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

[Doug117]

Originally posted by: teddyv
One quick question - does the board come with Norton Antivirus? The Euro Epox site (still cannot get through to Epox's US website!) mentiones it is in there. If so, is it a full product with the 1-year subscription or just like a 30-day thing?

Thanks!

Hehe just got mine today... lemme open it up... I especially like the AnandTech Editors Choice sticker on the front ... Pretty box too... all shiny.

Nope, only thing I see on here from norton is Norton Internet Security. Gotta love the included screwdriver though hahah. Wow who would be ordering a motherboard that didnt already own a screwdriver?

 

[funks]

Originally posted by: Thehubb
I posted this in the technical support forum but i thought you guys might be able to help also:

Ok so i just started building my comp. Everything went together fine. The comp boots up, and i start to install xp. After a few hiccups it makes it to the loading screen(Where it gives you the 39 min countdown). Then out of nowhere it gives me a blue screen error saying DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and it restarts itself. Once it restarts, it boots from the disk and says it's restarting the installation. The the gui screen comes up, and the 39min blue background comes up for a second, then it reboots and does it all over again...

This is where im at now. The only thing concerning me is that it isn't picking up my video card. Like in the post screen it shows my hd, ram, cpu, mobo, all that. Is it supposed to pick up my vc too? It's installed correctly and can feed my monitor signal through it. So now im stuck and im pissed. Someone please help.


:Now it's 1am, so im going to bed before i throw it all out my second story window....

If you are able to get it booted, go into the BIOS and pull back your memory timings a bit..

Run at least CAS 2.5 or 3 - etc.

 

[funks]

Originally posted by: spike48
Hi all, I've been reading this forum and am about sold on the EP-9NPA+Ultra
I would like to put 2 gigs of ram in it though.

I would like to use 2 - 1 gig sticks of memory to allow for future expansion.
Is there a performance difference from the 2-1gig sticks verses 4-512meg ones?
Also, what memory do you recommend for overclocking?

Thanks.

p.s. I know this has been brought up to some degree in earlier posts but I'm
hoping that you all have more info since the beginning of this thread.

I got a pair of 2GB for sale that works with the 9NPA+ULTRA (I tested them on my 9NPA+SLI - I went 4 GB)..

2 Dimms is faster than 4 dimms due to the 1T command rate (vs. 2T). CAS latency and etc is not really an issue for the A64 platforms.

 

[TraumaRN]

Alright I'm trying to finish overclocking my Epox 9NPA Ultra with a venice 3000+ but maybe I'm just tired from mid-terms but where can I set RAM dividers in the BIOS?? For some reason I cant find it....anyone care to help...i'm gonna look in the manual again tho...thanks

 

[gfngfgf]

Originally posted by: DeathBUA
Alright I'm trying to finish overclocking my Epox 9NPA Ultra with a venice 3000+ but maybe I'm just tired from mid-terms but where can I set RAM dividers in the BIOS?? For some reason I cant find it....anyone care to help...i'm gonna look in the manual again tho...thanks

Under Power BIOS options, it's labeled "Memory Frequency", I believe.

 

[bwanaaa]

yeah but they dont give you much choice 100, 133, 166 and 200. Of course they allow other options like 216,233 and 250 but overclocking the ram without the fsb is rather pointless with miniscule gains. I use an fsb of 295 mhz with a speed of 166 (5/6 divider) and the bios correctly reports the ram speed at 245 mhz.

 

[disillusioned]

Does anyone know where to get this board in canada? I prefer not to buy online, is there any store in canada in the Toronoto area that sells these? It is preferable that the store has a site i can go to. Please and thank you

 

[SPQQKY]

Originally posted by: bwanaaa
yeah but they dont give you much choice 100, 133, 166 and 200. Of course they allow other options like 216,233 and 250 but overclocking the ram without the fsb is rather pointless with miniscule gains. I use an fsb of 295 mhz with a speed of 166 (5/6 divider) and the bios correctly reports the ram speed at 245 mhz.

Those are the options all boards offer except for the dodgey DFI board.

 

[swamyg1]

Is anybody using a x2 3800 with this board and having trouble oc'ing it? I can't seem to get it over 2450 stable ith a xp-90... I understand that it's still a good OC, but I'm just wondering if anybody is having the same type of probs.

Maybe it's my PSU, i dunno...

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: swamyg1
Is anybody using a x2 3800 with this board and having trouble oc'ing it? I can't seem to get it over 2450 stable ith a xp-90... I understand that it's still a good OC, but I'm just wondering if anybody is having the same type of probs.

Maybe it's my PSU, i dunno...

Have you tried slacking the memory timings to something really low to see if maybe it was your memory that was holding you back?

techfuzz

 

[SPQQKY]

Originally posted by: swamyg1
Is anybody using a x2 3800 with this board and having trouble oc'ing it? I can't seem to get it over 2450 stable ith a xp-90... I understand that it's still a good OC, but I'm just wondering if anybody is having the same type of probs.

Maybe it's my PSU, i dunno...

More info is needed.....PSU type, RAM type, timings and dividers/mulitpliers used....etc., etc..

 

[imported_toko80]

Just got my EP-9NPA +Ultra installed, everything seems fine and runs stable. Problem i have is that i can not get any temps (motherboard or CPU) from within windows. I installed nTune from the nvidia website and when i try to load up NVMonitor i get a messags saying my system does not have BIOS support to launch NVMonitor.exe. I am not sure if i inadvertently changed something in the BIOS options that would have done this. I also tryed using MBM and the only temp that i could get seemed to be from the graphs card. I only say it was the video card because when I went into the nvida geforce 7800GT properties that temp said 41 and when i checked MBM that also said 41 and when their was a chance both of them showed the change.

Please let me know if more information is required.

