Any reason NOT to buy Epox 8KTA2?

[Moonbender]

I'll go happy computer shopping with a friend tomorrow, and he plans to get an Epox 8KTA2 board. We'd get an MSI Pro2A, but unfortunately that's not (yet) available at that store (I'm in Germany ... poor me).

So is there any reason not to get the Epox board? I have never seen it win any prices, however I have never seen it being ranked bad in any review. It offers the new Via Southbridge, the most overclocking options (FSB, multiplier, voltage etc). In tests it isn't extremely stable, but stable enough for non-server/compiling use (ie games!). The performance for most KT133 boards is similar anyway, and once again the Epox board isn't extreme in either direction.

So - once again, any reason not to buy it?

 

[chriscraft]

It is an under-rated board, I've built several systems in both the "+" and "A2" versions... very good board...just doesn't have the easy BIOS overclocking options.... M/B switches instead...

Never had a problem with them.... and they are faster than the MSI

 

[Moonbender]

Thanks, that's just what I wanted to hear!

 

[Super6]

Have one running a Duron 600 at 900MHz, a Radeon 32MB DDR, 128MB of Crucial PC133 at fastest bios settings, IBM 75GXP, and my old Xitel Storm Platinum (Aureal) sound card....no problems, complaints, or issues..fast and stable. The switches for voltage and multiplier settings are a no-brainer.

Super6

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Only reason I can think is you don't want to have an ISA slot.

 

[Edsel]

You might go for the 8KTA+ instead of the 8KTA2 if it is considerably less expensive. In the U.S. the '+' is a good $12 cheaper than the '2' and I don't think the ATA100 controller is much of a big deal, since current hard drives don't even tax the ATA66 controller in the older board.

 

[Zuluwarrior]

I went from the 8kta2 to the MSI pro2a
for no reason other than I like to buy
a new motherboard at least once a day...hehe

The MSi feels a tad slower, although I've got no benchmark.

I don't overclock so can't speak comparo in that regard but....

The MSI's sleep mode and hibernation mode is weird, sometimes it goes asleep
in 5 minutes, but sometimes i'll come in after hours on end of not using
it and it's still awake, (must be a wake on something I don't know is happenin)

Also, my optical mouse started flickering and dying upon the MSI comin into my home (case)
a reboot always fixes it for a while, but I suspect the board, not the mouse, because the Epox
never did that.

In retrospect, I think I'm goin back to Epox despite it's underratedness and the darling status
of the MSI board. What can I say, I just don't like jackin with my hardware after i've slapped
the whole thing together.

Other than these two anomolies, I like the MSi board, but the Epox had no problems whatsoever.

 

[Technonut]

I like the looks & features of the 8KTA3+ As soon as they are available, I probably will give one a test drive

EDIT: Be sure to look at the review link I posted. It appears to be a hell of a mobo.