BIOS: Epox 9NDA3+



Epox uses the familiar Award BIOS, so navigation will be familiar for most users.



Most of the options of interest to overclockers are contained in the Power BIOS Menu. This includes CPU speed, AGP speed, HT ratios, CPU ratios, and CPU/DIMM/AGP/Chipset voltage.



The only real enthusiast settings not found in Power BIOS are the DRAM timings, which are in a submenu under the Advanced Chipset Features.



The CPU can be adjusted over a speed range from 200MHz to 400MHz in 1MHz increments. This is a much better than normal range of CPU speeds



AGP can be fixed at any frequency from 66 to 100, but most users will probably leave it at 66 or 67.



The Epox offers HyperTransport adjustments to 5X (1000 HT).



Memory Voltage can be adjusted to 2.8V, which is adequate, but nothing that will excite overclockers. A range of 3.0V to 3.2V would have been much more useful for those who push the performance of their system.



The other part of high FSB clocking is CPU ratios or multipliers. The 9NDA3+ provides a wide range of 8 to 25X, but adjustments are in whole multipliers only. Keep in mind that while all Athlon 64 chips can be downclocked with lower ratios, only the FX chips are completely unlocked and can be set to higher than stock ratios. We confirmed that the ratios do work as they should on the Epox board.



vCore is surprisingly limited and coarse compared to past Epox designs. There are only 4 settings for vCore in +.05, +.10, +.15, and +.20. This is the most useful adjustment range for air overclocking, but finer controls would have been appreciated. The range will be considered too limited for users of water or phase-change cooling.



AGP voltage adjustment covers a broad range to 1.8V. This adjustment usually makes very little difference in overclocking.



Chipset voltage adjustments from 1.6V to 1.75V in useful .05V increments are provided in the Epox. This is very useful when trying to reach extreme overclocks on the nF3 Ultra chipset.



Many of the most used adjustments are in Power BIOS, so the Advanced Chipset menu is mainly DRAM Timings, HT Ratios, AGP aperture size, and shadowing control.



The nForce3 Ultra supports many integrated features. Most of these are controlled in the Integrated Peripherals menu. This includes an IDE Function Setup submenu where setup and adjustments are made to the nVidia RAID for SATA and IDE drives.

Board Layout: Epox 9NDA3+ Tech Support and RMA: Epox 9NDA3+
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  • ksherman - Monday, October 25, 2004 - link

    I think you should change the title a little bit... kinda misleading to say "Epox 9NDA3+: New Choice for Socket 939" You should write Epox 9NDA3+: A New Choice for Socket 939. I find it to be a little misleading... just my input!

    Shermie
  • Gnoad - Monday, October 25, 2004 - link

    Tell me about it. I really don't want an MSI board but its basically the only option right now. DFI and Abit need to get their arse in gear quick. Mmmm, socket 939 LanParty board.....that would be my future board right there.
  • Zebo - Monday, October 25, 2004 - link

    #2, AGP

    Many people sunk $400-$600 in new AGP cards and want to use them. Many cards arnt PCIe. Basically NF4 probably won't support the graphics standard 98% of people have.


    Wes, Where are the real enthusiast boards? Ya know ASUS/ABIT/DFI :( Hard to believe MSI has the best NF3 board still.
  • Beenthere - Monday, October 25, 2004 - link

    nF4 is PCIe only not AGP. nF3 and nF4 are virtually identical other than AGP vs. PCIe.
  • FearoftheNight - Monday, October 25, 2004 - link

    Why not straight to nf4?????
  • Budman - Monday, October 25, 2004 - link

    page 3 ... this a DFI or Epox board??


    The basic layout of the DFI is generally excellent, with some standout elements and a few glaring layout faults.

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