The EPoX 4G4A+ seems very promising.

[MiklosMillora]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Is anyone running two double-sided DIMM's in their 4G4A? I have one stick of double-sided Samsung DDR333 that I got from Russ at CompuCheap and I was thinking of ordering a second stick.

Do you all forsee any problems with this setup (other than the fact that one DIMM slot will be rendered useless if I use a second doubled-sided DIMM)?

 

[MiklosMillora]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Is anyone running two double-sided DIMM's in their 4G4A? I have one stick of double-sided Samsung DDR333 that I got from Russ at CompuCheap and I was thinking of ordering a second stick.

Do you all forsee any problems with this setup (other than the fact that one DIMM slot will be rendered useless if I use a second doubled-sided DIMM)?

NFS4 I currently have 2 sticks of 512 PC2700/DDR333 Samsung ram running in slots 1 and 2 with no problem. 1.6a @ 2.4 DDR @ 375
Oh by the way they are both double sided

 

[Quixotic]

Hmm... I have the same setup and its stable at 2.4GHz with the 1:1 divider and 1.625V CPU Core (DDR at only 300). I tried using the 4:5 divider but even with +0.3V for the memory (2.8V total) it crashes when I run Prime95 and 3DMark2001SE together. If I remember correctly, it works fine with just Prime95 (my 3:4 divider setup with 150FSB and DDR400 ran Prime95 fine by itself but would crash often when doing something else like playing MP3s). Have you tried stress testing with both Prime 95 and 3DMark2001SE (on continuous loop) to see if it works? Usually it crashes within the first hour for me. I've been considering taking out one of the memory sticks to see if it's more stable with just one slot filled. Anyone else have any helpful insight or suggestions? Thanks!

NFS4 I currently have 2 sticks of 512 PC2700/DDR333 Samsung ram running in slots 1 and 2 with no problem. 1.6a @ 2.4 DDR @ 375
Oh by the way they are both double sided

 

[Lance22]

Originally posted by: kgraeme
LOL! Just be glad that the P4 is forgiving enough to let you live and learn.

So true, if I were my cpu, id be long gone by now! Im about to take out my cpu and put some arctic silver on it...hopefully it'll be nice and work for me afterwards, at a lower temp. =]

 

[ahsia]

Okay, after hours of changing voltage settings, FSB settings, I am about to give up. After receiving my Radeon 8500LE today, I was excited to see what my 1.6A and 4G4A+ can do with the 8500LE on 3DMarks. Well, after installing XP, I went ahead and installed Intel's chipset drivers, application accelerator, and windowsupdate. Everything went down hill after that.

Prior to installing those updates and drivers, I was able to boot into Windows at 2.4GHz (150*16), although Prime95 would crash. At 1.75v, I felt the voltage was too high, so I decide to run it at 2.3GHz, and I ran Prime95 for 13 hours last night, no crash (I did not install the chipset drivers yesterday). But after getting the Radeon 8500LE, and reinstalling XP, the chipset drivers, and windowsupdate, I can at best only run at 2.0GHz (125*16), and finish 3DMarks with a 9359 score. I tried 2.2GHz, 3DMarks crashes at the start of benchmarking. 2.3GHz, XP doesn't finish loading. I can boot into 2.4GHz, but again, XP doesn't load.

Is my 1.6A a dud? I can boot at 2.4GHz, but I have to run it at high vcore. My temps are fine, even after 3DMarks and Prime95, it hovers around 45C or so.

So what is it? The Intel Chipset drivers? What else can I do?

 

[Quixotic]

Originally posted by: ahsia
Okay, after hours of changing voltage settings, FSB settings, I am about to give up. After receiving my Radeon 8500LE today, I was excited to see what my 1.6A and 4G4A+ can do with the 8500LE on 3DMarks. Well, after installing XP, I went ahead and installed Intel's chipset drivers, application accelerator, and windowsupdate. Everything went down hill after that.

