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UPDATE: cMP² (cMP+cPlay) new hardware (Gigabayte GA-G31M2SL & E7200) setup

Further refinements for cMP is documented here - ignore BIOS changes.

This post covers all optimizations necessary for cMP² (cMP + cPlay) using Gigabyte's GA-G31M-S2L mobo and Intel's E7200 processor. There's no need to review previous posts here or in cPlay's thread.

cMP² using SRC @ 145db SNR betters previous best setup (Biostar P4M900, E1200, cMP, cPlay 1.0b19). E7200's suitability for audio is superior to previous best (E1200) irrespective of CPU load requirements.


Overall Setup

  1. PCI card must be installed in slot 1 (closest to CPU) to ensure dedicated interrupt. Slot 2 forces interrupt sharing - avoid this!

  2. Use high quality RAM - a minimum of 1GB is recommended. Best results are gained using a single 1GB RAM module. cMP setup gives ~920MB available RAM.

  3. Update Gigabyte BIOS to F6x (Download found under "Additional files"). Refer to Gigabyte manual on how 2.

GA-G31M-S2L BIOS Setup
Each point below refers to BIOS menu item. Before applying BIOS changes, perform "Load Fail-Safe Defaults" followed by "Load Optimized Defaults".

System installation can be done before or after these changes.

In BIOS main menu, press [Ctrl]+F1 keys to access advanced BIOS settings. Items in red are high risk and requires a low temperature CPU setup.

Perform Save & Exit.

Using latest CPU-Z (1.45) utility, you should get:




CPU at 1.05Ghz, FSB @ 700MHz, Vcc depends on above CPU voltage (and is always lower). Only CPU-Z version 1.45 or later will recognize the E7200.

Allow for at least 48 hours of burn-in (this applies to existing setups as well).

System Devices
Under System Devices, disable the following:

  1. Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) - PCI Express Root Port - 27D0
  2. Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) - SMBus Controller - 27DA
    When SMBus Controller is disabled, System Restart will not work - you can only perform a System Shutdown (and power-up).
  3. Intel(R) 82802G Firmware Hub Device
  4. Numeric Data Processor
  5. Microcode Update Device

Power Settings in Windows XP SP2 Professional
Under Power Option from Control Panel, Set Power Scheme to "Max Battery".

Kernel Optimisations
See section 4.14 in AOB Computer Transports version 0.3 for more details. Add "/3GB" which gives more available RAM (~30MB).

Registry Optimisation (Priority Setting)
Locate following in registry:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl\Win32PrioritySeparation

If priority was set for 'Background Processes' the value is 18, change to 28. Note these are hexadecimal values and correct setting must reflect as 0x00000028(40). Reboot.



Edits: 09/08/08 09/08/08 09/09/08 09/11/08 09/18/08

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