Conclusion
We've established that the 8RDA3+ is rather quick with a suitable 200FSB CPU in the socket. We've also established that the EPoX board tries to maximise its appeal to the enthusiast sector, the sector that makes up a large proportion of EPoX's sales. It offers a strong yet simple BIOS that enthusiasts will love. The question that we need to pose ourselves is 'what have EPoX done over and above the 8RDA+ to warrant the purchase of a new nForce2 motherboard?'.
Firstly, EPoX have used NVIDIA's new nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset. As the name implies, the chipset runs perfectly with the very latest 200FSB XP3200+ AMD processor. That's good news even if you have a present 133/166FSB XP. The 8RDA3+ unlocks the multiplier on most XPs, thereby giving you the option of running with a much higher FSB than before. Pair the 8RDA3+ up with a tasty XP1700 JIUHB, crank up the FSB to 200+, and watch the benchmarks sail by. Excellent voltage adjustments take the hard work out of overclocking. Passive cooling on the MCP and a 12v 4-pin power connector are two of the obvious 'improvements' over the 8RDA+
It's not just about pure performance grunt. This EPoX is also aimed at those who want a stack of features to play with. In that respect the fun and games start with MCP Southbridge. EPoX have decided to forego using the highly integrated MCP-T version, that is, the one that features a second internal Ethernet MAC and controller, Soundstorm technology and a FireWire controller. Instead, and perhaps a nod towards cost saving, they employ Realtek's 8101 controller for secondary LAN duties, Agere for a single-chip FireWire solution and CMI 9739A CODEC for resolving the MCP's sound . RAID, specifically S-ATA, is addressed by Silicon Image's Sil3112A controller. The debug LCD is a cracking inclusion too.
We've mentioned a lot of good aspects about the 8RDA3+. There are, however, a couple of negative points that we feel we must raise. The 8RDA3+ is a fully featured motherboard, so it should ship with all the accompanying brackets one expects. A USB2.0 bracket and S/PDIF bracket were conspicuous by their absence. The board supports these features, so why not use them to their fullest ?. The in-socket thermistor leaves a little to be desired as far as accurate temperature readings are concerned. And there's the Sil3112A's data corruption issue that needs resolving sooner rather than later.
Don't let that put you off. The 8RDA3+ is still an excellent foundation on which to build an AMD powerhouse of a system. Its considerable merits outweigh the slight qualms we may have. It's fast, it's stable, and it literally begs to be overclocked. Pricing seems keen too. We've seen it available for less than £100 delivered. That's good value considering exactly what you'll be getting for your hard-earned cash. It seems as if EPoX can do little wrong with their nForce2 boards. Recommended.
Highs
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200FSB support
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Excellent performance out of the box
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Decent voltage adjustments
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Well though out features package
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A decent 'clocker
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< £100 pricing makes it an attractive proposition
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Excellent stability
Lows
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Additional brackets to maximise the use of all the features should have been included
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Isn't Soundstorm certified. No Dolby Digital hardware encoding
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Sil3112A issues still need resolving
Bottom line: - The 8RDA3+ is worthy of serious consideration if you're treading the AMD path for the first time or are upgrading from an older chipset.
