Epox 9NPA+ Ultra: Overclocking and Stress Testing

Overclocking

Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed
Epox 9NPA+
Processor: Athlon 64 4000+
(2.4GHz, 1MB Cache)
CPU Voltage: 1.55V (default 1.50V)
Cooling: Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 Heatsink/Fan
Power Supply: OCZ Power Stream 520W
Memory: OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev. 2
(Samsung TCCD Memory Chips)
Hard Drive: Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache
Maximum OC:
(Standard Ratio)
240x12 (Auto HT, 2-3-2-7, 1T, 2.9V)
2880MHz (+20%)
Maximum FSB:
(Lower Ratio)
302x9 (2718MHz) (Auto HT, 2.5-4-3-7, 2.9V)
(1:1 Memory, 1T, 2 DIMMs in DC mode)
(+51% Bus Overclock)

The overclocking options finally pay off on the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra, as our Reference 4000+ reached a new stock overclock of 2880MHz (240x12), a 20% overclock of the stock 2.4GHz. The Epox also did well at lower multipliers, reaching a 302x9 speed, which is a 51% overclock of the 200 bus speed. This is still a bit slower than the 318 posted by the DFI, but it placed the Epox in 2nd place for bus speed overclock in this roundup.

Memory Stress Tests

Our memory stress test confirms the ability of the Epox to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (400MHz DDR), at the lowest memory timings that OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 modules will support. All DIMMs used for stress testing were 512MB double-sided (or double-bank) memory.

Stable DDR400 Timings - One Dual-Channel
(2/4 DIMMs populated)
Clock Speed: 200MHz
CAS Latency: 2.0
RAS to CAS Delay: 2T
RAS Precharge: 7T
Precharge Delay: 2T
Command Rate: 1T

Using two DIMMs in Dual-Channel 128-bit mode, the memory performed in all benchmarks at the fastest 2-2-2-7 timings, at default 2.6V voltage.

Tests with 4 DS DIMMs on an AMD Athlon 64 system are more demanding, since AMD specifies DDR333 for this combination. However, most AMD Athlon 64 motherboards combined with recent AMD processors (the memory controller is on the AMD CPU) have been able to handle 4 DIMMs at DDR400.

Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs
(4/4 DIMMs populated)
Clock Speed: 200MHz
CAS Latency: 2.0
RAS to CAS Delay: 2T
RAS Precharge: 7T
Precharge Delay: 2T
Command Rate: 2T

Tests with all four DIMM slots populated on the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra board required a 2T Command Rate with 4 DS DIMMs in two dual channels, as we have seen on other top-performing Socket 939 boards, but the memory did operate at DDR400 without any problems. We also checked memory performance with 4 DS DIMMs running a Rev. E AMD processor and found 2T Command Rate was still required with 4 DS DIMMs running with a Rev. E CPU.

Epox 9NPA+ Ultra: Features and Layout Winfast NF4UK8AA (Foxconn): Features and Layout
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  • tribbleva - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link

    Every single one of these MBs has a fan on the NB... where are the passively cooled mobos? The last thing I want is one or TWO more tiny fans just on the mobo to worry about failing...
  • Zebo - Friday, July 22, 2005 - link

    "someof you take Anandtech's word as the word of GOD"

    It's as close as you can get without dying.:)
  • Zebo - Friday, July 22, 2005 - link

    Viper - You should come inside the forums for specfic help..
  • dg3274 - Saturday, July 16, 2005 - link

    The article states that the Abit board has a problem with 1:1 overclocking. I disagree. I think the problem is that it does not provide enough ram voltage to run the RAM at high 1:1 FSB. 2.8 volts is not enough to run ANY ram much higher than 280 or so FSB.
  • Viper4185 - Thursday, July 14, 2005 - link

    No one wants to help me with my n00b questions :(
  • Marcel - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link

    #67 I must be a little a slow …

    In the test “Maximun CPU Clock ( Lower Multiplier )”

    For Chaintec, Abit, etc you use the multiplier in “11”, and only for Epox and DFI you use the multiplier in “9”, then you show a diagram with nothing more than the fsb.
    http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/nf4%20ultra%20r...

    The first question is WHY ?? there is no explanation for use different multiplier in the review. Not some guys, but ALL ones have better result in chaintec and abit with a lower multiplier.
  • TheGlassman - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    Thanks Wesley, I did find you had checked HTT, and as I stated in my last post I don't understand what the problem was. But the deeper I looked into the review, the better job you seemed to have done, so sorry if I impied you didn't try very hard.
    DFI has a dual core (beta) bios available, dated 6-23-05
    Epox has a dual core (release) bios available, dated 6-29-05
    These were not used in testing.
  • Wesley Fink - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    #59 and #60 - One of the first articles I did a couple of years ago about Athlon 64 was how to overclock by manipulating HTT frequencies. I ALWAYS test manual HTT dividers I know should work for certain 1:1 memory clocks as well as Auto HTT if it is an available option.

    #58 - I was very CLEAR in the review that I tested with the BIOS that would allow the X2 A64 to work. We did check each board with an X2. That is the ONLY reason we tested and used very recent Beta BIOS'. Also there are 2 other very recent Chaintech reviews at other websites who had test results almost equal to what I found on the Chaintech, so there are at least 2 other Chaintechs loose with less than stirring overclocking. In the end, as I stated in the review, the Chaintech is a decent board, but at about the same price as the Epox, with poorer overclocking results, it was hard to give it an Editor's Choice this time around. The results found in this roundup should remove anyone's concern that we get cherry boards from manufacturers. I am a good overclocker, and very experienced in air overclocking and memory overclocking. What I got from these boards on air is all they could do with the TCCD memory that is all but standard test memory for motherboards these days. The capabilities of the memory we used is also well known and I tweaked for TCCD if settings were available if the board was not doing well at stock memory settings and our normal test timings.

    I am really pleased some of you experienced better performance than I did with the Chaintech and Abit boards, but I can only report what I actually found in my tests. I don't think you come to AnandTech for a survey of what other websites or Forums found, because I find overclockers are notorious at exagerrating what they can reach with overclocks. We try to provide a consisten test environment for overclocking that will give repeatable overclocking results. Results, of course, always vary board to board, but having said that, OC results are usually pretty consistent on better boards from sample to sample.
  • lefenzy - Saturday, July 9, 2005 - link

    Sorry, wrong link. that one was for the SLI version.

    http://www.foxconnchannel.com/productsDownload_mot...
  • lefenzy - Saturday, July 9, 2005 - link

    Foxconn has a BIOS release that allow for multiplier adjustment.

    http://www.foxconnchannel.com/productsDownload_mot...

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