Any life still in a 2-year old Epox EP-8k5a2+?

[bupkus]

My niece wants me to build a pc for her husband to be used at his work site where he makes and sells window cornices. I think it's mostly for billing so my guess is it doesn't need to be a high-end machine.

I have this Epox 8k5a2+ sitting around which uses VIA's KT333 chipset. I'm wondering if it will accomodate a Sempron or maybe I should just get an AXP.

Which CPU would be the best choice for this? The Anandtech RTPE feed shows Semprons from the 2200+ @ $58 to the 2600+ @ $83. Also, there's the AXP's running an fsb of 266 which I suppose I could OC easily enough to 333 to run with some PC2700 I have here. Hmm, I suppose I should check to see if this mobo can OC as it's been so long since I've tried that little trick.

If you have one of these boards, let me know what you've been able to do with it as far as cpu selection and OCing.

Thanks.

 

[bupkus]

Ok, I just did the research and found 3 different "official epox" statements of compatibility.

CPU approval list Jan 2003
Barton 2800+ w/ fsb=333
Tbred 2700+ w/ fsb=333
Tbred 2600+ w/ fsb=266


CPU approval list April 2004
Same as above but without Barton

CPU approval list July 2004
Same as above but without Barton

Just for reference, Newegg has a:
Tbred 2100+ @ 1.73GHz w/ fsb=266 Retail for $90
if overclocked to fsb=333 this chip will do about 2.16GHz
Or NE has a:
Tbred 2700+ @ 2.17GHz w/ fsb=333 Retail for $105 or OEM for $97
Now, PC PROGRESS has the AXP 2700+ w/ fsb=333 OEM FOR $76, but is this a Tbred?

 

[meltdown75]

Yes. Its the same proc I bought a short while back. Same price too, but I found my oem chip on ebay.

 

[stingray454]

I've had this board for almost 3 years now (I'm actually going to be replacing it this weekend when I build my new system). Its a pretty decent overclocking board, but it doesn't have some of the modern o/c features like AGP/PCI locks. I've been able to hit 2.0 Ghz with my T-Bred XP 2200+. Stability is more important to me than o/c'ing, so most of the system's life has been run at stock speeds. The stability with this board has been amazing. I don't think it has EVER crashed or locked on me in the nearly three years I've owned it. I don't think I've ever had a more stable system in my life.

Also, remember that this board was one of the best and fastest boards of its time when it came out. So its still a respectable performer for what it is, and definitely has a longer useful life outside of playing the lastest games. I plan to use mine to upgrade my media server next, which will replace my ancient Duron 650. It'll be plenty fast for all my PVR needs.

If the person using this computer is primarily concerned with using it for billing for his business, I wouldn't even bother overclocking it - it will be more than powerful enough for business billing applications at stock speeds. Overclocking will only increase the risk for stability issues.