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

[brzrkr0]

I just got this board recently. This is my setup:

Epox EP-9NPA+ Ultra
I think it has the 8/4 bios... I'll double check this later.
Venice 3000+
Thermalright SLK-948u
eVGA Geforce 7800 GT
Corsair Value Select, a single 1 GB stick
Antec Sonata case
Antec Truepower II 380 (24 pin, came with the case)
Maxtor 250gb SATA 150 hard drive
One DVD-RW drive and one floppy drive

So far I've been able to:
- boot into Windows with a 350mhz HTT.
- pass one run of memtest86 with the RAM at 233mhz, 2.5-3-3-7 1T, vdimm 2.9v.
- 19 hours stable with the default prime95 torture test at 280x9, 3x HT, 1:2 RAM, 2.5-3-3-7 2T, vcore set to auto, vdimm set to 2.8v.

I'm going to try prime95 with the best cpu and ram speeds/timings from those tests above. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

[Exnihilo]

Originally posted by: sgtdic
i mostly use epox's usdm or thunderprobe to monitor temps.

exnihilo, use your video card that works and use the magic bios that came on the mobo utility cd to flash to the newest bios. i've used it several times now and i haven't had a problem with it. then put in your x800 and see if that works. it seems i remember hearing about this problem before but i don't recall there was a solution. good luck anyway

Well, I flashed my bios to the 6/29/05 version (I used the bootable floppy method). I downloaded (using my new computer with the old video card in it) and installed the latest nVidia chipset drivers. And I am replying to this thread right now from my new computer with my Epox board, all other components hooked up and the old video card. But it still won't post when I put my x800gto2 in. Everything works perfectly except when I try the new video card. I'm starting to think I have a bad PCIx16 slot or a bad video card. I'm leaning toword the card. What do you guys think? Is there a way to tell in the Device Manager if the PCIx16 slot is working? I looked and no PCIx16 is listed, but maybe it's just labled "PCI."

 

[Exnihilo]

Orcishhuman, I REALLY love my Lian Li PC-60APlus case. It comes with four fans including one that blows right on the video card and a funnel thing that suck hot air away from the CPU. It has a few gadgets you have to hook up, but the instructions aren't bad and I didn't think it was too hard.

 

[Mem]

Well, I flashed my bios to the 6/29/05 version (I used the bootable floppy method)

Why did you not flash to latest version?... dated OCT 18th (9npa5a18.bin),your version is very old.

Btw anybody else got the Nvidia SW IDE driver installed? I have notice slow boot up sometimes (3 to 4 mins) to load Windows,I'm trying it now with NCQ disabled I heard this solves that problem ,will report back if it fixes it.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Actually I tried my powersupply and ram in a FX-53 system, msi board, and 6800 ultra and it was perfectly stable.

I just recieved my third unit in yesterday from newegg and what do you know. It boots and turns off and on properly but won't get to post. Error C1. I just tested my ram in a different system and it was fine. To be thourgh I went to work (Office Depot) and picked a 1 512 stick of pny ram. Nothing.. Same issue. I have an extremely low opinion of their boards. In fact I highly recommend everyone stay away from them. (God bless you if you are having good luck with yours but I have had three different boards with three different and unrelated problems.

Amazing... and I am at my witz end.

An Angry Monkey

 

[Mem]

To be thourgh I went to work (Office Depot) and picked a 1 512 stick of pny ram. Nothing.. Same issue. I have an extremely low opinion of their boards.

You should stick with using quality ram,try Crucial memory works great in this board,C1 is memory problem,to rule that out use good quality ram like I have suggested,infact Crucial ram works great with virtually any motherboard.

Having NCQ disabled so far has given me no problems with boot speed,this is a great board and I recommend all that buy it to use good quality ram and PSU,it will save you some headaches.

 

[Orcishhuman]

Azkarr, Exnihilo,

Thanks a lot for the input, I got a different soundcard. The PC-60Plus looks like a good case but I was also eyeing out a 3D Aurora from Gigabyte (I don't plan to do any watercooling but the case has got great reviews) and Anandtech say in their review that it makes quiet a lot of noise due to the 80mm fans. I was also hesitating on a Hiper Type R 580W PSU because of the modular function.

Thanks to whoever replied to my post and those who will =D

 

[Mem]

I was also hesitating on a Hiper Type R 580W PSU because of the modular function.

I'm using one in my Epox board,works great,very nice PSU.

Only bad thing I heard about modular PSUs is not great for overclocking.

 

[Orcishhuman]

Mem,

I heard that this PSU makes quite a lot of sound and it can get very hot. Is it true?

 

[Mem]

Real quiet the Hiper PSU,infact very quiet.

 

[Orcishhuman]

Mem,

Thanks a lot, I'll see if I can fit it in my budget (it depends on the choice of my case).

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: sgtdic
oh really? even after trying the boot order and disabling booting from removable in the bios?

1. If you disable removable in BIOS, how does the floppy on IRQ6 boot?
2. Yes, boot-order is remo, cdr, H/D.
Oh, really!

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: Mem

To be thourgh I went to work (Office Depot) and picked a 1 512 stick of pny ram. Nothing.. Same issue. I have an extremely low opinion of their boards.

