Epox 9NDA3J (not +), an alright budget board?

[Damien]

OK i'm making the 939 plunge. Problem is I'm keeping my 9800pro and I'm not shelling out more than $105 for a 939 board, so I've picked this. $92 shipped @ the egg, it looks pretty good. I'll be throwing a 3000+ on it.

This board alright for a budget 939? I hear they aren't bad overclockers...any info would be appreciated :)

Damien

[dnottis]

Hey.

Price is now $89 at the Egg. (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-230&depa=0)

I've had 2 of them, one had the USB ports die within a few days of using it. The other is running in the machine I'm typing on. It overclocks to within a hair of the Neo2. Meaning I can run over 2.6 and prime stable on the Neo2, while this board will only prime stable the same components up to about 2.580 Ghz - I could not get 2.6 1:1 to prime stable regardless of voltages, etc. It's a nice board, was a super easy installation and I've had no problems with the exception of the USB ports dying on the other one I had. It is a decent overclocker - not the best IMO - but almost as good as the $143 Neo2 Platinum.

[Damien]

Well it's $89 + $3 shipping, so I said 92 SHIPPED :D

Thanks. Problem is the sata placement. I have a silencer so that looks like it may be a problem. Any suggestion?

[dnottis]

Well it's $89 + $3 shipping, so I said 92 SHIPPED :D

Thanks. Problem is the sata placement. I have a silencer so that looks like it may be a problem. Any suggestion?

Ah I didn't pay attention to shipping - got it tho :)

Unfortunatly I'm using the Enermax "BTX" style ATX Case so the Neo2 SATA placement doesn't work real well either - I've got to route the SATA cables OVER my video card. The Epox SATA placement was easier in that Case however I'm using a X800XT PE which is a single slot cooler.

[okra]

yeah, it's a great cheap board!
Definitely a nice entry into 939.

[SPQQKY]

Fantastic board IMO, I would still be using it if the fever hadn't struck me to go SLI. You can get SATA cables that are angled down instead of out. Worth looking into.

Link to angled cables at newegg (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=12-104-557&depa=0)

[Zebo]

sounds like you're throwing money away to me...your 2.6 CH is just as fast as my 939 in everything (cept games) cause you continue you use old pro... And yet again!!!

Save a little more for 850XT agp when it pops for a real change not a side grade waste in new CPU and mobo.

[sauria]

Fantastic board IMO, I would still be using it if the fever hadn't struck me to go SLI. You can get SATA cables that are angled down instead of out. Worth looking into.

Link to angled cables at newegg (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=12-104-557&depa=0)
What SLI did you get> :D

[Damien]

sounds like you're throwing money away to me...your 2.6 CH is just as fast as my 939 in everything (cept games) cause you continue you use old pro... And yet again!!!

Save a little more for 850XT agp when it pops for a real change not a side grade waste in new CPU and mobo.

Well, no. I sold my CH and dfi board, and instead of him giving me money he's buying me a new cpu and mobo, any of my choice, as long as it costs the same or less as the dfi and ch (or if it's more I pay the difference. Honestly I don't care all too much as I personally don't see a difference in 2ghz and 2.4ghz, so I'm not too worried about it

I've been looking at the + version and i'm having my changes. It looks a little nicer, has sata ports that aren't blocked, and matching round cables! but thats $25 idk i want to spend =|

edit : I just relized that sata cable only said $3.50, I swore it said $18 earlier :p. OK, the regular it is, and I'll get that sata cable, if it actually works (as in will fit)

[thebluesgnr]

The extra SATA ports on the + are not locked, so don't consider using them if you overclock.

[sauria]

I'm really enjoying mine stable with a 3000+ now for 2 weeks.

[Damien]

I'm going to take the risk with the regular and try to squeeze the sata cord under it :p

[sauria]

I'm going to take the risk with the regular and try to squeeze the sata cord under it :p
Just bend the end connector 90degrees -- mine worked fine.

[Tekdemon]

Say, does anybody know if the volt mod for the + is the same on this board? Saving a few bucks going with this board would be great if it's the same other than for the lack of a few features.

[dnottis]

I cannot get any higher 1:1 at 1T on the Epox 9NDA3J than I could on the Neo2 - my OC results were better on the Neo2 still. Its not bad for $90 though.

[sauria]

How high 1:1 dnottis? With the Corsair in your sig?