Prior to installing those updates and drivers, I was able to boot into Windows at 2.4GHz (150*16), although Prime95 would crash. At 1.75v, I felt the voltage was too high, so I decide to run it at 2.3GHz, and I ran Prime95 for 13 hours last night, no crash (I did not install the chipset drivers yesterday). But after getting the Radeon 8500LE, and reinstalling XP, the chipset drivers, and windowsupdate, I can at best only run at 2.0GHz (125*16), and finish 3DMarks with a 9359 score. I tried 2.2GHz, 3DMarks crashes at the start of benchmarking. 2.3GHz, XP doesn't finish loading. I can boot into 2.4GHz, but again, XP doesn't load.

Is my 1.6A a dud? I can boot at 2.4GHz, but I have to run it at high vcore. My temps are fine, even after 3DMarks and Prime95, it hovers around 45C or so.

So what is it? The Intel Chipset drivers? What else can I do?

Hmm... what memory divider are you using? I think just about everything above 133FSB crashes for me when using the 3:4 divider (Prime 95 works fine for 12 hours but when I play MP3s, it crashes after 30-60 mins)... try going 2.4GHz using the 1:1 divider. If it works with say 1.625-1.675V, then I'd say its your memory holding you back.

 

[Quixotic]

Originally posted by: ahsia
Prior to installing those updates and drivers, I was able to boot into Windows at 2.4GHz (150*16), although Prime95 would crash. At 1.75v, I felt the voltage was too high, so I decide to run it at 2.3GHz, and I ran Prime95 for 13 hours last night, no crash (I did not install the chipset drivers yesterday). But after getting the Radeon 8500LE, and reinstalling XP, the chipset drivers, and windowsupdate, I can at best only run at 2.0GHz (125*16), and finish 3DMarks with a 9359 score. I tried 2.2GHz, 3DMarks crashes at the start of benchmarking. 2.3GHz, XP doesn't finish loading. I can boot into 2.4GHz, but again, XP doesn't load.

Oh and another thing, dang did you overclock your 8500LE or something? My 8500DV only does about 8000 MAX on the 3DMarks2001SE test. Also, in reference to my previous response, I have the Intel INF chipset drivers and everything else installed, though I am running Windows 2000 (Advanced Server) and not XP so I dunno...

 

[crapito]

07/05/2002 5:50 PM
First, I haven't read through this LONG thread, so some questions might have been answered, so I apologize for asking repeat questions.

ahsia, I think now would definitely be a good time to read this whole, long thread... most of your questions have already been answered before.

specifically, check my "07/03/2002 11:26 PM" and "07/05/2002 10:50 AM" posts for your info related to your latest questions.

 

[Eymar]

Just setup one of this combo. Let me put some Sandra numbers into the mix.

P4 1.6A @ 2720 (1.75v) memory using 4:5 divider (424mhz Cas2.5 6-3-3 2.7v)
Sandra2002 (WinXP)
CPU 5036/3349
CPU MM 10824/13199
Ram 3282/3281

Here's my components(all bought from atacom.com)
Retail P4 1.6A Malay SL668
Epox 4G4A+ (of course)
Corsair XMS3000 512MB

Overall, I'm very impressed. Just recently set this up so haven't done any stability testing. Didn't want to run any torture tests until I replace the stock HSF with a Volcano 7+.

 

[ahsia]

Originally posted by: QuixoticHmm... what memory divider are you using? I think just about everything above 133FSB crashes for me when using the 3:4 divider (Prime 95 works fine for 12 hours but when I play MP3s, it crashes after 30-60 mins)... try going 2.4GHz using the 1:1 divider. If it works with say 1.625-1.675V, then I'd say its your memory holding you back.

I really don't think my memory is holding me back in this case. I have been able to get my system to boot at DDR400, my Mushkin DDR366 is good stuff. I really think either the motherboard or the 1.6A is my problem.

Originally posted by: QuixoticOh and another thing, dang did you overclock your 8500LE or something? My 8500DV only does about 8000 MAX on the 3DMarks2001SE test. Also, in reference to my previous response, I have the Intel INF chipset drivers and everything else installed, though I am running Windows 2000 (Advanced Server) and not XP so I dunno...

