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

[Montrey]

got the problem with sound fixed, had to turn off hardware acceleration, there's not any. so far running sweet, can't wait to get my geil pc3500 in so i can push the limits on this board.

 

[ravemaster]

i think my new 8rda+ causes lag to my system sometimes but sure.
when i'm using Gigabyte 7VTXH+<Via KT266 chipset>, my system is fine.
but when i change my mobo to 8rda+<rev2.x> this problem appear and start to make
me frustrated.when i play games FPS sometimes decreasing drastic 30-30-30-30-20-30-30-20>/ watch the movies<15-15-15-10-15-15-15>/copying files< make my mouse lag > and
the other PC activity my 8rda+ make my system lag in interval times T _ T;
is anyone can solve my problem?is it because mobo?or ram<i read
some article in other website, and they say is it because the ram>?or something else??

see this file generated by FRAPS :

2003-09-15 19:50:58 - WMPLAYER
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
12 <--- LAG!
18 <--- WMPLAYER try to restore the lag by adding some FPS.. -_-
15
15
15
13 <--- LAG!
17 <--- WMPLAYER try to restore the lag by adding some FPS..
15
15
15
13 <--- LAG!
17 <--- WMPLAYER try to restore the lag by adding some FPS..
14 <--- LAG! <again..>
15 <--- WMPLAYER <no restore because the decreasing is just 1>
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
5 <-- end of movie
0
0

2003-10-09 21:04:05 - GTA-VC <GTA VICE CITY>
20
20
26
14
10
12
18
30
28
28
18
28
30
24 <LAG!Decreasing from 30->27 /29-26 is lag in my PC>
27
28
29
29
29
28
28
29
28
29
28
28
29
28
29
28
30
27 <LAG!>
30
30
30
30
27 <LAG!>
27 <LAG!>
28
28
27 <LAG!>
29
30
28
28
29
27 <LAG!>
29
29
30
30
28
29
29
27 <LAG!>
22
0
2
0
0
0
0
0

HIX !_! when i'm using GA-7VTXH+ my system is fine and this problem never occur...
Anyone help me please..

 

[ravemaster]

i'm using
EPOX 8rda+ rev2.x (new)
Athlon XP Palomino 1700+
Vgen<Infineon> 256mb DDR PC 2100 + Apacer <Nanya> 256mb DDR PC 2100 + Crucial 256mb PC2700 running synch(DDR266)
MSI GeForce 4MX 460 vtp
Seagate Barracuda ATA 7200rpm 40gb (split into 2= C and D)
ASUS 52x + LiteOn CDRW 52x24x52x

Windows ME and the lastest driver for ME(MoBo), Nvidia 44.03 Driver(VGA), BIOS is the latest from EPOX website(i'm realllyy sure about it),

Memory at 6-3-3-2.5 (i didn't overclock it, set it to OPTIMAL)
FSB = 133mhz
AGP Aperture Size = 64 MB
Video Cacheable + Video Ram Cacheable = disabled
vcore=default (1.75v and i have try to raise the vcore, but it didn't help)
vdimm=2.77(default is 2.63. i raise the vdimm but it didn't help too)
AGP Voltage = 1.5 ( have try to raise voltage but it didn't help too )
AGP Speed = 67mhz( try to raise it, didn't help too T_T)

please someone help me... i'm so frustrated about this.

 

[Killrose]

ravemaster, You have (3) different types/manufacture of ram which nForce2 does not like usually. I would try just (1) stick at a time and re-test. You won't have dual channel, but you will find out if you have a bad stick, or one your board does not like.

 

[ravemaster]

alright then i will test my ram today(1 stick at a time). hope it will be good news...

 

[ravemaster]

ok, i have test my 3 rams at one a time.
using Vgen <Infineon> PC2100 DDR 256 MB = LAG T_T
using Apacer<Nanya> PC2100 DDR 256 MB = LAG T_T
Crucial PC2700 DDR 256 MB is currently not tested because the ram is broken and i will fix it and take it back at
thursday

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: ravemaster
ok, i have test my 3 rams at one a time.
using Vgen <Infineon> PC2100 DDR 256 MB = LAG T_T
using Apacer<Nanya> PC2100 DDR 256 MB = LAG T_T
Crucial PC2700 DDR 256 MB is currently not tested because the ram is broken and i will fix it and take it back at
thursday

You should set your bios mem settings to Default or By SPD. I would suggest you try one of the Memmory testing programms listed in the sticky of this Forum in the first thread. One like Memtest86.
That way you can trouble shoot the ram as a component with some assurance that it does in fact have a problem.

