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

[brzrkr0]

What do you have for BIOS settings USB wise?..I have both USB 1.1 and 2.0 enabled in BIOS.

One thing I have USB Mouse support disabled in BIOS.

I have USB 1.1 and 2.0 both enabled as well. At one point when I was experiencing this problem, I switched to 1.1 only in BIOS, and it did not help. I just checked, and USB mouse support is already disabled in BIOS. I did notice a third BIOS option about USB memory. I'm not really sure what that is for, but I tried switching it from Shadow to 640K.

brzrkr0, i tried some of the settings you mentioned for overclocking. they wouldn't work for me, even at 2T. with my system i found that when trying 2 G, 2.2, and 2.4 Ghz, i got the best 3dmark score with only 2 Ghz. sounds odd right? of course my cpu score went up though. at 2.4 and ddr400 my cpu temp got up to 50 C (smartfan set at 50) and vcore up around 1.6 v on auto. so i'm sticking with 2 Ghz for safe measures and the only thing i have to change is the fsb.

That does sound odd. I didn't do any serious performance testing (just stress testing) in between 1800 and 2520 mhz, but I did perform "before" and "after" tests. My 3dmark01 score went from 19000 something at 1800mhz to 24785 at 2520 mhz. 3dmark03 went from I think 12-13000 (forgot to write that one down) to 15281. and 3dmark05 went from 6868 to 7146.

According to USDM, vcore (set on auto) idles at 1.602-1.612, with cpu temp at 32-35 degrees and video card temp at 39-41 degrees. Under load from prime95, vcore drops a little in USDM (I see 1.573 after a few minutes). I've seen the cpu temp get as high as 45 degrees after many hours of prime95. Vdimm (set at 2.9 in BIOS) hovers around 2.95 in USDM, both idle and under load. I see comparable idle temp and voltage numbers in BIOS as well.

Note that I have had no stability problems at these settings aside fromt the mouse problem.

 

[sgtdic]

your rig is better than mine, as i can't seem to get to 4000 3dmark05 score for graphics. i think my 6600 gt is the bottleneck and relies on the better ram timings for the optimum score, hence the lower scores with higher cpu settings/lower ram speeds. what do you think?

 

[Mem]

Does NCQ mean command queing? And to disable it you go to Device Manager and under IDE ATA/Atapi Controllers/Nvidia nforce4 SATA Controller/properties/primary controller and uncheck Enable command queing?

Yep that is all you do to disable it.

 

[brzrkr0]

Originally posted by: sgtdic
your rig is better than mine, as i can't seem to get to 4000 3dmark05 score for graphics. i think my 6600 gt is the bottleneck and relies on the better ram timings for the optimum score, hence the lower scores with higher cpu settings/lower ram speeds. what do you think?

I'm no expert, but that sounds like a reasonable guess to me, especially if you are dropping the ram speed. I'm using an evga 7800 GT running at stock. I followed the overclocking advice in this thread almost to the letter, and it worked out pretty well.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Would I have any problems fitting a Thermalright XP-90 or XP-120 on this board?

 

[RideFree]

No problems, dependent on case and P/S orientation.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Would I have any problems fitting a Thermalright XP-90 or XP-120 on this board?

Read back a couple pages and you'll find your answers.

techfuzz

 

[Hrochard]

Originally posted by: brzrkr0
I installed the USB data cable and Powerchute software for my APC UPS earlier today, and immediately started seeing some major mouse lag.

My Powerchute software doesn't seem to play nicely with this motherboard's USB, either. It doesn't slow anything down, but it seems to lose the USB connection at least once per day, giving me a warning that it can't communicate with the USB port.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: Hrochard

Originally posted by: brzrkr0
I installed the USB data cable and Powerchute software for my APC UPS earlier today, and immediately started seeing some major mouse lag.

My Powerchute software doesn't seem to play nicely with this motherboard's USB, either. It doesn't slow anything down, but it seems to lose the USB connection at least once per day, giving me a warning that it can't communicate with the USB port.

Are you running x64? If so, it's probably at least part of the reason why it doesn't communicate well with the software.

FYI - APC is releasing v2.0 of their PowerChute Personal Edition sometime later this month. Hopefully it will have better support for x64 built into it.

techfuzz

 

[brzrkr0]

Originally posted by: techfuzz
Are you running x64? If so, it's probably at least part of the reason why it doesn't communicate well with the software.

FYI - APC is releasing v2.0 of their PowerChute Personal Edition sometime later this month. Hopefully it will have better support for x64 built into it.

I'm running 32-bit Windows XP pro sp2. Who knows, though - maybe the new Powerchute version will work better on my system, too.

 

[Hrochard]

Originally posted by: brzrkr0
I'm running 32-bit Windows XP pro sp2.

Same here.

I'm also having the slow boot problem, but on the primary controller tab for the Nvidia SATA controller in device manager, Enable Command Queuing is turned off (in fact, it's grayed out, so I can't even turn it on if I wanted to). Any other ideas?

EDIT: Updating to the newest BIOS fixed the boot problem.

 

[RideFree]

Is it just me or has anyone gotten the USB 2.0 hard drive option to work with nForce4 & raid? :disgust:

 

[thesurge]

USB2.0 work yet?

 

[sgtdic]

works on mine

 

[RobbyG]

Works great on my rig too.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

How well does the Scythe Ninja fit on this board?

