3DVelocity would like to thank Epox-UK
and especially Andrew Cotterill for their help and courtesy
in providing this motherboard for review.
Benchmarks :
Test System Used :
AMD Athlon 1.4GHz @ 1.4GHz (10.5x133)
ATi Radeon 64DDR VIVO retail (Driver 4.13.7184)
256MB Kingmax PC2100 DDR-SDRAM
40GB ATA-100 5400RPM HDD
SBLive Audio
Special settings used :
4 bank interleave was ENABLED
Performance option in BIOS was set to TURBO (all available
performance options were used for comparison boards too)
3DMark 2001 - 1024x768
- 32bit colour
Of course no benchmarking
session would be complete without MadOnion's 3DMark2001, and
while the gains aren't huge, they're still gains. Couple this
with the fsb potential of the board and you've a good shot
at getting a respectable score posted over at MO without needing
to ship in the dry ice.
|
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
|
3454
|
3420
|
3419
|
GL Excess (Open GL)
Still my favorite OpenGL
benchmark with some of the most consistent scores around.
I was a bit curious about the VRam score, but other than this
the 8KHA+ swept the board with some decent numbers.
| |
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| Fill Rate |
2196
|
2185
|
2190
|
| VRam |
1989
|
2037
|
2057
|
| Polygon Count |
2759
|
2640
|
2646
|
| CPU/FPU |
4047
|
3978
|
3875
|
SiSoft Sandra Memory
This is where I was expecting
to see the benefits of the KT266A's improved memory controller,
and boy did it come through. These are by far the best scores
we've seen here on any socketA platform. It wouldn't take
much doing to break the 1000 barrier for the FPU score too.
|
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| ALU |
1031
|
781
|
778
|
| FPU |
982
|
823
|
821
|
SiSoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic
Considering the nature
of this test I wasn't expecting to see any difference, but
again the board surprised me by running from the front, even
if not by much.
| |
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| Dhrystone (Int) |
3859
|
3816
|
3810
|
| Whetstone (FPU) |
1917
|
1899
|
1894
|
SiSoft Sandra Multimedia
Another CPU specific test
that really shouldn't see any benefit from the improved chipset
architecture, and indeed didn't losing out in the integer
scores to the Abit.
| |
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| Integer MMX |
7735
|
7837
|
7798
|
| Floating Point
3DNow |
9526
|
9523
|
9468
|
DroneZ - 1024x768 -
32bit - generic fast. (OpenGL)
DroneZ is an OpenGL benchmark
that's big on eye candy and pushes hard at both your graphics
card and its subsystem. These gains are impressive and very
worthwhile as yet again the 8KHA+ sweeps the board.
| |
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| Average FPS |
131.83
|
124.73
|
124.23
|
| T&L Triangles |
865.52
|
820.81
|
820.78
|
| OpenGL Triangles |
446.49
|
423.91
|
423.71
|
Final Reality (D3D)
Advanced Setting
Getting predictable yet?
Final Reality is an aging DirectX5 benchmark that was updated
for DirextX 7. MMX and AGP support. By not depending on any
specific CPU optimisations the numbers rely more on raw grunt.
Once again we see Epox take the honours with some style.
| |
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| AGP Test |
190.48
|
186.55
|
186.01
|
| 2D Score |
12.95
|
11.61
|
11.49
|
| 3D Score |
7.83
|
7.76
|
7.78
|
| Bus Transfer |
16.62
|
12.82
|
12.82
|
| Overall Score |
10.69
|
9.67
|
9.65
|
AMD NBench 1024x768-32bit
Not the prettiest or most
impressive benchmark on the market, it does use a good range
of both 2D and 3D tests designed to push your hardware. The
Managa style may not be your bag, but the numbers tell a familiar
story.....another win to the 8KHA+
|
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
|
4269
|
4235
|
4240
|
POV-Ray renderer, Chess2
render time - 800x600 (lower time is better)
Tough on the CPU but not particularly
hard work for the rest of your system, the 8KHA+ came in second
to the KG7-RAID which rendered the Chess2 scene a full 4 seconds
faster.
|
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
|
464 Seconds
|
460 Seconds
|
469 Seconds
|
Particle Fury
Particle fury is a simple
benchmark that renders 32,000 particles onto the screen at
once. Because it doesn't come close to approaching the fill
rate limitations of your graphics card, the results are almost
entirely memory related. The average score of 1146KP/s translates
to a massive 17% boost over the KG7 which crossed the line
in second place.
|
Epox 8KHA+
|
Abit KG7-R
|
DFI AK76-SN
|
| Average |
1146
|
977 KP/s
|
974 KP/s
|
| Peak |
1147
|
991 KP/s
|
988 KP/s
|
Conclusion :
PROs
Great Price
Great Performance
Good Software Bundle
Good Hardware Bundle
Well Written Manual
Quality Components and Build
Active Cooling on North Bridge
Good BIOS Tweaks Available
Excellent Overclocking performance
Very Stable
CONs
Limited Voltage Options
Fitting Full Length Cards May Be A Problem
This is only my second encounter with
an Epox board, and while the first one I used left me feeling
impressed, I make it a rule never to conclude anything from
using just one of anything. Like most things in the PC hardware
scene you can get and bad versions of even the same product.
This time however I'm more convinced than ever that Epox are
doing something very right indeed with the design of their
motherboards. Of course we can't pin all the gains that come
from VIA's KT266A chipset on Epox, but we can congratulate
them on producing one of the best performing, most reliable
and most thoughtfully priced boards that has ever crossed
my test bench.
It's been pretty hard for some people
to justify the expense of moving from their existing SDR based
systems to the newer, and sometimes only marginally faster
DDR based systems, but if there was ever a real reason to
make the move to DDR, the 8KHA+ and VIA KT266A combo is it.
The enhancements VIA have made to the
efficiency of their memory controller are really quite spectacular
in a time when even the smallest gains are hard to achieve
for hardware manufacturers, and team that up with a high performing
board like the 8KHA+ and you have a pretty potent combination
that at least begins to show what DDR platforms are capable
of.
Despite the one or two minor points
I raised, I came very, very close to doing the unthinkable
and awarding this board a perfect 10, but common sense reminded
me that until I see what nForce and other future chipsets
have to offer that might be going a bit too far. I can say
though that no motherboard has ever come closer to me dusting
off the rarely used 10/10 graphic and pasting it up for all
to see.
Let's be honest here, this board isn't
going to win any beauty contests. To look at it's a rather
drab, dull green specimen with no obvious clues about what
it's capable of, or as our own Joseph would say "it's
like an ugly gal that can cook". And that's what it really
comes down to, it may not have a bright red PCB or a chromed
heatsink on the North Bridge, but boy can it cook!!!
The 8KHA+ takes our first "Power
Buyer Award", and at around the £110 mark, it's
done it with some style too!
UK buyers can find the 8KHA+, and lots
of other cool things too, over at Overclock.co.uk