Yeah, I did overclock the 8500LE. It came at 250/275, and I OC'ed it to 275/300. 8500's have been known to score well over 10,000 on 3DMark. I think the Intel INF driver does help with the 3DMark scores.

Originally posted by: crapitoahsia, I think now would definitely be a good time to read this whole, long thread... most of your questions have already been answered before.

specifically, check my "07/03/2002 11:26 PM" and "07/05/2002 10:50 AM" posts for your info related to your latest questions.

I did read through your posts, and most of this thread. I honestly do not believe my problem is related to what some of you are experiencing. I can try to reinstall XP again tomorrow twice, once w/o the Intel INF drivers, and once with the INF drivers. Prior to getting the Radeon 8500LE, I didn't fully install my system, so all I did was load XP with a GeForce2 MX card, and try and see how high I can push my 1.6A. I was able to even boot at 160FSB at 400+DDR, but XP didn't last long. I tried bumping the vcore as high as 1.75v, but I could boot into XP at 2.4GHz, run Prime95 at 1.75v for abour 20 minutes before it errored. Today, I receive the 8500LE, reinstalled XP, loaded the Intel INF drivers, and everything just fell apart. I couldn't boot into XP at 2.4GHz, or even 2.3GHz (I ran Prime95 for 13 hours last night before the 8500LE came, no Intel INF drivers). At 2.2GHz, 3DMark would not even start, or would hang after a few tests, and only time I could finish 3DMarks was at 2GHz. I did score relatively high (somewhere in the 9000s), but all of a sudden I couldn't even OC at more than 125FSB.

I read some of you who experience the Intel INF drivers problem, because it wasn't install right after XP installed. Well, I can imagine that would make that big of a difference, but tomorrow I will give that a shot. When I installed the Intel INF drivers today, it was after I installed the Catalyst driver from ATi for the 8500LE. So I don't know if that makes a difference. Anyways, I will try a few more things tomorrow, thanks again for the comments.

 

[ALstonLoong]

Is not all 1.6a can overclock to 2.4Ghz.

 

[crapito]

ahsia, I would be very surprised if you get your setup to overclock above ~150FSB with the 3:4 RAM divider and all the Intel drivers (INF and IAA) installed. AFAIK, the Intel AGP driver hampers overclocking. not sure why, but it does for me... of course, my benchmarks are high with the driver installed and a lower overclock, so it's kinda a moot point.

btw: if you do get your setup to overclock well with the Intel INF drivers loaded, please, please, please describe, in detail, how you did it... thanks!

 

[ahsia]

Originally posted by: crapito
ahsia, I would be very surprised if you get your setup to overclock above ~150FSB with the 3:4 RAM divider and all the Intel drivers (INF and IAA) installed. AFAIK, the Intel AGP driver hampers overclocking. not sure why, but it does for me... of course, my benchmarks are high with the driver installed and a lower overclock, so it's kinda a moot point.

btw: if you do get your setup to overclock well with the Intel INF drivers loaded, please, please, please describe, in detail, how you did it... thanks!

Well, let's just say I have never hated overclocking more. Today, I installed XP, imaged it, and benchmarked my system twice. Once with the INF drivers, once without. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Here are my results:

Without the INF drivers, I was able to boot into XP at 160FSB, 2.56GHz, 400+DDR, but at high voltages. Vcore was at 1.825v, and Vdimm was at 2.8. Ran 3DMarks, but it would crash XP. I am able to run XP at 150FSB, 400DDR, at 1.725 vcore and 2.8 vdimm. I ran Prime95 one hour before I left for dinner, and Prime95 is still running now. Things are looking good. The only negative, my 3DMark score was very low, in the 8000s.

Now, with the INF drivers, what a DISAPPOINTMENT! I was able to boot into XP at 133FSB, 2.13GHz, but at whatever voltage, 3DMark would crash right after I start the benchmark. I basically gave up after that. This was exactly what I was experiencing yesterday, and I was getting tired. Only positive was that my 3DMark score was very high, easily in the 9000s even at 2GHz.

