ECS NFORCE4-A939 mini review

[Peter]

As seen from a thermal sensor chip, the "remote" probes are those integrated into other chips - like the CPU. So yes, it's likely that you're reading the right temperature there.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: davinci73
i got the ECS/x2 3800 deal also. I got this cause i was tired of sweating and deaf when using my P4 550 rig. Now it's cool and quiet when i'm using my computer.

anyways i'm running two instances of prime 95 and in speedfan 4.27 does not show which is the processor temp. I have a feeling it's the highest one named "remote". Just want to clarify that it is.

I'm using a Thermaltake tower112 with a 90mm fan in a antec lanboy case with 2-120mm fans (1 in and 1 out).

Is this running a bit hot?

Heres a pic of speedfan

Yeah, its under Remote. Do yourself a favor and go into Settings to log your CPU temps. Then you can see how it runs idle/load, night/day I even made an excel chart for the temps on my 820D. this is the 820D with a Sonic Tower (passive HSF) @ idle. I forgot to turn on the fan i put on it!

 

[AkumaX]

PICS OF RIG:

whole view
a little bit upclose
even more upclose

a total of 5 (working) fans for the whole rig, all of them attached to either a FanMate2 or a fan bus.

[*]the 6600 was quite loud, so i unplugged it's fan and just stuck an 80mm fan there on the lowest possible setting.
[*]the SB fan is pretty loud, so that's on a low rpm mode too.
[*]i stuck a fan on top of the hdd to keep it cool
[*]then the 120mm monster, on the lowest possible setting with the FanMate
[*]the Seasonic SS PSU in the back is also inaudible

btw this is how i had my 820D, both computers were near silent, except this one was 1.5x cooler

 

[Zap]

Don't like cases?

 

[AkumaX]

what's that?

 

[Zap]

Well, you're just running the system on a shelf. Is this your artistic implementation of minimalism?

 

[AkumaX]

What is this "case" you speak of?

Sometimes computers come in this bulky "box" that impedes certain qualities like "looks" or "danger"

I think it's better that I have access to such "qualities" on a more personal level :evil:

 

[spacejamz]

Originally posted by: spacejamz

anyone wanna post some benchmarks (pcmark05, 3dmark05, pcpitstop, etc)

(asked this in the other ecs thread also)...


still seem low:
pcpitstop.com score - 1980
3dmark05 - 3616 (way low IMO)...
pcmark05 - 4495

doesn't anyone want to post some benchmarks? Prety please??? my 3400+ new castle scores higher, but my video encoding on the X2 went down from about 15 minutes to about 7 minutes...can't complain about that

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: spacejamz

Originally posted by: spacejamz

anyone wanna post some benchmarks (pcmark05, 3dmark05, pcpitstop, etc)

(asked this in the other ecs thread also)...


still seem low:
pcpitstop.com score - 1980
3dmark05 - 3616 (way low IMO)...
pcmark05 - 4495

doesn't anyone want to post some benchmarks? Prety please??? my 3400+ new castle scores higher, but my video encoding on the X2 went down from about 15 minutes to about 7 minutes...can't complain about that

i would but my video card definitely isn't up to the task... its a vanilla 6600 so i wouldn't really benchmark that

 

[spacejamz]

Originally posted by: AkumaX

Originally posted by: spacejamz

Originally posted by: spacejamz

anyone wanna post some benchmarks (pcmark05, 3dmark05, pcpitstop, etc)

(asked this in the other ecs thread also)...


still seem low:
pcpitstop.com score - 1980
3dmark05 - 3616 (way low IMO)...
pcmark05 - 4495

doesn't anyone want to post some benchmarks? Prety please??? my 3400+ new castle scores higher, but my video encoding on the X2 went down from about 15 minutes to about 7 minutes...can't complain about that

i would but my video card definitely isn't up to the task... its a vanilla 6600 so i wouldn't really benchmark that

you should be fine running benchmarks on PCPITSTOP.COM...(this isn't a gaming benchmark, from a graphics standpoint, it only measures 2D performance). You can test your system anoymously without creating an account there.

Will even give you some feedback on some tweaks for your system...

there is a link to run FULL TESTS on the left hand side towards the top...

 

[spacejamz]

Just notice this the other day...I am running the 1.0A bios on my rev 1.0 board...

most of the time the boot screen displays the correct processor info (X2 3800+ dual processor or whatever), but sometimes is just says processor CPU0.

either way, once the system is booted, it correctly shows the processor data on the system properties screen...

anyone notice this? will do a screen cap later...

 

[Zap]

Try updating the BIOS. With my 1.0C version BIOS, the CPU was always reported as "AMD Hammer Family processor - Model Unknown."

