Socket A Is Coming: Test of 10 Boards

Epox EP-8KTA

BIOS-Version: August 14, 2000

Board Revision: 1.2

The Epox 8KTA had a few problems during our test. After mounting a CD Windows 98 crashed completely, but Windows 2000 ran without any flaws. The error can probably be eliminated with a new BIOS.

The AGP slot is quite a different story because installing the graphics card requires a certain amount of skill. In other words: If the card does not fit exactly it does not work.

Only ABit and Epox offer six PCI slots. Both also offer an ISA slot - in case you have an older card. The processor voltage can be adjusted between 1.3 and 1.85 V via DIPswitches.

The rest (FSB) is comfortably done in the BIOS. Officially Epox allows a maximum memory of 768 MB. Other boards take advantage of the full potential of the chipset and allow up to 1.5 GB. There was nothing wrong with the performance.

Uwe Scheffel