EPoX 8K5A3+ Motherboard Review!!!

[Mem]

Link .

 

[Insane3D]

Nice find...

 

[Mem]

Thanks! Insane3D, Epox have too many KT333 boards in the market now IMHO especially with the KT400 boards out soon,I guess most people will be either happy with the many choices or confused.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Mem
Thanks! Insane3D, Epox have too many KT333 boards in the market now IMHO especially with the KT400 boards out soon,I guess most people will be either happy with the many choices or confused.

Definitely too many KT333 offerings, I saw your post and was like 3+?!? Not that I'm complaining, they all O/C great and the feature add on's are helping them to finally distinguish themselves from some of the other KT333 boards which was a chief reviewer's complaint on the KT333 chipset boards was that they were all so much alike.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Mem
Thanks! Insane3D, Epox have too many KT333 boards in the market now IMHO especially with the KT400 boards out soon,I guess most people will be either happy with the many choices or confused.

Not really..they replaced the 8K3A and 8K3A+ with the 8K5A2 and 8K5A2+, and they added the 8K5A3+ as a high end board. They also replaced their budget KT266A board, the 8KHAL with the KT333 based 8K3AE. So here is what the lineup looked like then, and looks like now...listed low end to high end...

Before

8KHAL - KT266A
8K3A
8K3A+

Now

8K3AE
8K5A2
8K5A2+
8K5A3+

So they basically added 1 more board to the 3 board lineup. I also think these new KT33 boards are a great idea since it gives Epox experience with the new southbridge that will be on all KT400 boards before the KT400 is released. Any minor glitches in the new southbridge should be ironed out by the time the KT400 hits shelves..at least in Epox boards..

 

[Insane3D]

Bump for those still interested in new AMD boards...

 

[John]

I think I will pick up a 8K5A3+ for the other rig and give it a test drive.

 

[Jaxidian]

Anybody have any clue how these boards handle filling all the slots with 1GB chips? I'm about to build a workstation where the users wants as much RAM as possible without buying a server-level mobo...

 

[Insane3D]

It should work, but I would highly suggest getting Registered DDR for that...especially in 1GB sticks. Getting four 1GB sticks to run @ PC2700 speeds might be tricky in such a high density configuration, so you might have to run the normal PC2100 speed.


Just curious, what in god's name do they use that needs 4GB of DDR? :Q

 

[jaeger66]

I'd consider giving Epox another chance if they just fixed their layouts, and this one is a true catastrope of design. The ATX connector couldn't possibly be in a worse position, the IDE ports are flipped the wrong way, and the floppy connector position is a great reason to give up floppies. Needless annoyances on what is probably a great board, though anyone who takes TweakTown's word for it should have their court-appointed caretaker up the medication.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
I'd consider giving Epox another chance if they just fixed their layouts, and this one is a true catastrope of design. The ATX connector couldn't possibly be in a worse position, the IDE ports are flipped the wrong way, and the floppy connector position is a great reason to give up floppies. Needless annoyances on what is probably a great board, though anyone who takes TweakTown's word for it should have their court-appointed caretaker up the medication.

Don't bother, just get the Asus or Abit variant, you will be happier I'm sure. No offense, but the way you seem to feel about Epox, even if you tried one, I have a feeling you would not like it.

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
It should work, but I would highly suggest getting Registered DDR for that...especially in 1GB sticks. Getting four 1GB sticks to run @ PC2700 speeds might be tricky in such a high density configuration, so you might have to run the normal PC2100 speed.


Just curious, what in god's name do they use that needs 4GB of DDR? :Q

The only sticks that I can affordably purchase as 1GB sticks are Registered, so that should be fine. And I wasn't expecting to run them at 2700 speeds, so that's fine as well. As far as what the machine will be used for, it's going to be used for some very complex mathematical calculations (several-day processes) and also for some high-end publishing (both real book stuff and webpages with many many tiny graphics).

I know your first thought is that 4GB of RAM isn't going to help in these tasks, and that was the first thing that I said to the guy I'm building this for, but he insisted on having as much RAM as he could possibly get, so despite my consultation, I'm doing what he wants....

(I plan on setting up a ram drive on it over the first weekend that I have it for some serious gaming, of course!)


The reason I was wanting to know the stability of it in this scenario is because I've seen many mobo reviews where they say that the mobo wasn't stable with all RAM slots populated, and wondered if this were to fall in the same category.

Thanks!

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: Insane3D


Don't bother, just get the Asus or Abit variant, you will be happier I'm sure. No offense, but the way you seem to feel about Epox, even if you tried one, I have a feeling you would not like it.

Thanks for talking me down off the ledge. While I'd never touch an Epox/Intel board, their VIA stuff has always been serviceable. I'm building a secondary machine very soon and would like to keep the price down. The KT333/8235 is a very attractive option, but I saw today that MSI's KT3 Ultra2 offers the same configuration. The KT3 Ultra was one of the finest boards available at any price, so I think I'll go that route.

 

[Doomguy]

In my opinion, MSI is garbage compared to Epox. MSI would not admit that their first KT266 Pro boards were flawed by having a resistor on the wrong spot on the board, causing the performance to suffer greatly. Even if the flaw wasen't their fault, but Via's for sending them the reference design they could have at least issues replacement boards. I could also never get the board stable, it would always die in 3dmark overnight. Others also experienced similar problems with their R127 version of the board. I replaced this board with an Epox 8K7A and everything was great.

I also believe Anandtech had two MSI boards die in their servers and MSI never responded to any of their e-mails.

 

[nopriznaz]

Can someone tell me what the differences are between the 8K3A and 8K3AE?
Thanks

 

[jaeger66]

The E has the 8233A south bridge, one less PCI slot, and more basic audio.

 

[tboo]

Dont know about those boards but the only difference I can tell between the 8K5A2+ & the 8K5A3+ is the extra RAID channels-they both have the new VIA southbridge chip.

 

[Jaxidian]

the only difference I can tell between the 8K5A2+ & the 8K5A3+ is the extra RAID channels

The 3+ board also has 4 DDR slots whereas teh 2+ only has 3 slots, unless I'm a confused individual (which could very well be the case)...

 

[StarTech]

you are probably confused, but also right

 

[MoFunk]

For those that have tried this board, have you tried it with the Alpha PAL8045? Does it fit? Thanks.

 

[tboo]

I have a thermalright AX7 & it fits fine-I dont think the Alpha is any bigger(or am I wrong?)

 

[Chris S]

Got it, and a very nice board I must say. This is my second Epox board and I am definately a fan. Boo ASUS, BOO, Hiss.

 

[Lysimachus]

jaeger66,

Sorry jeager, but I have to agree with Doomguy. To choose MSI over Epox is utter insanity in my opinion. Epox boards are way better, and have done enough to prove themselves superior. IMO, they are the best boards out there!

 

[toyzrs]

Will the EPOX 8k5a3 take pc2100 ram? i dont wanna buy pc2700 ram since i have soooo much pc2100 already.

Thanks

 

[toyzrs]

also is the epox 8k5a3+ better than the gigabyte 7vaxp.

the gigabyte has kt400 and firewire on the board and 6 channel audio. also it looks as though the giabyte has a better form factor.




any suggestions.

Thanks.