Weird OC Experiences w/ Epox 4g4a+

[Xtasy]

My board is a refurb, yep a refurb, so that could be a factor. Also, when i got it from newegg, it has some arctic silver smeared over some parts. It worked fine though.

My system:

1.6a @ 2.48 Ghz (155x 16) @ 1.66 ~ 1.68volts
Epox 4g4a+ (latest bios)
4:5 ratio: 2 sticks x 256mb pc2700 samsung @ 388 MHz DDR (dimm 1 & 2) @ 2.84 volts
40gb seagate barracuda IV
Albatron Geforce 4 ti4200 turbo 128mb
windows xp
intel inf & iaa drivers & nvidia det 40.72 drivers installed

I was hoping for at least 160MHz fsb. My overclocking experience goes against most 4g4a overclocking tips. It doesn't make a difference in stability and overclockability between 1 stick (in any dimm) vs 2 sticks. Also, the latest bios can achieve more stability at higher overclocks vs the original one which doesn't undervolt. Should i be fine with this? Is it worth sacrificing the inf drivers for more overclockability?

 

[Chad]

Unfortunately, 155 generally seems to be the limit on the FSB with these boards (mine included) although there has been a couple people to break that rule, nevertheless, you're in the same boat as most of us.

I am VERY dissapointed in this board.

 

[CU]

I have the 4g4ai. I can only get a 1.8A up to 133fsb. I choose to use the intel inf files because games ran faster with them than with any extra overclock. My one stick of Cosair XMS 3200 cas2.5 has to be in slot 3 to hit this. Slot 1 causes me to back the fsb down to about 112. I don't think slot 2 works on my board though because I have never gotten any ram at any speed to work. I noticed it after the return date from newegg had passed though. I also have to run the ram at 333 instead of 366, so I guess the ram divider effects overclocking to because my ram should do 400. I also run the bios that came in it and have not tried anything else. It was all bought around late August, I think. That is all the info I have. I wish I could get higher also.

 

[Ketchup]

I finally sold my Epox 4G4A+ and bought an Abit BD7II-RAID. The Abit has better memory performance than the Epox, and my memory will only do 400 MHz on the Abit, where I had it up to 415 or so with the Epox. I am buying some new RAM.

Overclockability was pretty similar on both boards with one caveat. I got my 2.4B to 2.88 with both boards, but it took 1.72 volts with the Epox and it wasn't completely stable. The Abit only requires 1.63, and it hasn't crashed yet. On the downside, I can't go any higher unless I do a volt mod.

So, don't sell the Epox too short. It may not be the best board on the market, but it is a long way from being the worst.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

i remember a couple months back i was saying to everyone how this board wasn't so great for overclocking. Everyone disagreed, but now it seems like their opinions are similar to mine. If you can find an IT7 or IT72max board get those, they are known to hit high fsb's consistently.

 

[oldfart]

The 845G boards are not as good at overclocking as 845D/E boards. Its not just the 4G4A. I've seen similar posts on the BG7, P4B533-V. Even the 845PE boards are not as good as 845D/E for overclocking. Your reasoning was the lack of the 12V connector, which has nothing to do with it. Its the 845G NB with the integrated graphics core that limits overclockability. That being said, there are many people that have run 845G boards @ 160 FSB and higher. Any 845D/E/G will overclock better with a single stick of ram. 845PE is better in this respect. More than one stick of ram does not seem to hurt on this chipset.

 

[Chad]

Nevertheless, the board has been a huge letdown.

 

[Ketchup]

I personally think you guys are seeing the limits of your CPU, and not the motherboard. I have seen tbreak get 845E,G, and PE boards to well over 200 FSB with an unlocked processor. Some motherboards obviously overclock better than others, but I don't think it's really the chipset. For example, my Epox 4G4A overclocks just as well as my new Abit, but Abit uses better voltage regualtion and can hit the same speeds as the Epox with less CPU voltage because the voltage is pretty stable, while it seemed to fluctuate a lot on the Epox.

Xtasy, you can safely bump the voltage to 1.75, which should give you a better overclock. I don't see why you couldn't go over 160 with a 1.6