eVGA 131-K8-NF44-AX NF4 SLi mATX Mobo Thread

benamaster said:
It doesn't OC well. Consensus is that it will do between 210 and 220. Its kind of picky running at 1T.

UPDATE
I have an FX-60, I couldn't even take the multiplier to 14. The FSB won't do 210 or 215. I have it at 205 and might try 206 or 207.
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yea it was established early on by a really smart guy that this board would not have the chops. evga has an almost perfect record of non updates to it's motherboard's bios. if you are waiting for that, you will see a socket am2 quad-sli matx before any bios update. move along, nothing to see here.
back to you, chet.....
 
I'm thinking of picking one of these up... but my big question is, what is the HTT speed most people get with it (even if you have to lower memory divider and run at 2T)? My current OC has my X2 3800+ at 2.6ghz, and I really don't want to sacrifice a ton of CPU speed. Thanks!
 
a couple guys say that they get 250-260 but i think in real life on the planet earth you can get 210-220 (2t on mem of course). which means you will be taking a big perf hit. wait for a decent sli matx board to come out. you have a little time, its not like the universe is going to explode or something.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
a couple guys say that they get 250-260 but i think in real life on the planet earth you can get 210-220 (2t on mem of course).
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I haven't heard of anyone running 250 to 260 FSB on this board.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Do you mean FSB on the RAM, or HT speed before RAM divider?
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I am talking about the Front Side Bus. Stock it is 200mhz I don't think anyone could get it to 250 or 260. I think vanilla_guerilla is talking about something else.
 
benamaster said:
I haven't heard of anyone running 250 to 260 FSB on this board.
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Look a couple pages back. Others have gotten good clocks too, at 2T unfortunately.
 
I've had mine at the 240 mark and 1T a few times trying different combinations of RAM and timings out but not long enough to where I could have called it stable.
And with some combinations of timings/RAM it's definitely unstable under stress at the 240 mark so I have my doubts about anything that high.

I have it running 228 and 1T stable, with a 166 divider though which leaves the RAM underclocked.

I just didn't have time to keep tweaking it so I left it there and started playing games and installing stuff. With a X2 4400+ CPU that's plenty of speed for what I'm doing with it. In fact a couple of times I booted it up at default so I could enable Cool N Quiet and unplug all the fans except the CPU and GPU fan...so quiet and still butter smooth in BF2 at 1680x1050 it makes me wonder why I should overclock it....except that if it's possible to overclock something I always end up wanting to push the envelope .....thinking about trying to overvolt my electric shaver right now ;)
 
Just ordered mine for $105 from Monarch. I didn't know about this thread before hand, but I hope many of these issues are worked out now since I seem to be a late adopter. Does anyone know if the 8x PCI-E ports operate as x1 ports if the vid card is in the 16x slot? Initially I won't have SLI, I just like keeping it as an option, and I do have the PCI-E based Theater 550 TV Tuner and a Creative SB Audigy 2 sound card. I have been running XP64 in my current desktop, but I might switch over to MCE 2K5 for this build, and I picked up a MCE remote for $38 shipped. Its all going into an X-Qpack, so I hope that cooling isn't an issue, and I am hoping to OC a bit (if I could get my 3800+ to 2.5GHz. I would be extremely happy, but I am thinking it won't go that high).
Jason
 
There is a 1x PCI-E slot or you could use the other 16x slot but then I do believe the video card would run at 8x.

I think i might be hard to hit 2.5 with a 3500+ on this motherboard.
 
It is a 3800+ X2, not a 3500+, but the 3 16X PCIE slots I thought had the middle reserved for a full 16X implementation for the video card, and then I hoped that the other two slots would be reconfigured as 1x ports (at least the top one). My 7800GT is single slot so I could use the bottom if needed, but still I would rather put it in a full 16X slot.

Jason
 
My X2 3800+ is at 2.5ghz/core easily on this board :). Runs like a champ! 250x10, 166mhz memory divider for about 208mhz RAM speed, it's loving it (as am I). I'm upgrading to SLI as soon as I can for my 7900GT :D! That is with the stock X2 3800+ cooler, to boot! 2x1GB RAM at 3-3-3-12 2T, in a Q-Pack... the reason I changed from my SN25P is for SLI.
 
Myrandex said:
Just ordered mine for $105 from Monarch. I didn't know about this thread before hand, but I hope many of these issues are worked out now since I seem to be a late adopter.
Jason
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sorry. none of these issues have been worked out. and if evga's mainboard track record is any indication, they will never be worked out. all evga nf4 boards still have these issues, and have had them since release last summer. no bios updates since then, except for one in december that shows fx60 correctly, instead of 4800x2 on the bios screen. also, the price has dropped 50 bucks in about 1 month. wait a little longer, they will be giving them away. like the other evga nf4 sli boards.
 
