Date
| Date: 12/2/2002
Author: Hark |
EpoX
8K3A Motherboard (VIA KT333) |
Conclusions
One more time Epox
confirmed its title of one of the world-leading motherboard manufacturers. Firstly,
8K3A is issued rather fast and is already on sale. Secondly, the board costs
lower than similar models of market leaders such as Asus, MSI and Gigabyte.
And finally, overclocking possibilities of 8K3A are so good, that the board
can be qualified as "overclocker's choice".
Undoubtedly, for
assembling a new computer, a KT333-based board is an optimal choice. But from
the point of view of switching from KT266A to KT333 the situation is not so
obvious. Firstly, the price of KT333-based boards is rather high as soon as
this chipset is developed recently. Secondly, there is a necessity in purchasing
memory of PC2700 standard (which is not cheap as well). And finally, the real
growth of performance will be virtually intangible.
Summary
|
Pros:
· Reasonably low price ($95);
· High stability;
· Excellent performance;
· Great possibilities (Vcore up to 2.2V) and overclocking results;
· CPU/PCI divider of 5/1;
· The version equipped with RAID controller (8K3A+).
· Supports Athlon XP internal thermal sensor
|
Cons:
· Inoperability of some processors in the range of frequencies of 143-165MHz;
· High delicacy to the quality of RAM;
· Poor box contents;
· The absence of onboard POST controller (This relates to 8K3A only,
8K3A+ has an indicator).
|
This product was
purchased in retail sail. That is why this review is
maximally objective. Besides, I am absolutely independent on
anyone in making my conclusions.
