Just got my 8rda+ today =)

[#ball3r]

....now I need help setting it up please. This is my first epox board and my old gigabyte didn't have half the options in the bios that this does, so i'll just list some questions and hopefully i'll get some answers. Here are my system specs too as they'll help...

XP1600+ agioa "9" (just unlocked)
Epox 8rda+ (think it's rev 1.1)
2x256 OCZ 3500EL Duel Channel ca2
MSI Geforce 4 4400ti champion edition
Maxtor ata133 40gb fbd
Lite-On 16x dvd, Lite-On 40x cdrw (both black)
Enermax eg-465fc power supply.

1) Which bios right now should I upgrade too as my board came with the stock bios, and how do I install it? Do I just put it on a boot disk floppy like I would for any other bios?
2) What slots should I use my ram to use the duel channel controler? I have 1 in slot 0 and 1 in slot 2 now. Is that right?
3) Does the bios auto detect if i'm using a 4x agp card? I see there is only an option to enable 8x's support.
4) Which lan port is the best to use? I'm using the nvidia one and it seems to be working alright. Is the 3com one any better?
5) Will using a low cfm fan on the mobo headers do any harm?
6) Now i'll get to the bios settings, I'll list a bunch and please tell me the optimal settings for each....
-cpu internal cache
-external cache
-typematic rate setting
-apic mode
-msp version control of os
-os select for dram
-memory frequency (should I be running sync?)
-fsb and agp spread spectrum
-what should my agp aperture size be for a 128mb card?
-for agp frequency should I just set to 66 or set it a couple higher to give it a little zip, like maybe 68?
-cpu thrm-throttling
-the system and video bios cacheables should be disabled right?
-why are my cpu fans rpm's not showing in the bios, it just says 0?
-for the voltage everyone says might need to be modded, which is that exactly? vdd I think?


I think that's about it, the only other things are I just did a fresh install of winxp and am trying to install service pack 1, but it says I can't because i'm using an invalid cd key. Wouldn't that make it impossible for me to install the OS? My os is a winxp pro corprete copy. Thanks and hopefull someone will help me with this, because in the past when I've posted on this board I've got little or no help at all.

[dmitriyaz]

this should answer most of 6)

[Holst]

1 - the latest one www.epox.org
2 - 1 and 3
3 - If you have a 4X card then it will run at 4X, you dont need to do anything
4 - The board only has one Lan controller, and id use that rather than complicating things with a PCI card
5 - more cooling wont hurt.

[k1114]

I'd reccomend the 12/31/02 bios. The newer one wont let me run cas2 and randomly freezes in the bios menu.

[#ball3r]

Please all those with experiance with this board help me. I have updated to the latest bios but found out my unlocking attempt failed so i'm messing around with it locked. What do you think the max voltage my 1600+ can take is? I running the memory in sync (1 stick bank0, 1 bank1) with the timings @2,2,2,6. I'm having trouble running over 170fsb@stock multiplier at voltages up to 1.9. Should I up it even more? Do you think I've found the limit to my cpu, because I was using it previously on a gigabyte 7vaxp w/1 512 corsair 3200 ca2 and couldn't run stably over 174fsb. Mind you my 3dmark scores are now much higher then they were previously even with lower fsb. Probably a combination of the new mobo and ram.

[#ball3r]

oh and will using all the fan headers on the board be bad? the one beside cpu fan called power fan, can I use one of my power supply fans on there?

[#ball3r]

so you think that i've reached my limit with this cpu locked? My speeds are a lot faster at 10.5x170, then they were 10.5x174 on my old gigabyte 7vaxp and 1 stick corsair xms3200 512. I've gone from 12400 in 3dmark to 13200 with the same video drivers as before. Also my quake3 timedemo has gone up 40fps. oh and I tried unlocking my cpu and in the bios I have the option of all the multipliers, but when I try and use them I get an overclocking error. I thought if your cpu was locked you don't have the option to even choose the other multipliers? Or is this a thing with this board?