 

[ravemaster]

i have set it to SPD running at 6-3-3-2.5

how to use memtest86 to test memory(the settings)??
what should i run ?? default test/all test?/ extended??
how can i see if my ram have a prob/ it's ok??
thx for the reply

 

[Killrose]

If the ram really has bad problems, the default test will pick it up quickly. Does'nt take long to cycle either. So as a quick test, the default test would be fine. And yes you should have ram set to default/SPD in bios.

Test one stick at a time.

 

[bootoo]

BTW ww4397, I haven't read here lately so didn't catch your post. The thouroghbred B's come unlocked; kt400's and up and nforce 2's take advantage of this. Your chip needs to be unlocked. Sorry.

 

[ww4397]

Has anyone tried Nvidia's new overclocking utility that works from within Windows -- ForceWare?

Here is a link to the User's Guide.

 

[Manzelle]

I installed it and looked at it but I really do not see a need to use it. I am already running 200x11 on an 8RDA3+ with an XP 2500+. My temps are fine (36C idle - 40C full load)...my stability is rock solid...no quibbles without it.

 

[Desisuperman]

Overclocking problems. Has anybody experinced overclocking problems as they upgraded the bios on this motherboard? ( Athlon xp 1700)

I used to be able to run my systm at 144/12.5 (1800 mhz) without any problems and i just noticed that my system was running at 1200 mhz. I dont know when it happend or how it happend but i just noticed today so it could have happend months ago when i upgraded the bios

Now, my system is running at 133/12.5 (1662.5 mhz) and i cant push it anymore like i have in the past :brokenheart: For some odd reason i'm unable to push my cpu frequency beyond 133, i can bump up my multiplier which i have done but i cant adjust the cpu frequency. Btw, my cpu voltage is running at 1.775 v.

Can anybody help me with this problem or give me anysuggestions?

 

[Jay77hawk]

I'm 2/3 through the 15 pages of the 8RDA+ thread but had to ask the questions below as I've been battling boot and CDRW performance issues. Sorry about the long post but I want provide as much info. Below is my setup:

Athlon XP2100+, optimal default in BIOS, not OC'd
Crucial PC2700 DDR 512MB, Kinston PC2700 DDR 512MB
TNT 16MB PCI display card (GeForce4 MX440 card RMA'd)
Antec 350W smart power PSU
Volcano 9 HSF (full speed)
Maxtor ATA133 160GB/7200/2MB, ATA133 120GB/7200/2MB, ATA100 80GB/5400/2MB
WD ATA100 160GB/7200/8MB
Promise ATA100 IDE card
Maxtor ATA133 IDE card
NEC DVD-ROM DV-5700A (UDMA 2)
Pacific Digital CDRW 52x24x52 (UDMA 2)
Flashed Oct 17 2003 BIOS, fresh installed WinXP pro, upgraded to SP1, installed NVidia unified drivers 3.13

With fresh install of WinXP pro and the configuration below, the system is stable, ie. Prime95 torture test ran for 24 hrs with no problem. CPU is 39C and mobo is 27C. The hard drive performance reported by Sandra were in line with those of similar specs. HD Tach 2.7 numbers were ok but CPU utilizations were 20%-26%. Aida32 reported no SMART problems. Basically, I want each HD and optical drives on its own IDE channel so here's how I arranged it:

mobo IDE 1 master - Maxtor ATA 133 160GB
mobo IDE 2 master - NEC DVD-ROM
PCI slot 4 Maxtor ATA 133 IDE 1 master - CDRW
PCI slot 4 Maxtor ATA 133 IDE 2 master - Maxtor ATA133 120GB
PCI slot 2 Promise ATA 100 IDE 1 no-jumper - WD 160GB
PCI slot 2 Promise ATA 100 IDE 2 master - Maxtor 80GB

The probolem is CDRW performance: ~11 min to burn a 700MB avi file but only 2 min 10 sec to verify using Nero 5.5.10.35. In the configuration before (more on that later), it only took ~2 min 30 sec to burn and ~2 min 10 sec to verify the same size of file. Note, IRQs for the 2 IDE cards were not shared.

