Epox MVP3C2 Super7 Motherboard Review
Last updated: 5/31/2000
JUMPERS. Other than those needed
to configure the CPU, the board has only three 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 400 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 to 4X).
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 a keyboard
key for a second or two. 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 third is used discharge the CMOS and is
located in front of the battery.
MEMORY. There are three, top-quality,
168-pin DIMM sockets with gold contacts. The memory is coupled to the
CPU by the Northbridge with one 512K, 5 ns high performance Winbond
W25P243AF-4A 64X64 SRAM cache' chip. The three memory slots can accommodate
up to 384 Mbytes of PC-100 or 66 Mhz memory; but, the 512K of cache'
with 8 tag bits will only cache' 128 MBytes of it. 128 Mbytes is, therefore,
the practical memory limit. The only other drawback is there are no
72-pin memory slots. This limits the use of the C2 as a replacement
board in the repair of computers with damaged motherboards and existing 72-pin
SIMMs, and one reason I don't use it for all such jobs that come into my
shop.
SLOTS. This motherboard has 1
AGP, 4 PCI, and 2 ISA bus expansion board slots. Neither of the ISA
slots are shared with a PCI slot.
HEADERS. There
are header connectors for the following interfaces:
I/O CABLES. One thing I dislike
are short or missing I/O cables. The printer and serial cables supplied
with this board are fine at 10 inches. The hard disk and floppy cables
are "standard," but I would prefer a longer hard disk cable with
a longer distance between the master and slave drive connectors; however
the cable length is constrained by the ATA specifications (this a problem
in most cable sets I've seen). There is a PS/2 mouse cable and
header. A real negative(!) is the lack of a USB cable and bracket. This
is a serious shortcoming now that USB is common place and cable and bracket
sets, compatible with the EpoX USB header, are hard to find.
IN THE BOX. The C2 comes packaged in an attractive
retail box. This box is good for shipping just the motherboard, but
it is not adequate if you add a CPU and CPU fan. Double box it if you
include those items. In addition to a User Manual for the C and
C2 motherboards and a cable set which includes an ATA/66 hard disk cable
(80 conductors versus 40), EpoX has added value to the C2 by including the
following goodies on a CD:
- A CD with Symantic's Norton
Anti-virus and Norton
Ghost software. Ghost is a utility program which you
can use to copy images of whole hard disks or indivual partitions. It
can copy and resize Windows 95/98 FAT32 partitions. Just the
ticket for moving everything from you old hard disk to you new computer.
Furthermore, the CD contains Via's 4-in-1 Driver installation
program which makes setting-up this board for the various versions of Windows
much easier. You do not need the 4-in-i driver for Windows 98 Second Edition.
USER MANUAL. Overall
the manual is to my liking. EpoX has improved it over the manuals for
earlier boards. It is short, well-organized, and easy to read. A
very good diagram of the motherboard is immediately followed by two pages
showing the jumper settings. CPU multiplier, bus clock, core voltage
settings in clear and understandable terms. The front panel connectors
are shown on the motherboard diagram and with larger print a few pages later. There
is no hunting back and forth through the book between the motherboard diagram
and the jumper settings. A more verbose manual might be more appropriate
for novices; however, I'm not novice and do not wish to rummage through a
lengthy manual. Two pages on DIMM installation has been added for "dummies." It
should have included anti-static precautions for emphasis where they need
to be emphasized, but these are presented at the front of the manual with
all of the other mumble jumble one sees and ignores at the front of manuals.
INSTALLATION. For tips
on hardware installation see my article on How
to build Your Own Super7 Computer. VIA's 4-in-1 driver makes
software installation even easier. To be sure you have the most
recent versions, you should down-load it from Via's
Web site and put it on a floppy before installing the motherboard. The
VIA USB Filter Driver should also be downloaded from VIA and installed (the
CD does not have this driver and it is essential if you are going to connect
USB devices to your computer). When Installing
Windows 98, I recommend that you omit/remove all expansion boards
from the system, except the monitor adapter, install 98, install the above
software, and then install any additional boards one-at-time. After
installing and configuring the MODEM and Internet software, the Norton Anti-Virus
database should be checked and updated from Norton's
AntiVirus Research Center.
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