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

[Fallengod]

I swear I dont know what is wrong with my board. It seems strange people are able to OC so easily and high on this board. I cant hardly OC at all. I need 1.625 volts to get 2.5ghz stable in prime and 1.55 to get stable at 2.4ghz. I dont know what could possibly be holding me back. It has to be the board. The cpu does 2.8ghz on friends board and my memory is uber, ive gotten mem to 320 1:1. I just dont get it. I wonder if there is some bios option I am unaware of thats messing it up. Or possible it doesnt play nice with corsair memory maybe? Makes me angry

 

[brzrkr0]

Originally posted by: Snatchface
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.

I don't know how this compares to an DFI overclock, but my venice 3000+ passed 24 hours of prime95 at 280x9. I've been using it for about a week at this speed with no apparent overclocking-related problems.

 

[brzrkr0]

Originally posted by: modempower
I swear I dont know what is wrong with my board. It seems strange people are able to OC so easily and high on this board. I cant hardly OC at all. I need 1.625 volts to get 2.5ghz stable in prime and 1.55 to get stable at 2.4ghz. I dont know what could possibly be holding me back. It has to be the board. The cpu does 2.8ghz on friends board and my memory is uber, ive gotten mem to 320 1:1. I just dont get it. I wonder if there is some bios option I am unaware of thats messing it up. Or possible it doesnt play nice with corsair memory maybe? Makes me angry

What CPU are you trying to overclock, again? I'm using Corsair Value, btw.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Has anyone tried to connect a Soyo BayOne Extreme to this motherboard? I have to connect USB ports and an Audio cable.

 

[Fallengod]

What CPU are you trying to overclock, again? I'm using Corsair Value, btw.

Its a 3200+ E3 venice. Or I should say, they all were 3200 E3 venices. Ive had 4 early E3 3200 venices. Bought from 4 different people, all oc'd on the sellers side at like 2.5ghz with stock volts or higher and on my board, it takes me 1.625 volts to get 2.5ghz stable.

 

[brzrkr0]

Its a 3200+ E3 venice. Or I should say, they all were 3200 E3 venices. Ive had 4 early E3 3200 venices. Bought from 4 different people, all oc'd on the sellers side at like 2.5ghz with stock volts or higher and on my board, it takes me 1.625 volts to get 2.5ghz stable.

Have you tried setting vcore to "auto?" That's what I am currently using.

 

[Fallengod]

Originally posted by: brzrkr0

Its a 3200+ E3 venice. Or I should say, they all were 3200 E3 venices. Ive had 4 early E3 3200 venices. Bought from 4 different people, all oc'd on the sellers side at like 2.5ghz with stock volts or higher and on my board, it takes me 1.625 volts to get 2.5ghz stable.

Have you tried setting vcore to "auto?" That's what I am currently using.

Ummm..There is no "auto" It only lets you add or subtract voltage. You can turn it "off" which defaults to 1.5volts. Or increase volts to get it higher by adding .025 etc...

 

[sgtdic]

ok, something's wrong. there is an auto, let me make that a fact. what bios version do you have? update to the latest if you haven't.

fyi, i've noticed there is almost an auto on everything except the chipset.

 

[Fallengod]

Ok maybe I just dont remember heh. I have the latest bios. Youre making me reboot to look. brb.

EDIT: Ok youre right, im wrong. The auto is at the very bottom of the list. Ive never had a need to use it. At stock, I set it to negative .1 volts, to make it 1.4volts. And Overclocking, youre obviously not going to use auto. Never saw it down there.

 

[sixth]

Well guys need some help here. I just reformatted my system to install windows x64. its been a mess. system ran solid in 32bit windows, so i know i have NO hardware issues. I install windows 64 fine, when i get to the windows boot screen it swipes across 5 times and bluescreens. the bluescreen is so fast i cant see it. i reformatted five times. swapped out components, and reset the bios etc....cant figure this out. anyone have any ideas? I am going to try to put 32bit back on now...see what happens.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: thesurge
USB2.0 work yet?

Here's what I had to do to get the USB 2.0 working w/external hard drive.
Disable s.m.a.r.t in the BIOS. At the same time I did that, I also moved the Raid 1 to the Sill, reloaded XP Pro SP2 and did not install the nForce4 IDE drivers from the CD setup disk.
Whatever it was, it worked.

 

[sixth]

well i just reformatted back to 32bit and wtf, bluescreen before getting into windows. how can i go from a solid pc, reformat, not change anything, and now cant boot windows?

 

[RideFree]

Did you use the JCMOS jumper pin to reset the BIOS?

 

[sixth]

just went in and deleted my raid config in the nvidia raid controller setup, reconfigured the raid array, and now i am going to try formatting again. otherwise i am out of options.i am so fuXor!

 

[sixth]

yes. i used the JCMOS jumper pin to reset the bios.

 

[RideFree]

It's amazing how similar our systems are, component-wise.
The major difference, of course, is that mine now works. :music:

You can fiddle with all of the following once it comes back to life.
1. disable s.m.a.r.t.
2. plug keyboard into PS2
3. set your first raid up on the Sill
4. use XP to format the raid vdisk
5. install
6. As Rev. Skunk would say, "Letuspray."

