Zap's ECS NFORCE4-A754 mini review

[furballi]

Swapped the Sempron 3100 Paris with an A64 3000 754 Venice (Made in China E6 core with 10x multi). This chip runs HOT under Prime95 Max Heat mode (55C load, 29C idle, 1.52Vcore, 25C ambient). Suspect the on-chip temperature probe is not accurate because the Sempron 3100 puts out more heat, yet its peak temperature is only around 46C. Perhaps the 512K cache may also influence the peak temperature. The Zalman 7700Cu cooler is fixed at 970 rpm. 1M digits Super Pi in 33.5 seconds with 2.75GHz core speed, 5:6 divider, and 2.5-3-3-6-1T timing.

System is very stable at 2.68GHz (268MHz FSB) using 1.52 Vcore, even on a warm day when the peak CPU temp can hit 60C. 1M SP in 34.4 second. C n Q enabled with an effective memory speed of 223MHz (Corsair VS). Amazing deal for only $99 plus tax.

 

[Zap]

Was that the $99 with NFORCE3-A at Fry's deal? In any case, yes, amazing... that's about as good as my Sempron 3300+ overclock but with 4X the cache. As for the cache making chips run hotter, makes sense as cache is just more transistors putting out heat. Typically Opterons will run hotter than Venice even with 0.05v less, because of the 1MB cache I'm guessing.

 

[furballi]

Yes, ECS NF3 with A64 3000 754 combo at Fry's. May run some tests this weekend to confirm power consumption. The overclocked A64 3000 754 @ 2.68GHz with 5:6 memory divider is a little faster than a stock A64 3800 939.

This chip is stable up to about 2.75GHz with 20C ambient air or water cooling.

 

[Peter]

furballi, some of the E6 chips require a different thermal diode setup - if it's not handled (via BIOS), then the readings might well be up to 10 degrees off.

 

[furballi]

Yesterday, the room temp was 30C (calibrated thermometer) with a CPU idle temp of 34C. Using this is a reference point, we're probably looking at a worst case deviation of 4C at idle.

The BIOS reports about the same temp. The difficult part is to obtain the true CPU temp at full load. I could measure the copper CPU cooler heatsink temperature above the CPU. The thermal gradient should not be more than a 5C.

 

[RaymondY]

I'm running my Nforce4-A754 with a A64 3400+ (clawhammer) for the past 5+ months without any problems. Board is extremely stable.

My only problem with the board is that the northbridge HSF has just died after 5+ months of usuage. Was wondering if someone makes a replacement?

Thanks

 

[Zap]

Look for chipset HSFs that work with socket 478 boards such as the 865PE chipsets. For some bizzare unknown reason ECS used the same kind of mounting, a spring wire hooked into these loops sticking out of the motherboard. All other AMD boards in the whole world use push pins.

 

[furballi]

Look for the Zalman chipset cooler. It can run hot with extended 100% CPU, but I see no stability issue with my Antec SLK3000B case (two 120mm Panaflo fans). Re-use the metal spring clip to retain the new heatsink. You can also lock-wire a 40mm x 20 mm fan on top of the Zalman heatsink for additional cooling.

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1924311

http://www.bestbyteinc.com/Cooling_for_...e_Heatsink_Kit/Page_2/HSK-ZAL-32J.html


Here's a north bridge cooler with fan.

http://www.bestbyteinc.com/Cooling_for_...ipset_Cooler/Page_1/HSK-TTA-A1899.html