Epox board peculiarities

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SlitheryDee

Sup, everyone.

I just got a shiny new Epox 9NDA3+ and an athlon 64 3200+ processor.

I purchased these parts with the intention of overclocking, but as I'm not yet familiar with the workings of the A64 I've been following the ever-popular "Quick and Dirty Guide" by Zebo.

Everthing is working like a charm so far (450mhz overclock so far 12h prime stable). The only problem is that I have this memory which is rated by the manufacturer to do pc3200 2-3-2-5 1T.

On my setup I can get it to do a very respectable 245mhz 2T command, but if I drop the command rate to 1T windows refuses to boot no matter how loose the timings are or how low the memory memory speed (Well, it will boot at 166mhz, but that's still below spec)

I have 2 questions:

Does anyone know if this is a peculiarity of my MB?

Zebo mentions in his guide that A64s suffer greatly from a 2T command rate. Does any know just how greatly?
 
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SlitheryDee

Does anyone at least know how much difference there is between 1t and 2t performance-wise?
 
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SrGuapo

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2004
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OK, i have that board and let me clarify a couple things...

1T is vastly superior on A64 systems, so you definately want that...

In the bios, when you set the memory at 166, you are setiing a 166:200 (5:6) ratio meaning if your "FSB" is running at 240 MHz, the RAM will run at 200.

I was confused with this as well when I first got the board. It should just say a 5:6 divider, but whatever. Hope that helps!
 
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SlitheryDee

Right now I'm running my memory 1:1 with the FSB at 245 MHz 2.5-4-3-7 2T. Are you saying that I would be better off using a divider to get ~200 MHz at 1T?

Edit: I would be able to set the timings at the factory defaults, but I was under the impression that latency wasn't a large issue with A64s.
 
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SrGuapo

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2004
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Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
Right now I'm running my memory 1:1 with the FSB at 245 MHz 2.5-4-3-7 2T. Are you saying that I would be better off using a divider to get ~200 MHz at 1T?

Edit: I would be able to set the timings at the factory defaults, but I was under the impression that latency wasn't a large issue with A64s.
Click to expand...

Basically, yes. 2T command rate is a real performance killer. Look at the consolidate portion of Zebos guide. Find Your Max RAM speed and use that. I am not sure if actual RAM speed or latency is more important, but I am sure someone else can clear that up a bit.

What about lowering the multi to 9 and upping the FSB to 272? A 5:6 diver then would get 225 MHz RAM speed. I don't know if that RAM will run that at 2-3-2, but it is worth a shot. Have you maxed out the RAM yet?
 
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SlitheryDee

No I haven't maxed the RAM out yet. My max CPU speed seems to be around 2450 MHz, so I quit testing my RAM at 245 MHz. Memtest86 ran with no errors at this speed with 1T command rate. Windows will only run at this speed at 2T.

Lowering the multiplier seems like a good idea. I think I'll try that first.

BTW thanks for your help.



 
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SlitheryDee

I tried your suggestion and IT WORKED. I even took it a bit further by increasing the FSB to 278.

This puts my processor clock at 2502 MHz and my memory at 227 MHz 2-3-2-5 1T YAY. :D


Windows boots without fault. The few synthetic benchmarks I've run so far are up considerably.

I'll be testing with prime95 tonight for stability.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. :beer:

Edit: I just don't understand why the divider was important, my memory WOULD NOT run at this speed with 1T command rate earlier. Oh and I realized after a bit that the 166 MHz setting in the BIOS was just a divider, I just didn't think that it would allow me to increase my memory speed any further at 1T.
 
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SlitheryDee

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
you are running an epox board so you shouldn't expect much...
Click to expand...


Ouch. :Q

Check out SrGuapo's sig. He seems to have done very well with this MB.

Now that I think about it, I'm not really doing so bad myself at 2.5 Gz.
 
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SrGuapo

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2004
1,035
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Originally posted by: bjc112
1T is vastly superior on A64 systems, so you definately want that...
Click to expand...

Stop telling everyone that..

1T is nice, but not a big deal..
Click to expand...

You know what I mean. Obviously it is better to run 1T than 2T. I used vastly to imply that it was important to try and get the RAM to run correctly. If it wasn't failing memtest, it should work...


Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
you are running an epox board so you shouldn't expect much...
Click to expand...


Ouch. :Q

Check out SrGuapo's sig. He seems to have done very well with this MB.

Now that I think about it, I'm not really doing so bad myself at 2.5 Gz.
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with the 9NDA3+... It has great OCing capabilities, is rock stable, and is cheaper the the MSI Neo2... Obviously Philippine Mango has had a bad experience with epox since this is the second thread I've seen you crap on my mobo. I cannot vouch for any other products, but this board has been great. Read soime reviews and talk to nick1985...

This mobo can hit over 330 HTT... I see no reason why it isn't a good OCing board...

I do have to admit that my CPU is not 100% stable. It'll run prime for about 14 hours and crap out... Everything else seems to run fine (games, SuperPI,benchies, etc.). So I don't think I'll worry about it. I may lower it back to 2.4 GHz (stock voltage) to lower the temp load though...
 
MDE

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
1
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Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
Epox motherboards are just as bad as PC chips... Even ECS motherboards are better than EPOX..
Click to expand...
BULLSH!T.

SlitheryDee, move the RAM to slots 3 and 4 and you should be fine.

EDIT: I have my 9NDA3+ running 1T perfectly fine with the HTT at 280.
 
Elcs

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
Originally posted by: MDE
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
Epox motherboards are just as bad as PC chips... Even ECS motherboards are better than EPOX..
Click to expand...
BULLSH!T.
Click to expand...

Tell that to my EPoX 8KHA+. Stable board, especially for a VIA chipset in those days.

I stand beside MDE and EPoX and whoever else supports EPoX. I dont know how good they are now compared to the rest of the industry but I certainly wouldnt snub an EPoX board if I was given one.
 
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RanDum72

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2001
4,330
0
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My EPoX 8KHA+ on one of my rigs was pretty stable...until the caps started leaking...
 
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SlitheryDee

Originally posted by: MDE
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
Epox motherboards are just as bad as PC chips... Even ECS motherboards are better than EPOX..
Click to expand...
BULLSH!T.

SlitheryDee, move the RAM to slots 3 and 4 and you should be fine.

EDIT: I have my 9NDA3+ running 1T perfectly fine with the HTT at 280.
Click to expand...


I have already tried moving my memory to slots 2 and 4 with the same result. For some reason changing the cpu multi to 9 and using a higher HTT allowed me to reach memory speeds that would not run at 1T with the multi at 10. Although running 1:1 even at a lower HTT would not work (windows simply refused to boot running 1:1 with an HTT of ~200 or higher).

I really don't understand why windows wouldn't boot without a divider at the same speed that the memory is currently using now. It seems that the 5:6 divider is necessary for some reason.



 
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