Despite the negativity surrounding this board, I am quite pleased with it. If you are a hardcore gamer/overclocker, you probably will want a bigger more powerful beast anyway. I'm just a casual gamer with a late night hobby of OCing to pass the time. Throw this board into a qpack, get value ram, and stay with stock cooling. You won't be disappointed, it will run everything you need it to, and is small and quiet to boot. It took me a while to figure this board out but after following operaman's advice, I got it rock stable at nearly a 25% OC on stock air cooling. (use blue ram slots and decrease HTT to 800 mhz in bios) Also, I had no problem getting 1T on my ram unlike others have reported. Must just be lucky.

My X2 3800+ will OC up to 2570 (only prime stable for about 5 minutes tho) Check it out: cpu-z link.

At 2430 it is prime stable for 24hrs+, which is what I am going with and locking the case up (although it is always temping to get it there and tweak around some more). With a couple 6800GS's in SLI, it will hold its own in 3dMark05 at 10985 (link) :cool:

Anyway, I would recommend this board to anyone who wants a sff system with SLI (ha! not like you have much of a selection) It is stable, has a little flexablity with the clock settings, and just looks good. I built my whole system for under $700.Thanks to everyone on this thread for your experiences and advice.

specs: x-qpack, evga matx, AMD X2 3800+, 2xEvga6800gs(SLI), 2x1024 gskill value ram (2.5-3-3-6,1T 166divider), lite-on dvd burner, hitachi 7TK250 250gb hd (sata II), Hyper type-r 580w psu.
 
M4rk said:
Use this coupon code to save $30: P5XP-BW4LL4
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Where do I enter the coupon code?

edit:
And (just to be sure), will I be able to slightly o/c this proc with it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103598
People have had problems with overclocking on this board, but Opterons overclock well... Therefore shouldn't I be able to get a 25% or more overclock on stock cooling and stock voltage easily on this board too?
 
I don't think it is valid anymore becuase the price is a lot less now then when that was done.
Jason
 
ClubIT.com had this board up until last night or the day before for $85 + shipping. I had it in my cart and I was finally ready to order it and it completly disappeared off of their site. The odd thing was that it never said that it was an OEM board and had pictures of SATA and IDE cables with it. Did anyones OEM board come with cables? My experience with OEMs is usually that they dont so I was confused since I thought this never was available in retail box. I know newegg shows pictures of everything that comes retail anyway even for OEMs and even states that they are showing what doesnt come with it for reference but since there was no mention on ClubIT it led me to believe that it did.
 
This board comes in a white box with IDE and SATA cables and the SLI bridge. Its just like a retail board without the fancy box.
 
synaps3 said:
Where do I enter the coupon code?

edit:
And (just to be sure), will I be able to slightly o/c this proc with it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103598
People have had problems with overclocking on this board, but Opterons overclock well... Therefore shouldn't I be able to get a 25% or more overclock on stock cooling and stock voltage easily on this board too?
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The motherboard is capable of it, but that is by no means a guarantee. As you can see, other users have been reporting hit and miss in terms of overclocking. This board is designed to be used in a small form factor gaming rig and isn't necessarily an overclockers dream board. A basic rule of thumb is to make sure you build your system to run everything you want it to at stock settings and think of overclocking as a bonus or icing on the cake.
 
Hi there,

Has any one managed a stable overclock at all with an Athlon 4400+ X2 chip? If so, what settings did you use?

It's a very nice board, but I can't seem to get any kind of stable overclock on it at all.

I'm not hugely power hungry, but I am used to running my 4400+ at 4800+ speeds :)
 
The board is back in stock at ClubIT but for $10 more at $95 now. Still save around $5 after shipping compared to Monarch though:
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA4856003

They also seem to be having a special on shipping cases so you might be able to save a bit on your new SFF if you order the board with a case there too (not the greatest selection but still better than some places).
 
I wonder if this is a retail package instead of the OEM style packaging with the monarch site.
Jason
 
Myrandex said:
I wonder if this is a retail package instead of the OEM style packaging with the monarch site.
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I don't think this board has a "retail package" be it has a very good OEM package that includes everything a retail fancy box would.
 
Since I just got my board from ClubIT I can confirm that it indeed is OEM but its only missing the retail box when you compare it to a retail board. I was confused myself since it doesnt really say OEM in the item description.
 
