What's the difference between these two epox boards?

[thatguyant]

I'm still trying to find a suitable board for my x2 combo I picked up from fry's last week and after going through the mobo selection thread, I decided on the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra. I found the board on Newegg, but also found another board that is similar and I don't know the difference. Here's the links

EPoX EP-9NPA3ULTRA Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail for $85 or

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail for $105.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[cr0ssfire]

The 9nPA3 is the slightly "dumbed down" version of the 9NPA+, if I'm not mistaken. It looks as though it's a bit smaller than a standard ATX board, and from what I can tell they've removed a PCI-E 1x slot and rotated the 24-pin plug's placement 90 degrees. I doubt there's anything more than that.

Personally, I don't think there's much difference between the two, so I'd go with the cheaper model - the 9NPA3.

 

[thatguyant]

If that's the only difference I think I'm definitely going to get the cheaper model. I did the side by side comparison the website and seems like every other feature is there as well except for the noted pci-x slot you mentioned.

 

[Fallengod]

The 9npa3 ultra lacks firewire, round cables (possibly other accessories) and has a few layout improvements. Basically its around $15 cheaper. If you dont need any cables and firewire. Might as well get it. Its the same board other than that.

 

[MDE]

Looks just about the same, just minus FireWire and the PowerPack accessories (really, it's all just fluff like a screwdriver, little heatsinks, etc).

 

[thatguyant]

do you guys know if it just doesn't have the firewire accessories, or if it doesn't support firewire at all. I've got a front mounted firewire port on my case that I would like to use still.

 

[Fallengod]

No man, like I said already it LACKS firewire. If you want firewire, you gotta get the 9npa+ultra.