/Disk Access), Quake III Arena (CPU/Memory/Video Card), and 3DMark 2000 (CPU/Memory/Video Card), and they've been rock solid.
Rumors have been floating about a second revision of the board coming out, possibly even with a heatsink/fan unit on the 760MP Northbridge. We could definitely see this as a benefit, as the Northbridge chipset gets extremely hot during full loads (above 60 Celsius). For those who have avoided the Thunder K7 due to the cost, Tyan will be releasing another version 2462NG (without SCSI) with, perhaps, another version to follow a couple months after that. Both of these will be at lower price points than the current Thunder K7.
Tyan also stated to us that the initial run of the Thunder K7 is aimed primarily at workstation/servers; a market that would probably be using SCSI and dual network connections anyway. This "early adopter" group is the area that AMD has really been chomping at the bit to break into, and Tyan is already a well-established name here.
Overall, there are some minor problems with this board, and it can get frustrating at times. As with many new platforms, the AMD760MP-based products, like the Thunder K7, simply need some time to mature (BIOS version 2.06 is a great start). If you take the time to work through the little quirks, you'll be rewarded with one heck of a stable system with incredible performance. |
