Overclocking Performance
The overclocking performance graphs allow for a better comparison on the overclocking capabilities of previously tested boards. For more details on the specific overclocking abilities of this board please refer to the Overclocking and Memory Stress Test section in the Basic Features section.
The ECS KA1 MVP Extreme is an excellent overclocking platform except for the stock 12x multiplier anomaly we witnessed with our AMD Athlon64 4000+ CPU. We had no issues booting into Windows XP at 251HTT x12 settings and running our 3DMark/game benchmarks, but the system was not Prime95/MemTest86 stable for more than six hours unless we dropped to a 238HTT x 12 setting. We tried various voltage settings, LDT multipliers, and memory modules but the system remained unstable in Prime95 and MemTest86 with the 1.1d BIOS. We were able to reach a stable 245HTT x12 setting with the 1.0e BIOS but could not extend the board past 265HTT settings with the original BIOS.
The ability of the ECS KA1 MVP to overclock our Athlon64 4000+ CPU at a 320HTT x9 setting is the best test result we have witnessed with this particular CPU and memory combination. The same holds true for our AMD Opteron 170 CPU with settings of 285HTT x10 and 315HTT x9 while remaining perfectly stable throughout our benchmark testing. We should also note the ability of this board to run our OCZ PC4800 memory at settings of 2.5-3-3-7 at 1T for all overclocking tests.
The overclocking performance graphs allow for a better comparison on the overclocking capabilities of previously tested boards. For more details on the specific overclocking abilities of this board please refer to the Overclocking and Memory Stress Test section in the Basic Features section.
The ECS KA1 MVP Extreme is an excellent overclocking platform except for the stock 12x multiplier anomaly we witnessed with our AMD Athlon64 4000+ CPU. We had no issues booting into Windows XP at 251HTT x12 settings and running our 3DMark/game benchmarks, but the system was not Prime95/MemTest86 stable for more than six hours unless we dropped to a 238HTT x 12 setting. We tried various voltage settings, LDT multipliers, and memory modules but the system remained unstable in Prime95 and MemTest86 with the 1.1d BIOS. We were able to reach a stable 245HTT x12 setting with the 1.0e BIOS but could not extend the board past 265HTT settings with the original BIOS.
The ability of the ECS KA1 MVP to overclock our Athlon64 4000+ CPU at a 320HTT x9 setting is the best test result we have witnessed with this particular CPU and memory combination. The same holds true for our AMD Opteron 170 CPU with settings of 285HTT x10 and 315HTT x9 while remaining perfectly stable throughout our benchmark testing. We should also note the ability of this board to run our OCZ PC4800 memory at settings of 2.5-3-3-7 at 1T for all overclocking tests.
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Gary Key - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
This item was changed along with the sound reference to Abit that two of us missed a few times at 3:40 this morning. Sorry about the issues! :)
We do have another bios to test today, so far it has fixed the Firewire and Marvel Ethernet throughput issues. Time to test stability and overclocking.
ashishkochaar - Sunday, September 24, 2017 - link
I had tried doing so with the same software but I was unable to get access for<a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/1983">Anand... Services.
Ryan Norton - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
Seriously, I love AT and their reviews are consistently great, but I bought into the A8R-MVP hype and was completely let down. I don't OC my ass off so my disappointment isn't quite the same as someone who wants to run a 3000+ at 325 HTT at 2.8GHz blah blah but still. Not saying AT is at fault, ASUS mostly is: just that no amount of praise can overcome the perception of RD480 boards in the PC enthusiast world now. ESPECIALLY praise for OCability =^)bob661 - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
I heard that there are some pretty pissed off owners of this board out there. ATI is new to the chipset game and they'll need some time to mature like every other manufacturer out there.Ryan Norton - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
Yeah, and like I said, I'm not one of them, since I really don't OC much. I was more excited about the layout and passive chipset cooling, which HAS lent itself to a very quiet PC in my Antec P180. Still (and I've got little evidence to back this statement up) the indelible sense of disappointment has crept into my overall appraisal of the board. I replaced an MSI Neo4 Platinum with it and would probably go back to that board were I able to replace its chipset fan (a real leafblower sound-alike) with a passive solution, but my 7800GTX hangs right over that area. The BIOS is very counterintuitively laid out, and not being able to choose which PCIe x16 slot the video card sits in is also annoying.You should go read the A8R-MVP section of the Asus website forums (finding them is a PITA since there are few static links available over thre) and read the bitching. I think most of the AT forumgoers' collective experiences with the board ended up here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
bob661 - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
Thanks for the link.seanp789 - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
The final words page has a link at the bottom to ethernet performance. a page 14 that does not appear to exist.JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
The article was modified from being 16 pages originally to being 13 pages -- no content was changed, but the layout was modified. You probably just saw the article in a transitory state. Sorry.Patrese - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
Great review, it seems that the manufacturers are using Anandtech as beta testers for BIOS... :) Is it really too hard to release a mobo with a properly working BIOS? It seems to be happening everytime...BTW, this board is too purple to be an Abit, as stated on the last page: "In the on-board audio area, the Abit board offers"
Visual - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link
WTF is a video shunt card?