*** Official EPoX 4PCA3/+ (875P) Thread ***

[AnandTech Moderator]

In an effort to make finding information about the EPoX 4PCA3(+) motherboard easier for all forum members, please post and discuss your issues, problems, experiences, rants, raves and FAQs here.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[Krk3561]

Review @ Vr-Zone

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: Krk3561
Review @ Vr-Zone

Review incorrectly indicates presence of CSA.

 

[Toymaker]

Get a P4C 2.4 Ghz processor with a 12x multiplier and you're good to go on this board.

 

[snowwie]

mmm...
4 channel IDE raid...I want

 

[GenTarkin]

Um.... they say in the review that the AGP voltage in the BIOS actually adjusts the chipset voltage.....?!?!?
They say its the same for the 4PEA+ also?!?!?!
Is this true? I have not heard anything else bout this before..anywhere else.

 

[snowwie]

yeah, usually AGP voltage means the chipset voltage in most boards

 

[Technonut]

Any word on when this board will be available?

 

[Technonut]

Looks like the EP-4PCA3+ may just be the Canterwood I have been waiting for. The VCore is just enough, and plenty of VDIMM. The feature that I like the most though is the Highpoint 374 RAID controller plus 2 SATA ports.. My kind of mobo. Now if it will only show up in stock somewhere soon.....

 

[First]

The 4PCA3+ will reach U.S. retailers next week. Review is done and will be up this week, along with the ABIT and MSI reviews (which were delayed due to some BIOS issues that popped up). Soyo and DFI reviews soon.

 

[oldfart]

Looking forward to the rest of the reviews Evan. Will 533 FSB overclocking compatibility be part of the reviews?

 

[First]

Originally posted by: oldfart
Looking forward to the rest of the reviews Evan. Will 533 FSB overclocking compatibility be part of the reviews?

No, but I guess that could be included in the 875P round this month. I was expecting everyone and their mother to have the cheap 800MHz FSB processors by now, but clearly Intel hasn't shipped much of those yet. If that doesn't happen soon, I'll definitely include some 533MHz FSB testing in the 875P roundup.

 

[oldfart]

I agree that once the 2.4 and 2.6Cs are out, the floodgates will open. As you are well aware, 533 FSB overclocking has been an adventure on these boards. It would be nice on a roundup to list how each of these boards fare running a P4 "B".

 

[Technonut]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb
The 4PCA3+ will reach U.S. retailers next week. Review is done and will be up this week, along with the ABIT and MSI reviews (which were delayed due to some BIOS issues that popped up). Soyo and DFI reviews soon.

Thanks for the info Evan. I may be wrong, but I have a feeling I will be glad that I waited on this mobo.

 

[NicColt]

>Review incorrectly indicates presence of CSA.

why do you say that ? are u saying that none of these boards will have CSA

But again the only downside to this board is the sound, they still went with C-Media?s sound which only supports surround sound and doesn't even include a s/pdif out.

Unlike Intel's sound that supports Dolby Digital 5.1 or the SoundMax on the Asus board which also has an s/pdif out. I'm sure this is done just to cut cost but still.

About SoundMAX from Analog Devices
SoundMAX Digital Audio Systems from Analog Devices are premium-performance PC audio solutions that exceed the functionality of sound cards. Offering outstanding audio quality and state-of-the-art technologies for playback of music CDs, MP3/WMA files, DVD movie soundtracks, MIDI music, Internet audio and enhanced game audio, SoundMAX delivers the ultimate audio experience on today?s PCs for business professionals, audio enthusiasts, musicians and gamers.

SoundMAX offers a flexible feature set, giving PC OEMs, motherboard manufacturers, and integrators the opportunity to customize the functionality of their audio solution. Residing on the PC?s motherboard, the SoundMAX-class of audio CODECs are available in both 2- and 6-channel configurations and offer variable sample rate conversion (SRC), professional quality 103-dB output with 94-dB SNR, software-configurable speaker EQ, and analog enumeration capability. Integrated into the PC?s audio subsystem, the SoundMAX feature set includes a state-of-the-art DLS2 MIDI synthesizer with the popular Yamaha DLSbyXG sound set, the award-winning Sensaura 5.1 Virtual Theater? surround sound, and support for all major game audio technologies, including Microsoft DirectX? 8.0, Microsoft DirectSound 3D?, A3D, MacroFX, ZoomFX, MultiDrive 5.1, A3D, EAX and SoundMAX SPX?

