Epox 4PEA+ An Exceptional Performer

[Prometheus_abx]

First some features. The 4PEA+ is the ONLY 845PE board I know with a full dual channel IDE RAID controller on-board (up to 4 Hard Drives in RAID 0, 1, or 0+1) PLUS a full Serial ATA RAID on-board. It also has 6-channel audio, 2 FIREWIRE Ports, 6 USB 2.0, Diagnostic "Post-Code" 2-digit display, the widest range of voltage controls for CPU, Dimm, and AGP, PCI/AGP lock with fine-tuning from 50 to 100MHz, and 10/100 LAN. In other words, it is the most full-featured board I have EVER seen at what is a bargain price for the features. AND in memory settings you also get a choice for CAS 1.5 for those wanting to squeeze all they can out of fast memory. EPOX HAS BROUGHT BACK THE 12V CONNECTOR, and there were therefore no voltage stability issues at all on this 3-phase power supply board.

Physical installation was easy, and in my full-tower case the board layout was about ideal - everything was in the right place. However, when I turned on the machine, the board hung at a "52" post code with my Corsair XMS3200C2 memory. A quick lookup showed 52 is memory related and I knew the memory was good. swapped for another Corsair - same problem. When I finally put in some cheap 333 memory it booted fine - with the cheap stuff. The problem, it turns out, is Epox sets such slow basic boot timings that good Corsair won't even boot at default. Once you go in and set aggressive manual or Turbo timings, save to BIOS, shutdown, and install the Corsair again everything is fine. I tried this with shipping BIOS, the latest release BIOS from 10/30 and the late beta from 12/02 - and had the same problem with Corsair on ALL of them. Epox needs to fix this, but until they do, updating BIOS will bring you back to the same problem if you use the automated install that clears the values with a new flash.

Once I got beyond this first snafu, everything has been smooth as silk with the 4PEA+. The BIOS has any adjustment you could possible want EXCEPT no 3:4 memory ratio with my 533 FSB 2.66. However, it's easy to get to 160 for DDR400 and even 166 - even with this fast CPU - so not a biggie. AND Epox is releasinga new BIOS that adds 3:4 at all settings - it's expected very soon.

Performance is truly excellent and I had no cold boot problems at all. Of course, I am more conservative than most with voltages and refuse to run at anything above 1.7V. I easily got 3.33GHz (166x20) on my 2.66 at 1.625V REAL (1.675V set) with memory at DDR415, 7, 3, 3, 2.

WCPUID at 3.33:




Sandra 2003 Arithmetic (CPU):




Sandra Memory Bench at 3.33GHz DDR415 7,3,3,2 with vDimm at 2.7V (Standard Buffered Memory) - 6,3,3,2 would not run with stability at DDR415, but 7,3,3,2 is very stable:




And Sandra unbuffered for those who care - timings were set at DDR415 7,3,3,2 even though Sandra 2003 is reporting quite different settings:



While DDR415 and 3.33GHz was pretty easy to achieve, I think you can go much higher if you're willing to do more with voltage than I am or have a water-cooling rig.


I always try to settle in a sweet spot with a fairly minor voltage increase and rock solid stability. With the 4PEA+ this was at 160FSB, 1.55V REAL (setting of 1.60V), and my Corsair at 6,3,3,2 DDR400 (spec). AGP was stock 1.5V, vDimm is at 2.6V.

At 3.206GHZ (160x20) at 1.55V:







Day-in and day-out, I am very comfortable running these last settings with voltages almost a stock setting. The system handles everything I throw at it with absolute stability, and 3DMark2001SE is right at 16,000 as you can see in this compare:

http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=5263837

There is no 845PE board I'm aware of that matches the total feature set of the 4PEA+ at any price. The fact that you can buy the board at www.mwave.com for about $130 makes it an incredible value. The stock boot issue with Corsair is a real problem which Epox needs to fix fast, but if you are willing to work around that problem this board is very stable, very fast, and with the best feature mix I've seen.

The iWill P4HT performance is very comparable and the iWill is a bit cheaper and a LOT redder - the prettiest board for the modder you will find. But if you want FULL IDE RAID (plus SATA Raid), top-notch performance, and all the bells and whistle the 4PEA+ is your choice.

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