Epox 8KA+ vs. Iwill XP-333-R

[Timmers]

I'm assuming the KT333 tilts the performance odds to the Epox, but I can't get Anand's favorable comments about the Iwill out of my mind. Tthe more I think about it, though, motherboard choices are never as simple as they're often made out.

For instance, benchmarks mean little unless the differences are large -- and in the areas in which the computer will really be used. And even then it matters little if the board isn't rock steady at a reasonable overclock.

It matters even less if the board doesn't offer thoughtful and usable features to the user -- such as Abit's approach to bios.

And no matter what board you buy, you're not in good shape for overclocking unless you've got a large, responsive, and smart online user community.

Finally, there's the tech support and customer service of the manufacturer itself. If you don't have a good feeling about those issues going in, I, for one, would never be truly comfortable and happy -- even if I never needed either.

So, everything considered, how do you feel about the choices?

 

[Ice69]

I would go with the Epox.

Why? Sure its a VIA chipset but I'd take it over the ALi one in the Iwill

Performance, at default levels the Epox is better


Stability, too many horror stories from the Iwill board

++Performance, sure you have the option to overclock your FSB on the IWill to really high speeds, but go ahead and try
check out VR zone, they have one up to 218mhz fsb with the newest bios
don't worry about PCI/AGP out of spec, supposedly their are undocumented divisors in there 1/6, 1/5

the only question for me is whether or not to get the Raided + version or not


also, not a good sign that Newegg.com has Iwill tech support number listed below the board, first time i've ever seen that!

 

[Technonut]

<< don't worry about PCI/AGP out of spec, supposedly their are undocumented divisors in there 1/6, 1/5 >>


There is an interesting read at Overclockers.com regarding the "undocumented divisors" on the 8KHA+.

As far as the XP-333 goes, I just received one to test out. There is another read at Overclockers that shows some tweaks and mods to run at a 200 FSB. It will be fun to try.

 

[Abyssiann]

I gave the IwillXP a try when I built my friends computer (can you say guinea pig????) and I will say that I am really happy with it. I got him an Athlon 1600+ (1.4 ghz) and OCZ PC-2700 to pair with it and I overclocked it (still locked haven't got around to unlocking it yet) to 1.712 GHZ. It's run rock stable for about a month now. I've never used the EPOX board but it probably will be as great as the KT266A board, which is one of the best KT266A boards out. I've never had to call Iwill tech support I hear pretty good things about them. There's so many great choices of motherboards out now it really makes it difficult to choose one because there's no clear cut "best" board. Drives me friggin crazy.

 

[Furor]

XP333..what other motherboard can get you 200+mhz(fsb) on the cpu and memory at the same time? none

 

[CoDerEd]

<< XP333..what other motherboard can get you 200+mhz(fsb) on the cpu and memory at the same time? none >>

Enough said. plus: You can not compare the 5.1 C-Media on Iwill to AC'97 EPox has.

 

[panhead49]

they both are great boards.....they both o/c well beond normal........160...175....fsb speeds......no matter what was said at overclockers.com there is a divider kick in at 166 and 200...proven by oscilliscope by more than 2 people....check it out at aoaforums.com...

eirther way..you will be a winner....both boards are great enough to have a cult following.....and many posts about setting both boards up...

 

[Grendel99]

I have the Iwill XP333-R and I must say it's the best board I have owned. Just as stable if not more stable than my 440BX board. I would highly recommend it. Though I can't say anything about the EpoX board, because I have never used it.