Performance Test Configuration: Epox 9NDA3+

If you are interested in more information comparing the Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, LGA 775 Prescott, P4, and P4EE, please see our in-depth comparisons in the recent reviews:

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ & FX-55: A Thorough Investigation
nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
.09 Athlon 64: Value, Speed and Overclocking
AMD Sempron: A Fresh Take on Budget Computing
Intel's 925X & LGA-775: Are Prescott 3.6 and PCI Express Graphics any Faster?
Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2
Intel Celeron D: New, Improved & Exceeds Expectations
Socket 939 Chipsets: Motherboard Performance & PCI/AGP Locks
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and FX-53: The First 939 CPUs
The Athlon 64 FX-53: AMD's Next Enthusiast Part
Intel's Pentium 4 E: Prescott Arrives with Luggage
Athlon64 3400+: Part 2
AMD's Athlon 64 3400+: Death of the FX-51
Athlon64 3000+: 64-bit at Half the Price

 Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (2.4GHz) Socket 939
RAM: 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II
2 x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd
Hard Drive(s): Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE (8MB Buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: nVidia nForce 6.11 Beta (nForce4)
nVidia nForce Platform Driver 4.24 (nForce3 Ultra)
VIA 4in1 Hyperion 4.51 (12-02-2003)
Video Card(s): nVidia 6800 Ultra (PCI Express)
nVidia 6800 Ultra (AGP 8X)
Video Drivers: nVidia nForce 61.81 Beta (nForce4)
nVidia nForce 61.77 (nForce3 Ultra)
Operation System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: Epox 9NDA3+ (nForce3 Ultra)
nVidia nForce4 Ultra Reference Board
Abit AV8 PRO (VIA K8T800 PRO)
ECS KV2 Extreme (VIA K8T800 PRO)
Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 (nVidia nForce3 Ultra)
MSI K8N Neo2 (nVidia nForce3 Ultra)
MSI K8T Neo2 (VIA K8T800 PRO)

Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. Earlier 939 benchmarks used Mushkin PC3500 Level II or OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd, which were both based on Winbond BH5 memory chips. BH5 memory has been discontinued and is no longer available. All memory ran at 2-2-2-10 timings in all benchmarks.

Since the nVidia 6800 Ultra AGP was used for testing in the 939 chipset launch, we used same 6800 Ultra AGP for these tests. A PCI Express 6800 Ultra was used for all testing with the nForce4. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless otherwise noted.

The highest overclocked FSB of the Epox was 291x9. You can see a general comparison of the overclocked performance of a Socket 939 processor at 290x9 to an FX53 at stock speeds on pages 6 and 7 in .09 Athlon 64: Value, Speed and Overclocking. This is to allow a general comparison of the maximum overclock on the Epox to stock FX53 performance.

Memory Stress Testing: Epox 9NDA3+ General Performance and Encoding
Comments Locked

36 Comments

View All Comments

  • 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.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now