THE EPOX EP-58MVP3C-M MOTHERBOARD
Last updated: 07/29/03

OBSERVATIONS

  Superb silk-screening and labeling.  Everything from the jumpers to I/O connectors are clearly labeled.   If  you loose the motherboard book you can still set-up the jumpers.  All of the setting are printed on the motherboard.

  CPU Jumpers a' la simplified.   I was kind of spoiled by motherboards with CPU "plug 'n play" until I saw this one.  A header on the left side of the board sets the core voltage.  One jumper sets the voltage.  Another header along the front of the board uses two jumpers which respectively set the bus clock speed and the multiplier.

The board has only two more jumpers.  The first one sets the SDRAM at 66 Mhz (which is also the AGP frequency) or the CPU Bus Clock.  If you have a 300 Mhz K6-2 and PC100 memory, simply set this jumper for CPU Bus Clock and the CPU bus frequency for 100 Mhz (and the multiplier would, of course, be set at 3X).

The second jumper works in conjunction with an ATX power supply and remote power on/off connector which can be connected to a momentary switch on the front panel of the computer case.  The computer can be turned on or off using the momentary switch.  If the jumper (JP4) is enabled, the system can also be turned-on by pressing one or two keyboard keys (depending on the keyboard) for two seconds.  So, with an ATX power supply you turn off the  system power by shutting-down Windows 95/98 and you can turn it back on with the keyboard.  The CPU speed and multiplier jumpers and the SDRAM jumpers may cause a minor problem with some cases.  Two drive bays in my old desktop case conceal these jumpers.

  Front panel connectors.  The front panel connectors are along the front of the board where they are easy to see and get at.  They are clearly labeled.  And something I really like: a turbo LED which actually keeps the LED lit.  Even though the turbo function is long gone, it is nice to have the LED lit so users won't think there is something wrong with the computer.

  I/O connectors.  The I/O connectors are clearly labeled and are located in the left-rear corner of the motherboard.   They are parallel with the back edge motherboard and instead of the memory slots.   This makes it easier to get at the memory, but a little more difficult to plug-in the cables.

  Donuts and mounting holes.  There are oversized donuts surrounding each of the mounting holes.  One doesn't have to worry about the head of the screw, fastening the motherboard to the case, overlapping a trace on the motherboard and capacitively grounding it. 

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