So what should I do now? Is there a board that will overclock better with the INF drivers? Is this just a 845G chipset problem? I know that the ABIT BG7 has the same problem so it can't be just the 4G4A. Has anyone with 845E boards experience the same thing? Need some feedback here quick because I can still exchange this board for something else.

 

[CTPAX]

Read the thread from the beginning. There are solutions of the problem posted (some from me). And yes, from what i read, this is common for all 845g mobos

 

[Judgement]

Is this board worth the extra $20 over the cost of the Abit BG7?

The 4G4A+ is $18 higher then the BG7 at newegg and want to make sure the difference is justifiable before I decide which to buy.

 

[crapito]

Originally posted by: Judgement
Is this board worth the extra $20 over the cost of the Abit BG7?

The 4G4A+ is $18 higher then the BG7 at newegg and want to make sure the difference is justifiable before I decide which to buy.

If you want RAID, yes.
if you don't want RAID, no.
IMHO, cause I have 2 HDDs and a CDRW and DVD, yes, cause I get 4 primary IDE channels. there is nothing wrong with the BG7 though.

 

[benjamin]

Hey all. I'll soon be investing in a P4 around the 1.6 - 1.8 range, along with a DDR P4 board. At first I thought the Epox 4G4A+ was the one I wanted, and although it still looks quite good I'm in two minds, as I've been following this thread and the one over at HardForum. There are certainly a lot of differing opinions on this board, and so I've got a couple of quick questions.

But first, an idea - this thread is quite long and as people have been progressively posting their results as they get them, it's getting kind of confusing. So I was thinking a good idea would be this. If everyone who has a 4G4A could post the best stable overclock(s) they've reached, it would give us all a great data set to evalute the board better, and also to compare it against other 845G boards, as well as the older 845D's, etc.

Also, I'm wondering if, apart from less than stellar overclocking, is there anything else negative about the board that anyone's discovered? For instance, I'm totally off VIA chipsets cause the Southbridges have problems with databursting, resulting in a max pci bandwicth of 75-80 MB/sec, as opposed to Intel's 115 MB/sec or so. Or just weird BIOS / posting / OS / hardware behaviour that you've noticed. (or hopefully lack thereof )

Thanks a lot in advance - I'd love to get a board myself and help with the testing but a) I haven't earnt the money yet and b) they're not available in Bris, Australia yet as far as I know. Apparently my local store wil have them within a week or so, so that's pretty good.

 

[Quixotic]

With INF, IAA, etc. on Windows 2000 Advanced Server:

FSB: 150
DDR: 300
Divider: 1:1 (duh! hehe)
vcore: + 0.125 (1.625)
vdimm: + 0
vagp: + 0

How stable? I've been stress testing by running both Prime 95 and 3dMark2001SE concurrently for 12 hour periods. Well with vcore at 1.6, Prime 95 gave an error once about something not rounding properly, but upping the vcore to 1.625 has proven to be magical. No problems whatsoever. I haven't tried higher FSB, but thats mostly because I'm satisfied with 150, but I've been trying to use another divider but they don't work too well for me (3dmark would crash my computer). Haven't tried any other setups since installed the Intel drivers. Oh yeah, my 3dmark score was 1900 before Intel drivers and 8000 after Intel drivers so yeah I gotta have them

As for negatives about the board... well I had the Gigabyte 8IEXP right before this board and in comparison, the Gigabyte looks muuuuch sweeter (epox board looks like crap) and comes with a lot more features (more usb, more firewire, more connectivity in general). However that was all a moot point as I could not overclock my computer above 125fsb and have it run stable (would crash on normal windows stuff, didn't even have to try prime or 3dmark).

Originally posted by: benjamin
Hey all. I'll soon be investing in a P4 around the 1.6 - 1.8 range, along with a DDR P4 board. At first I thought the Epox 4G4A+ was the one I wanted, and although it still looks quite good I'm in two minds, as I've been following this thread and the one over at HardForum. There are certainly a lot of differing opinions on this board, and so I've got a couple of quick questions.

