EPoX 8K5A2+ vs 8K5A3+

[finr]

Hi all...

Which board would you prefer? Both ship for nearly the same amount of money around here.. Which of those two is to be preferred? I know that the 3+ provides addidtional features, but I fear that the 2+ will be supported better, as it's a bt cheaper...

Do you think it's save to buy a 8K5A3+? Or would the 2+ be the better solution?!

Thanky our any answers....
FinR

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If you're going to overclock I would go with the 3+ as it has exceeded 200mhz :Q and even under normal circumstances can go beyond 180mhz. Here is a good review of it Link

 

[Mem]

I`ll have to disagree with DAPUNISHER on this,the 8K5A2+ overclocks just as good as the 8K5A3+ ,

But to keep the cpu clock at a good reasonable overclocked frequency we settled for a multiplier of 9 to give us 1845MHz with the fsb running at 205MHz!.However all memory settings were reduced to safe options or lowest performing options apart from a raise in the memory voltage to 2.8 volts which is with in a tolerance of our XMS3000 module. Moreover that taking it to 210 x 9 caused some erratic effects on the opening screen of the post and increasing voltages at this point did nothing to correct it so 205 x 9 was an absoblute maximum overclock with the highest cpu frequency obtained

Link

Performance of the motherboard was good at stock speeds and if that still isn't fast enough for you, the 8K5A2+ will not hold you back should you decide to push your system. We were able to hit an amazing 219 MHz FSB with the Epox 8K5A2+ and with the memory at conservative settings 231 MHz FSB!!! Amazing!

Link 2

It really is down to features between the two boards like do you need 4 ram slots that the 8K5A3+ has.

Also more new Epox boards will be available see below.



EP-8K5A2+B1
Socket A AMD Athlon?, Athlon? XP, Duron?
3 x DDR SDRAM PC2700, 3GB max.
6 PCI, 1 AGP 1x / 2x / 4x
Highpoint HPT372 UDMA/ATA 133 RAID
VIA Tahoe VIA VT6103 Physical Layer / Transceiver
ATX



EP-8K5A2+B2
Socket A AMD Athlon?, Athlon? XP, Duron?
3 x DDR SDRAM PC2700, 3GB max.
6 PCI, 1 AGP 1x / 2x / 4x
Highpoint HPT372 UDMA/ATA 133 RAID
VIA Tahoe VIA VT6103 Physical Layer / Transceiver
ATX

VIA Apollo KT400 Chipset

EP-8K9A2+ New!
Socket A AMD Athlon?, Athlon? XP, Duron?
4 x DDR SDRAM PC2700, 4GB max.
6 PCI, 1 AGP 8x
Highpoint HPT372 UDMA/ATA 133 RAID
VIA Tahoe VIA VT6103 Physical Layer / Transceiver
ATX



EP-8K9A3+ New!
Socket A AMD Athlon?, Athlon? XP, Duron?
4 x DDR SDRAM PC2700, 4GB max.
6 PCI, 1 AGP 8x
Highpoint HPT374 UDMA/ATA 133 RAID
VIA Tahoe VIA VT6103 Physical Layer / Transceiver
ATX



EP-8K9AI New!
Socket A AMD Athlon?, Athlon? XP, Duron?
3 x DDR SDRAM PC2700, 3GB max.
5 PCI, 1 AGP 8x
VIA Tahoe VIA VT6103 Physical Layer / Transceiver
ATX

 

[mbdowns]

Where did you get your information about the new EPoX KT400 motherboards? I'm trying to decide whether to upgrade now w/ a 8K5A3+ or hold off for one of the KT400 motherboard with the hiPoint RAID. Soyo's Dragon is a bit expensive, but I can't find any information about release dates for Shuttle's new board. And this is first I've heard about an EPoX realease using VIA's KT400.

 

[Mem]

Where did you get your information about the new EPoX KT400 motherboards?

From Epox website here ,btw welcome to AT forums.