EPoX "EP-9NPA+Ultra" NVIDIA nForce4 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard

[sgtdic]

i'm looking for a better psu. can someone recommend the best one between 50-100 dollars? a lot of the ones i look at have mixed reviews. newegg preferably. also, can you tell me about the ones with the fan on the bottom/top? i'm only used to the ones with the rear fan. how do they work? i would like one with atleast 20A on the 12V rail.
thanks

 

[marvsz]

ey guys, is it true that this board has usb problems and its board design is not that good?

 

[marvsz]

Does anyone has any experience with the 9npa3 ultra board?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Well, I was able to update the BIOS to the most recent one (released in January) using the WinFlash that came in the Magic Flash folder. It was...tense. It started to update and then at 43% it froze! A couple seconds later the window said that it had updated successfully and then I rebooted.

Now that I have the most recent BIOS, how do I change my CPU voltage? It's currently set to "Auto". The options seem to be +.25V, etc., but messing with that is kind of scary without knowing what the final voltage would be. Shouldn't it offer the absolute numbers, like 1.50V, 1.45V, etc.?

 

[Mem]

The options seem to be +.25V, etc., but messing with that is kind of scary without knowing what the final voltage would be. Shouldn't it offer the absolute numbers, like 1.50V, 1.45V, etc.?

If the auto voltage was 1.40v for example and you set it to manual and use +0.025v the voltage will be 1.425v,on the otherhand if you select -0.025v it will be 1.375v.

 

[Mem]

sgtdic: I would suggest something like Antec TruePower 550w at $84.99 or
FSP Group (Fortron Source) FSP550-60PLN 550W at $96 .

also, can you tell me about the ones with the fan on the bottom/top? i'm only used to the ones with the rear fan?

In general they suck air up(bottom fan) and then out(exhaust) of the rear fan.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

The auto-voltage was 1.5 V, which is where the Athlon 64's are supposed to be at. I couldn't lower it any more than -0.1 V, so I'm at 1.40 V which is fine, I guess.

 

[sgtdic]

mem, thanks for the suggestions. i was about to buy the antec when i noticed it had no pfc. how important is this really?

 

[Mem]

Power Factor Correction (PFC)

Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows power distribution to operate at its maximum efficiency. There are two types of PFC, Active PFC and Passive PFC. All of our power supplies are either Active PFC Power Supplies or Passive PFC Power Supplies.
Active PFC

The preferable type of PFC is Active Power Factor Correction (Active PFC) since it provides more efficient power frequency. Because Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active Power Factor Correction also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is more expensive to produce an Active PFC power supply.
Passive PFC

The most common type of PFC is Passive Power Factor Correction (Passive PFC). Passive PFC uses a capacitive filter at the AC input to correct poor power factor. Passive PFC may be affected when environmental vibration occurs. Passive PFC requires that the AC input voltage be set manually. Passive PFC also does not use the full energy potential of the AC line.
Non-PFC

Non-PFC power supplies are no longer recommended. In Europe, power supplies are now required to have either active PFC or passive PFC.

Hope that helps sgtdic. Btw I prefer the Fortron

 

[sgtdic]

i just ordered the antec tp2 550. i don't think i'll be disappointed; it got great reviews and was $10 off. was listed for $130 on antec's site. mem, do you have personal experience with this antec or the fortron you were talking about?

 

[Mem]

mem, do you have personal experience with this antec or the fortron you were talking about?

Not personally,there are a lot of good quality PSUs around so choosing the right one can be a hard decision.

I use Enermax and Hiper Type R at the moment , they have been great in my experience,however plenty of good brands to choose from.

 

[Fallengod]

I have the antec 550 2.0. Cant complain. Very solid rails.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Is it just me, or is the CPU voltage a little unstable on this motherboard? Based on the Thunder Probe, it doesn't seem to overvolt it too much, but I do notice that it seems to undervolt it some, requiring me to set the voltage a little higher than what it needs to be. For example, I can do 11 x 240 (2640) at 1.4 volts but it's unstable at 11 x 250 (2750). However, when I increase the voltage to 1.425 it's just fine but the voltage reading in Thunder Probe seems to vary from 1.40-1.41. When the voltage is set to 1.40 it seems to vary from 1.37 to 1.40.

(I have to start ramping the voltage up to go beyond 11 x 250. I need it at 1.5 for 11 x 260, which is kinda sad.)

I do think that the mobo's CPU fan controller does a surprisingly nice job of adjusting the fan speed to keep the CPU temp at or below 40 C. I had originally planned to have it plugged into the power supply and set to run at max, but now I'm happy that I plugged it into the board.

