**Official Epox 8K5A Series (KT333) Thread** (Files, Reviews, and Info Inside!)

[bupkus]

What's the default voltage for the AGOIA? What would be a voltage to try?

 

[mooo]

Well said Technonut, russr. I built my first system successfully, but not without trepidation about faulty components. My only strength was in the knowledge that I could turn to this forum for help.

Ruroni, keep the risk reward equation in mind as you evaluate your entire experience.

Also the online marketplace is very immature. People are still grappling with issues in customer service and rating resellers. resellerratings has so far been an excellent source. You can have the very same problems that you are having with online resellers with b&m ones that are not reputable. So the problem is one of reputation and customer service rather than the fact that they are online.

You will get a response from Epox. I had a pleasant experience of receiving a reply within a day once; while another time it took 3 days. You may consider sending them a follow up msg indicating your urgency.

Hope things work out for you.

 

[Mustanggt]

This board does not have the AGPx8 ? is that even something that you can use in near future?

 

[russr]

No, it does not...it is a kt333 chipset board and none of those boards have agp8x. AGP8x is a feature of the kt400 boards only.

As of right now, I think only the radeon 9700 series and a couple of the geforce4 cards have agp8x. I know at least for the geforce4 cards, the agp8x hasn't made much of a difference.

Check out:
this
and
this

 

[Mustanggt]

I am thinking about getting one of these boards whats is the difference between the 8K5A and 8K5A+ ??? just the Raid ?

 

[russr]

Seriously this stuff has been asked a lot of times in this thread itself...not to mention all the links in the original post by the thread starter...all the information you need is there. Please look before asking.

 

[Blain]

russr - "Seriously this stuff has been asked a lot of times in this thread itself...not to mention all the links in the original post by the thread starter...all the information you need is there. Please look before asking."

I agree.
Insane3D made me look through the whole thread last night. As I did I noticed the same questions being asked over and over again. I think that's the reason this "**Official Epox 8K5A Series (KT333) Thread**" has grown to such gargantuan proportions.
Good intentions gone horribly wrong... Sort of like some bloated MS software.

 

[Cosmo3]

I am getting a XP2400 this week and wonder if anyone knows if the 8K5a+2 will support the 13 or 14 multplier with a new release of the Bios. I know 12.5 and under will work by unlocking the last L3 bridge but I would rather use 13 or 14 multiplier if possible.

 

[bupkus]

Insane, could you include a link on your home/root post on how to change jumpers and bios settings to make an XP1600+ overclock to a 1750MHz cpu?
Thanks.

 

[Live]

Originally posted by: Michfan4
Hey guys just thought id join the crowd. Looks like a great forum to post on. This thread definitely soldified me buying the 8k5a3+. But now time for the questions. This was my first build and i was very pleased with how easy it was to do. I cant seem to get the Fast, Fastest, or Turbo memory timings to work for some odd reason. Here are my system specs and pertinent information:

Epox 8k5a3+ (obviously)
AthlonXP Agoia 1800+
Arctic Silver III
Corsair 512mb DDR PC2700 XMS
Thermalright AX-7 with Panaflo 80mm Fan
Antec True 430W PSU
WinXP Service Pack 1

VDimm is 2.57v
VCore is 1.78v

I tried increasing the VDimm by 0.2v with it on Fastest and Turbo and still it locked up right after booting to login screen. Any ideas?

Question #2

Sandra is showing my Chipset as a KT266/A Chipset. I hope this is the same as KT333. Anyone else ever get this???

Im currently running at 46.5C for CPU and 31C for system. I plan on OC'ing this soon to see what i can squeeze out of it. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks. Great thread.

I have the exact same problem. I cant get any faster memory timings to work. And this with Crucial 3200 XMS cl2 memory! If i dont set memory to normal It loads up windows XP but frezez at the desktop screen. This is very disaponting when I have spent a lot of money to get what I tought was the best stuff. I have updated everything accept the onboard lan and raid(I dont use the raid disabled in bios). CPU temp 30-33c and Sys temp 28c. My memory is in dimm slot 3 and 4. Any advice would be most helpfull.

This problem is solved!
It seems Corsairs memory doesnot like the SPD values on this board. but leaving memory set to normal and manually set the timmings works great.

Setup:
AMD 1900XP (SLK 800 with enermax 80 at 3300rpm and Arctic Silver III)
8k5a3+
2*256 DDR Crucial XMS 3200 cl2
WD80JB Hard drive
Geforce 3 200ti Point of view
Antec True 430W PSU
WinXP Service Pack 1
Sorry for the spelling, not my native language since I am from Sweden This problem is solved!

 

[mooo]

interestingly, i am not able to increase Vdimm at all. increasing it by the smallest amount always causes inability to boot. this is irrespective of memory settings. strange.

any one else have this problem? i have a corsair xms512-2700c2 module in the first dimm slot.

has anyone with the 2+ board successfully raised VDimm over the default?

