In the tests, we checked out the performance in comparison with older NF2 and other chipsets. Despite being a new chipset that bundles lots of good features, it it slightly slower than its predecessor. The first thing that comes into my mind would be the integrated firewall and dedicated Gigabit Ethernet and SATA that has taken a portion of that bandwidth. We experimented it by turning them off and not installing drivers. We tested with a couple of new BIOS but it still remains the same.

Overclocking-wise, this board has the necessary adjustments. FSB can be adjusted from 200 to 300 at 1MHz stepping, tRAS, tRCD, tRP, CAS Latency can all be adjusted, CPU Voltage can be adjusted up to 2.025v, Multiplier control can be set from 5x ~ 24x, VDIMM can be set to 2.98v, AGP voltage can be adjusted up to 1.8v, Chipset voltage can be adjusted up to 2.0v.

In our tests, we managed to push our reluctant old horse 3200+ to 10x233 air cool using a thermaltake heatsink/fan running at SPD speed with 2 x 256M GEIL PC4000. (vdimm 2.7v, vcore 1.7v, vchipset 1.6v)

Documentation is precise and it includes a quick setup guide for quick installation. Packaging wise, EPoX cares for their DIY customers by providing a FREE power pack and includes a screwdriver, mini heatsinks. These are useful stuff which you wouldn't find in other packages to date.

Overall, a well thought of package for the end users and if you need a board that can serve video streams, this might be a good choice to consider.

Suggested Retail : Pricing Info

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Pros

• Fix PCI/AGP
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Built in Firewall
• Power Pack
• Overclocking features

Cons

• No Soundstorm
• No IDE RAID
• Vdimm could be higher than 2.9v

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.