[dnottis]

Yea, 285 Mhz 1:1 1T seems to be about the nforce3 limit. I've had 2 neo2s and 2 epoxs and always hit the same limit. Could be the memory but if you research it most people hit their limit ~280 - 285 with 2 x 512 DS dimms regardless of the board. The nforce4s seem to allow for higher 1:1 1T but looking at XBITLABS.com review of the video cards the PCI-E cards just dont perform as well as the AGP ones right now - I have the X800XT PE which beats the X850 XT PE PCI-e in most tests. (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/2004-27gpu2.html).

The person that owned this CPU before me could not do 1:1 300 mhz on the neo2 but could on the DFI nf4 and MSI Neo4. I can run 300 1:1 but it's 2T, I found 2T 1:1 to be faster than invoking the divider and dropping my memory to 243 Mhz.

I decided to drop to 292 @ 1.488 since it's almost stock voltage and the temps are 31 / 41 - for 8mhz more FSB I need 1.65v and the load temp jumps about 10 deg c - 2.7GHZ is nice but hell I can live with 2630 @ 1.488 :)


Dean

[sauria]

Yea, 285 Mhz 1:1 1T seems to be about the nforce3 limit. I've had 2 neo2s and 2 epoxs and always hit the same limit. Could be the memory but if you research it most people hit their limit ~280 - 285 with 2 x 512 DS dimms regardless of the board. The nforce4s seem to allow for higher 1:1 1T but looking at XBITLABS.com review of the video cards the PCI-E cards just dont perform as well as the AGP ones right now - I have the X800XT PE which beats the X850 XT PE PCI-e in most tests. (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/2004-27gpu2.html).

The person that owned this CPU before me could not do 1:1 300 mhz on the neo2 but could on the DFI nf4 and MSI Neo4. I can run 300 1:1 but it's 2T, I found 2T 1:1 to be faster than invoking the divider and dropping my memory to 243 Mhz.

I decided to drop to 292 @ 1.488 since it's almost stock voltage and the temps are 31 / 41 - for 8mhz more FSB I need 1.65v and the load temp jumps about 10 deg c - 2.7GHZ is nice but hell I can live with 2630 @ 1.488 :)


Dean
I have the Sapphire X800XT PE in the Epox and I can push my GSkill LA to 284 MHz 1:1
but my LE gives better Sandra memory throughput at the same timings and MHz. Hmm. I have a Neo4-F I'm building with a Sapphire X850XT -- thought it would beat my X800. Maybe not.

[dnottis]

I have the Sapphire X800XT PE in the Epox and I can push my GSkill LA to 284 MHz 1:1
but my LE gives better Sandra memory throughput at the same timings and MHz. Hmm. I have a Neo4-F I'm building with a Sapphire X850XT -- thought it would beat my X800. Maybe not.

The X800XT PE will beat it in most cases by a few frames - not sure if it's just that PCI-e drivers aren't matured though. Check that review at xbitlabs.com and its clear to see the AGP card is still faster.

Dean

[Damien]

So the 285mhz wall is memory or cpu? Also, is there a 9:10 divider on the 9NDA3J? (as in if i was running 2.4ghz, my memory would run 240mhz, or 2.6ghz my ram runs at 260mhz, etc), because I'm getting a chip that does 2.7ghz stable and i'm just fine with 9:10 because memory running at 270 is still fast.

[dnottis]

So the 285mhz wall is memory or cpu? Also, is there a 9:10 divider on the 9NDA3J? (as in if i was running 2.4ghz, my memory would run 240mhz, or 2.6ghz my ram runs at 260mhz, etc), because I'm getting a chip that does 2.7ghz stable and i'm just fine with 9:10 because memory running at 270 is still fast.



well it's not the CPU - the previous owner did 1:1 1T @ DDR600 on DFI and MSI nforce4s. It's either memory or the motherboard. I want to try the DFI nforce4 and see with this memory - what is holding me back is the Xbitlabs.com review of the video cards showing PCI-e being slower than AGP cards. I dont want to lose gaming performance to up my overclock. Gaming at 1280 x 1024 or 1600 x 1200 is all video card to the increase in CPU speed isn't going to offset a slower video card.


Here is 1:1 2T on Neo2 Plat.

http://www.3dxtreme.net/other/CPUS/3000%20CBBGD%200440SPMW/2700a.jpg

[dnottis]

I still find 1:1 2T is better then using the divider at 1T.