epox 9npa+ supports OPTERON 146/148, right?

[5t3v0]

Originally posted by: Maluno
Wow, that was a great read. A lot of brains in that thread, and good info all around. I believe that I am going to stick at 1.5v and 1475Mhz for the time being.

You're not joking. Still, we all know overclocking is bad for components. The trick is squeezing the most out for the duration we need them. Sadly there's no tables or formulas for that - its all down to guess work & luck it seems to me.

Gone a bit off the topic in this thread - apologies for that. Just want to post a bit more on the vcore issue. I've done some testing with lower vcores & here's what I've got so far:

vcore Max HTT
1.650v 289
1.600v 286
1.550v 283 (still Priming as we speak, 2 hours so far)
1.525v 280 (failed torture test after 6 hours)
1.500v No successful results yet. Lowest HTT tested = 279.

Fluctuation is bad at all settings, 0.03 over at idle, 0.02 below under load. This board will be the death of my cpu!

I think I'm going to keep the vcore at 1.55v for now. I know this will run 280HTT as it did 11 hours of Prime95 small ffts last night. Going any lower seems to defeat the purpose of buying this chip. If it fries, I'll get something else. It wasn't my first choice anyhow - I had a 146 on order last month but got fed up waiting for new stock so bought the 144 instead. A bigger multiplier would be nice. I would go for the 3700+ next time round.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Any updates? I'm not too thrilled that the default voltage is 1.5. Should I lower that setting the BIOS immediately after I've finished plugging in all of my components?

 

[Maluno]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Any updates? I'm not too thrilled that the default voltage is 1.5. Should I lower that setting the BIOS immediately after I've finished plugging in all of my components?

Its up to you. 1.5v is not going to hurt you, but if you aren't overclocking, there is no need to have it at this. Torture test it first to make sure it is stable, then slowly back it down to 1.4. Lower vcore will lower your temperatures, and increase your processors lifespan, good if you aren't overclocking.

For me, I leave it at 1.5v at 2.5Ghz, but I would bring it down to 1.4v if I was running stock speeds.

 

[Fallengod]

Thats the reason they released a bios update to "subtract" voltage on vcore setting. Yes by default the board overvolts by .1 So just set it to subtract .1 volt for stock and youll be fine. For an opteron, you definitely dont need it at 1.5volts. I have my 144 overclocked to 2.7ghz and I still only need 1.45 volts.

 

[starwars7]

Overall, would you guys recommend the EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra for someone thinking about buying an Opteron 144/146?

Or is there another board out there for around the same price that you would recommend?

 

[Fallengod]

Sure. Its a good board. Nice and stable. I cant complain. I use it with an opty 144.

 

[Podunk]

I am having problem what sounds like identical problem as Praetorian with 9NPA+ Ultra (non-SLI) and Opteron 146. Won't boot, won't show any video life, can't get to bios. All the diagnostic LEDs are lit (CPU, Chip set, and Dram), meaning they're all getting power OK. It displays FF on the hex display. (Supposedly FF means board checks out OK and is booting.) Started with system with all hardware hooked up. Tried a variety of DDR RAMs from old Socket A systems and some new sticks. The FF came up. I started paring down hardware and always FF, even after I took out all RAM and video and HD and FF still came up--seems like that shouldn't be?? BIOS is stock one with board but as it is doesn't seem I could flash it.

Praetorian, yours turned out to be problem in reset switch. Was this your case switch or MB switch? Mine shows same symptoms even with case reset wires disconnected from MB, but there is a manual reset on MB--I'll try to se if maybe that's stuck. (I do note that the MB reset has no effect (seems like it should at least make fans pause.)