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

[techfuzz]

Thanks 5t3v0, I'll try those suggestions later this week or this weekend.

techfuzz

 

[Geforce man]

this is often true, but not always, my VNF4, while a pretty crappy board overall, can take teh 5x HTT up to 260 FSB, and thats like, 1300HTT? it is perfectly stable, but i get more bandwidth @ 3x HTT, so thats what i use for 24/7. who knows .

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: Geforce man
this is often true, but not always, my VNF4, while a pretty crappy board overall, can take teh 5x HTT up to 260 FSB, and thats like, 1300HTT? it is perfectly stable, but i get more bandwidth @ 3x HTT, so thats what i use for 24/7. who knows .

This is why I'm slightly confused about this HT multiplier stuff. When I dropped the cpu multi down to 4x and the memory to 200 (100) I was able to pump the HTT up to 390 before the board would no longer post. By my calculations that be 1950 which is crazy (95% HTT OC?!?). So does this board automatically reduce the HT multiplier at higher frequencies or is it really capable of producing that high of a HTT frequency?

techfuzz

 

[5t3v0]

Originally posted by: techfuzz
When I dropped the cpu multi down to 4x and the memory to 200 (100) I was able to pump the HTT up to 390 before the board would no longer post. By my calculations that be 1950 which is crazy (95% HTT OC?!?). So does this board automatically reduce the HT multiplier at higher frequencies or is it really capable of producing that high of a HTT frequency?

techfuzz

That would certainly appear to be the case. I never noticed this happen on mine but then I never left the HT multi on Auto right from the start. What I do remember though, was that when I left say at x4 and went slightly above 250MHz HTT, the board wouldnt post. So it is definately sensitive to HT over 1000.

 

[reynrv]

I have mine at 220Mhz HTT with the multi on 5x with no stability problems (prime95 small fft for 24 hours straight and have been running it at this speed for weeks).

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: 5t3v0
That would certainly appear to be the case. I never noticed this happen on mine but then I never left the HT multi on Auto right from the start. What I do remember though, was that when I left say at x4 and went slightly above 250MHz HTT, the board wouldnt post. So it is definately sensitive to HT over 1000.

If I can boot into Windows with an extremely high HTT, I'll check and see what CPU-Z reports the multiplier as. That will have to wait till this weekend though along with everything else.

techfuzz

 

[5t3v0]

It has been shown many times that there is absolutely no point in overclocking the HT bus since it gains no extra performance and moderately underclocking loses virtually nothing either. So why bother? Its just another potential cause of instability and future failure. OCing the HT bus is for obsessive overclockers who cant bare not to have anything running beyond its rated speed.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: 5t3v0
There's your problem tf. The hypertransport bus (aka LDT) shouldn't exceed 1000MHz (also quoted as 2000MHz because it is a bi-directional bus like the DDR memory bus). The Auto seting sets it to x5 so when you raise above 200MHz the LDT goes above 1000MHz and your system becomes unstable. Set the HT multi to x4 until you pass 250MHz HTT, & then lower it to x3.

As for all the other memory timings, set them manually to their Auto settings at 200MHz (DDR400) just in case they change when using a memory divider. My GeILs did & this caused me issues until I set everything explicitly.

Just about the clearest set of directions I've read. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[sportzforlife3]

The problem is somewhat fixed. And btw, the firewall and the activearmour were never on. I read that they were bad so I left em on. Turns out that the problem MIGHT be that the printer driver I installed was XP only. I reinstalled windows and the problem didn't come back, but it HAS rebooted once so far. Havn't had any problems since.

 

[bwanaaa]

this board has an unstable vcore. At idle, usdm reads 1.544 to 1.524v. Temp 37degC. Under load the vcore drops to 1.475 to 1.495. Temp 50degC. What is the recommended solution? I think my overclock is limited by this unstable vcore.
PSU: OCZ 520 powerstream all leds green
FSB 265 multi 10 RAM GSKILL pc4400 2.5-3-3-7

 

[bwanaaa]

i guess this is what you call
vdroop

 

[5t3v0]

Originally posted by: bwanaaa
this board has an unstable vcore. At idle, usdm reads 1.544 to 1.524v. Temp 37degC. Under load the vcore drops to 1.475 to 1.495. Temp 50degC. What is the recommended solution? I think my overclock is limited by this unstable vcore.

I have the same problem although I think I also have a duff cpu. In fact my problem was worse because the board would overvolt by up 0.03v at idle and then undervolt a similar amount under load. My solution was to set a high vcore in the BIOS, 1.55v, and then use Cool 'n' Quiet to keep the voltage down during average Windows use & idling. CnQ lowers vcore to ~1.25v on a x5 cpu multi, then on load, cpu multi goes back up to x9 but vcore actually reads 1.53v-1.54v rather than 1.55v. Its still a bit higher than I'd like to use, but like I say, the cpu's not the best. At least it saves ovevolting the cpu 24x7.

 

[Fallengod]

How do you know it has an unstable vcore? Did you stick a tester on it? Its most likely software problems. Dont trust everything software programs tell you. I dont have any unstable overclocks on mine.

 

[5t3v0]

Although values arent identical, the pattern is consistent in USDM, Speedfan and cpu-z. The BIOS also shows the same idle pattern so I am 100% certain this is a board issue. I would have thought that the numbers of people affected by this same issue speaks for itself.

