*** Official EPoX 8RDA/+ (nForce2) Thread ***

[drewdogg808]

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
Has anyone had any trouble using a 4600 with an 8RDA+? I'm seriously looking at this board, but I'm afraid I'll screw up mounting my 4600 and fry it.

i have a 4400... just be a little careful when putting the card in. it's a tight fit, but not a problem.

 

[Zap]

Overall pretty happy with my 8RDA+, but have had some sound related issues (using onboard). Three times sound had stopped working. I think twice was playing Medal of Honor and once playing C&C Generals. When sound stops working, as if mute was clicked. No sound, but Device Mangler says everything's fine. Haven't tried troubleshooting it too much (every time happened at LAN parties) but I've been doing the first thing that worked - deleting the sound card from device manager, rebooting and letting it re-detect fixes it. Just turning the machine off and then back on did nothing, nor did fiddling with settings. I noticed that Windows Update has a new driver for it, so I got it. I'll see at the next LAN party I go to (5/10) if this fixes the problem. Besides LAN parties, I don't have much time for game playing so I won't know until then.

 

[Megatomic]

Oh nohs!!! The mods have unstickified the nForce2 threads!!!

I say unstickify half the intel threads and restickify the most popular nForce2 threads.

Edit: I know this was just unstickied a minute ago. Thanks mods?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Does anyone have a rev. 2 board yet? I've got one coming my way from a guy who tells me he is stable at 221 MHz FSB on it and can boot at 230 MHz FSB . Just wondering if anyone has any OC'ing results on them yet.

 

[Fallenjedi]

Greetings All,

I'm getting a EPOX 8RDA+, and I've heard a number of people removing their North and Southbridge passive coolers and replacing them with something else with a fan. What exactly are you all replacing them with, if you are?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amorphus]

using a vantec iceberg on my northbridge, havent decided for southbridge...

 

[Bartman39]

RaynorWolfcastle


I have 3ea. of the 8RDA+ boards none are rev 2... But 2 of them will boot at 245fsb the other a measely 235fsb and I have one running 220fsb and thats with some generic PC3500 @2.7 volts (actual) Also none of these boards have had the VDD modd either... I have 3 different XP1700+ B chips one is an 0302 @2250mhz another is the 0307 which basicly refuses to run more than 205fsb in any of the boards...? And I just got a sweet little 0310 (1.5 volt version) that is running 2365mhz (the 8RDA+ that its in has no cooling modds at all and only has a little SK-6 to cool it, cant wait to drop it in my main rig)...

A conclusion that I have is its not all the board it can be the chip too... Also the chip that runs 205fsb only will run 2200mhz at 1.775-1.800 but it just doesnt like high fsb...?

 

[EGGHplayer]

I have but one 8RDA+ board and can make it boot and function effectively at 260fsb -- won't crash and runs 3Dmark2001 in a continuous loop for over 12 hours. System was not overclocked as I did this: I used a low multiplier to see how high I could go before the platform became unstable. Also installed 2x256 OCZ PC3200 memory. Will report on how the memory works on this board -- any advice from those who have tried it? Also installed Vantec Iceberg on my Northbridge and modified the stock cooling fins to fit the Southbridge. I am a noob to overclocking so want to proceed carefully but so far this board works like a charm in almost every respect.

 

[MARMADUKE]

260fsb when the bios only supports 250fsb is just amazing!..:beer:

 

[EGGHplayer]

Yeah, well after those amazing results I tried to push the board to overclock at 200FSB x 8.5 -- not really overclocked. No dice. Then tried 166 x 1.5 -- again, not overclocked. Board locked, refused to accept values, and would not let me into the CMOS menu. Couldn't log on, coldn't load windows, got boot error messages. Tried Alt-F2 without success until I managed to get te CMOS window and reset to default values. All is well. Reflashed EPROM to latest BIOS and am up and going again. But I am still not sure what happened. Will try overclocking again tomorrow and report. Any advice?

 

[Megatomic]

AOA has the 8rda3507 BIOS and it's official.

This is for the 8RDA+ by the way. I will be trying it later.

 

[alexkraemer]

when doing the VDD mod, is it necessary to put heatsinks on the Mosfets?

 

[Rashad]

Allo
(I'm a bit new to most of this stuff)
Just a few weeks ago I baught an 8RDA+ thinking I could get a most exellent overclock and therefore a very cool 3DMark score.

First thing is that the voltage and temperature readings seem to be a bit off on the board - System temp comes up as Aux temp (system temp is about 32C when on my old Jetway V266B mobo it was 24C. its the same Lian-Li PC61 case!) and Sys temp reading is 7C or -7C.
Vcore and Vdd readings seem to be swapped over. Is there a fix for this, or is the mobo just warmer?