 

[brzrkr0]

Originally posted by: modempower
And Overclocking, youre obviously not going to use auto.

I'm using auto with a 720 mhz overclock. You think that'll cause any problems?

 

[sixth]

well still no go here...maybe its the latest epox bios...i dunno. cant get raid to boot windows. reformatting with ONE raptor. see if it works, only thing i can think of is a raptor died on me, either that or my board is dead cause i have DONE EVERYTHING under the sun to get this to work..

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: brzrkr0

Originally posted by: modempower
And Overclocking, youre obviously not going to use auto.

I'm using auto with a 720 mhz overclock. You think that'll cause any problems?

Yes, otto works very slick on these.

 

[Exnihilo]

Originally posted by: Mem

I flashed my bios to the 10/18/05 version and I even used the Magic Bios utility, but it still won't boot with my new video card. As I said everything works great when I put in that old PCI video card, but when I put my x800gto2 into the PCIx16 slot, then the computer won't post. I really wish I had another mobo to try the card in or another PCIx16 card to try in the mobo.

I am really tempted to RMA the video card, but I want to be sure I've tried everything. What do ya think?

Sounds like a dead video card to me,only way you can be sure is to try it in a different PC,your PSU is more then adequate for the x800 video card so I would rule out PSU problem.

Well its been awhile, but I got a new 6600GT from New Egg and tried it in my Epox mobo. It fired right up, beautifully! Now I'm sure I got a dead video card and that has been my problem all along. I haven't tried the bad card in a different board yet cuz my new board (for my upgrade) got stuck in the snow. I'm releaved that my Epox board is good but I am dreading the RMA process for the card.:frown: It's a Sapphire card and their support seems to suck! The return period for the website I bought the card from expired on me. Wish me luck.

Thank you guys for the help with figuring this out!:thumbsup:

 

[Exnihilo]

Originally posted by: Ultralight
Does anyone know if 9NPA+Ultra and Crucial Ballistix RAM are compatible? I went over to the Crucial website and though it listed Crucial RAM compatible with Epox boards it didn't list the RAM I was interested in. No big deal because it was quite possible that it wasn't an exshaustive list nor is Epox on their main list of mobo manufactures. And so I decided to try their "Online Experts." When the agent Akbar (I'm not making this up) asked me how he could help I explained that I was seriously looking at the Epox motherboard in question and if the Ballistix RAM that was given to me as a gift were compatible. I also explained the PC still had to be built.

The advice I received was that the modules had to be placed in the motherboard to find out. Hunh? So I explained again that the system wasn't built yet and I still didn't have the motherboard. I was then given the advice to allow Crucial's system scan to see if their was compatibility. Right then I knew I had entered the Twilight Zone.

Again I explained that the system hadn't been built yet. I couldn't scan something that wasn't in existence. So then Akbar asked what the product number was. Now I will admit this is where my ignorance comes in because it has been 6 years since my last build. So I replied there are 4 different sets of numbers on each stick. Which one did he want? Online Expert said, "The Crucial one." With alacrity I left the Zone.

Please, can anyone tell me if there is compatibility btween this motherboard and this RAM?

Ultralight,
On the Crucial website, try going to the "Performance Memory" page and run the Memory Advisor from there. You will see the the Ballisitix IS compatible with the PNPA+Ultra. I have the same memory as you they work fine (once I installed a good video card that is).

I can relate to you. This was my first build and my newest system before this has an AMD K6 450mhz processor. I spent hours on the internet reading reviews and forums, and browsing New Egg. Hats off too you, bro!

 

[adrena]

only hit on epox is the customer service

 

[ubergamer1337]

Im wondering if someone could help me with a problem with the Epox ultra. I cant install windows on the pc for some reason. The Computer will not start loading any windows CD put in, i have tried several. The board, however, will load the cd that came with the motherboard. Does anybody have any idea why they will not boot? I have also tried the windows disks in other pc's just to see if the disk(s) actually work.

Epox 9NPA+Ultra
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Corsair ValueSelect at 400 (2x512)
using radeon 7000 for GFx card until my new one arrives
Maxtor 80 Gig IDE for windows, with a Maxtor 200Gig SATA for other software
Rosewell Case

 

[brzrkr0]

I just added a second gb stick of Corsair Value, and now I can't overclock nearly as far as before. I haven't done extensive stress testing yet, but my max post is 270x9 with 5:4, or 280x8 with 3:2. My best setting for passing 1 run of memtest86 so far is 250x9 5:4. All this is at 3-4-4-8 1T. I wonder if the board can't handle 2 gigs as well as 1 gig, or if my new stick isn't as good as the old one? I'll try the new stick by itself and see how it fares.

 

[imported_Leporello]

Yesterday I dumped 1024MB of Corsair TwinXL 3200Pro in favour of 2048MB DUAL Channel Patriot 3200LLK. My Corsair memory would not run above 333Mhz in the Epox 9NPA+Ultra but it had run well for two years in my previous Intel system.

I'm not an overclocker so the Patriot memory suits me well. I note that Patriot memory gets quite good reviews on some overclockers sites.