Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this.. :)

[gg1978]

Just got an Epox EP 9NPA+ Ultra today.. Has mostly Rubycon MBZ in the CPU VRM, both on the input and output side, and Rubycon YXG for Vdimm, Vpcie, etc.

Just a few assorted 100uF Teapo's on it, and there is one Teapo on the input side of the VRM, though i haven't taken a good look at it.. Looks like most of the 100uF Teapos are in parallel with the assorted 1000uF Rubycon YXG's, so they're more likely being used for bypass caps. Very impressed with the board so far, though i may be replacing the chipset heatsink if the fan bearings on it go out. Hopefully they won't though..

Has the exact slot layout i was wanting, 1 PCIe X16, 3 regular PCI, and 3 PCIe X1 slots. The X16 slot is right by the PCI slots, so no losing the 1X PCIe slots to my videocard's humongous fan. So far it's holding my Athlon 64 at 2.25Ghz, using 50mV less Vcore. We'll have to see if it'll do so for at least 48 hours of continous Prime95 before i consider it "stable".

I've always liked Epox boards, but the GSC caps they were using there for a while turned me off to them.. I've got a 8K9A that had a bunch of GSC on it, though some of the VRM caps were Sanyo WG's, so that was a good thing, but not good enough for me..

[gg1978]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

Well, over 36 hours of Prime95 later, no errors.. Makes me wonder if the temp readings on this board are accurate or not. The A64's have a thermal diode like P3's and P4's do, and it is hard pressed to hit 40 Centigrade, even with Prime95 cranking away on it..

[markiemrboo]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

I think Epox seem to be making good boards, but my first and only Epox board is a 9nda3+, so I can't really speak for their older boards. On my next upgrade I am definately going to look towards Epox first though I think.

On another forum I regularly visit (5000+ posts kind of regularly lol) everyone was recommending the MSI Neo2 Platinum. No one would even think about getting the Epox there. IMO it seems a much better board. From reviews it overclocks just as well / better, has no annoying BIOS bugs and a better layout if you ask me. Then again, I have never been the hugest of MSI fans.

Anyway, I think you'll find the temperature's are probably right. A64's tend to run very cool Mine runs 35C load with an XP-90 and a near silent 92mm fan pushing only about... 35CFM I think it is It's a NoiseBlocker 92mm fan. I highly recommend them if you're after quiet

[Newbie2]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

The older EPOX boards were full of caps that were made by a bad capacitor manufacturer, but the newer EPOX boards have improved a lot.

TEAPO is a "good" bad capacitor manufacturer to me, since failures aren't as common.

[MD Willington]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

I have seen quite a few EPOX with good components latelly.

[tiresias]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

I have seen quite a few EPOX with good components latelly.

That's true - they've certainly improved in the sense that they're not using the Glory Smooth Co. caps anymore (with their revolutionary, second-to-none, record-breaking failure rate) - although I do suspect that finding find a gamer/enthusiast-oriented Epox board packed with Rubycon MBZ is still something of a "stroke of luck".

I have a malfunctioning (still undiagnosed) socket AMD-939 Epox 9NDA3+ (Rev 1.0) next to me right now, and every single electrolytic capacitor on it, with the exception of a few tiny Teapos, is a Hermei.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

Haha, I have a Epox 8KHA+ mobo next to me that I steal parts from... It has not been used for several years... I killed it when v-modding it... Anyway, none of the GSC or TEAPO caps where bulging when I took it out of service, but yesterday when I was stealing a 2200uF TEAPO cap from it I noticed that one of the GSC caps by the memory had developed a serious bulge, and even pressing out it's bottom...

Way to go Epox, I'm thinking of sending them a thank you letter for every Epox board I have seen with bad caps

[yanz]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

well today i am lurking to some computer shops. im planning build some amd64 systems. and these are the boards i've checked for caps:

- Epox 8k3daI. 6 rubycon mbz (purple) on vrm output, and three sanyo (wg?) on vrm input. i'm pleased with that!
- EP-8GF6100-M. 6 rubycon mbz (in black! like ZL) and 3 sanyo caps on vrm input. this board has a new geforce 6100 chipset with onboard graphic, but also has pcie slot for vga. i think this is the board i'll buy.

