Epox 8KHA+

I've just been playing some CS, and I noticed the voltage went down more so there, its only 0.02V, but that could make the difference between random reboots or complete stability.... Im just in the complete stability side of the fence... no probs with random reboots... etc

BUT a different mobo may change that, and especially something like the epox, as it eats power

I'm gonna look around before I commit... as you tend to do (lol)

 

Yea the only Enermax id ever use is a 550W version. Frankly from what ive heard about the problems with 431s from people with Tbird setups im sticking to my £55 420W Suncheer! (40Amp 5V rail! )

Im also a little scared that you recomended people supergluing ramsinks on! does that really have good thermal transfer properties? If im wrong, plz feel free to correct me.

Also m8 im gonna nit pick and say ur 3dmark score could have been higher but as u said its a moddin review not a performance one

 

Me 431w enermax is kickin 5.05 out on the 5v line, with a GF2mx, 1.4Ghz Athlon, both at stock speeds

 

Well mine reads 4.85 with a TBird 1.4 @ 1.5+ (1.85V) and a GF3 @ 239/515 (this is a full load value, no load gives 4.92ish)

 

My Chieftec 340W, with it's heavy load as described in my last post on this thread, varies between 4.88V (full load) and 4.92V (no load). Certainly for the money I paid for it (it came with my blue dragon, for £93.99 inc VAT and delivery) I'm very happy indeed.

A friend of mine has an 8KHA+, which he's had since they were very first released, and uses an Enermax PSU. As far as I know, he has had no problems with the combo.

Personally, I think I'd go with a KR7A though, despite the higher price. My KT7A has been my first Abit board, and I've been very happy with it. I recently built a system for my dad around a KR7A, and it's been very impressive.

btw, DIMM stability does vary a great deal between slots, given how far they are from the chipset. At 142FSB, only the two slots closest to the chipset on my KT7A (slots 2 and 3) are stable. In any configuration, the third slot is not. The reason is not due to the time for the signals to travel, but because the furthest slot picks up more noise and interference than the closer ones.

 

Superglue has pants thermal qualities...but if you use primarily arctic silver, with just the tiniest amount of superglue in one corner to hold it on, it's very easy to pull off again if you need to!

 

8KHA+ Tweaks

Hi all.

I was running a 8KHA+ untill it blew up
But my RMA will be here on wednesday so not to worry.

You can fix the rebooting issues with this board by running a new beta bios.
Look at www.oaofiles.com and search for 8KHAL00.bin.

With this bios i had my board running stable at 175fsb. Thats with crucial DDR fastest timings at 3v.

As for PSUs some ernmax units have issues with the multiphase design of the 8KHA+, it seems hard to find info on which are ok and which arnt.
Personally I run a sparkle 400watt unit that keeps the 5v line at 5v all the time.

 

Ahh makes sence

 

i was only reapeating what Will2k65 had tole me :/ as his DIMMs are very close to the CPU on his ASUS

 

Read the review( yours anyway) after already purchasing the board! I am pleased with it overall. Works fine with the enermax 431( 5.01v and steady) . I was having some probs I thought were PSU related And changed the PSU to my rock steady 330 Antec unit ,but it didn't change a thing. Conifg the system seemed to be a hassle, but I think the biggest problem there was driver related issues which I seemed to have gotten all sorted out with the exception of one program which well freeze my system solid.( Seti @ Home) . I ain't got clue why it won't run seti,
so ifin any one does I'd appreciate a response.
Sys:
1900AMD Xp ( OC'd to 1860mhz and stable)
Enermax 431PSU
1 512mg ddr Stick Mushkin rev 3 cas 2.2.2
EPox 8kha+
Swiftech mxc462 cooler
SB Live Plantinum 5.1
Antec1030b case w/4 pabst fans( never seen it over 44celesus)
Plex 24x10x40 cdrw
Toshiba DVD combo
3com V everthing 56kb
Klipsch pro media 5.1 spkr's
2 70 gig Ibm Deskstar ata100
Win98se
MSI Geforce2 gts pro ultra 64ddr
KDS Avitron 195 19" trinitron
Xeres

 

no Rich u misunderstand

What i meant when I said that was that they must have put the DIMM slots so close to the socket and the northbridge as it makes the timing easier, as there are less problems with interference and fading signal lengths over a short distance than if the DIMMs were miles away. It doesnt make it any faster having the DIMMs close to the northbridge or CPU, but it makes it a little easier for the manafacturers to sort out the timing issues between the memory/cpu/chipset.

