EVGA NF4 SLI (NF41-AX) report

[MichaelD]

**27 Aug edit**

It's the weekend, and I've actually got some time to myself, so I thought I'd post some benchmarks. Nothing is overclocked or tweaked. All default settings. Memory is running by SPD with a 1T Command Rate. If there's something you'd like me to run, please link me to it/tell me how to use it, and I'll do it. All benchmarks are the latest available/patched/etc.

Test System
MB: EVGA NF-41
CPU: AthlonX2 4400 (with stock HSF)
MEM: 2GB (2x1GB) Crucial PC3200 (CAS3.0 3-3-8)
Videocard: EVGA 7800GTX
HD: 2 x 250GB SATA 7200rpm Maxtors, RAID0 using onboard SATA


SANDRA
CPU: ALU 18637/FPU 7000
MEM: 5512/5446

SuperPi
1M: 38s
2M: 1:28
4M: 3:15

3DMark2003
16338

3DMark2005
7855

PCMark05
1020 (can't be right, but that's what it says...it doesn't like the SATA I think )

Individual Scores:
CPU: 4424
Memory: 4263
Graphics: 6238
HDD: n/a

ATTO
Best Write/Read: 110/103MB/s (Heh, PCMark's definitely got a bug up it's butt. This is no 15K rpm SCSI score, but in real world usage, it's mighty speedy. Plus, I'm digging the skinny SATA cables! )


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I purchased the EVGA NF4/7800GTX combo from Newegg. I also purchased 2GB (4x512MB) sticks (2 x 1GB kits) of Patriot PC3200 XBLK...the "good stuff."

The board wouldn't boot with all four sticks in. So I took two out, leaving just two slots (dual channel) filled.

Wouldn't boot. Cleared CMOS. Would't boot. Took one stick out, leaving one. It boots. I go in and set everything to defaults and reboot. Wouldn't boot. Tried again and it booted. Shut it down, put in second stick for dual channel and it wouldn't boot.

I tried ALL combinations of different sticks (all four are identical) and only 1 out of 10 times would it boot with one stick.

So, I grab my 2 x 512MB sticks of Patriot LLK PC3200 (the cheaper stuff). It boots dual channel, single channel, sticks swapped to any memory slots. :roll:

This board does NOT like memory w/tight SPD timings.

I'm installing WinXP now. What sucks is that now I have to take it in the shorts w/a 15% restocking fee at Newegg. They will say "It's not our fault that you chose the wrong memory." I guess they are right.

I have no idea how to set this board up. The manual is a POS. The driver CD that comes with it has all the BIOS post codes (boards' got the LED post code dispaly ala Epox) which is neat. The CD also has a "BIOS Settings" PDF which kinda explains things...I'll have to read the whole thing.

I guess I'll just get Windows loaded and see what happens from there.

One thing I really DON'T like about the MB is that you cannot diable the "EVGA" splash screen at boot; it hides the info about the CPU/memory. I don't even know at this point if both cores of this X2 CPU are functioning, nor at what speed!

I only have the 24-pin and square 4-pin connectors in. The 12v Molex by the PCI-E slots is labeled "SLI 12v connector." The manual says nothing about it. The three PCI-E slots are clearly labeled "SLI" "SINGLE" "SLI" I'm using the single blue slot in the middle instead of the two yellow connectors to either side. Seems to be running fine.

BBL.

 

[Markfw]

Well, I don't know the board. What did you give for the memory ? maybe I could use some. Anyway, onece you get it up, try cpu-z. Then when you are ready to try a light OC, call me (you have my number)

Short case on OC:
use htt 4x, voltage 1.4v, max memclock=166, fsb/htt=220, should be fine. Probably get to 230-235, try 5 more at a time from those settings.

 

[John]

As far as the restock on the memory, call Newegg and tell the CSR that you just bought a bunch of parts from them and provide the order number. Also explain that the board doesn't like the Patriot memory and you were wondering if they could please waive the restock if you bought a different brand. This method worked for me a few months ago.

The blue slot on the eVGA SLI board is for single cards so you did good.

BTW the manual is wrong in regards to memory placement. For Dual Channel Mode use DIMM 1 and DIMM 3 or DIMM 2 and DIMM 4.

 

[garikfox]

"And"

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: John
As far as the restock on the memory, call Newegg and tell the CSR that you just bought a bunch of parts from them and provide the order number. Also explain that the board doesn't like the Patriot memory and you were wondering if they could please waive the restock if you bought a different brand. This method worked for me a few months ago.

