Socket 939 Roundup: Battle at the Top
by Wesley Fink on July 30, 2004 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ECS KV2 Extreme: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | ||
| Processor: | Athlon 64 FX53 Socket 939 2.4GHz |
|
| CPU Voltage: | 1.5V (default) | |
| Cooling: | Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 | |
| Power Supply: | Antec TruePower 430W | |
| Maximum OC: (Standard Ratios) |
207FSB x 12.5 2587MHz (+8%) |
|
| Maximum FSB: (Lower Ratio) |
220FSB x 11 at 1:1 Memory | |
Our FX53 topped out at about 2.59 GHz on the ECS KV2, which is slightly below the 2.6+ achieved on the top 939 boards. However, ECS has the significant advantage of half multipliers, which are very useful for tweaking the KV2 for the best performance with any Athlon 64 CPU. While we clearly found a working PCI/AGP lock with PCI Geiger, the ECS still topped out at 219-220 CPU frequency in BIOS - a figure you would expect on a good board without a lock.
We were able to reach higher in Windows with the ECS overclocking utility, which they call Fuzzy OC, reaching a high of 236 at a multiplier of 10. We have seen this type of behavior on other early VIA K8T800 PRO boards, and we suspect ECS will be able to significantly improve these results with a BIOS update or board revision. If ECS manages to deliver better overclocking performance, the KV2 Extreme will be a formidable competitor. For now, we can say it performs quite well at stock speeds, and offers great promise in the overclocking area. It just isn't quite there yet as an enthusiast board.
Memory Stress Test Results:
The memory stress test basically determines the ability of the ECS KV2 to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (400MHz DDR), at the best performing memory timings that our Mushkin PC3500 Level 2 or OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd Modules will support. Memory stress testing was conducted by running RAM at 400MHz with 2 DIMM slots operating in Dual-Channel mode. ECS uses the more standard DC configuration of slots 1 and 3 for the first Dual-Channel bank, and 2 and 4 for bank 2.| Stable DDR400 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 DIMMs - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | N/A |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | N/A |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T* |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 1T |
The premium design of the KV2 paid off in memory performance, as the ECS was completely stable with 2 DIMMs in Dual-Channel at the best performing settings of 2-2-2-10. We have found that the best performance on Socket 939 boards is with a Command Rate of 1T, and the KV2 was very stable with a 1T Command Rate setting.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DIMMs on a motherboard.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs - 2 Dual-Channel Banks) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | N/A |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | N/A |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T* |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 2T |
The ECS was able to run with all 4 DIMM slots at the same aggressive 2-2-2-10 settings used for 2 DIMMs. However, as we have seen on other 939 boards running all 4 DIMMs, Command Rate must be reduced to 2T when filling both Dual Channels.
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Klaasman - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
#32 Socket 940 boards require ECC memory. 939 don't but they might run it. Go to AMD's website and see.FactorOfTwo - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
Do any Socket 939 boards support ECC memory? I am having a hard time finding a definitive answer to this question.TheLiquidH20 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
Quote - The general performance of the VIA and nVidia-based 939 boards was virtually the same in DirectX 9 games, with one notable exception. Microsoft's Halo performs almost 15% better on the nVidia nForce3 Ultra .Could this have something to do with Halo being a direct port of the xbox ? Seeing that the Xbox is basically one , big intergrated nForce ? . Would explain microsoft adding some optimazations for niVdia hardware .
Klaasman - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
Ive got an ABIT AV8 and I wouold like to get a copy of that 1.3 bios you claim you had.rjm55 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
This is the first time I've seen AnandTech use color in the benchmark graphs. It really makes reading the data a LOT easier. Thanks!Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
#5 and #26 - I received a retail K8T Neo2 about 10 days ago and the board is now entering retail. I received the retail K8N Neo2 about 4 days ago and I am told it should enter retail in the next week to 10 days. That is the best information I have, but the date has already slipped from early July to the end of July. MSI should have the most reliable information on when the board will finally hit the retail channel.kmmatney - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
Thanks for using the AutoGK encoding benchmark! I prefer the XVid codec, over DivX, but I very much appreciate the benchmark. AutoGK is by far the best freeware encoding suite I've come across.kd4yum - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
See #5ibid
Where is the MSI 939 board?!
Wesley, I asked same question in another Comments section. I can't get answers from MSI (phone) or Newegg (phone). Can you?
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
#23 - I am now working on a 925X roundup and had switched mental gears. It looks like I need to check my mind set before correcting reviews :-) Now fixed.kd4yum - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link