Product Listing

ECS KA3 MVP (CrossFire Xpress 3200 - Socket AM2)

By Zachary Chan - 18 Jun 2006

Overclocking

Overclocking
 

  • FSB Settings: 200MHz to 500MHz
  • RAM Frequency: DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667, DDR2-800
  • CPU Voltage Settings: 0.550V to 0.800V (in 0.0125V steps), 0.800V to 1.400V (in 0.0250V steps)
  • Memory Voltage Settings: +0.05V to +0.35V (in 0.05V steps)
  • CPU HT Voltage Settings: +0.05V, +0.10V, +0.15V
  • CPU Dynamic Overclocking: Disabled, +2MHz to +30MHz
  • NB Voltage Settings: +0.05V, +0.10V, +0.15V
  • PCIe x16(1/2) Link Width: x1/x2/x4/x8/x12/x16
  • GFX1, GFX2, GPP, SB Extra Voltage: 10%
  • Multiplier Selection: Yes (unlocked CPUs only)

The KA3 MVP has a good spread of BIOS options, and an especially expansive configuration for the PCI Express bus. The board not only allows users to control the link width of both PCIe x16 slots, you can power down unused ports, set voltage limits, payload size or increase current. The rest of the the BIOS options for voltage and frequency stepping are almost identical to the KA1 MVP, though the KA3 MVP now comes with rudimentary voltage options for the Northbridge and HT link. With this amount of features, we had high hopes for overclocking, especially considering how well the KA1 MVP performed in this section.

Overclocking sadly, isn't going to be a highlight for the KA3 MVP. During our overclocking tests, the board barely scratched 230MHz on the HT bus with a 5x HTT and we were only able to bring the board to a maximum stable frequency of 260MHz by reducing the HTT multiplier to 4x and maximizing both Northbridge and HT voltage settings within the BIOS. One other thing to note is that the KA3 MVP was one of those boards that did not seem to like big frequency jumps. You'll manage to get higher frequencies with small 5MHz increments rather than straight gunning from say 200MHz to 250MHz, which is more or less guaranteed not to work no matter what your HT, voltage or multiplier settings are.

110nm fabrication, 22 million transistors, average 8W TDP. The CrossFire Xpress 3200 is a mini powerhouse, but it does heat up fast when more voltage is applied.

What really helped achieve a higher clock was the extra 0.15V boost to the RD580 and HT bus, though ECS seems to be playing it safe with such a low maximum voltage. However, we noted that the usually cool RD580 chipset gets really hot under heavy load, especially with the extra juice pumped in, so ECS might have a good reason to limit the chipset voltage. In any case, you'd definitely want to invest in an after market chipset cooler if you're planning on overclocking this board.

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