I'm currently trying to get a decent FSB on this thing. Only thing is, as soon as I get up to about 190fsb 3DMark01 seems to crash as soon as the first test starts. I step up the voltages on my CPU and memory yet it makes no difference. However, Sandra2003 seems happy enough running CPU and RAM tests at this speed, is it something to do with 3DMark? Lowering the multiplier does'nt help (although these TBred B's are supposed to be very overclockable aren't they?).

I'm a little pee'd off because i've spent a lot of money on the whole computer and its a shame the mobo behaves like it does. Here's what i've got:

Athlon XP 1800+ Tbred B (AXDA1800DUT3C JIUHB) cooled by Swiftech MCX-462+ and 120mm YS-Tech 125Cfm
Twinmos DDR466 PC3700 2.7v (Twinmos Chips)
Creative Labs 3D Blaster GF4 Ti 4600
Lian-Li PC-61
Toshiba DVD
Plextor 48x24x48
Zoltrix phantom modem
IBM DeskStar 40GB 7200rpm
Tsunami 300W PSU (Generic i suppose)

I know thats a heck of a lot but any help will be appreciated!!

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
AOA has the 8rda3507 BIOS and it's official.

This is for the 8RDA+ by the way. I will be trying it later.

I installed the new BIOS and my USB 2.0 mouse problem seems to have disappeared. This wasn't even in the list of things that the BIOS was designed to fix. I'm happy. Nothing broke either so that is always good. I'll do some benchmarks and see if performance is still above par (as it has been all along).

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: alexkraemer
when doing the VDD mod, is it necessary to put heatsinks on the Mosfets?

No but you need to improve the cooling on the North Bridge chip if you raise Vdd above 1.80V.

 

[Megatomic]

Rashad, more than likely you need to do the Vdd mod on your board, Improving your North Bridge cooling wouldn't hurt either. I had the same exact problem as you. I could run my system up to 197MHz FSB and everything was fine but then at 198MHz or above I'd get crashes on Prime95 or any 3D app (game or benchmark). I wound up picking 190MHz FSB while I had my Corsair PC3200 but I wound up rethinking my entire strategy.

Now I am using 1GB (2 x 512MB) Kingston HyperX PC2700 and I have locked the entire system at DDR333. My 2100+ runs at 2.18GHz (speed of a 2700+ chip) and it does it at barely above the stock Vcore so it is nice and cool with my quiet HSF assembly. I'm very happy.

I can't help with the temp. and voltage readout issues, my readings correlate with my previous motherboard (Epox 8K3A+) and they seem logical enough. What application are you using to monitor your readouts? Have you looked in the BIOS at what they are reported as there?

 

[Stout]

Just buitlt a new system with my EPoX 8RDA+... Have a few questions...

1) Should I use the nForce drivers on nVidia's or EpOX website?
2) BIOS 3402 or 3507 better???

Man stopped building and reading about new tech for months and now I am lost... But after first boot got it running stable and at 333, etc... Re-installing Windoze.

Have read most of this thread and many others for all the good info. Any help or comments will be greatly appreciated.

Stout

BTW Crucial pc2700 seems to be ok.

 

[Megatomic]

Stout, use the drivers on the nVidia website. But just so you know, nVidia will be releasing a new set of drivers very soon.

Which version of the 8RDA+ do you have? More specifically, do you have the new C1 stepping North Bridge? If you do, use the 3507 BIOS. You will see nForce2 Ultra 400 (or something like that) message on POST from now on. This will officially enable support for 400MHz FSB Barton CPUs.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Are all of the new ones from Newegg shipping with the new stepping?

 

[petrek]

Everytime I place both sticks of Samsung Original pc3200 into the board I get the C1 error code. Both sticks passed memtest when tested individually, so it's not the memory. Any suggestions?
I just finished flashing the latest bios 3507. When you unzip the bios you get two bin files 3507.bin and 6a61bpaa.bin, what's up with the latter?

Thanks
D

 

[drewdogg808]

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate
Are all of the new ones from Newegg shipping with the new stepping?

lately they all have been.

 

[drewdogg808]

damn...first double post.

 

[alexkraemer]

My newegg Mobo gets into tomorrow. I'll be curious to see what stepping it has. I have the SMD grabbers and resistors and an order placed for a Vantec Iceberg in case my mobo requires such things. Also, I seem to be the only person who has used Kingmax pc3200 and good results with it. So, we'll see tomorrow what 200 fsb brings...

 

[alexkraemer]

Originally posted by: drewdogg808
damn...first double post.

me too!

 

[Rashad]

Thanks Megatomic

So I guess its a Vantec Iceberg job then huh? Copper or Aluminium? Any real difference? What heatsink is recommended for the SB though? I've noticed that its hotter than the NB.

Oh, the readings are only wrong because I was using Winbond HWDoctor, it doesnt give the readings in the right order (DUUH) but i find it gives a lot more readings than that crappy usdm from epox. But i'm still confused as to why the system temp is 10C higher than my old board. Where exactly is the the sensor fo the mobo anyways?

Thanks again