 

[toyotacamry]

Hey guys, this is my first post. Zap's wonderful review inspired me to post back. I too bought the combo at Fry's on Blackfriday ( wasn't as crowded as I thought for the biggest shopping day of the year). I put it together on the 23rd of December, and since then have been stress testing in cruel and tortureful ways. There has been one thing I noticed with the Bios update, as far as stability is concerned; I play Wolfenstein : Enemy Territory alot, and it would get the "this program has performed..." error. Once I flashed my bios with winflash (great program!), ET was stable. For system stability, I ran Prime 95 and 3d Mark 05 simultaneously, for hours. Stable, and cool. I did manage a 210 FSB with a 1:1 ratio and stock timings, and it was perfectly stable with prime 95. Funny thing is, it would give the BSOD at 215 fsb. I wasn't planning on overclocking, so I just set the FSB back to 200. However, boredom and curiousity drove me to googling "Nforce4-939 overclocking", and this thread came up. Not the first time I've been to Anandtech, but this thread definitely made me want to post here! I tried Zap's settings for overclocking, and it works! The ease and potential of overclocking the 3800x2 makes me think of the 2500 Barton chip. As far as the ECS mobo is concerned, I have been impressed by ECS's quality. I have 3 of their boards (all from Fry's) and none of them were intended to be used, but my Asus a7n8x and a7v8x both failed, and when I popped chips into the purple ECS mobos, they fired up perfectly. Not to mention I got more OC'ing mileage out of them. Anyway I'll try to post some benchmarks here but Sandra won't run, don't know if its a compatiblity issue with hardware or what. I'll see ya around. Good review Zap!

 

[Zap]

Why, thank you! :thumbsup:

So, you were able to get around 2.5GHz out of your CPU on that board? If you still have occasional strange glitches, let me know. Since the review I've had to change a couple of other BIOS settings because what was Prime/Memtest stable wasn't totally stable in day to day usage - close but no ceeegar!

 

[yukit]

This ECS MB is performing beyond my initial expectation for sure, despite the USB issue.

I just came back from Fry's with a cheap 2GB of RAM:
http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/ROP...32664&adid=2411564&subid=9930969&type=

We will see how the MB cope with the new RAM.

 

[Zap]

LOL, I picked up that $100 Corsair 2GB RAM also. I already have a 2GB kit for my setup, the CAS 2 G.Skill stuff for $185 shipped. The Corsair is slower, but a better deal because the lower latency is not worth $85 more.

 

[toyotacamry]

I got my RAM from outpost.com , which is the Fry's online store, just the 1 gig kingston hyper x for 100 bucks, comes out to 120 after shipping and tax. Right now I'm at 2.3ghz stable, I think the highest I can post on is 2.4ghz, not stable though , which makes the mem at 200 mhz with a 6/5 FSB:mem ratio. Right now, with a 230 fsb and the 6/5 ratio its at 191 mhz with stock latencies. I believe the thing thats holding me back from 2.4 ghz and higher is the memory. I can try relaxing the timings, but I'd rather get a higher frequency set instead. Btw, do you guys mind telling me your idle / load temps? I'm at 35 C idle, and 38 C with one core going full blast, and 45 with both. Stock heatsink and fan, I'm just curious to see how my temps compare to others. Its all in a TT Soprano case, I'm wondering if the airflow in there is helping or hindering my temps. Thanks for your responses!

 

[yukit]

Originally posted by: toyotacamry
Btw, do you guys mind telling me your idle / load temps? I'm at 35 C idle, and 38 C with one core going full blast, and 45 with both. Stock heatsink and fan, I'm just curious to see how my temps compare to others. Its all in a TT Soprano case, I'm wondering if the airflow in there is helping or hindering my temps. Thanks for your responses!

How are you measuring your temps?
My nvMonitor says the CPU is 58C, system is 36C during the prime (core0 blend, core1 max temp). This is with stock hsf, stock voltage.
The CPU FSB is 240. RAM (2x1GB I picked up today) is 2.5-3-3-7 @ 6/5 ratio , which works out to ~200MHz.

 

[toyotacamry]

I'm using AMD dashboard demo to measure temps, on ECS mobo. System is around 26. Bios reports the same.

 

[toyotacamry]

Oh yeah, how do you get a core to run a certain test? I just ran Prime95 and 3d Mark05 CPU test and I guess a core each took on an application. Thanks for telling me. Maybe it could be that your case doesn't move air out fast enough? Or I'm getting a bad temp reading, because thats a pretty big difference in temperature.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: toyotacamry
Oh yeah, how do you get a core to run a certain test? I just ran Prime95 and 3d Mark05 CPU test and I guess a core each took on an application. Thanks for telling me. Maybe it could be that your case doesn't move air out fast enough? Or I'm getting a bad temp reading, because thats a pretty big difference in temperature.

you can right click in tast manager and Set Affinity for a core

i use Speedfan to check temps n stuff (cpu core would be "Remote")

 

[AkumaX]

Zap, you think you should change your review a little bit since new Bios has 400fsb max and 1T/2T timings?

 

[toyotacamry]

thanks Akuma, worked well. Your pc belongs in the museum of Modern Art, I've always liked shelf and wall mounted pcs but yours by far is the most elaborate.

 

[AkumaX]

haha thanks i just want to help the rest of us BF 3800+/ECS owners, and share the bliss that i am in

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
Zap, you think you should change your review a little bit since new Bios has 400fsb max and 1T/2T timings?

I did in the OP almost a month ago:

12/01/05 UPDATE:

FSB up to 400MHz 1MHz increments
Now allows manual adjustments to 1T/2T Memory Timing