new info on what epox did to the rev2.2 p4ca3+

[deathstar13]

this is an emotional rollercoaster today.
ill be talking about my epox p4ca3+ which i thought was about perfect despite epox lowering the vdimm ceiling too 2.95vdimm

anyhow i was doing some ram testing and kept wondering why no matter what i set my bios to in the vdimm i would max out at 2.78vdimm.
so i tried an older bios hoping that would restore any issues.
just as im flashing my bios and seeing the memory blocks writing i hear thunder

2 seconds later i hear my beep of the bios finishing the write but just at the same exact time lighting hits close by and out goes our power! no ups either. i wanted to die!

luckely it saved within milliseconds of the power outage, close one!

so on to me hating epox now. i have one bios left to try and its the new one,so things dont look good for me.
stuck at 2.78vdimm max! luckily my ram does well at low vdimm.

i have a prommy coming in 2 weeks and need some vdimm for more fsb 1:1
anyhow this mobo is 2 weeks old.should i send it back to newegg and swap for a p4c800e-d or get my money back? 30day money back garentee btw.
i know for a fact i will hate this board now i know im stuck at 2.78vdimm
also i did a search for vdimm mods and found only 1 and it didnt even have the same revision and completly differant parts.
first they bios mod it to limit to 3vdimm now they are doing it with hardware. mine is a rev2.2 btw
EPOX THIS IS BS!

other than this issue its a great mobo but i didnt buy it to be a great mobo i bought it to be a high fsb ocing mobo and that just isnt possible now.

btw all my heatsinks ive added if you have seen my pics are removeable. least i think ahead lol

[SPQQKY]

2.78? That suxor. My rev 2.2 would actually go up to 3.06v even though it was supposed to be limited to 2.9v. If I set BIOS to 2.9v I got 2.85-2.87 and set to 3v I got 2.94-2.97 and anything 3.1v and above gave me 3.06v.....this was tested with a multimeter. I would return the board and look into the 4PDA2+ if you want high fsb and working 3.3v for the RAM if you want to stick with EPoX or get an IC7-MaxIII or AI7 for high vDimm.

[deathstar13]

yup 3.3vdimm bios nets me 2.78 idle 2.76load
may be the 2x512mb sticks i use draw it down more? i do know they require more amps so id guess mabey epox lowed it even more for larger sticks.

im on a p42.8E and afraid the ai7 cant handle all i need it to do power wise.
im concerned of the max3's ability to run 250+ 1:1 as if heard many bad things or was this resolved with a bios?
was leaning towards p4c800e-d with a vdimm mod.

noone ever came up with a vdimm mod for the epox did they that really worked?
i want to go over to aoa and wich i will anyhow and ask about this BS!

[Huhn]

as i said to u in another thread. i hated my 4pca3+ rev2.0 although i was able to push 3,3v throught the memory. but 3,5ghz with a 2,8e and a mach1 don´t seem pretty good for me. so i switched the mobos and bought me a ic7-max3 which works 100 times better for me :) 3,7ghz oc on air prime stable is a lot better ten 3,5ghz with mach 1 :D

[deathstar13]

did they fix the +250fsb issue on the max3?

[Huhn]

well i don´t have a problem going higher than 250mhz fsb.

[deathstar13]

Originally posted by Huhn
well i don´t have a problem going higher than 250mhz fsb. i didnt state that clear +250fsb 1:1 ?

[Huhn]

well ok i will try this. but i remember that i´v3e been stuck at 249mhz fsb. 1:1 that was with some winbond bh-5 3,2v @251 i got a instant reboot. but i think i got the old revision . the new one doe´sn´t seem tp have this problem

[FaTs]

It's a real shame to them fall off the rails with the i875, Epox built the best i845E mobo's and build probably the best i865's :(

You sure it's not something like a crap psu holding you back ?

[althes]

the first epox canterwood boards were great.

[Alexandrus]

Yeap, and I've got one of them, I'm proud of it :D

[eva2000]

4PCA3+ what a love - hate relationship.. i have the rev1.1, vdimm 3.28v vdimm max, but vcore only 1.6v with all bios except one which gives me negative vcore adjustments to enable 1.68-1.71v vcore!