2.0V Vdd

[paco83]

Anyone know how "safe" this is? I have Rev 2 of the Epox 8rda+ and the bios allows me to up it as far as 2.0V. I know they say the highest u should go for chips is 2V same hold true for the northbridge? I have the northbridge watercooled so heat "shouldn't" be a problem.

PS Yes im greedy and wanna squeeze every last mhz outt this sucka =P

 

[joe2004]

I know that is the way to go over 200 with 8RDA+ but it is not safe unless you custom cool the NB. I am on 1.8V and even that makes that little piece of crap heatsink hot. So if you like your board last for a while don't do it.
If you must make 200 there are three safe NF2 options: NF7-S, A7N8X and Soltek. In my opinion Epox makes cheap low quality stuff. Power boards but low quality.

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: joe2004
I know that is the way to go over 200 with 8RDA+ but it is not safe unless you custom cool the NB. I am on 1.8V and even that makes that little piece of crap heatsink hot. So if you like your board last for a while don't do it.
If you must make 200 there are three safe NF2 options: NF7-S, A7N8X and Soltek. In my opinion Epox makes cheap low quality stuff. Power boards but low quality.

Epox makes great quality boards. They just don't put on all that fancy crap that makes others so expensive. I had more problems with my Abit Boards (NF7-S V2.0, and Abit KT7a v1.4) than my Epox (8K5A2).

 

[joe2004]

Fancy? As in decent NB heatsink? Or fan headers that don't get blown off easily by more powerfull fan? Or regularly updated BIOS with proper customer support? I don't know, each own experience but I think Abit, despite higher prices, has more people buying their boards for the purpose of OCing than Epox. And guess what there might be a reason for that.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i wouldn't run that kinda voltage unless you got non-standard cooling

i ran mine up to like 2.2 with a custom copper heatsink (also had lapped the northbridge itself) but this didn't help my fsb speeds too much suprisingly

on standard cooling i would say 1.85 would be as high as i would run long term

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: Actaeon

Originally posted by: joe2004
I know that is the way to go over 200 with 8RDA+ but it is not safe unless you custom cool the NB. I am on 1.8V and even that makes that little piece of crap heatsink hot. So if you like your board last for a while don't do it.
If you must make 200 there are three safe NF2 options: NF7-S, A7N8X and Soltek. In my opinion Epox makes cheap low quality stuff. Power boards but low quality.

Epox makes great quality boards. They just don't put on all that fancy crap that makes others so expensive. I had more problems with my Abit Boards (NF7-S V2.0, and Abit KT7a v1.4) than my Epox (8K5A2).

I do agree because I've had better experience with EPoX in general, but notice he did say it was his opinion, so he's not touting it as fact at least

And uh Joe, don't bring up BIOS support because Abit hasn't put out a BIOS update for 1.x NF7 users in almost 3 months. Fan headers should only power standard fans (found this out when I killed my Abit BH6 fan header). A 4-pin adaptor is still the best route, and one can use an adaptor that will route the speed monitoring wire to the header. Some folks have had problems overclocking past certain FSBs with their NF7 boards when powering even mediocre fans on the CPU header. Finally, the stock HSF isn't good for over about 1.75v in the VDD, especially not with that little dot of TIM Abit drops between the chip and HSF. A better TIM and HSF is ideal for VDD tweaking in any case.

Paco83, if the Rev2 does have the A1/C1 stepping chipset, you should be good for well above 200MHz at the default 1.6v. Take it up only if you can narrow your bottleneck down to the chipset. Good luck.

 

[Technonut]

Paco83, if the Rev2 does have the A1/C1 stepping chipset, you should be good for well above 200MHz at the default 1.6v. Take it up only if you can narrow your bottleneck down to the chipset. Good luck.

I am currently testing a Rev. 1.0 8RDA+ /1700+ @ 215 MHz FSB (No mods except for a NorthPole NB cooler).... The BIOS reports the VDD @ 1.5V...

It passed Prime95 for 24 hours, and has been looping 3DMark2001 for the past 13 hours... Seems to be a nice mobo. It does happen to have the Ultra400 chipset though...

 

[paco83]

I do have the northbridge watercooled. And with the 2.0Vdd im able to get it up to 215 stable (no prime testing because i don't believe in it)

 

[joe2004]

And with the 2.0Vdd im able to get it up to 215 stable (no prime testing because i don't believe in it)

It is really not a religion. More like facts and science. Prime fails = setup isn't stable whatever you believe or not.

I am currently testing a Rev. 1.0 8RDA+ /1700+ @ 215 MHz FSB (No mods except for a NorthPole NB cooler)....

That is a sort of mod, I guess I'd have to try it to. Only I am too busy with my Pentium that gives me more fun for now.
By the way Technut, what heatsink would you recommend for that mod like yours?

 

[cow123]

heh, i was running my epox 8rda+ on default vdd without a northbridge heatsink for maybe a few days! had no crashes during load oddly enough.. if anyone else has the zalman nb-32 heatsink on their northbridge, does it sometimes pop off on one corner?

fsb was 182 :Q

 

[joe2004]

I just ordered nb32j and for a heck of it I'll try to use it if that is to improve my FSB just a bit. I have 50 mm fan from my old K6 system and will try to put on top of it.
Well at least my NF7-S needs no NB moding.

 

[paco83]

Originally posted by: joe2004

And with the 2.0Vdd im able to get it up to 215 stable (no prime testing because i don't believe in it)

It is really not a religion. More like facts and science. Prime fails = setup isn't stable whatever you believe or not.

I am currently testing a Rev. 1.0 8RDA+ /1700+ @ 215 MHz FSB (No mods except for a NorthPole NB cooler)....

That is a sort of mod, I guess I'd have to try it to. Only I am too busy with my Pentium that gives me more fun for now.
By the way Technut, what heatsink would you recommend for that mod like yours?

Ya but before my oc would fail prime after like a minute, but never had a crash related to stabilty in over a month of practically 24/7 use.

 

[joe2004]

Ya but before my oc would fail prime after like a minute, but never had a crash related to stabilty in over a month of practically 24/7 use.

There is no other program that can put so much strain on the CPU as Prime95. Ordinary use does not come close to that unless you do hours of benchmarking. Check the performance on the Windows Task Manager, it is 100% utilization of CPU 100% of time. That is as maximal as it gets.