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: NicColt
>Review incorrectly indicates presence of CSA.

why do you say that ? are u saying that none of these boards will have CSA

No, he's just saying that the review incorrectly stated that the EPoX board used CSA which it does not. I contacted EPoX about this and they confirmed that they are NOT using the CSA, they're still using the old tried and true PCI bus to connect the networking chip to the ICH5.

Other manufacturers may or may not decide to use it, it's pretty much a cost reducing decision for EPoX. If you're designing a board not intended to be used in a server situation where Gigabit might be deployed, why add something that makes little difference to the majority of end users and pushes up the total manufacturing costs for the board.

techfuzz

 

[deeznuts]

all indications point out that you can't even use CSA without the intel chip, and epox uses a broadcom chip.

 

[Yourself]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb
The 4PCA3+ will reach U.S. retailers next week. Review is done and will be up this week, along with the ABIT and MSI reviews (which were delayed due to some BIOS issues that popped up). Soyo and DFI reviews soon.

Evan-

Any word on when the review will make it to the front page?


Self

 

[Technonut]

Any word on when the review will make it to the front page?

 

[LastRide]

Epox said the boards been cancelled and that anyone waiting on it can lick it :Q.J/K.Actually I waiting for the review myself.This will decide which to go with Epox or Abit Canterwood.

 

[eBauer]

Same here. I have narrowed it down to the Abit and Epox 875's. Can't wait for the review

 

[anomaly]

Put up a review so I can decide on this or the Albatron Pro II! Please for the sake of my gaming.

 

[davidgrove]

Folks,

I was very interested in the 4PCA3+ to build a RAIDed (4 drive) Linux/Samba dedicated media server on a gigabit ethernet home LAN. Then I learned that this board doesn't use CSA. Might some knowledgable souls answer some questions for me, please?

1) Doesn't failure to use CSA mean that both the NIC and the RAID would be sharing the same PCI bandwidth?

2) When reading data from the RAID, and sending it to another machine on the LAN, would I "be paying for the same data twice"? In other words, would the data be using the PCI bus for the RAID read, and then be (again) placed on the PCI bus to get to the NIC?

3) Might anyone suggest a mobo that has 4 IDE ports (don't necessarily need to support RAID since will be using Linux software RAID), in addition to the usual primary and secondary IDE ports. AND uses CSA (to avoid the gigabit NIC from swamping the PCI bus) for gigabit NIC. I'm thinking that this necessarily means an 865/875 chipset. I'm not aware of any of the new mobos, except the Epox 4PCA3+, which have 4 extra IDE channels, but would love to learn that there is one out there.

It is a mystery to me how a manufacturer could make a mobo to hold 14 drives on an 865/875 mobo, and not put the gigabit ethernet on the CSA.

Thank you to anyone who has some thoughts.

Regards,

DG

 

[davidgrove]

Alms for the poor??

 

[CTPAX]

I just switched from 4PEA+ to 4PCA3+. First problem - my 2 samsung ddr400 chips wont work dual channel. Tried various dimms(a-data, v-data) - all worked. Also mixed samsung - a-data/v-data - works but only with one of the samsung dimms, the other - which is original samsung - refuses to work dual channel no matter what other chip he is paired with. Second problem - weird voltages and weird temps. My 12v line shows 11.5, on 4PEA+ it was 11.98, multimeter - 12.04, Vcore shows also 0.5V lower. CPU temp is way too high, about 4-5 degrees over the 4PEA. Its silly to see 47C in bios when your heatsink is cold and im sure the temp is below 40C. MBM idle temps are 43-43C, same setup showed 38-39C with 4PEA+. MB rev. is 1.2, bios - 06/02 beta with Vcore up to 1.85.