The blue slot on the eVGA SLI board is for single cards so you did good.

BTW the manual is wrong in regards to memory placement. For Dual Channel Mode use DIMM 1 and DIMM 3 or DIMM 2 and DIMM 4.

Thanks very much, John. I'll give that a shot w/Newegg on Monday. Yeah, I figured out the manual was incorrect. After years of messing w/dual channel boards I said to myself: "Ah no. It's got to be 1-3, 2-4...and the slots are color coded!"


I didn't do much w/the board last night. I ran benchmarks on it to check stability and that was all good. But, I had a couple of lockups while just navigating thru folders and such. No BSOD, just hard locks. So, I want to tinker some more with it. The 4400X2/7800GTX combination is just stupidly fast.

Here are some initial scores; no tweaking at all, all setting in BIOS stock, memory at SPD:

Sandra:
CPU: ALU-18641/FPU-6983
Mem: 4696/4696

SuperPI
1M: 38s

3DMark
3DM2005: 7794
3DM2003: 16248

I need to call EVGA to find out what memory they recommend for this board. Crucial doesn't even have EVGA listed as a MB manufacturer and the JETWAY board (Jetway makes the EVGA board) isn't listed. You would think that you could just find some other manuf's NF4 SLI board and use that recommended memory, no? Same chipset...

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Hmm....could you give us what the bios options are like on this board?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Hmm....could you give us what the bios options are like on this board?

Uh, ok. What would you like to know? This is my first A64 system so I've got nothing to compare it to; i.e. this board vs. an Asus A8N, etc.

 

[Markfw]

ouple of lockups while just navigating thru folders and such

That smells of not enough power. What PSU do you have ?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Hmm....could you give us what the bios options are like on this board?

Uh, ok. What would you like to know? This is my first A64 system so I've got nothing to compare it to; i.e. this board vs. an Asus A8N, etc.

Well I suppose the OPTIONS don't really matter, it's more how well the board can SUPPORT those options. However, I'm more curious as to what the vDimm is.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

ouple of lockups while just navigating thru folders and such

That smells of not enough power. What PSU do you have ?

I have a Sparkle 550w EPS PS that I was running my dual-Xeon with. It's got a 36A single-12v rail and a 40A 5v rail. Should be fine, I would think. Guys over at 2CPU verified this.

 

[Markfw]

woa, that sounds like enough, but thats exactly what my other X2 was doing until I upped the power supply. Maybe I should PM Duvie to this thread, and see what Ideas he has.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Hmm....could you give us what the bios options are like on this board?

Uh, ok. What would you like to know? This is my first A64 system so I've got nothing to compare it to; i.e. this board vs. an Asus A8N, etc.

Well I suppose the OPTIONS don't really matter, it's more how well the board can SUPPORT those options. However, I'm more curious as to what the vDimm is.

Ram voltage is variable from 2.55 to 3.25. I've never seen DIMMv that goes that high before.

The bios has all kinds of adjustments I've never seen before; it looks to be one heck of an overclocking board. The fact the board has no Firewire is offset by the fact that my Audigy2ZS has a FW port on it. Score.

 

[Hacp]

Looks like jetway makes crappy boards............. Or at least picky ones.

 

[Duvie]

I am at a lost of the mobo you chose...Sort of an untested one, IMO...

I think the power supply is good, and leaning towward incompatability issues as stated...

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Duvie
I am at a lost of the mobo you chose...Sort of an untested one, IMO...

I think the power supply is good, and leaning towward incompatability issues as stated...

The motherboard choice was easy; it was free. It was part of a Newegg Hot Deal. This mobo + EVGA 7800GTX - $549.

I'm going to load up some games on it...that's what I bought this for in the first place. We'll get to tweaking later.

 

[John]

FWIW I'm using 2x512MB TwinMOS Speed Premium (UTT) DDR400 modules in DIMM4 & 4 (blue slots) on the EVGA SLI board as we speak, and so far they are passing Memtest86+ v1.6.

 

[Hacp]

seems that they like the new bh-5 .

Edit: A warning. Don't buy the speed premium. They aren't bh-5 anymore.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Hmm....could you give us what the bios options are like on this board?

Uh, ok. What would you like to know? This is my first A64 system so I've got nothing to compare it to; i.e. this board vs. an Asus A8N, etc.

Well I suppose the OPTIONS don't really matter, it's more how well the board can SUPPORT those options. However, I'm more curious as to what the vDimm is.

Ram voltage is variable from 2.55 to 3.25. I've never seen DIMMv that goes that high before.

