VIA In Shape: 6 Motherboards using the renewed KT133A Chipset

Epox 8KTA3

Board Revision : 0.3

BIOS Version : 10.01.2001

It looks as if freaks and overclockers are becoming more important for Epox, since the 8KTA3 features everything for successful overclocking. In addition you may set everything directly in the BIOS just with the Asus A7V133 or the ABit KT7A.

We liked the new box Epox is using. A little cord allows the motherboard to be carried around like a shopping bag. There’s also good news also from inside this new marketing gag : A good manual, USB adapter, driver CD and flat cables are included.

This motherboard is also available with an ATA/100 RAID controller, which allows attaching eight instead of the standard four ATA/100 IDE devices. Epox decided to go for six PCI slots plus one ISA. There is none of the obsolete AMR or CNR slots on this motherboard. Luckily, because hardly any retail customer will ever be able to make use of it.

Two digits on the motherboard show you the system status during boot-up. If the system hangs, you will be able to determine the reason by checking the table in the manual, describing all those POSTcodes. This board features four DIMM sockets, giving you a lot of space for upgrades. However, the KT133A is only able to address up to 1.5 GB (3x 512 MB). Placing four sockets on the board cannot revoke this limit.

If you take a look at the photo, you can see a little white hook at the end of the AGP connector. This hook fixes the graphics card to prevent it from sliding out of the slot during transportation.

The board comes with three fan headers and also an AC97 sound system.