@Epox Tech Cool n Quiet problems with 8KDA3J

[NeWJoe1]

Hi,

now my new PC with Epox 8KDa3J was build. As CPU i own a A64 3200+ NewCastle Revision DH7-CG. Two pieces of Singlesided Crucial 512 MB DDR400 RAM work on the Mobo.

After Installation of Windows XP Pro SP1 and all Windows Updates i have installed the XP cool n quiet driver to use this feature. Unfortunately this feature is not fully functional. CPU-Z shows that the CPU reached only Intermediate P-State #2 with 1800 MHz and not Min P-State with 1000 MHz. This happens even with the lastest BIOS i've found dated on May 26 (kda34526.bin). With the BIOS out of the BOX build at May 05 Windows XP freezes immediately.

What is to do, will we see soon an newer BIOS version to clear this problem.

With best regards

Gerald

[DeathAndPain]

I can confirm this problem, but it is somehow memory related. Using the stock (May) BIOS, Cool 'n' Quiet works flawlessly with a 256MB DDR-400 module from Infineon (Min-P-state 1000MHz). Once I upgrade to 2x DDR-400 512MB Corsair (just as you have, only different memory producer) XP freezes at the welcome screen when I enable Cool 'n' Quiet in the BIOS.

I have yet to try a newer BIOS, because up to now there is no official 8KDA3J BIOS available at any Epox site.

[DeathAndPain]

I contacted Epox Support Europe and Epox Support Taiwan via email because of this.

Epox Europe sent me the latest BIOS (from June 30th) and assured me that this would fix the Cool'n'Quiet problem.

Epox Taiwan responded to my mail as follows:

Dear sir

About the using CoolNQuiet function.It can not support the two dimms
used,so If you will use this function just only used the one dimm memory in
mother board.

Unfortunately, both appear to be wrong. The new BIOS is cool to have, because nobody else has it yet , but that is not really worth anything since it does not solve the Cool'n'Quiet problem.

I do, however, remember having only one of the modules in the system, and the symptoms were just the same. That was before flashing the BIOS, but still I wonder whether the new BIOS would have made Cool'n'Quiet work under those circumstances. Probably not, since the Taiwanese support did not mention the existence of the new BIOS, so they must have assumed one of my modules would have worked with Cool'n'Quiet and the stock BIOS. I feel not tempted to dismantle my machine once again just to find out, however.

So there is confusion everywhere, it seems. Epox Europe provides a new BIOS that does not fix the problem although they affirm it does, while Taiwan says it would work with only one module while it does not.

I know you are all hungry to get the new BIOS version anyway, and I would not hesitate to post it here, but in their mail the guys from Epox made clear that I am not authorized to give it away. I suggest bugging Epox Tech. He can surely make the new version available to you.

[EPoX Tech]

I wouldn't suggest bugging EPoX Tech since that's generally counter-productive!!!!!!

What I will state is that Cool n Quiet technology seems to work best on Clawhammers and Clawhammers with half the cache disabled (pseudo Geordies) and doesn't yet ingest as well on pure Geordie processors.

I think a new AMD input for BIOS XGroup may assist in this (after a lot of linking and testing) but it has to be remembered that whilst this does perhaps increase the useability of Cool n Quiet, it does decrease the ability to make lower multipliers as adjustable from BIOS for overclocking - a bit of a catch 22 situation - do we want to have a cool and un-noxious system or a lady killing giga hertz beast??

[DeathAndPain]

I wouldn't suggest bugging EPoX Tech since that's generally counter-productive!!!!!!

I see your point, but then again, you were so nice to give the people here a beta BIOS. If they are using a beta anyway, then what is wrong with them at least using the latest beta?

What I will state is that Cool n Quiet technology seems to work best on Clawhammers and Clawhammers with half the cache disabled (pseudo Geordies) and doesn't yet ingest as well on pure Geordie processors.

You say "yet", which seems to imply hope for the future. What I would like to know: Is this a problem that can be corrected through a revamped BIOS (whenever it will be completed), or is it something that only new revisions of the mainboard or CPU can fix, so that there is no hope for those like NeWJoe1 and me who already bought the hardware?

[pre]

i have to say im not quite sure if C&Q isnt the cause of most of the instability ive had on this board eventhough its disabled in the BIOS. ive had quite a few random BSODs and although ive not seen the vcore inside windows, 1.73v in the BIOS was enough to let me post/boot/and run 1mb SuperPi comfortably at 2500+ on another NF3-250 board.

here 1.73 is just about enough to be 100% stable at 2425 when 1.65-9v did the job on that other board at 2430.

for some reason there also seems to be more EMF/power consumption from this board as well despite the removal of a HD. my tv reception to Channel 5 immediately starts flickering soon as the CPU goes under load whereas it didnt on the other board...

[jnansley]

Originally Posted by EPoX Tech

do we want to have a cool and un-noxious system or a lady killing giga hertz beast??

I want a giga hertz beast that will become un-noxious when the screensaver kicks in

Seriously though. I just tried out 8rdavcore the other day. I love the idea of decreasing FSB while I'm not using the computer.

Would you think that an open standard for software control of the CPU voltage, multiplier, FSB, etc would have worked out better? Whether through actual CPU instructions, or through accessing the BIOS?

Then, whether I'm using Windows or Linux, the existing community of software developers who love to make free widgets, would write me the programs I need. Like 8rdavcore.

Of course, the A64 is still an Opteron, and I hear that random 3rd part "widgets" don't go very far in the server market...

I do have faith that the motherboard manufacturers will come up with a working solution, and I'll eventually buy it. That's how the free market works No matter what kind of specifications come from the component manufacturers, the company (ie Epox) selling to end users will either successfully sell a good product, or not sell a bad product.

[Áedán]

There is already a solution, it's called ACPI. It's designed to control power consumption, and is already used in many systems. The AMD64 platforms already support ACPI power states, but it does require the OS to do some work.