 

[Rythan]

I wonder if we're seeing the effects of different steppings (either for the processors or the NF4 chips) that's at the root of the USB2 weirdness.

 

[Libel]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Is it just me, or is the CPU voltage a little unstable on this motherboard?

Hi guys, a newcomer here

Whipper, I hear you. Although I own a 9npa+SLI, I have the same unstability regarding the cpu voltage.

Furthermore, the most amazing thing is that when I ran SP2004 or any stress tool, my vcore losts like 0.05v. So my vcore would be 1.45 at idle for example and 1.40 at full load. Pretty hard to o/c in good conditions...

I'm suprised as well to see the default vcore at 1.40-1.42 with my opty 165.

My 2 cents

 

[Orcishhuman]

Libel, WhipperSnapper,

Maybe it's your PSU? Could you tell us which model you have??

 

[sgtdic]

doesn't it help when you put your parts in your sig?
i'm hoping my psu is the culprit causing my game lag, etc. desktop is completely fine. even ran prime95 stable last night for 9 hours.

 

[Libel]

Originally posted by: Orcishhuman
Libel, WhipperSnapper,

Maybe it's your PSU? Could you tell us which model you have??

Hi Orcish,

I've a Seasonic S12 500w which according to a lot of people should be ok. Is there any monitoring tool I can use to be sure it is not defective?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Orcishhuman
Libel, WhipperSnapper,

Maybe it's your PSU? Could you tell us which model you have??

That's a good point--it could be the power supply. I guess I hadn't considered that since I think I have a good one. I have the Sparkle Power FSP550PLG-SLI, which is a Fortron PSU with 550W with a single 36A 12 volt rail. On paper it should be an excellent power supply, its being a Fortron.

I take it that for you, the voltage is rock solid? I don't think the problem is too bad and I can't say I'm really unhappy to run it at 2.75 Ghz and 1.425 V. I was able to take it up to 11 x 260 (2.86 Ghz) at 1.5 V but 11 x 265 at 1.5 V didn't go over so well. I suppose I could try for 1.55 but I don't want to push it yet. Perhaps three years from now. For me it seemed that anything over 11 x 250 produced marginal returns in terms of the voltage cost. (CPU is an Opteron 148 CABYE 0540 FPBW.) HSF is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro and it seems to be doing a great job if the temperature readings are accurate; I haven't seen it go above 42 C in the stress tests yet and it idles at around 35 C. (Case is a Chieftec Matrix with 5 80 mm fans.)

 

[Libel]

If the PSU is not the issue, could it be a sensor issue and/or a bios issue that doesn't give a good vcore voltage reading?

 

[sgtdic]

my voltages vary, but i also have mine on auto. my system is currently stock and for some reason my vcore stays mostly at 1.49v.

 

[Orcishhuman]

Libel, WhipperSnapper,

I do not have this problem, and I'm using the latest BIOS (my PSU is in my sig). Your power supplies don't seem to be the problem, although I don't know any PSU monitoring program. Maybe you should try flashing to the latest BIOS.

 

[Mem]

my voltages vary, but i also have mine on auto. my system is currently stock and for some reason my vcore stays mostly at 1.49v.

Epox boards always give bit more voltage then needed,you can either leave it on auto or set it manually,don't worry about it,I remember my old Epox board would always give bit more voltage on ram and cpu on default auto settings.

 

[Libel]

Thanks guys for your answwers. I guess I'll try not to worry about that unstability and watch my temps, especially the cpu one.

In the meantime, i have another issue with one of my SATA disk that isn't recognized under Win xp (SP2) whereas it is recognized by the bios. I have this issue when i connect it to SATA 3 & 4 (1 & 2work flawlessly). The option regarding the sata port in the bios is set to "enabled" for 1,2, 3 and 4.

The Windows Xp hard drives manager can't help me as my drive isn't listed there. Any idea? Thanks.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I did flash to the latest (January) BIOS, btw.

For some reason my Opteron 148 overclock seems to start delivering less and less marginal utility after 11 x 250 (2.75 Ghz). It's a CABYE 0540 FPBW, which is supposed to be a good stepping. I'm nice and stable at 11 x 250 with 1.425 volts, and I can get it up to 11 x 260 with 1.50 volts (get 110 more Mhz for a cost of .75 volts--bad deal). I can't go above 11 x 260 at the 1.5 volts; I'd have to add more. Is it possible that my mobo just doesn't like the high 260 speed and that perhaps I need to overclock the chipset itself? (RAM is cordonned off safely with a memory divider.) How common is it to overclock the chipset and what voltages are safe?