Conclusion
I've been quietly impressed by this motherboard. It performs admirably, although we, as yet, don't have enough motherboards to directly compare its performance. It's got a number of useful features that should satiate the needs of those looking for frills and speed. I like the BIOS. It gives the user enough flexibility to really push their system without being dangerous (I've seen S462 motherboards with 2.4v Vcore). I also like the fact that one can choose a 5:1 FSB:PCI ratio, thereby keeping everything in check at 166FSB, i.e. support for the DDR333 processors. The very fact that it appears to fully unlock our test XP2400 allows us to put this divider into immediate use.
The layout, though, is a little quirky for my personal liking. I feel that EPoX could have laid out the power connector and fan headers in a slightly more intuitive fashion. That said, I do appreciate that they've managed to position 6 PCI slots and a number of on-board ICs with minimal clutter.
With Serial ATA being all the range in top-of-the-line motherboards, I sometimes wonder why manufacturers (ABIT excepted) don't bundle an IDE-to-SATA converter. True S-ATA drives are as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth, so the inclusion of S-ATA, whilst forward-looking, is rather academic. That's not a criticism solely aimed at this motherboard, it's a general observation.
What do I look for in a motherboard ?. Stability, speed, features, and a comprehensive bundle. The EPoX 8K9A2+ scores well on most counts. My only concern in wholly recommending this motherboard lies in the fact that a rival chipset is currently gaining a great deal of kudos from the reviewing world. The nForce2 appears to be a KT400-beater, and with it in full production now, we're likely to see branded motherboards in the very near future.
As an example of the KT400 chipset, though, the EPoX 8K9A2+ is almost a textbook example of how to do it right. Definitely an above average motherboard.
Highs
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Excellent BIOS
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Widely available
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Stable when used with aggressive timings
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Unlocks the newest Thoroughbred B CPUs
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A decent features list
Lows
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I'd liked to have seen some provision for Firewire
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nForce2 may supercede it quickly
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S-ATA is a currently an unusable feature.
Overall rating 8.5/10.
