Review: EPoX EP-8RDA3+ nForce2 Ultra 400

Dom · May 21, 2003, 12:34 PM

To upgrade or not to upgrade, that is the question that crosses many enthusiasts' lips on a daily basis. The upgrade bug is a high infectious, wallet-stripping disease that spreads fast once it gets a hold of you. Hardware manufacturers propagate this infection by offering you, the consumer, faster, more desirable hardware each month. Almost every facet of the hardware world begs you to get the next model up, or to break open the piggy bank and buy an 'upgraded version' of what you already have. Speak to a number of enthusiasts and they'll tell you that upgrading is more addictive than gambling (Biz387, 2003).

The motherboard world is a case in point. Sometimes the upgraded model can bring real, tangible performance and features gains. That's hard to believe with a chipset as impressive as the present nForce2. We've seen NVIDIA take a stranglehold on the premium S462 motherboard sector with their high performance, highly featured chipset. It's safe to say that it has been ruling the performance roost for the past 6 months. It's now the recipient of a slight makeover. The very newest AMD Athlon XP now runs at 200FSB. NVIDIA have chosen this milestone to separate their nForce2 chipset into 2 distinct categories. The standard dual-channel nForce2 will be upgraded to 200FSB status and renamed nForce2 Ultra 400, and a single-channel chipset will be launched under the name of, wait for it...... nForce2 400. VIA are also releasing their own 200FSB AMD chipsets soon, so the scene is set for an imminent showdown between the past and present kings of the Athlon platform.

EPoX already have a successful line of two nForce2 boards in the 8RDA+ and 8RGA+ respectively. The latter sports integrated GeForce4MX-class graphics. Another is now due with official 200FSB support, obviously. Have EPoX used the interim time between the launches of the present 8RDA+ and the 8RDA3+ well ?. What else does the new motherboard have other than an official 200FSB stamp ?. EPoX have a rich tradition with respect to nForce2 motherboards. Let's see if the all-new 8RDA3+ can carry it on with aplomb.

Read the rest at Hexus.net

Vampyromaniac · May 21, 2003, 08:36 PM

This board, even though it is a '+' model, doesn't have the MCP-T sbridge (just the plain MCP), so no nForce2 SoundStorm audio

Desert_Siege · May 22, 2003, 05:23 AM

Why can't they just dump that crap and put on a decent IDE Raid controller from Promise or Highpoint. I mean, they have had nothing but problems with these things since they debuted and yet they continue to use them. Quite a useless feature if it corrupts your files unless you use drivers that slow it to a crawl. All I want is an Nforce2 board with the MCP-T and a decent IDE Raid controller. Apparently that is too much to ask...heh.

May 21, 2003, 12:34 PM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	Review: EPoX EP-8RDA3+ nForce2 Ultra 400 To upgrade or not to upgrade, that is the question that crosses many enthusiasts' lips on a daily basis. The upgrade bug is a high infectious, wallet-stripping disease that spreads fast once it gets a hold of you. Hardware manufacturers propagate this infection by offering you, the consumer, faster, more desirable hardware each month. Almost every facet of the hardware world begs you to get the next model up, or to break open the piggy bank and buy an 'upgraded version' of what you already have. Speak to a number of enthusiasts and they'll tell you that upgrading is more addictive than gambling (Biz387, 2003). The motherboard world is a case in point. Sometimes the upgraded model can bring real, tangible performance and features gains. That's hard to believe with a chipset as impressive as the present nForce2. We've seen NVIDIA take a stranglehold on the premium S462 motherboard sector with their high performance, highly featured chipset. It's safe to say that it has been ruling the performance roost for the past 6 months. It's now the recipient of a slight makeover. The very newest AMD Athlon XP now runs at 200FSB. NVIDIA have chosen this milestone to separate their nForce2 chipset into 2 distinct categories. The standard dual-channel nForce2 will be upgraded to 200FSB status and renamed nForce2 Ultra 400, and a single-channel chipset will be launched under the name of, wait for it...... nForce2 400. VIA are also releasing their own 200FSB AMD chipsets soon, so the scene is set for an imminent showdown between the past and present kings of the Athlon platform. EPoX already have a successful line of two nForce2 boards in the 8RDA+ and 8RGA+ respectively. The latter sports integrated GeForce4MX-class graphics. Another is now due with official 200FSB support, obviously. Have EPoX used the interim time between the launches of the present 8RDA+ and the 8RDA3+ well ?. What else does the new motherboard have other than an official 200FSB stamp ?. EPoX have a rich tradition with respect to nForce2 motherboards. Let's see if the all-new 8RDA3+ can carry it on with aplomb. Read the rest at Hexus.net

May 21, 2003, 08:36 PM	#2
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	This board, even though it is a '+' model, doesn't have the MCP-T sbridge (just the plain MCP), so no nForce2 SoundStorm audio __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

May 22, 2003, 05:23 AM	#3
Desert_Siege Professional Slacker Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: KY Posts: 274 Rep Power: 0	Still the same old problems with SI S-ATA controller! Why can't they just dump that crap and put on a decent IDE Raid controller from Promise or Highpoint. I mean, they have had nothing but problems with these things since they debuted and yet they continue to use them. Quite a useless feature if it corrupts your files unless you use drivers that slow it to a crawl. All I want is an Nforce2 board with the MCP-T and a decent IDE Raid controller. Apparently that is too much to ask...heh.