Yea it really is everything but the box, heck it even includes the raid floppy, something most manufactures are leaving out of their motherboard packages anymore.
Jason
 
i ordered mine at 4 o clock today with 2 days shipping...they sent me a email 2 hours later with a trackin # and ill get it on the 27th!! now thats service....now i just gotta find somethin to put it in until i get a case haha...
 
operaman said:
Heck, I may put 4 GB of RAM in it anyway since 2T is going to be my only option anyway. :D
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Long time lurker, first time poster.

Operaman, or anyone else, have you put in 4GB of mem yet?
I am looking to get this board but planning on 4GB and some mATX boards have/had issues with maxing out memory slots, just curious if the same here.
 
BrakinDeep said:
Long time lurker, first time poster.

Operaman, or anyone else, have you put in 4GB of mem yet?
I am looking to get this board but planning on 4GB and some mATX boards have/had issues with maxing out memory slots, just curious if the same here.
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You shouldn't have any problems unless you are planning on overclocking. If that is the case, then you may run into stability issues but that is a problem many have experienced with the nforce4 chipset in general and not just this board. I have used 4x512 without any problems but not 4x1gig so I can't help you there.
 
man just figured out why my keyboard has been actin up....the keyboard connector is loose on the mo and the keyboard wont stay in the hole....tried other keyboards all do the same..
 
Can anyone who has this board confirm...

Does it ship with the SLI Bridge?... i'm somewhat new to the SLI scene, and am not sure how that works, exactly.
 
codeflux said:
Can anyone who has this board confirm...

Does it ship with the SLI Bridge?... i'm somewhat new to the SLI scene, and am not sure how that works, exactly.
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The whitebox EVGA motherboard I ordered from Monarch included the SLI bridge, cables, manual, and CD. No worries about needing the bridge seperatly.

-E
 
I'm also interested in this board as well

My potential set up is

Opteron 170 w/zalman 7000 or amd heat-sink depending if I am going retail or not
Corsair 3500LL
2x 7900GT
(TV tuner in the near future, which is why im not going GTXs)
X-fi audigy


My only concern right now is if i can get the Opteron 170 to at least 2.4-2.5 range. I don't even want to bother with the OCZ 2GB EB 3-3-2-8 or mushkin redline because after reading the entire thread it doesn't even look like the board can pass 230. I know if I want an OC board I should look somewhere else, but I just don't want to bottle up my 2x7900 that much and I really don't want to drop 1k on the FX-60.
 
My X2 3800+ is running this board at 250HTT with a 166mhz memory divider for about 209mhz RAM speed... 2500mhz CPU speed, 10x multiplier. So, I'd say you're probably safe with an Opty 170 to get to 2500 at least on the motherboard end of things... I haven't even tried to push the board farther.
 
So from what you are saying I would have to run a divider and possibly 2T timings for anything over 220?
 
This board generally doesn't like 1T, but 1T-2T isn't a big performance difference (3-5% from what I've seen). The FSB for the RAM in mhz though I read at least doesn't like going over 220-225 generally before flaking out, hence why the divider is neccessary.
 
Wall7486 said:
I'm also interested in this board as well

My potential set up is

Opteron 170 w/zalman 7000 or amd heat-sink depending if I am going retail or not
Corsair 3500LL
2x 7900GT
(TV tuner in the near future, which is why im not going GTXs)
X-fi audigy


My only concern right now is if i can get the Opteron 170 to at least 2.4-2.5 range. I don't even want to bother with the OCZ 2GB EB 3-3-2-8 or mushkin redline because after reading the entire thread it doesn't even look like the board can pass 230. I know if I want an OC board I should look somewhere else, but I just don't want to bottle up my 2x7900 that much and I really don't want to drop 1k on the FX-60.
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That setup won't have enough PCI slots for you since there is one. It looks as if your X-FI will take up the PCI slot, so where will the TV Tuner go? Or, are you thinking USB?

-E
 
There is a PCI Express TV Tuner out there! I have it. I have 1 7800GT, ATI Theater 550 Pro PCIE TV Tuner, and the Creative X-Fi sound card. I have plans for another 7800GT in the future when the price is right, and everything will fit just fine.
Jason
 
Myrandex said:
There is a PCI Express TV Tuner out there! I have it. I have 1 7800GT, ATI Theater 550 Pro PCIE TV Tuner, and the Creative X-Fi sound card. I have plans for another 7800GT in the future when the price is right, and everything will fit just fine.
Jason
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That may be the case, but if you run SLI, according to the EVGA manual, the single 16x PCI-E slot no longer works when the two 8x PCI-E slots are active.

-E
 
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