 

[boeki]

@modempower

your post does not help in any way. it just adds to the confusion of whether there is a vcore problem or a sensor problem.

so, did you stick a tester on it?

what was your tester reading compared to your bios/app reading? did they match? was the bios/app reading higher? lower?

how about on load? what were the tester and bios/readings? no vdroop?

please let us know so we'd know for sure if there really is no problem with this mobo and that we're just imagining things.

 

[bwanaaa]

5t3v0

interesting that you can use a 5 multi and CnQ. I've heard that CnQ likes to ramp the multi down and back up to achieve speed changes. If it takes multi to the max (way above where you carefully determined you wanted it) then obviously the pc will crash. Plus I think there is a bug with CnQ and X2 procs requiring a patch and a registry change. Still I would like to keep my 265 fsb and multi of 10 but my proc (4800) goes to multi 12. So, I guess I'll have to manually specify a higher vcore. but that will not prevent vdroop, just raise the floor. But I see your strategy-use CnQ to minimize the overvolting interval of time to maximize the cpu lifespan. Maybe I'll have to live with 220x12. I wanted to gget 2 gigs of ram anyway so the mushkin enhanced stuff will do 220 @ 2-3-2-5.

bwanaaa


PS: I see now why our founding fathers embraced freedom of speech. It allows naysaying script kiddies to maintain the level of stupidity in our society so those in power can pull the wool over our eyes more easily, e.g., sell defective products, engage in fruitless wars, etc.

 

[5t3v0]

bwanaaa, I use the maximum x9 multi which is lowered to x5 by CnQ when idling & then back up to x9 under load. I have no choice in the multi or voltage it sets. What you say is correct though - if you set the multi lower than default for your overclock, CnQ will raise it back to the default & your PC will crash. In this case you could try using RMClock which is configurable.

 

[bwanaaa]

tnx
5t3v0 ,

i had heard about rmclock somewhere, somewhen, but never really investigated. my thinking at the time, 'why bother to underclock and undervolt'- of course then i wasnt dealing with nebulous vcore treading into a dangerzone.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: 5t3v0
bwanaaa, I use the maximum x9 multi which is lowered to x5 by CnQ when idling & then back up to x9 under load. I have no choice in the multi or voltage it sets. What you say is correct though - if you set the multi lower than default for your overclock, CnQ will raise it back to the default & your PC will crash. In this case you could try using RMClock which is configurable.

Wow! RMClock looks interesting...I've not encountered it before.
Can you give a synopsis of your experiences with it?

Oops! I just saw in the RMClock thread in Dimitri's forum that Opterons may not work with v2.0
He spoke about addressing dual-cores issues with v2.05 (apparently, as yet to be released).

 

[boeki]

i've been using rmclock on my a64-3200 and it's an excellent utility to extend the life of your proc and keep your rig cool and quiet when underclocked.

but i can't use it now on my x2-4400 because of the dual core bug that it has. i think the problem is that when an application is running, say, 100% on one core but total load is, say, only 50%, then it will ramp down which then slows down the app that is running. they need to fix it so that it will check loads on each core and not the overall load.

 

[MBrown]

I'm happy at 2.5. I wasnt expecting to get much more than that. Maybe I'll try for 2.55 later on. My new board rocks!

 

[Rumple]

Ok im at my wits end with this board. Im hoping that im just stupid and am overlooking something simple.

My problem is that ANY device except my printer that i hook up to ANY USB port wont detect. Ive tried an external cd burner. Nothing. Tried to get a logitech G7 mouse to work. Nothing. I also have a Mitsumi FA404 7in1 card reader that has to be hooked up to a usb slot internally. It isnt working either.

I have manually installed the USB drivers off the mobo CD. I have updated my BIOS. I have uninstalled all USB things thru the device manager and let it redetect them. I have uninstalled and reinstalled ALL the motherboard drivers. I have unhooked and rehooked up everything involved with the usb ports.

For the life of me i cannot figure out why my printer will work just fine on ANY of the USB ports but the PC will not acknowledge anything else i plug into my usb ports.

Please guys help me out here with some idea of whats going on. Im getting so frustrated with this. I really dont want to reinstall windows.......I have a feeling if i try that i will end up with the same problems anyhow. Considering i just built this PC about 2-3 weeks ago.

 

[Fallengod]

Hum...You installed the latest bios? And obviously usb is enabled in the bios because you said your printer works. Hard to say. Could be a bios setting maybe. This board did have usb issues without the latest beta bios. Someone else can probably point you in the direction for that bios. I dont use it but ive heard it fixes usb 2.0 issues.

 

[5t3v0]

USB2 drivers are incorporated into the WinXP/2K OS. You only need to install drivers manually for Win9x. I doubt your mobo CD would even have WinXP/2K USB drivers on it so perhaps you've installed incompatible drivers from an older OS? I'd do a repair XP install if I were you.

EDIT: Do you have lots of red crosses in Device Manager? You could try updating the drivers through that if its possible. Never done it myself though.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: Rumple
Ok im at my wits end with this board...My problem is that ANY device except my printer that i hook up to ANY USB port wont detect.

Make sure that S.M.A.R.T. is disabled in the BIOS.
There is also the issue of trying USB 2.0 without the case connectors engaged with the M/B.