You should stick with using quality ram,try Crucial memory works great in this board,C1 is memory problem,to rule that out use good quality ram like I have suggested,infact Crucial ram works great with virtually any motherboard.

Having NCQ disabled so far has given me no problems with boot speed,this is a great board and I recommend all that buy it to use good quality ram and PSU,it will save you some headaches.

Actually, I did have some memory problems with the cheap Patriot I just got from Newegg. (I ordinarily favor Patriot but this is the first cheap 2x512 that I've gotten.)
When I switched over to the higher-end OCZ 2x1024 that I happened to have, many speed bumps went away.
Caveat: This is on the +SLI - not Ultra

 

[RideFree]

Oct. 18, 2005 BIOS 9npa5a18.zip is on the tw EPoX site.

This is on the 9NPA+Ultra
2005-10-21
05.10.18
9npa5a18.zip
** Fixed ADA3XXXDKA4CG CPUs how wrong CPU name.
** Update K8 939 down code CPU ADA3200DKA4CG,ADA3500DKA4CG,ADA3700DKA5CF and ADA4000DKA5CF Cool'n'Quiet PST table.
(I think there is also a new Cool'n'Quiet driver to go along with this fix. Must be D/L separately.)



2005-10-12
05.10.03
9npa5a03.zip
** Add CPU ratio X.5 support. ** USB KB still hot plug will hang up USB KB in COMS.

 

[RideFree]

On a side note, there is also the new 9sli5a06.bin for the 9NPA+SLI which I just installed.
A couple of caveats on that:
1. As I use a USB keyboard & mouse, I did the BIOS upgrade from a floppy.
2. It was necessary to completely negate any overclocking process.
3. Had to reset BIOS to optimum settings for flash.
4. (added: am using the nForce EIDE drivers but without an IDE hard drive, just the NEC 3520A DVD on IDE 1 master...the line 0 is disabled in BIOS.)
: Good luck.
Sorry if any of this is old hat

 

[Blue Monkey]

Well I took the ram back and then came back and totally dismantled the entire unit and reassembled and what do you know it boots past C1 for no good reason. It still crashes like my pior 9npa does though. I couldn't finish a 3dmark 05 if my life depended on it.

It is just to unpredicatable. I have had my voltage monitors running and they are fine. I will look for NCQ but I never enabled it in the first place. This board is just crazy. Never had these problems out of my Asus KT133 when it was assembled (and that was a buggy board also but not like this)

I have had my ram OZC platinum 3200 2 x 1GB tested as I said in an earlier post in another system and it worked fine on theirs as did my power supply.

I can't figure it out.

 

[brzrkr0]

This was asked earlier in the thread, but I didn't see an answer. Has anyone used the mini heatsinks that come with the board? Where did you put them, and did you notice any difference afterwards?

 

[Blue Monkey]

I was wondering the same thing about those heat sinks.

I played with my ram a little more and even decided to try a little overclocking outside the case. I think one of my memory modules may be malfunctioning or at least not quite as good as the other. The system won't post over clocked at all even at 2.9V with that one in slot 0 but the other can run on it's own up to 2.4 Ghz. I got to 2.4 at 1.5 V with my 3800 x2 manchester with stock equipment and I was even able to post a score on 3dmark without it freezing 7220 or something. It is totally unstable with dual channel on board.

Due to the uncontrolable nature of the errors I can only assume the devil is in the computer and he is the size of an electron... a rouge electron.

Still kinda trying to figure things out though.

 

[techfuzz]

Exnihilo, there's a newer BIOS on the EPOX website. Download it, read the instructions, and put it on a floppy since you can't boot into windows. I don't know about doing it from a USB device. I've upgraded with CD's, floppies, and thru Windows, but never a USB key or something like that.

techfuzz

 

[RideFree]

"...a rouge electron"
Blue,
Another thing, if a trace on the M/B is at too sharp an angle at the corners, those electrons can go flying off the end as they are traveling too fast to make the bend.

 

[sgtdic]

blue monkey, i thought of a couple things for you to try. have you tried plugging everything up and booting with everything outside of your case to route out the possibility of a short? also i think you have done this, but try each memory module separately to see if that works, since you think one of them might be bad.

brzrkr0, i installed the small heatsinks when i put my system together. i couldn't tell you if there was a difference because of this. and, the color diagram that came with the mobo will show you where to put them. i think it says to install them on the mosfets. anything is better than nothing.

 

[Mem]

This was asked earlier in the thread, but I didn't see an answer. Has anyone used the mini heatsinks that come with the board? Where did you put them, and did you notice any difference afterwards?

I put them on,infact I got some more and have like 13 mini heatsinks all over the mosfets,to be honest was running oK without them,I think they are more for when you overclock as mosfets tend to get rather hot.

 

[brzrkr0]

Stupid question time. What are the mosfets?

 

[sgtdic]

the little black microchips. stands for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET).

 

[Mem]

I got some of these heatsinks,just stick on like the Epox ones.