The Epox Challange !!!

[OPPAINTER]

All right, Thanks to DDTUNG I picked up a 8RDA today. I just did a chipset mod. What Bios is the hot item before I put this in the Prometeia and do some Overclocking??

Thanks,

OPP

[Radea]

It seems the new C31 is doing great things for everyone. Grab it @ http://www.epox.com.tw/file/8RDA2C31.BIN. Its for the 8RDA+ btw, not sure if you got a 8RDA or 8RDA+.

Anyway I cant wait to see how you do on this thing

[OPPAINTER]

I don't think this is a plus mobo. Will it still work??

OPP

[Radea]

Unfortunatly, no . Taken from EPoX's 8RDA FAQ:

BIOS flash problems.
Our Nvidia based motherboards use a different style of BIOS chips than our other products. To successfully flash the BIOS you will need AWDFLASH.EXE v8.22a or newer. Older flash tools will corrupt the BIOS and leave the board dead. Please ensure to only download BIOS updates for our boards from an official EPoX website. Please note BIOS update files are not interchangeable between the EP-8RDA and EP-8RDA+.

So I'd just recommend using the only BIOS out there for non-plus boards (besides stock one,
http://www.epox.com/html/motherboard...4xE33On2T2r3n2

Edit: ftp://ftp.epox.com/motherboard/suppo...S/8RD12C16.exe - Seems the non-direct link doesnt work

[Hallowed]

OPP, I think C16 is the latest for the 8RDA standard.

SKATAN has wpcredit tweaks that seem to work well with C16, or so I hear.

Cant wait to see you bench 3d @ 225 FSB

[Nohto]

TodB

You just need the c16 bios or even the c27 ( very new ) BIOS.... can give you some links If ya want

Opp I don't know if those will work on the non + or not. That was taken from the thread 8RDA+ vs. NFS-7, who's the champ. I can't get into the
AOA forums they must be having problems with their server.

[BrainStorm]

Anyone know how long it takes him to get things all set up? I want to find what the EPOX can do with OPPAINTER style cooling! But will it happen tonight or will we have to wait until tomorrow for some results?

[Bravo]

OPP, i'd go for the C27 BIOS. I've hosted it here, along with the WinFlash utility (saves you booting to a disk, and 5 minutes to flash the bastard). Load up default settings, get into windows, flash, and reboot.

http://bravo.ausgamers.com/Epox/c27.rar

I've found it to be faster with the benchmarks then C31, and its probably on par with C16 (couldnt be bothered flashing back that far).

[OPPAINTER]

Well I just had it set up on a test bench, CPU, mem, Vidcard, floppy.

I have 1.8V right now for the chipset, the NB gets very hot. I'll set it up tomorrow, I need to rig up my watercooling loop for the NB. After flashing to the C16 I got all the multipliers, I also booted up to 230Mhz, of coarse this was just booting, have to see tomorrow what she will do in Windows

OPP

[Bravo]

Crap, dont flash to my BIOS.

Forgot about the + :/

[OPPAINTER]

I'll check out all the bios stuff when it's running.

OPP

[Entuscan]

Originally posted by OPPAINTER
I'll check out all the bios stuff when it's running.

OPP

Don't try to max out your cpu with the original bios!
It completly hosed my bios chip.

[SlimHitman]

uhh...what is a chipset mod?

[zakelwe]

People have used the non + BIOS in the past with the + motherboard and it works, except you lose the + features like sound.

Not sure if it works the other way around though.

Good luck with your tests. As you will have tested Epox and Abit boards it will be interesting to hear your views on both.

Regards

Andy

[TodB]

Originally posted by OPPAINTER
I'll check out all the bios stuff when it's running.

OPP

Why didn't you get the "+" version?

Anyway you should try with the latest c16 from the EPoX site, but I'm kindda sure that you got it allready on that board:

http://www.epox.nl/BIOS/8RD12C16.zip

Also put some serious cooling on both chips - MCP-T and the northbridge SPP...

[baller02]

you can use all bios version + or not i flashed also non + bios versions on my 8rda+, so it should be no problem!!!
use 2c31 if you can it solves some multiplier issues ...multiplier 13,5 and 14 were not so stable with other bios version so try 2c31

[baller02]

if your machine doesn't boot up and peep or awdflash or something come up on boot, shut off ...hold insert key and boot up and there you are

[xtreme]

hm go opp go plz tell me how the hyperx is doin' on the 8rda... wanna buy such a stick too

my 2nd corsair doesn't do 225 @ 2.86v.. so only single channel at the moment

[althes]

Well the day of reckoning is here.
Go Opp Go
Hes our man
Well Newegg has the non + back in stock I may pick up one later, if has good results.

[Emericana]

that should be a crazy system opp water cooling and prometia and i dont even know what you do to your gpu but i am sure it is awesome also!

[BrainStorm]

Somewhat OT, but is there any difference between the 8rda and 8rda+ other than the integrated lan and 6 (vs. 2) channel sound?

They should both OC the same, shouldn't they?

[Svenn]

BrainStorm, that's a good question. I'm also wondering which southbridge do they use? It can't be the MCP-T because that has 2 LAN and Soundstorm.... Wonder if that will make a big difference?

[Radea]

Yeah, thats the only differences I'm aware of. So they *should* oc the same

[OPPAINTER]

Well I'm up and running, I can't get my Camara progy working or I'd put up some pictures, I have the NorthBridge water cooled, it's running well right now at 210x13. I haven't gone up more yet. I can say the 3D scores, no Card Overclock, look pretty good. I just hope the I can keep going up with the FSB.

OPP

[BrainStorm]

Originally posted by Svenn
BrainStorm, that's a good question. I'm also wondering which southbridge do they use? It can't be the MCP-T because that has 2 LAN and Soundstorm.... Wonder if that will make a big difference?

Svenn, according to Anandtech the 8rda+ does use the MCP-T, just doesn't implement Soundstorm or second lan. I think Asus is the only manufacturer who has implemented both lans.

Anandtech link: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1759&p=17

and OPP, sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread...I'll shut up and wait for your results now