Pricey Foundations: 9 Boards For The Pentium 4

Epox EP-4T2A: Good Average

Board revision: 1.0

Bios: 03.00.06 (07 April 2001)

It ships with a connector for a game controller.

Looking at the equipment overall, the 3D sound chip on the Epox EP-4T2A is a real plus. Another bright spot is the convenient clip for the AGP port, which effectively prevents the graphics card from slipping out of the socket. The front side bus can be adjusted in small increments between 100 MHz and 133 MHz in BIOS, while the CPU core voltage can be set to between 1.600 V and 1.850 V. Of course, a painless way of overclocking the Intel Pentium 4 is to increase the FSB clock speed. The theoretical range of settings for the clock multiplier runs from 8.0 to 23.0, although for all practical purposes, the processor limits the range somewhat. One of the more impressive features allows you to restore BIOS after a faulty flash process. In terms of performance, the Epox places in the upper third of the range in all disciplines. The bottom line is that this is a stable, yet not exorbitantly priced Socket 423 board.

FSB settings on the Epox.