The bios has all kinds of adjustments I've never seen before; it looks to be one heck of an overclocking board. The fact the board has no Firewire is offset by the fact that my Audigy2ZS has a FW port on it. Score.

Not too shabby. Now the question is: Can the board HANDLE that much voltage? . However judging from what you said, it looks like they tried to get into the overclocking arena.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: John
FWIW I'm using 2x512MB TwinMOS Speed Premium (UTT) DDR400 modules in DIMM4 & 4 (blue slots) on the EVGA SLI board as we speak, and so far they are passing Memtest86+ v1.6.

Thanks John. How did they do w/Memtest?

I need to know what I'm "buying" when I call Newegg tomorrow. I'm leaning towards 2x1GB sticks b/c I want 2GB of ram.

Should I check out TwinMOS?

How about this Crucial 1GB?

I checked out Crucial's Memory Advisor and it doesn't find anything for my board; neither the EVGA NF41 nor the Jetway 939NF4 are listed.

HOWEVER, I put in the Asus A8N and the above module pops up. NF4 is NF4, right? That's my logic. I think I'm going to go with 2x the above Crucial stick...unless I get something back from EVGA.

 

[MichaelD]

INITIAL GAMING REPORT

Loaded up Far Cry (no patches) Game loaded fast! (this rig w/a X2 CPU FLIES!).

Game started right up, but the textures were all messed up; everything was way too bright. (I am running the latest NF4 drivers and the latest videocard drivers).

Applied four patches to bring FC up to date (1.33 being the latest patch) and now it's Perfect. Playing at 1280x960, everything cranked up to max.

If someone would tell me how to see FPS, I'll report it. It's beautiful, though.

 

[MichaelD]

Ran into some probs w/FC. Don't know if it's motherboard/CPU related or patch related.

While driving the truck, you "lose control" over it and you just keep flying forward, off the map. No way to recover; you have to stop the game and reload.

This might be related to patch 1.33, I don't know for sure.

Tonight, I"ll load up HL2 and see how that runs.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Thanks John. How did they do w/Memtest?

223MHz cas 2.5-4-4-8 @ 2.6v is where I am at so far and since this build isn't for me I'll be content with the current settings.

The Crucial modules should work like a champ.

 

[Maulin]

I recently got this board from EVGA as part of their deal, so far I am kinda dissapointed. I've had a few problems with this board.

1: I have a thermalite xp 90 heatsink and I dont think its compatible with the board. After removing the stock base that comes with the board I found that the holes in the mobo are too big for the thermalite base. I had to use some nuts and washers to get a good fit. can anyone confirm this?

2: I also think because of what I did the the nut now scrapes one side of the HS causing (maybe) not so perfect contact with the cpu. my idle temps in the bios are 38-39 C is this normal or somewhat on the higher side? I use a panaflow 92mm fan with the xp 92. there are also 2 case fans, a 120mm fan in the back and a 80mm fan in the front.

3: CPU-Z makes my system freeze everytime I try and run it, MBM, speedfan and NTUNE DO NOT report cup temps?!

4: I cant increase the fsb beyond 220?! I tried to increase the htt voltage and the chipset voltage but that dosent help. RAM speed was at 100mhz and cpu Multi was at 5x

Do i just have a bad board? should I get a replacement or should I just get my money back and go with another company?

Also the EVGA logo during bootup can be removed by hitting the TAB key
Thanks

 

[acroig]

Also, as far as RAM goes, note that the manual that comes with the board is WRONG on where the DIMMS go. For dual channel 1T mode use DIMM 1 + 3 (Blue) or DIMM 2 + 4 (Yellow). My OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 TCCD does just fine. My 3700+ is idling at 48c with a Thermaltake Volcano. So far no program can correctly see CPU voltage or temperature in Windows, only inside the BIOS. I have made evga aware of this and hope a BIOS update is coming. I would suggest everyone go to evga.com and post in the motherboard forum so we can get a new BIOS soon.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks for letting EVGA know about the bios thing, Acroig. More folks need to complain, then maybe something will get done.

So far, MBM,Speedfan, etc cannot read temps/volts.

Word on the "TAB key trick" is getting around; that's good. The board is not bad...it just needs a bios update...badly.

On another note, I RMAd the Patriot XBLK memory and purchased two 1GB sticks of Crucial PC3200 (CAS3.0) Hoping that stuff does the trick.

I currently have 1GB of memory in there (2x512MB sticks of Patriot LLK), but 1GB doesn't cut it anymore, you know?