Epox MVP3G2 Super7 Motherboard Review
Last updated: 5/31/2000
QUALITY. I counted 33 105°C electrolytic
and saw no tear-drop tantalums on the board. The G board has three
more of the more expensive tantalums and three fewer of the cheaper electrolytics
. There are many more bypass, etc. capacitors all over the board and
a good measure of them in the middle of the CPU socket.
Wave soldering on the back of the board looks
first rate.
Trace and ground plane layout is very professional--a
thing of beauty to me.
Like previous Epox boards I have reviewed,
masking and silk-screening on this board is superb--excellent! Everything
from the jumpers to I/O connectors is clearly labeled. If you
loose the motherboard book you can still set-up the jumpers and the core
voltage dip switch. All of the setting are printed on the motherboard.
Little things standout like the oversized
doughnuts surrounding each of the seven mounting holes. One doesn't
have to worry about the head of the screw, used to fasten the motherboard
to the case, overlapping a trace on the motherboard and capacitively grounding
it.
The DIMM sockets are hefty with gold-plated
contacts and thick eject levers.
LAYOUT. The G and G2 boards
have almost identical layouts. The floppy and hard disk cable connectors,
and the core voltage DIP switch are on the front of the board, and, because
the board is relatively narrow from front to back, they are easy to get at
in the AOpen cases I use. The ATX power cable also located on the front
of the board and to the right. This is a very good location for the
AOpen HX45A and HX95A cases
and it provides a convenient place to zip-tie all of the access drive power
cables and the audio cable. But, it may be less than convenient in
more cramped cases.
The CPU socket is located out of the way of
properly tied cables and right where hot air above it will be sucked into
the power supply out of an HX45A case.
The memory sockets are in a wide-open area
behind CPU and in front the I/O connectors, making memory fairly easy to
get at; however, the left sides of the sockets are too close to the location
of the AGP video board, requiring removal of the board to lower the memory
extraction levers.
The front panel headers, and the FSB and multiplier
jumpers are at the left front of the board where they are very easy to see
and work with. The remaining jumpers are well located except the keyboard-on
jumper which is immediately behind the keyboard connector and requires deft
fingers or forceps (that's what I call them), etc. to change.
The front panel connectors are in two rows
along the front of the board where they are easy to see and get at. They
are clearly labeled.
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