 

[DrewCU]

Funny you should ask about the Ninja, as I just put one on to try to cool my temps from the XP-90. I don't know if it is just me, but that Ninja was a pain the butt to get to clip on!!!!! I had to push soo hard on the metal clips in order to get them to just barely get into the retention bracket and this is with following the directions of course. The Ninja fits fine as far as it doesn't hit any pieces of the motherboard, although it is somewhat tough to get the PSU's motherboard cable to fit between the Ninja's body and appropriate place on the motherboard.

But sadly my temps are still hovering around 40'C for the CPU (system with 30'C with Zalman passive HSF) with this board and I don't know why! I have an X2 3800+ with 1 intake Tricool 120mm fan and 1 exhaust Tricool fan both on the lowest settings (which I guess has a lot to do with the temps). I use AS5 with the Ninja as well as the XP-90 and no matter what I do, the temps stay around 40'C! I hear about some people idling at 26'C and figured that should be me, but even with these heavy-duty HSFs I get essentially stock HSF results (I think people say stock HSFs are around 40'C).

Can anyone think of a reason the temps don't go down even with supposedly the best HSF on the market (Ninja)? I realize that fans with low settings won't help, but I find the Tricools on even the medium settings to be too loud!

Thanks!

 

[sgtdic]

i'm using stock and i can idle at 29. how much are you overclocking, if any at all? if you have what is considered a high overclock, 40 is pretty decent. another thing, but i'm assuming you have it this way. make sure your front fan is pointed in and the back blows out, otherwise the heat will just fester in your case.

 

[DrewCU]

Right now, I am NOT overclocking and I idle at 40'C which is ridiculous IMHO but perhaps it's not strange considering my fans at low speed don't move much air. And yes, the intake fan is pulling air in and the exhaust is moving it out, but not in very strong fashion. I guess that I could always increase their RPMs but the noise isn't worth it. Additionally, I have the Seasonic 500W PSU which is near silent, but also doesn't seem to move much air either, so I guess that there is a lot of heat (40'C worth) stuck in my case if that makes any sense. But I still wonder if something else like a bad CPU (bad in the sense that it isn't the pick of the litter) or a poor application of AS5 or bad AS5 to begin with. As I mentioned I had a ton of problems getting the Ninja to stay clamped so I know the way the AS5 was applied wasn't ideal (I am sure AIR got trapped but I didn't feel like repeating the process after 30 min of trying to get the Ninja clamped).

Ideas?

 

[RobbyG]

I'm O/C my Venice 3200 to 245*10 and running 48C idle with stock HSF.

 

[Mem]

But I still wonder if something else like a bad CPU (bad in the sense that it isn't the pick of the litter) or a poor application of AS5 or bad AS5 to begin with. As I mentioned I had a ton of problems getting the Ninja to stay clamped so I know the way the AS5 was applied wasn't ideal (I am sure AIR got trapped but I didn't feel like repeating the process after 30 min of trying to get the Ninja clamped).

Ideas?

Did you use only a very small amount of AS5 like in the guide at their website?I'm using Arctic Ceramique paste on my Thermaltake Silentboost heatsink( silent 80mm fan around 2500rpm) and I get 36c on average for idle with my 3800+ x2 CPU.

Case temp is around 30-32c with my 80mm case fans, I do have two fans on my PSU as well.

 

[DrewCU]

I did just a very small amount of AS5, but couldn't apply it in the way you are supposed to where you put a small dot of AS5 and the HSF spreads it out for you to eliminate air pockets. Since I was fumbling with the Ninja trying to get it to clip on, using all of my strength, the paste spread out and each time I tried to reposition the Ninja, it would take some paste up with it and surely introduced air.

But I have to say with the XP-90, I felt like I did a poor job of applying the AS5 the first 2 times so I applied it for a third time and the temps stayed about the same. So even if I messed up the AS5 application, I don't think it would make much difference.

My Tricool 120mm fans spin at 1200rpm I believe (according to Antec's website) since they are at the lowest settings and when I increased the fans to full speed, my temps went down drastically to below 35'C idle. But of course it sounded like my computer was on the runway about to take off! LOL! Not worth it for me! So I put in a side 80mm fan at low speed (hooked up to 5.5V) and that drops the temp down to about 38'C idle. I also took out the CPU fan which I know I know people would say that's stupid, but honestly, my temps were at 41'C without it and at 40'C with it, so I dunno, didn't seem worth it. Since the CPU fan on the Ninja doesn't blow cool air on the HSF, but rather over the HSF, it doesn't seem to do very much at low RPM.

 

[brzrkr0]

3000+ Venice OC'd to 280x9. I'm using a Thermalright SLK-948u. I've seen idle temps between 29-35, and load temps at 35-45, according to the monitor program on the mobo CD.

 

[The Sauce]

How are you guys making out with overclocking this board? On the Lanparty I was able to Prime my Opty 165 @ 2.5 GHz stable (9x275) and even get it up to 9x290 (not prime stable). Now with this board I get a no-POST @ 9x275 and I am still getting Prime errors down to 9x255 (2.3GHz) as we speak....this seems rather poor in comparison. The reviews seemed to indicate that overclocking would be at least as good on this board, and perhaps better. It's not lookin that way to me and this is quite disappointing.

 

[Meuge]

I ran my X2 3800 at 300x8 with no problems at all.