Epox boards?

[fyxxer32]

How are Epox boards in general?

[AuraEdge]

The new 8KTA3 and 8KTA3+ are exceptional boards, but everything before them are just so so.

[kdgathani]

After browsing through the forum on ABIT boards being taken off the AMD recommended list, I'm a little confused now. Should I opt for one of the new Epox boards or jump on the Asus bandwagon or just wait till ABIT sort themselves out

[wildbuffalo]

I have been using MVP3G2 with K6-3+ 450@616 since last summer. Excellent board, stable and very fast. Check out my benchmarks at http://www.bjelivuk.com/

A friend of mine recently bought 8KTA+ (KT133) board with duron 700. It was a breeze to setup and stable with very good performance.

Wild

[T-Bird]

Eopx boards have come along way in the high end type boards. The 8KTA-3 and 8KTA-3+ are very great boards. They also overclock very well and easily. The price is right too. I think Epox is going to be right up there with Abit within a few months. I got mine for 134.00, but I have now seen the 8KTA-3 for 121.00 shipped from www.z-buy.com (http://www.z-buy.com)

[Richard_Cranium72]

wildbuffalo
How about giving us the details on that o/c

I have a couple of 450-3 + CPU's and am curious as to the top end ability BEFORE I try out my rare CPU's

Thanks

DrVette

[wildbuffalo]

DrVette,

The setup is as follows:

112x5.5 at 2.1 volts M/B cache enabled, using 2x128 mb generic PC133(Zeus)+1x64 mb PC133 (PNY
The BIOS is setup aggressively i.e., CAS 2, 4-way interleave some other minor things to do with PCI, which I am forgetting. And since I am not a `gamer', I use PCI savage 4 card which actually seems to be limiting me to 112 fsb. At 124 I can get into windows, but get display problems and during benchmarking it would act really weired. Had it stable at 115x5.5 (using CPUCOOL) at 2.2 volts, but the gain over 616 is not much and 2.2V is so close to its limit that I decided to tune it down.

For cooling, I am using FOP32-I, and just cooler (with 80cfm) sucking air out, and a sunon (at 40cfm) blowing air in. The room temp is 21-22 C, system at 26-28 C, and CPU idle 26-28; full load 34-36 C.

Wild

[AnakiMana]

EPoX has incredible motherboards. Ever since they released their MVP3G2 & MVP3G5 back a couple of years ago, they have become the BEST manufacturer for motherboards, period (in my opinion, of course). The following are the reasons I say that:

1. They create awesome top notch motherboards.
a. Extremely stable
b. More feature packed than their competition.
c. Very overclockable!
d. Very high quality parts.
2. Their technical support is unbeatable and extremely quick (breath of fresh air here).
3. They always charge less than their competition.
4. They eagerly listen to the customer's suggestions and constantly add features for us.
5. They're always releasing BIOS updates (which shows that #2 & #4 are true).
6. They have possibly the best manual out there, and include Norton Anti-Virus, Norton Ghost, temp/fan readout software, 2nd USB connector and 2 UATA/100 cables (maybe more with their RAID version)!

I'm also glad that EPoX does NOT include CNR or AMR slots on their 8KTA models, while most others are doing just that (instead of ISA), which says to me that EPoX is more considerate of their customers. How useful is CNR or AMR unless you're a OEM builder? http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

AnakiMana

[kris]

I'm not so unhappy with my Epox Mvp3. ;-)
But after all I would perfer a board
with better customer support. :-|
I recieved unpolite and as I guess
wrong messages from their hotline. :-(
And Epox informed very late about
undocumented jumpersettings. :-((
My impression is that the customer is
disturbing after the mobo is bought. :-[
So my next choice could be Asus. :-)

[elroy]

I've got a new Epox 8KTA3 and am very happy. Easy to install, very stable, lots of settings. newegg.com has been selling them for $117 w/ free shipping. I'm running a Duron 800@980 [140x7] This is my first attempt at o/cing.

[torskdoc]

One of the local (to me) PC shops has a 8tka2 with 800 Duron combo for $199.00
(Btw, I verified its a 2 not a +)

this price is about 15-20 < than what's on price watch (plus shipping).

Good Deal or No???

Larry

[wildbuffalo]

torskdoc,

$199 for 8TKA2 and Duron 800 is close to being a good deal. Online however:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=22&manufactory=1318 has this m/b with free ship for 97

and upgradeplanet2.com listed on pricewatch has Duron 800 for about 72 shipped (upgradepalnet has a rating of 5.3/7.0 on ressellerratings)

That is a total of 169

Wild

[BP]

I can only say good things about my EP-8kta+.
It's a stable platform for socketA chips.It's very o/c'able,with mulitplier,FSB,Vcore and Vi/o adjustments.

Duron650@918
1.8vcore
3.4Vi/o
pc100@137