 

[bupkus]

OCing 1600+ to 1.75: I increased the vcore to 1.825 and had a tad of instability so upped it to 1.85 and it's stable but hot(51C).
My Volcano 9's come in next week. That should cool things down some. That was just too easy.
Thanks for the info.

 

[AMDBOY]

mooo, on the dimm volt I'll let you know. I have the same RAM, but looks as if I'll have to RMA it. I only get long beep codes,sucks. Had to "borrow" PC2100 just to boot. Raid question to all. When setting up the raid array on the 8K5A2+ with (2) 40GB drives in RAID 0; what "block size to select for best performance in gaming??....16k,32k,64k,128K,256k,512k,1m,2m. Thanks .

 

[Technonut]

Originally posted by: AMDBOY
mooo, on the dimm volt I'll let you know. I have the same RAM, but looks as if I'll have to RMA it. I only get long beep codes,sucks. Had to "borrow" PC2100 just to boot. Raid question to all. When setting up the raid array on the 8K5A2+ with (2) 40GB drives in RAID 0; what "block size to select for best performance in gaming??....16k,32k,64k,128K,256k,512k,1m,2m. Thanks .

Read up on this Starting Here.

 

[AMDBOY]

Technonut, I'll put on my spectacles, and do some reading. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[render]

I don't think 8K5A2+ is a great board for oc'ers.

I installed one for my friend with xp1600(agoia-y) and 2 sticks of samsung pc2700 256mb.
No matter what I did, it couldn't boot with ram populated in first slot unless I set the ram at 266Mhz.(no ocing but couldn't run 333mhz)

So I put 2 sticks into 2nd and 3rd slots but I had to increase ram volt to 2.8 for stability. WTF... this was original samsung pc2700, which was supposed to run at 2.5v ( no ram problems, 'cause I tested them on different machine)

Epox should put a fan onto the northbridge. It's damn hot without ocing. (If you ever touch it, you know it)
I managed to install a 40mm fan on it though.

edit: I almost rma'ed the board.

 

[russr]

Live, it is more difficult to get two sticks of ddr333 to run at fast timings. The more memory you have and the more individual sticks you use, the harder it is to overclock and use aggressive timings. If I were you, I would use normal timings and try setting cas to 2 if possible.

Moo, most of us here have no problems increasing the VDIMM. I had increased mine all the way to 2.9v w/o problems. You might be having problems because of your power supply or your RAM sticks themselves might not like the higher voltage or it could just be you got a bad board. I would most likely say it is the PSU or the RAM itself though.

Render, a lot of folks have used more than one stick of RAM w/o any problems. The problem you are describing does sound strange. I would suggest that it's possible you have a bad board. But first, check the bios settings and make sure you are not running any aggressive timings...set them to normal. Also try resetting bios using the cmos clear jumper. If that doesn't work, try another stick of ram with each of your samsung sticks seperately. For example if you get a stick of crucial 256mb pc2700 try different combinations of that stick with each of the samsung ones. If you still have problems, I'd rma the board. One last things, make sure all voltage levels are good under full load.

 

[bupkus]

Epox should put a fan onto the northbridge. It's damn hot without ocing. (If you ever touch it, you know it)
I managed to install a 40mm fan on it though.

Out of curiosity I just touched mine and yes, it is warmer than the hs on the cpu. You say 40mm? I wish I had a ruler here cause I have some hsf's for a p133 cpu I've never used and I'm wondering if I could somehow use them. Well, on second thought the clip sure is wrong. Perhaps the fan can be cannibalized. That would be cool.

 

[render]

Yes, I did try one of each sticks in different slots and set ram timing to slowest.
(FYI, PSU was Enermax 465W)

I had rma'ed the board if it would have been mine, but it was for my friend.

Edit: It's 40mm. I used only 2 screws to attach. It's cooling down NR pretty well.

 

[SamuraiJack]

Hi

This is the first time when I post here.

After reading this thread, I was convinced that the 8k5a2 is the perfect choice for me. So after searching the reail stores available to me I finally got one. The rest of my gear is like this:
Athlon 900 @ 1066 (default voltage)
128Mb RAM PQI (this is the first thing that's on the change list, but at the moment i'm short on cash)
Asus gef2mx w tv-out (7100T i think)
Seagate baracuda IV 40Gb
SB Live Value
Labtec Arena 515 (if i remember well - anyway 4.1 system).
Oh, and winblows XP pro.