Next, I tried swapping the 2 IDE cards so ATA 133 is in PCI slot 2 and ATA 100 is in PCI slot 4. I got post code "26" a few times and "50" one time and when WinXP finally started to boot, it stayed in the splash screen with running blue dots for 3+ mins so I killed it.

Then, I connected DVD-ROM (master) and CDRW (slave) on mobo IDE2, disconnected the ATA 100 card and the 2 ATA 100 drives and ran Nero CD speed test and here are the numbers:

52x24x52 CDRW (slave):
Speed: Avg 38.44x, start 22.22x, end 50.27x
Seek times: Random 1485 ms, 1/3 1825 ms, full 1262
Test failed at this point.

DVD-ROM (master):
Speed: Avg 29.97x, start 18.42x, end 39.15x
Seek times: Random 86ms, 1/3 100ms, full 140 ms
CPU uage: 1X 0%, 2X 1%, 4X 3%, 8X 6%
Interface: Burst rate 1MB/sec

Watching DVD movies were no problem even with the 1MB/sec burst rate!

As a exercise, I made CDRW master and DVD-ROM slave and the numbers below:

52x24x52 CDRW (master):
Speed: Avg 38.47x, start 23.56x, end 50.26x
Seek times: Random 510 ms, 1/3 866 ms, full 400
CPU uage: 1X 1%, 2X 1%, 4X 3%, 8X 93%
Interface: Burst rate 1MB/sec

Although the seek times were terrible, watching avi movies on CDR in the drive was fine.

DVD-ROM (slave):
Speed: Avg 29.98x, start 18.40x, end 39.16x
Seek times: Random 95ms, 1/3 101ms, full 141 ms
CPU uage: 1X 0%, 2X 1%, 4X 3%, 8X 6%
Interface: Burst rate 1MB/sec

PowereDVD 4 won't play DVD movies saying the drive is not responding.

Next, I reinstalled the ATA 100 IDE to PCI slot 2 and reconnected the 2 ATA 100 drives. All drives were recognized during post and by the IDE cards but WinXP does not recognize the Maxtor 120GB drive although Aida32 sees all 4 of them.

Any idea what's the problem? Out of DMA channels? Need a bigger PSU? RMA the board?

The system was rock solid before I added the ATA 133 IDE card and the 2 ATA 133 drives. I had the 2 optical drives on separate IDE channels on the board and the 2 HDs on the IDE card. It ran 2.275Ghz (12.5x182) with 1.7 vcore, 2.63 vdimm and 7, 3, 3, 2.5 for RAM (Kinston stick won't take anything lower).

Your help is appreciated!

 

[pspada]

It sounds like contention between the various ide channels. Probably sharing, or attempting to share, a resource that does not work and play well with others.

 

[Jay77hawk]

Originally posted by: pspada
It sounds like contention between the various ide channels. Probably sharing, or attempting to share, a resource that does not work and play well with others.

I know it's too much to expect 6 IDE channels to work in harmony. So I'm back to one IDE card and setting up master/slave for all drives. Still, with a refresh install, WinXP only recognize 2 ATA133 drives on the primary IDE channel as UDMA5. It recognized the drive correctly if I only connected one drive. I'm going to try RMA the board.

 

[MonstaThrilla]

I currently have 2 sticks of PC2100 256MB. I'm looking to upgrade with a stick of 512MB to increase my system's total memory to 1GB. What speed should I get? Would the 8RDA accept a stick of PC3200 and actually run it at its top speed (400Mhz)? Or would it decrease the speed to match the other two sticks of PC2100 I got in there?

Also, I can't figure out the Memory Bank config from the manual. Does it matter which order I store them in? Right now I have one DIMM in slot 1 and another in slot 3. I think that takes advantage of the 128-bit architecture. So would I just plug in the new DIMM to slot 2?

Thanks alot.

 

[pspada]

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
I currently have 2 sticks of PC2100 256MB. I'm looking to upgrade with a stick of 512MB to increase my system's total memory to 1GB. What speed should I get? Would the 8RDA accept a stick of PC3200 and actually run it at its top speed (400Mhz)? Or would it decrease the speed to match the other two sticks of PC2100 I got in there?

Also, I can't figure out the Memory Bank config from the manual. Does it matter which order I store them in? Right now I have one DIMM in slot 1 and another in slot 3. I think that takes advantage of the 128-bit architecture. So would I just plug in the new DIMM to slot 2?