[MD Willington]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

EP-9GF6100 series, is about the best 6100/6150 nforce 410/430 board around IIRC

See the thread I started here:

Topic: Discussion Thread: EP-9GF6100-M & EP-9GF6100-MJ
http://www.rhcf.com/sisubb/ultimateb...ic/38/185.html

Final analysis:
http://www.rhcf.com/sisubb/ultimateb...ic/38/198.html

[snafupen]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

ive got an older socket A epox board...8kra2+...overclocked my cpu from 2500+ to 3200+ for a long time...board has 11 bad caps on it. everything from the caps around the cpu to the caps around the ram to the caps under the AGP slot. at the end of its life, the board gave me graphics card errors and i had to crank up the ram voltage to 2.9 volts to run stable. i didnt know much about bad capacitors before i got to this forum so i didnt know i needed to replace the board. luckily there was no damage to any of the other components in my computer. not many of the bad caps actually leaked, and the ones that did were from up top and just a little bit. i guess for having so many go bad the epox stayed fairly stable, but im still not pleased. i will never buy another epox even if they do use decent caps now. im very pleased with the ABIT replacement i got for my athlon xp, all rubycons except three chemicons around the AGP. very nice. and i know that ABIT used to use bad caps on everything, and their newer motherboards kinda suck, but my socket A mobo is nice even though i probably wouldnt buy another ABIT if i was upgrading to a newer system.

[markiemrboo]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

ive got an older socket A epox i will never buy another epox even if they do use decent caps now.

Seems a little sort of... closed minded to me. I tend to read reviews, do as much research as possible and go with what seems to be the best hardware for me at the time, regardless of who manufactured it.

If when I next upgrade an MSI board gets my interest, I will buy it. The fact that I have got an MSI board here that had bad caps, kept locking up and generally annoying the crap out of me definately isn't going to stop me ever considering buying a board of theirs in the future. That'd just be silly!

Just so happened when I upgraded to an A64 from an Athlon XP and NF7-S the Epox board came across as the one for me. I'm still not disappointed with my purchase :P

[snafupen]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

i guess it is a little harsh. im just pissed at the board. its kinda like after your girlfriend gets caught cheating on you....youre going to be pissed for a while. plus im not going to be upgrading for at least almost a year. (basic training july-dec.) maybe then ill reconsider my relationship to epox.

[jmdeathsquad]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

hi all, this is my first post, I've been visiting for awhile but I thought I'd contribute a little.
I got an EpoX EP-9npa3 Ultra board awhile ago and it has a mix of rubycons and teapos, same as GG1978's board. Why would they mix in crappy caps with good caps? I havent had any issues, in fact its been running for a few months rock solid, but it just seems like if you're going to put good caps on it, you might as well put all good caps on it.

[MD Willington]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

To save money... bean counters.. lol

[Per Hansson]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

jmdeathsquad; thank you for letting us know, I thought Epox had gone away from the crapbrands but the EP-9npa3 Ultra is one of their newest boards so guess not

[Rainbow]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

At least there are no GSCs. On many older Epox boards, Teapos are the best caps

[jmdeathsquad]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

that's scary lol, though I must admit this is my first EpoX board and I was pleasantly surprised, for the most part. Though, most of the bulging/oozing caps that I've seen have been Teapo's. Kinda worries me a little...

[snafupen]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

At least there are no GSCs. On many older Epox boards, Teapos are the best caps

GSCs litter my epox socket A board....*sigh* i guess thats why theres 11 bad caps on it...

[Spacedye69]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

Mine too! That board is what brought me to this site. I recaped it, but the ide does not want to work. I've yet to see a bad Teapo personally.

[trodas]

Re: Just got me a new Epox board, hopefully they keep building them like this..

Teapos usualy won't bulge, but they do smell badly (very badly) and lose it's capacity quickly. I will show you post of bulging Teapo soon - as soon, as I got to the recap of my Abit KD7-G

Why would they mix in crappy caps with good caps? I havent had any issues, in fact its been running for a few months rock solid, but it just seems like if you're going to put good caps on it, you might as well put all good caps on it.

Exactly case of my Abit KD7-G board. Much important stuff is Rubycons/Nichicons, yet there is a good deal of Teapos out there. Stable for few months? Wait a little bit longer. Mine lost after 3/4 years of use it's integrated NIC and recently when I checked the mobo it looks like the Teapo close to the dimms bulging and leaking like hell + I had to decrease my O/C few times, so... Bad cap is still a bad cap!