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Overclocking
We covered a bit on the overclocking abilities in our 2400+ review, so our concern this time is not going for the maximum MHz, but rather, we're looking to see what is the maximum attainable FSB. Cooling was provided by the Swiftech MCX462+, and a Delta SHE 68CFM fan.
A 230FSB was pretty much a piece of cake, using an 8.0 mulitplier. I tried 8.5 but the system would not post. I also tried 8 x 231, but the system, although posting at 8 x 231, would not boot into Windows. Naturally, memory and AGP settings were lowered to extremely conservative and safe settings, and vCore was boosted up to 1.95v, but the system wouldn't cooperate.
We did manage a POST at 5 x 242, but it never got into Windows either. The fact that it at least POSTed at 242FSB is a bit of an encouragement as upcoming AMD CPUs will likely ride the 400FSB bus, so you'll still have some OC headroom when the new chips arrive.
Next up is a maximum, stable overclock with memory timings running the same speed as the FSB...
Click to Enlarge
Limited greatly by our Crucial PC2700, we only managed an overclock of 189FSB. Memory timings were 5-2-2-2.5. The 189FSB was also the same result when we lowered the multiplier down to 10. I'm pretty sure some quality stuff like Corsair XMS will allow for some better results.
As mentioned in our 2400+ review, the Epox 8RDA+ allows for unlocking the multiplier on the Thoroughbreds without any modifications to the CPU. Previously, I unlocked our TBred by bridging the L3, #5 bridge. While that worked fine, I removed the conductive grease to test out the Epox's unlocking ability. It worked like a charm, just like unlocking the traditional way... the 2400+'s stock multiplier is 15, and unlocking opens up 12.5 and lower.
Test Setup
Epox 8RDA+ nForce2: Athlon XP 2400+ provided by (15x133: 2.0GHz, 12x166: 1992MHz, 12.5x189: 2.363GHz), 2 x 256MB Crucial PC2700 Ram, ATi Radeon 9700 Pro, 120GB Western Digital SE 8MB Cache, Windows XP SP1, nForce 2 Unified Driver Package 2.0, ATi Catalyst 3.0
MSI KT4 Ultra KT400: Athlon XP 2400+ provided by (15x133: 2.0GHz, 12x166: 1992MHz), 2 x 256MB Crucial PC2700 Ram, ATi Radeon 9700 Pro, 120GB Western Digital SE 8MB Cache, Windows XP SP1, VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.45, ATi Catalyst 3.0
Test software will be:
SiSoft Sandra 2003
PC Mark 2002
PiFast
3D Mark 2001SE
Unreal Tournament 2003
Quake 3: Arena
Jedi Knight 2
Except for 3D Mark, all game tests are done at 640x480 to eliminate the video card as a possible bottleneck (though the Radeon 9700 will not likely have any problems at any resolution). Quake 3 and Jedi Knight 2 were run at "Fastest" settings.
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Epox 8RDA+: Although they are no strangers to motherboards, the 8RDA+ marks the first time Epox have worked with nVidia. With the nForce2 getting a lot of good press, we take a look at Epox's nForce2 solution, and determine if this motherboard is worth consideration.