But first, an idea - this thread is quite long and as people have been progressively posting their results as they get them, it's getting kind of confusing. So I was thinking a good idea would be this. If everyone who has a 4G4A could post the best stable overclock(s) they've reached, it would give us all a great data set to evalute the board better, and also to compare it against other 845G boards, as well as the older 845D's, etc.

Also, I'm wondering if, apart from less than stellar overclocking, is there anything else negative about the board that anyone's discovered? For instance, I'm totally off VIA chipsets cause the Southbridges have problems with databursting, resulting in a max pci bandwicth of 75-80 MB/sec, as opposed to Intel's 115 MB/sec or so. Or just weird BIOS / posting / OS / hardware behaviour that you've noticed. (or hopefully lack thereof )

Thanks a lot in advance - I'd love to get a board myself and help with the testing but a) I haven't earnt the money yet and b) they're not available in Bris, Australia yet as far as I know. Apparently my local store wil have them within a week or so, so that's pretty good.

 

[ahsia]

Originally posted by: CTPAX
Read the thread from the beginning. There are solutions of the problem posted (some from me). And yes, from what i read, this is common for all 845g mobos

I have read through the thread once, and really do not feel like reading it again. But I simply did not find the solutions you are talking about. If you could please explain what the solution is, I'd really appreciate it.

 

[CTPAX]

Based on my experience:
1. Use dimm slot 2
2. Dont use the latest bios, flash the 04/24 one or older...
3. Use only one stick ram, try as many as u can find, till u get the suitable, the fastest ram usualy dont clock well on 4g4a+ (845G), because it causes the agp instability and lockups. Some guy said, that he switched to his old stick of PC2100 and was able to clock it over ddr400, but had no succes with xms corsair 3200, as i recall.
Thats all i think.

BTW. I run fsb160 ddr400 (4:5) p41.6@2.56, Kingmax DDR300 rated )

 

[Quixotic]

Hmm, just making sure but do you mean use only one stick of ram AND use it in slot 2 instead of slot 1 or use one stick of ram but if you use two, use slots 1 and 2? Thanks

Originally posted by: CTPAX
Based on my experience:
1. Use dimm slot 2
3. Use only one stick ram

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: Judgement
Is this board worth the extra $20 over the cost of the Abit BG7?

The 4G4A+ is $18 higher then the BG7 at newegg and want to make sure the difference is justifiable before I decide which to buy.

You can get the 4G4A+ at MWave for $116

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: benjamin

But first, an idea - this thread is quite long and as people have been progressively posting their results as they get them, it's getting kind of confusing. So I was thinking a good idea would be this. If everyone who has a 4G4A could post the best stable overclock(s) they've reached, it would give us all a great data set to evalute the board better, and also to compare it against other 845G boards, as well as the older 845D's, etc.

EPoX 4G4A+ overclocking survey thread

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: CTPAX
Based on my experience:
1. Use dimm slot 2
2. Dont use the latest bios, flash the 04/24 one or older...
3. Use only one stick ram, try as many as u can find, till u get the suitable, the fastest ram usualy dont clock well on 4g4a+ (845G), because it causes the agp instability and lockups. Some guy said, that he switched to his old stick of PC2100 and was able to clock it over ddr400, but had no succes with xms corsair 3200, as i recall.
Thats all i think.

BTW. I run fsb160 ddr400 (4:5) p41.6@2.56, Kingmax DDR300 rated )

Durnit, I was all set to order a stick of Corsair XMS PC2700 for $87 shipped, but now I'm not so sure!

 

[terminalmind]

I am able to run my 1.6A at 2.56 Ghz 160FSB DDR400 using the
4:5 mem ratio with a 512MB stick of Corsair XMS PC3200 in slot 2
with the CPU Vcore at 1.55V.Using the default 1.50V it would boot
in to XP Pro but I got an error trying to run MBM 5 or Sandra.
It will run fine at 2.4 Ghz 375DDR at the default 1.50V. I could
run Prime95 at 2.56 Ghz but My temps went up to 55C so I shut
down the torture test. I am currently running at 2.4Ghz until I
get a better heat sink. Any idea on what the best heat sink for
the P4 is?
Also I am using the onboard graphics until I find a good
deal on a video card.