nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream
by Wesley Fink on July 5, 2005 10:28 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Abit Fatal1ty AN8: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Abit Fatal1ty AN8 | |
| Processor: | Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4GHz, 1MB Cache) |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.5375V (default 1.50V) |
| Cooling: | Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 Heatsink/Fan |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520W |
| Memory: | OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev. 2 (Samsung TCCD Memory Chips) |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache |
| Maximum OC: (Standard Ratio) |
234x12 (Auto HT, 2-3-3-7, 1T, 2.8V) 2808MHz (+17%) |
| Maximum FSB: (Lower Ratio) |
250x11 (2750MHz) (4X HT, 2.5-3-3-7, 2.7V) (1:1 Memory, 1T, 2 DIMMs in DC mode) (+25% Bus Overclock) |
Abit almost invented the concept of the overclocker's motherboard, so we have to wonder what went wrong in the design of the AN8. The board is OK at stock speed overclocking at 234, but several other boards in this roundup do better with the same CPU. The real disappointment, however, is 1:1 overclocking with a reduced CPU multiplier. No matter what we did, we could not coax the Fatal1ty AN8 above a 250 CPU clock setting. The DFI and Epox both handle 300 or better just fine, but the Abit has something holding it back.
Perhaps this can be corrected with a BIOS upgrade, since we also played a bit with asynchronous overclocking on the Abit with the new 433, 466, 500 ratios with Rev. E. The Abit reached around 280 in some of those setups, but 1:1 was much poorer. Until Abit is able to fix this issue with 1:1 overclocking, it should be clear that there are better choices for an nForce4 board if overclocking is your goal.
Memory Stress Test Results:
Memory stress tests look at the ability of the Abit An8 Fatal1ty to operate at the officially supported memory frequency, at the best performing memory timings that our standard OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 will support. Memory stress testing was conducted by running 1:1 at DDR400 with 2 DIMM slots operating in Dual-Channel mode.| Stable DDR400 Timings - One Dual-Channel (2/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 7T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 1T |
The Abit was completely stable with 2 DDR modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 2-2-2-7 at default voltage. All of the nF4 motherboards in this roundup were able to reach these fast timings with OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev.2 memory.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR modules on a motherboard
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 7T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 2T |
The Abit AN8 Fatal1ty was completely stable at 2-2-2-7 memory timings, but the Command Rate did need to be lowered to 2T. This is a function of the on-chip Athlon 64 memory controller. We also found that the new Rev. E chips with an updated memory controller required 2T for 4 DS DIMMs.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
75 Comments
View All Comments
yacoub - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
#33 - Wesley, that's awesome news. Can you post that somewhere more important so buyers know to be on the lookout for it? =)kyparrish - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Good article!I'm seriously considering dumping my DFI S754/NC 3200+ setup for that Epox board and a cheap S939 A64 :)
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
#29 and #31 - UPDATE: I have talked with contacts in the Memory Industry and Samsung TCCD is now available again from Samsung. TCCD disappeared for a few months but production didn't really stop. TCC5 is DDR466 and TCCD is DDR500, but both chips come off the same line and are binned for speed grade. Samsung stopped binning for DDR500 grade until recently - and left this job to the memory makers.Recently Samsung has told memory makers they are binning once again for DDR500/TCCD and the TCCD chips are available again. It will take a few weeks for the pipelines to fill but TCCD is not dead. Some companies are staying with TCC5 at a lower cost and binning for the top performance unless the yields start to go down.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
#24 - The base nForce4 is sometimes called the nForce4 X4 and runs at 800 HTT, while the Ultra and SLI run at 1000HT. When 1000HT was first introduced we found no real difference in performance at 800HT and 1000HT. What the 1000HT did provide was quite a bit more overclocking headroom. A reader may have an example of where 1000HT outperforms 800HT but the real world difference is negligible.#28 - There are now more than 60 BIOS releases for the DFI nF4, many customized for particular memory types. Only 3 have been posted to their website. For the latest DFI nF4 BIOS a good place to check is www.xtremesystems.org or the BIOS Files Forum at www.bleedinedge.com. There is now a 7/04 BIOS that is reported to be more stable in upper memory ratios (433,466,500) with Rev. E chips.
#29 - You are overstating the TCCD situation. Corsair still sells TCCD, as do several other memory vendors. There is no doubt TCCD is drying up everywhere but Corsair, and that will continue. New TCC5 dimms that are said to perform like TCCD are in process in at least one memory company. We have requested these new TCC5-based dimms and will share our findings as soon as we receive the memory. There are also some new BH5 dimms that we thought were gone forever. We have even seen the new BH5 binned and advertised as DDR500 2-2-2 at higher voltages around 3.3V.
yacoub - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Well, while this review -has- convinced me to go with the DFI board over the Chaintech, that is purely due to the audio CPU usage issues of the onboard vs daughterboard. I'm shocked at how much difference that makes.That said, most of the memory testing (and thus most of the review) was meaningless to me (and everyone else who doesn't have access to TCCD memory anymore). =/
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
#17 - Thanks for pointing out the errors. They have been corrected. Do you want a job proof reading :-)yacoub - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Regarding the tRAS recommendation:Can we petition Anandtech to stop using memory that the consumer can't get anymore? (Namely TCCD-based Plat Rev2.) Go pick up some TCC5 and do your tests with what the consumer is actually going to be receiving so your tests actually mean something.
mongoosesRawesome - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
What BIOS version did you use with the DFI? It reads: "Award 7/01/2005 Release" in your list of features for the DFI, but I could not find that BIOS release on their website.AsiLuc - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Sorry I meant: GA-K8NF9http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Prod...
AsiLuc - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
I'd liked to see the Gigabyte GA-K8NP9 reviewed, because it has passive southbridge cooling (silence :) ) and is cheap.