Overclocking and thoughts
OverclockingOverclocking was carried out by dropping the multiplier to 9x, reducing the memory frequency to a 166MHz, HTT multiplier to 3x, and increasing chipset voltage to 1.7v. Basic stability was defined as being a complete 3DMark2001SE run. No extra cooling was directed at the board.
280MHz driven clock is above average for an nForce3 Ultra board. Dropping the multiplier to 8x didn't improve stability beyond 280MHz, suggesting that the sample's ceiling had been breached. 280MHz, however, was as solid as the proverbial rock. A non-optimised setup (asynchronous memory with high latencies) returned a 3DMark2001SE score of 24,221 marks. I'd expect that to be a couple thousand marks higher with a well-tuned setup. A couple of hours Prime95 testing also validated the stability of the overclock. This makes the sample an ideal candidate for Winchester core-based CPUs such as Athlon 64 3000+ and 3200+. No arguments regarding overclocking potential. Relatively low DDR voltage still poses a nagging worry, especially when attempting to run with high-speed synchronous RAM.
Thoughts
EPoX's 9NDA3+ has been designed to appeal to the largest possible audience. Layout is pretty good in most respects, aided by having only a single chipset bridge. The feature set is also a well-balanced affair. Due attention is paid to ensuring the board isn't just a stripped-down dragster, designed for pure performance. Instead, audio is given a helping hand by Realtek's ALC850 CODEC and dual S/PDIF-out jacks. There's also decent SATA and Gigabit Ethernet support, and the Power BIOS firmly has the enthusiast in mind. However, I'd like to see EPoX offer a greater variety of voltage options, especially with respect to the undervolting DRAM line. Overclocking on our sample was excellent. Stability at 280MHz makes it the most overclockable (non-modified) S939 board we have tested, but we cannot guarantee that every sample will match this figure.
EPoX has manufactured a solid nForce3 Ultra motherboard with the 9NDA3+. The problem that currently exists in Socket-939 land is that nearly everyone else can produce a solid, stable, and fast board, replete with goodies such as integrated 54g Wireless and 4-port SATA. The quality level is such that manufacturers need to have at least one stand-out feature that absolutely screams BUY ME. Unfortunately for EPoX, try as hard as I might, I just don't see that killer selling point here. It's not bad by any means, but neither is the £90 EP-9NDA3+ a must-have board. Certainly one to pop on your S939 shopping list, though.
