865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003 - Part 1: 20-way Shootout
by Evan Lieb on June 12, 2003 10:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Epox 4PCA3+
|
Motherboard Specifications |
|
|
CPU
Interface
|
Socket-478
|
|
Chipset
|
Intel
82875P MCH (North Bridge)
Intel 82801ER ICH5R (South Bridge) |
|
Bus
Speeds
|
up
to 350MHz (in 1MHz increments)
|
|
Core
Voltages Supported
|
up
to 1.850V (in 0.0125V and 0.0250V increments)
|
|
I/O
Voltages Supported
|
N/A
|
|
DRAM
Voltages Supported
|
up
to 3.30V (in 0.1V increments)
|
|
Memory Slots
|
4 184-pin
DDR DIMM Slots
|
|
Expansion Slots
|
1 AGP
8X Slot
5 PCI Slots |
|
Onboard IDE RAID
|
HighPoint
HPT374 controller (RAID 0, 1, 0 + 1 and hot swap capabilities)
|
|
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
|
Eight
USB 2.0 ports supported through South Bridge
No IEEE-1394 FireWire |
|
Onboard LAN
|
Broadcom
5705 Gigabit LAN (no CSA)
|
|
Onboard Audio
|
C-Media
CMI9739A codec
|
|
Onboard Serial ATA
|
Two
SATA connectors via ICH5R (RAID 0 & RAID 1 only)
|
|
BIOS
Revision
|
06/06/2003
|
The 4PCA3+ is in a class of its own when it comes to IDE support. Epox makes what we think is an excellent choice in HighPoint's latest and great ATA133 PCI RAID controller, the HPT374. This controller is capable of supporting eight independent disk drives, which in of itself would be stellar if it wasn't just limited to disk drives (optical drives would have been a nice addition, though it would've been impossible for Epox to choose any other IDE RAID controller capable of supporting as many drives). So including the ICH5R Serial ATA connectors, Primary/Secondary IDE connectors, and HPT374 connectors the 4PCA3+ is capable of supporting a record setting total of fourteen disk drives and/or hard drives. How many people will actually have fourteen drives in their system? Not many, but if it were me I'm sure I'd find a way to use at least nine or ten of those fourteen possible drives/ I might even find myself wanting more, as the 4PCA3+ can only support four ATAPI (optical drives), via the Primary/Secondary IDE connectors. That will be extended to six possible ATAPI drives once SATA optical drives start hitting the market.
Not surprisingly Epox laid out their 4PCA3+ BIOS exactly the same way and with exactly the same features as their 865PE motherboard, the 4PDA2+. Therefore, you will get the same max FSB of 350MHz, an especially unique and tasty VDIMM maximum of 3.30V and a VAGP max of 2.20V, which is yet another noteworthy BIOS feature (though not uncommon among Epox motherboards). While the initial 4PCA3+ BIOS releases were limited to a 1.60 Vcore like a lot of 875P motherboards were (some still are), the latest 4PCA3+ BIOS adds Vcore support up to 1.85V.
There are only a few minor negative things to say about the 4PCA3. Feature-wise the 4PCA3+ would have been more attractive with CSA support and onboard IEEE 1394 FireWire, both pretty standard features with any high-end motherboard. However very few users need CSA support (as most people aren't transferring large amounts of data over Gigabit Ethernet) and IEEE 1394 FireWire isn't as necessary a feature if you've already got eight USB 2.0 ports to choose from. Though we can certainly see some users that would desire FireWire, especially heavy DV camera users. One negative aspect of the 4PCA3+ actually has nothing to do with the motherboard itself, but its current availability, which is absolutely none at all in the U.S. We doubt any other parts of the world have the 4PCA3+ available and ready to ship in any kind of volume.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
18 Comments
View All Comments
Zak - Sunday, January 18, 2004 - link
I bought IS7 after reading this article and I've been having problems. Random resets, then BSOD after changing XP recovery settings. Over the past few months it worsened. In the begining it like once a week maybe. I wasn't concerned, bad driver I thought. Now it won't run more than an hour without BSOD. I have Corsair XMS DDR400 in it. I've played with memory settings for weeks, timings and voltages as well, reinstalled XPPro several times, updated BIOS, got all newest drivers and run out of ideas... I've put a stick of DDR333 because that's all have to test and I still get the same random BSOD, even durnig XP installation. I have no PCI cards in this box. Mushkin calls this board problematic and attributes the memory problems to forced implementation of PAT that is not normally present in 865. I may try getting it replaced by NewEgg but I don't suppose it'll help. I'm thinking about getting a 875 board instead. Zak.Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
I would like to see part II of the roundup of the 865 chipset. I wonder what is the delay?Anonymous User - Monday, October 13, 2003 - link
I thought Part 2 would be out by now at least... There are good new boards out there I'd like to see... Shuttle AB60R (cheap and full featured) and Abit IC7-MAX3 (OTES for mobo power area). I am still looking forward to seeing this, eventually, right guys?Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
Any comments on newer motherboards? Why hasn't supermicro been tested since 2000?Looking to compare supermicro
Intel s875wp1-e and Super P4SCE (SuperServer 5013C-I (SYS-5013-CI)) for a $50k cluster
Thanks
syzygyus@yahoo.com
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
Evan, how in the world is #4 going to research your statement when the articles/review comments forum gets purged/is gone now ?Anonymous User - Saturday, August 23, 2003 - link
Any word on Revision 2 of the Gigabyte 8knxp ultra board yet?Anonymous User - Sunday, August 10, 2003 - link
I bought the is7 after I read this article. It had many problems. I ended up having to ram this board twice. If you read the abit forum boards you will see alot of problems I am fairly surprised after all the tests this board was put through nothing ever went wrong. I will not buy another abit product period. I will stick to gigabye i've built 6 systems with Gigabyte and yet to have any problems with them. Save for the chipset fans having a low life.Anonymous User - Friday, August 8, 2003 - link
I bought the Abit IS7 and am completely pleased. One note is that many of the IS7's appear to be getting shipped with the gigabit lan as opposed to the sales brochure stated 10/100. (mine has the gigabit)Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
How could it be that the Asus p4c 800 de luxe is more expensive then the asus p4p deluxe but in the testresults it is slower?I would think i am misinformed by the computershop?
And the p4c deluxe got a gigabit lan on board, despite mentioning in the summary of this Mb it has not.
PixelDoc - Sunday, July 27, 2003 - link
Error Re: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP MoBoThis MoBo has 4, not 2 SATA connectors, 2 controlled by ICH5R and 2 more contolled by the SIL3112 chip.