For my mobo, I kinda wish Asus had left more room actually, its a really tight fit getting the DIMMs into the first slow on an A7V266-E cos the Alpha gets in the way somewhat (it wedges right up against the DIMM).

 

Hello everyone (new to these forums),

I have been having problems with my 8kha+, im having trouble installing Win XP and i happen to have a QuietPC 300W psu. After reading BT's review it looks like i may have picked the wrong psu (I thought 300W would have been enough).

I have...

Athlon XP 1800
Epox 8kha+
Radeon 8500
256mb PC2100 ram (Crucial)
IBM 40GB GXP60 HDD
Creative DVD Rom
HP 10x CD-RW
SB 128

I sent an email off to QuietPC, they had no problem with offering me a refund but here is what they had to say...

"Having said that, we upgraded the specification of the Ultra-Quiet 300W PSU a few months ago so it's possible that the one you bought will work fine with the Epox. I think BitTech may have had one of the older (less powerful) 300W models, but I'm not sure. You can check the label on your PSU to find out the combined power outputs, and this information is also on the website.

If you are interested in having a quiet machine then I would suggest trying the Ultra-Quiet PSU to see if it works - after all, no damage will occur if it doesn't work - you will simply get a no-boot. I am fairly optomistic that you will get a positive result though, because we have not had any reports of incompatibilities with the 8KHA+ from any of our other customers.

So what do u think i should do? I could get an Enermax 431W for the same price as the QuietPC 300W psu, would that be the safest bet? Could this be causing the hang up when trying to install Windows XP?

 

The enermax is a good bet, but also look at the Macron and Sparkle alternatives, one of these has a 5V adjustment function (which could come in handy with the EpoX as it sucks up power)

The 5V one is going to be the major one causing the problem, as when this is below say 4.7Volts (not recommended to be that low) the computer will refuse to boot.

The enermax has been labeled as one for a poor 5V line. I own one and mine is a little low at 4.86V (full load), but I do have rather a lot of components in my system... 4 Hard drives, 2 Graphics cards, etc... So I guess for the large ammount of components in my system, that is the reason the 5V line is lower than I would like... However, I do not have any stability flaws, the system has sat up for erm, 4 days almost now, so there are no problems there.

Hope this helps

BiGGiE

Btw, welcome to the forums!

 

I have been told that the Sparkle works very well with the 8KHA+. And yes, I do have one of the older, less powerful QuietPC PSUs

 

My A7V266-E didnt work with a 340w Chieftec, but works fine on a 300w Macron! Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!

Strangeness indeed! Thats why I just got myself an Enermax 350W I think there is something weird about power regulation on AMD boards due to the various 1/2/3 phase methods used (and the variation from board to board), meaning some boards dont like certain PSUs.....

 

I think you're spot on

 

Has anybody tried this board with a Macron 400 watt PSU, it's on AMD's recommended list and seems pretty cheap compared to an Enermax or a Sparkle model.

Also, don't know if it's any help but AMD's recommended PSU list also notes the combined power of each PSU. Interestingly considering the percieved quality of the Enermax it's combined power is in some cases much lower than it's competitor's.

AMD PSU List

 

The Macron doesn't work so well with the Epox, tried it :s

Your best bet is Sparkle, they do make very high quality supplies.

And yes, the perceieved quality of Enermax does seem rather odd considering its low combined power rating.

 

Bugger

Looks like it's going to have to be one of the more expensive options,

Thanks for the advice.

 

No problem. Look at it this way : by a decent one now, and you a) won't have to upgrade for ages b) won't have to worry about the quality when considering buying new components c) will experience less hassle getting set up