So far I haven't got any serious issues with this MB except two minor ones:
1. USDM doesn't display my CPU temp. I'm using the version that came on the MB CD. I know that my CPU does't have an internal diode, but shouldn't it display at least the reading from the sensor under the CPU? In the BIOS and at the boot it does, but the USDM doesn't.
2. The onboard sound dosn't output 4 channels. I mean the drivers are installed correctly, I set the 4 channels option, when i test the speakers they all output sound correctly, but if i start any kind of application which uses sound (winamp, movie, game) I only get sound on the front speakers. What should I do to get them all to work? (this one isn't very important since I like my SB live better, but you never know when you need something).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ruroni]

Sent by: CnetPC
Dear Customer,
With your permission, we could place a new order for a new MB for you.
You may return the defective MB back to us for refund after you receive
the
new item.
You would be charged for the new order for the security reason. There's
also
$ 10.00 processing fee charge in this service.
Please reply to confirm so we could place the new order for you.
The RMA number must be clearly written on the outside of the package.
All
returns without the RMA number written on the outside of the returned
package will be refused.
Your RMA # for ADVANCE REPLACEMENT is AR599411021A.
Please send us a copy of your invoice and a written specific
explanation of
the problem along with the merchandise, and ship to the Processing
Center:
210 Meadowlands Pkwy
Secaucus, NJ 07094
You may insure the package and request an adult signature upon its
delivery.
This return authorization number is valid for only 10 days.
The purchaser is responsible for all return shipping charges. Return
shipping charges are non refundable.

Yey!

 

[Ruroni]

E-mail reply by: Epox

Harlan

If you are having trouble with stability try the following multi-step procedure.

1) Update to the latest BIOS from our website if possible and you have not already done so.
2) Load the BIOS defaults (optimized or fail-safe).
3) Shutdown and remove all cards and devices EXCEPT for video, RAM, CPU, CPU heatsink/FAN.
4) Ensure your CPU temperature remains within 30-55 Degrees C. Check in the CMOS or use USDM for this information.
5) Check that your power supply is ok for your particular processor. We generally suggest 300-350W or better.
6) Set all voltage and clock jumpers to the factory default.
7) Retest.

For additional information regarding AMD processors:

Recommended power supplies:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_1039^1053,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_1200_1202^1073^1080,00.html

Recommended CPU heatsink/FANs:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_1039^1050,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_1200_1202^1073^1078,00.html


If the links above appear broken the link may have been split up into two lines in the email. Simple recombine to create the whole link in your browser or visit the main AMD site at www.amd.com and find the pages manually.


Thank you for your interest in EPoX products and contacting our support department. If you reply ensure to include all previous E-mail text. It will prevent unnecessary delays and guarantee the fastest possible response.

Attention AOL Users: AOL software prevents you from simply replying with all previous text history. Workaround by highlighting he entire message then click on the Reply button.

Best Regards,

=================================================
Technical Support (47)
EPoX International, Inc. USA
E-Mail: Support@epox.com
Web: www.epox.com
Please provide previous E-mail text if replying.
Specifications subject to change without notice.

Have you registered your EPoX motherboard? http://www.epox.com/html/register.asp
=================================================

When I emailed them I told them everything that I've posted here, on this thread. If they would have read my email they would know that I've done all of the things they mention and much more.

That's supposed to be Epox customer support?

They've sent me a generic email that doesn't apply to anything I've said. :disgust:

 

[mooo]

Ruroni, I would be mad too!

If there is any Epox CS person monitoring this thread, they will do well to learn that they could lose their reputation and customer base very quickly with such poor service.

 

[russr]

I agree that Epox's Technical support and Customer service could be better, but compared to other motherboard manufacturers all I can say is that at least they respond!

They read your email and provide a list of suggestions...if what they suggest doesn't work or you already tried that, simply tell them that and they will then get on tracking in issuing you an RMA.

The truth is that they receive a lot of emails each day which is why it is better to contact your reseller if you can. Ruroni, it seems that CnetPC has contacted you and you should be pleased that they have.

I urge you to try to look on the bright side of things, 1) you got a response from both Epox and CnetPC. 2) CnetPC's response was better than we could have hoped for. Take advantage of that and keep in mind that you're not really going to get any better CS from other mobo makers. Just be glad u didn't buy an ASUS board...gosh their CS is horrendous.

Keep us updated on how things go once you get your new motherboard from CnetPC.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: bupkus

Epox should put a fan onto the northbridge. It's damn hot without ocing. (If you ever touch it, you know it)
I managed to install a 40mm fan on it though.

Out of curiosity I just touched mine and yes, it is warmer than the hs on the cpu. You say 40mm? I wish I had a ruler here cause I have some hsf's for a p133 cpu I've never used and I'm wondering if I could somehow use them. Well, on second thought the clip sure is wrong. Perhaps the fan can be cannibalized. That would be cool.

p133 HSF is 50mm fan( 50mm fan worked well on Voodoo 3 3000 HS.. )...the Epox Northbridge HS is 40mm fan fittable..or you can dremel that p133 HSF to fit.. ..hmmm...