EPoX MF570SLI Motherboard Review

[Capper]

EPoX is a name many here in the U.S. are not familiar with, nor are they a name typically associated with enthusiast level motherboards. However, EPoX, like a a lot of other motherboard manufacturers (Foxconn and ECS, among others), has realized that the enthusiast market is where the money is and have jumped in head first.

http://hardwarelogic.com/news/129/AR...006-08-02.html

[gvblake22]

Looks like a nice board to me! I actually really like the layout, except for the placement of the 24-pin ATX power connector. Looks to be a decent overclocker too. All the extra nice little features are also cool. It's always nice to see companies making the extra effort to include new innovations/features on their products that aren't normally included.

Thanks for the great review Rich! :thup:

[Tuathal]

I agree, thats a pretty odd place to put a power connector, but... It does indeed look interesting...

Great writeup Capper!

Tuathal

[polobunny]

Because of a bad experience, I don't trust ePox anymore. On all the ePox mobo I sold, all of them came back. nForce 2 chipset however.

I also agree with the 24 pin connector too, somewhat too close to the video card.

[Capper]

Well, the motherboard market has changed dramatically over the past 18 months....ever since the NF4 chipset hit the market, most companies have put a lot of time into building quality boards.....18 months ago I would never have recommended EPox, Foxconn, or ECS.....today all three produce excellent motherboards.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Because of a bad experience, I don't trust ePox anymore. On all the ePox mobo I sold, all of them came back. nForce 2 chipset however.

I also agree with the 24 pin connector too, somewhat too close to the video card.

I have to agree with ya polo, I have had some real bad experience with Epox nforce 2 mobo's. I have 2 old ones in my bone pile now! One of them is an nforce 2 and the other is a via based socket A. I have RMA'd about 3 or 4 of them in the past, and I would be very hard pressed to try one for myself.

Now, as Capper said, in the last 18 months or so, most all of the companies have made hugh improvements in there products. So I have to wonder if any one company is really better or worse than another......hhhhmmmm.

For a long time, I would pretty much stick with Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Abit, and Chaintech. Now I am not so sure that. I now am thinking that a person can choose a company or mobo by how well he, or she, likes the lay out of the board.

Another company that I had very, very good luck with is Machspeed. They are the only mobo in the world that carries a LIFE TIME warrenty!!! They just don't really have much of a selection of products.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Capper

Well, the motherboard market has changed dramatically over the past 18 months....ever since the NF4 chipset hit the market, most companies have put a lot of time into building quality boards.....18 months ago I would never have recommended EPox, Foxconn, or ECS.....today all three produce excellent motherboards.

Can't disagree with that. The quality of those brands really improved over the last year and a half, especially ECS in my opinion.
On an unrelated note, yesterday I fried 2 AXP with 2 DOA Foxconn Winfast K7S :cry: Bye 2200+ & 1800+.

[gvblake22]

Indeed. I think you can even add DFI to that list. I've heard a lot of stories of frustration concerning DFI NF2 boards; but their boards since NF4 seem to be top notch.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

Indeed. I think you can even add DFI to that list. I've heard a lot of stories of frustration concerning DFI NF2 boards; but their boards since NF4 seem to be top notch.

Ah yes, I remember those horror stories myself, though didn't have much experience with DFI. My experience jumped from a socket 370 DFI with whatever chipset to a s939 w/ NF4, and I don't think anyone can say DFI didn't make a good job with it's NF4 based boards. :)