Socket 754 Roundup: Comparing Generation 2
by Wesley Fink on May 28, 2004 5:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Epox 8KDA3+: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Default Voltage | |
| Processor: | Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.5V (default) |
| Cooling: | AMD Stock Athlon 64 Heatsink/Fan |
| Power Supply: | Antec TruePower 430W |
| Maximum OC: (Standard Ratio) |
248FSB x10 2480MHz (+24%) |
| Maximum FSB: (Lower Ratio) |
283FSB x 8 at 1:1 Memory |
The working AGP/PCI lock on the nForce3-250 is allowing all our test boards to reach the 246-248 range with this late 3200+. A 24% overclock at stock multiplier is the kind of overclocking performance that many have been looking for since the Athlon 64 was first introduced. Frankly, tests of earlier chips were lucky to reach a 10% overclock, so our results here are no guarantee that your Athlon 64 can achieve this same overclock level.
Dropping the multiplier, and testing 1:1 with one DDR550 DIMM, we achieved the highest 1:1 FSB overclock that we have ever accomplished on an Athlon 64 board at 283FSB or DDR566. This result is as good as we have been able to reach with this same memory on our Intel memory test bed; that speaks well for the stability of the Epox 8KDA3+ design. Epox has done an outstanding job with the BIOS updates for the 8KDA3+. The Epox was not very impressive when we first saw it, but the Epox BIOS magic has turned the 8KDA3+ into a remarkable overclocker.
HyperTransport could be maintained at the 4X (800 setting) up to a 266 FSB setting, which is excellent performance. Above this point to the 1:1 maximum of 283 FSB, we needed a 3X HT setting. We're a little surprised that Epox did not provide a 5X HT setting in BIOS, but even without that option, the Epox 8KDA3+ was an exceptional performer.
Memory Stress Test Results:
The memory stress test is very basic, as it simply tests the ability of the Epox 8KDA3+ to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (400MHz DDR), at the best performing memory timings that our Mushkin PC3500 Level 2 or OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd Modules will support. Memory stress testing was conducted by running RAM at 400MHz with 2 DIMM slots filled.| Stable DDR400 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/3 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | N/A |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | N/A |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T (10T for Best Performance)* |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | N/A |
*Several memory tests have shown that memory performs fastest on the nVidia nForce and VIA K8T800 chipsets at a TRas (RAS Precharge) setting in the 9 to 13 range. We ran our own Memory Bandwidth tests with memtest86 with TRas settings from 5 to 15 at a wide range of different memory speeds. The best bandwidth was consistently at 9 to 11 at every speed, with TRas 10 always in the best range at every speed. The memory bandwidth improvement at TRas 10 was only 2% to 4% over TRas 5 and 6 depending on the speed, but the performance advantage was consistent across all tests. Since best performance was achieved at 2-2-2-10 timings, all Athlon 64 benchmarks were run at a TRas setting of 10.
The original BIOS of the Epox 8KDA3+ was rock solid with one DIMM, but not very stable with two DIMMs - requiring slower timings. The latest BIOS greatly improves the Epox memory performance, allowing the same aggressive timings with 2 DIMMs that we could use with one DIMM.
Filling all three available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DIMMs on a motherboard. Epox does not recommend using 3 double-sided DIMMs, and in this case, it is solid advice. No matter what we tried, or how slow the timings we set, 3 double-sided DIMMs would not operate in the 8KDA3+. We do not consider the inability to run 3 DS DIMMs a real handicap on a Single-Channel memory motherboard, but if this is an important feature to you, the Epox is not the motherboard to run 3 DIMMs. Despite the fact that 3 DS DIMMs are not officially supported on the nForce3-250, the other nF3-250 boards did manage to run 3 DIMMs, some at the same aggressive timings used for 2 DIMMs.
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intercollector - Saturday, May 29, 2004 - link
I'm a little surprised to see why the MSI K8N didn't get the gold compared to the Epox. Both seem almost identical in every way, except that the K8N seems to include Firewire. Shouldn't this feature make it surpass the Epox board?The only downside of the MSI board seems to be the limit of a 300 max FSB, which is probably fine for 99.99% of overclockers.
Klaasman - Saturday, May 29, 2004 - link
#7-Thanks for link, but my KV8 Pro still wont boot when selecting "fixed" in bios setup.
Why wouldn't my board have the pro chip? Manufacturing screw up maybe?
Wesley Fink - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
#6 -Bank Interleaving is not an option in any of the BIOS' tested here. Many current BIOS enable Bank interleaving by default. Where it is an option, we definitely enable the best interleaving option available and list what we set in the memory chart. We are not ignoring this option.
bigtoe33 - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
If you are looking for the latest Abit KV8 pro bios have a look here. http://www.bleedinedge.com/download/bios/abit%20am...multi support and PCI lock inc. if your pro board won't lock the pci bus with this bios then your board may not have the pro chipset.
Myrandex - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
Well after finishing the article, I was wondering why none of the boards are run with bank interleaving on? Doesn't it increase memory performance for the ones that support it?Myrandex - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
On the KV8 spec page, it states:Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250
No FireWire
Should be K8T800 Pro instead of nF3-250.
Myrandex - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
Klaasman - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
What revision of KV8 Pro were you using and what bios version?Nobody else with a recently purchased KV8 can get the locks to work. How come your board does?
Aikouka - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
Anandtech should have looked at the problem that the Chaintech VNF3-250 has with it's RAID and installing an OS, and the problem where the board refuses to boot from SATA if you enable RAID on any IDE HDDs. People've said they've been able to circumvent it, but I haven't got it to work yet, and Chaintech is worthless when it comes to customer service. I received an automated response about 6 or 7 days after my initial submission on their website (they have no US phone number.) And I still have not received an email from a representative yet.RyanVM - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
If there's so little variation in system performance between these, why not look at other aspects like USB throughput/CPU utilization, IDE/SATA throughput, ethernet throughput/CPU utilization, etc.Ace's Hardware just did a great article showing that the rather crummy components being used these days on cheaper motherboards have a pretty large impact in performance in those areas.
http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=65000298