THank,
Matt

 

[SPQQKY]

The latest BIOS does not support nVmonitor, nTune or any of that other garbage software. Use USDM utility on the install disk. MBM is out dated and will not have any new revisions.

 

[RocketsFan]

Hey guys, I just got all the parts for my PC and am in the midst of installing everything. I've run into an issue :

Does anyone else use the XP 120 heatsink with this mobo? I've heard some of you say you do, but I don't know how the heck you managed to install it on there. When I attempt to put it on there, I can't get to 2 of the clips to latch to the mobo because the RAM is in the way. And even worse, one of the heat pipes is mashing against a capacitor on the other side...

stupid thing is I ordered an SI 120 by accident and had them change the order before it shipped... now I'm wishing I hadn't as that one could've at least left the capacitor alone. hehe...

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated guys and gals.

 

[Fallengod]

I cant help you with the xp-120 issue, because ive never owned one, but I will say, I would never use an XP-120. Thats the whole reason they changed it to SI-120. Because the xp-120's didnt work on many mobos.

Are the heatpipes out further from the heatsink than the XP-90? Would turning it around(so heatpipes are facing memory) work? That sounds about right if they are. I use an XP-90 and it fits VERY close to the capacitors. It fits perfect, but it definitely has little wiggle room. I can see how you would definitely have a problem with capacitors if the heatpipes were out any further from the base than my XP-90.

My Advice. Id say sell the xp-120. You can probably get your full money back that you paid. Get the SI-120. I would think that should fix the problem, assuming the heatpipes on that are not out any further as well.

Originally posted by: RocketsFan
Hey guys, I just got all the parts for my PC and am in the midst of installing everything. I've run into an issue :

Does anyone else use the XP 120 heatsink with this mobo? I've heard some of you say you do, but I don't know how the heck you managed to install it on there. When I attempt to put it on there, I can't get to 2 of the clips to latch to the mobo because the RAM is in the way. And even worse, one of the heat pipes is mashing against a capacitor on the other side...

stupid thing is I ordered an SI 120 by accident and had them change the order before it shipped... now I'm wishing I hadn't as that one could've at least left the capacitor alone. hehe...

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated guys and gals.

 

[Azkarr]

Quick question: is there anyway you can view the 12v reading on this board without a voltameter? Seems odd that a modern board doesn't have a 12v monitor in the BIOS.

 

[gfngfgf]

You can also try SpeedFan. That's what I use to monitor my temps.

edit: this was meant for toko80. I could have sworn I clicked on quote...

 

[SPQQKY]

Originally posted by: Azkarr
Quick question: is there anyway you can view the 12v reading on this board without a voltameter? Seems odd that a modern board doesn't have a 12v monitor in the BIOS.

Which one would you like to monitor. Modern PSUs have dual, triple and even quad 12v rails, so which one do you monitor. Only way to be sure is with a DMM, thus the lack of 12v rail monitoring. Also, you can't really trust BIOS for accurate rail measurement. The same PSU will read different on different mobos.

 

[RocketsFan]

modempower,

Thanks for the response. The heatpipes definitely interfere with at least 1 cap, so I gave up installing it that way. I flipped it around and while it does flip, it seems I lose the use of 1 memory slot. I have 2x1GB RAM, so I'm not too concerned abou that yet. The only problem now is trying to figure out how I can wiggle my finger underneath to lock the clips on the heatsink on the capacitor side into position. I guess I'll have to wedge something underneath to fins to pop it into place.

One of the reasons I got this HS is I was looking for less noise. I don't really intend on overclocking. I could've gotten the XP90, but it would've been a bit louder. I may switch to that or try to "suffer" with the sound of the stock AMD HSF combo (maybe replace the fan) and see how that goes. Thanks again.

 

[RocketsFan]

Ok, I gave up on the XP120 after slicing every knuckle I had and I noticed the power cable starting to shred. lol. I don't know how those clowns at thermalright can say this is a compatible HS. I'm sure you can get one on, but Christ, I took the retail heat sink that came with the thing and slapped it on in about 5 seconds. In the meantime I'll look for another heatsink. I don't know... maybe an XP90. I'm thinking this retail fan will be loud as hell.

 

[disillusioned]

does anyone know where to get this board in the Toronto, Canada area? Like a specific store, cause i'm not so sure about getting things online... a website for the store would be much apprectiated.

 

[SPQQKY]

XP90 is a good Heatsink, I'm using one and a decent low db 90mm fan won't be loud at all. I can't hear mine of the 80mm fans I have in my case.

 

[imported_toko80]

I tried speedfan and everest, both report the temps but something seems to be messed up. The temp in the case is 26C which seems about right, that's what it was on my last system in the same tower with a XP2400+. The CPU temp says 42C along with the video card at 42C. I have CPU-Z running and most of the time on my AMD64 3700+ is @ 1004MHz so i assume Cool'n'Quiet is working.

I guess those temps aren't bad but i'm using an XP-120 and I thought the temps would be lower. I played farcry for about 2 hours and the cpu temp never raised, but the gpu and case temp did.

I also had a hard time installing the XP-120 I had to make it so the heatpipes are over the ram slots and maybe i screwed something up installing.

Does anyone have any better ides of how to monitor the temps, with other hardware or something?

-Matt

 

[sgtdic]

ok, well, you guys didn't answer my memory question, but i have another one.

i'm wanting to know about ddr2 support. with this mobo, does any amd cpu currently support ddr2? a friend told me that no amd currently supports ddr2, but the new M2 that's coming out will. i could have swore that amd ddr2 support was released not too long ago. can someone enlighten me? and, what are the settings in the bios for over ddr 400 for then?

 

[AMDZen]

No, there is not any DDR2 support for AMD yet. Yes, Socket M2 will support it once released.