Thanks alot.

You'd need to remove the PC2100 for the PC3200 to run at 400Mhz. But with one stick, you'd only be running in single channel mode - whereas 2 sticks give you dual channel mode, and a ~5% increase in performance. Otherwise, all three sticks would have to run at the PC2100 speed of 266 instead of the 400 that the PC3200 is capable of.

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Originally posted by: pspada

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
I currently have 2 sticks of PC2100 256MB. I'm looking to upgrade with a stick of 512MB to increase my system's total memory to 1GB. What speed should I get? Would the 8RDA accept a stick of PC3200 and actually run it at its top speed (400Mhz)? Or would it decrease the speed to match the other two sticks of PC2100 I got in there?

Also, I can't figure out the Memory Bank config from the manual. Does it matter which order I store them in? Right now I have one DIMM in slot 1 and another in slot 3. I think that takes advantage of the 128-bit architecture. So would I just plug in the new DIMM to slot 2?

Thanks alot.

You'd need to remove the PC2100 for the PC3200 to run at 400Mhz. But with one stick, you'd only be running in single channel mode - whereas 2 sticks give you dual channel mode, and a ~5% increase in performance. Otherwise, all three sticks would have to run at the PC2100 speed of 266 instead of the 400 that the PC3200 is capable of.

Alright thanks. A 512MB stick of PC2100 is on its way.

 

[mydangpleeze]

in reference to the bios and overclockabilty issue. there definately is a connection between the two. i've had my 8rda+ rev 1.1 for about 2 months and flashed to the latest bios as soon as i got it. i wasn't able to run my buffalo 3200 (ch-5) chips on tight timings even below 200fsb. i thought this was odd since almost everyone was able to run at 200 with ease. after doing some reading on the web, i ran across a ram distributer which rated their ram compatability with this board specifically using an older bios....an april date if i remember and noted that it wasn't stable using a newer bios. well, i flashed my board to the april bios and low and behold....it was able to run 2-2-2-11@200fsb no sweat. i've flashed and tested using all the bios from april to the most current one. right now, i'm using the june bios and running my 1800 tbred @ 2.37ghz on 1.8v. i have it at 11 x 215fsb @ 2-2-2-11 timings and 100% stable. so my recommendation is to try the different bios and be wary of updating if your system is working fine. best of luck :beer:

 

[Jdinh04]

hey ALL to those people who have 8rda+, i just got one this summer
i hope it runs good, the reason why i haven't used it yet becuz my computer isn't done building yet but hopefully soon

 

[screw3d]

Has anyone here got leaking capacitors like this? Notice that only 3 are leaking about a few weeks ago when I took this picture. Now all four are leaking.

Anyone has experience dealing with Epox/Newegg with this problem?

Edit: Link corrected.
Edit2: Pic with all caps leaking

 

[ww4397]

Originally posted by: screw3d
Has anyone here got leaking capacitors like this? Notice that only 3 are leaking about a few weeks ago when I took this picture. Now all four are leaking.

Anyone has experience dealing with Epox/Newegg with this problem?

Bad link. You forgot the "u" in ".edu"


I'll take a look at mine tonight...

 

[helloguy]

Originally posted by: screw3d
Has anyone here got leaking capacitors like this? Notice that only 3 are leaking about a few weeks ago when I took this picture. Now all four are leaking.

Anyone has experience dealing with Epox/Newegg with this problem?

Edit: Link corrected.
Edit2: Pic with all caps leaking

I think that's pretty dangerous...better RMA it ASAP..

 

[bootoo]

I liked my 8rda+ I bought a second one for another computer. Got a refurb from newegg and was lucky, it was a c1 n/bridge.

That said, it runs fine EXCEPT

When cold I get an error,

"Warning. Bios has been flashed or cmos jumper changed. Reset bios settings" (or something like that)

It also boots up at fsb 100 mhz as if I hit insert on boot, although I find the setting at 133 when I enter bios.

I don't know if this is a serious problem or not. I changed cmos battery twice; am going to flash the bios although I doubt that's the cause. I don't know if I can rma a refurb to epox or if it would even be ethical; the 15 day warranty is over with newegg and I really do like this board anyway.

Anyone see this error? I know I read a thread like this over at amdforums a long while back; with no resolution.