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Epox MVP3G2 Super7 Motherboard Review
Last updated: 5/31/2000
SLOTS. As I said in my review
of the G board, when comparing it to its predecessor, the EP-51MVPE-M,
the price you pay for a smaller board and a better layout is the loss
of an ISA slot and the two 72-pin memory slots. There are still a lot
of people who would rather not buy a new PCI board or replace their memory
when upgrading to an ATX motherboard and case; I see it frequently. One
of the three ISA slots has been replaced with a fifth PCI slot to produce
the "popular" 1/5/2 (AGP/PCI/ISA) combination. I still don't
know why this combination is so popular. Show me a computer with five
PCI cards and USB enabled and I'll show you a computer that is probably locking-up
with IRQ conflicts. Things haven't changed much except the price of
168-pin memory has gone through the roof during the last few weeks (9/27/99).
I/O. There are PS/2 keyboard, PS/2
mouse, 1 printer, two serial, and two USB ports along the back of the motherboard
(the configuration matches all of the Aopen
ATX cases I have reviewed). They are color-coded
to conform to the PC99
Design Guide. The motherboard also has a built-in SB-LINK header
for Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64D or compatible cards, a Wake on Lan
(WOL) connector, and an IR connector.
IN THE BOX. The G2 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 MVP3G,
MVP3G2, and MVP3G5 motherboards and cable set which includes an ATA/66 hard
disk cable (80 conductors versus 40), Epox has added value to the G2
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. Unfortunately, EpoX has stopped including HighPoint's
IDE driver and it is not longer available as download from their
Web site.
USER MANUAL. The original
G board User Manual has been rewritten to include the G2 and G5 motherboards
under one cover. The paper is a little cheaper, but the diagrams have
been improved and include a system diagram which is essentially the VIA chipset
block diagram. Overall the manual is to my liking. It is short,
well organized, and easy to read. A very good diagram (even better
than the one in the original G2 manual) 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, etc. 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. A page
on DIMM installation has been added for novices. 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. BIOS beep codes should
have been included; especially those codes for memory and display adapter
problems.
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