Epox E9PA+ ULTRA Owners: POLL!

[GTaudiophile]

I want an nForce4-Ultra board that has both OPTICAL S/PDIF output AND IEEE1394. I had been dead-set on the Epox 9PA+ until I started reading about the USB2.0 issues. I then learned about the newer Epox E9PA3-Ultra, but it lacks IEEE. I am also considering the DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity. It has IEEE1394 and coaxial S/PDIF but not optical! I can't seem to find an nF4-Ultra board that has both from one of the more respectable brands. So, I am coming back to the E9PA+ as an option.

Another option would be to buy an EP9PA3+ and buy an add-in IEEE1394 PCI card. What would be the speed disadvantage of this as compared to the on-board option? (Losing one PCI slot doesn't mean much.)

 

[DanceMan]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I want an nForce4-Ultra board that has both OPTICAL S/PDIF output AND IEEE1394. I had been dead-set on the Epox 9PA+ until I started reading about the USB2.0 issues. I then learned about the newer Epox E9PA3-Ultra, but it lacks IEEE. I am also considering the DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity. It has IEEE1394 and coaxial S/PDIF but not optical! I can't seem to find an nF4-Ultra board that has both from one of the more respectable brands. So, I am coming back to the E9PA+ as an option.

Another option would be to buy an EP9PA3+ and buy an add-in IEEE1394 PCI card. What would be the speed disadvantage of this as compared to the on-board option? (Losing one PCI slot doesn't mean much.)

Don't know about the motherboard choices, but I don't see a problem with adding PCI-based 1394. There should be no speed issues, because the speed of regular 1394 (50 MB/s is substantially slower than the PCI bus (133 MB/s). Most of the on-board support anyway for 1394 is by the same chips (VIA usually) that is used by PCI cards anyway.

 

[Allio]

I have the SLI but I think the USB reports are the same on both boards. I haven't had any USB 2.0 issues or any kind of issues at all.

 

[Mem]

GTaudiophile knows my Epox board has 0 problems .

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: Mem
GTaudiophile knows my Epox board has 0 problems .

Yep! Thanks for the PM!

 

[MDE]

No problems for me.