Epox EP8K9A7I

[Philip Nicholls]

I purchased this MB about a month ago on a whim. The price was right
(Newegg: about $65.00) and it had the features I wanted (I was
considering an nForce 2 board but settled for the KT400A to save some
money).

I'm happy with the board. I upgraded from a KT7 and it was a bit
more cryptic in terms of the set up. What bothers me is that I
feel like I am the only one in the universe using this board. I
can't find any reviews and the Epox newsgroup folks never mention it.
Does anyone know why this board seems to be ignored?

 

[Dave C.]

I purchased this MB about a month ago on a whim. The price was right
(Newegg: about $65.00) and it had the features I wanted (I was
considering an nForce 2 board but settled for the KT400A to save some
money).

I'm happy with the board. I upgraded from a KT7 and it was a bit
more cryptic in terms of the set up. What bothers me is that I
feel like I am the only one in the universe using this board. I
can't find any reviews and the Epox newsgroup folks never mention it.
Does anyone know why this board seems to be ignored?

Well, there are cheap and reliable nforce2 boards with good features and max
FSB of 400, so there's not much reason to consider a cheap VIA board with a
max FSB of 333. Newegg has the Biostar M7NCD nforce 2 board for less than
the 8K9A7I. In Epox line, Newegg usually stocks the 8RDA3I board for about
the same price as you paid for the 8K9A7I. If you need SATA though, the
board you chose seems like a pretty good deal. But the nforce2 boards with
SATA aren't significantly more expensive.

For the average home user, the nforce2 chipset is the overall best value
right now, which is why your board with the via chipset is probably not too
popular.

BUT . . . technology changes so fast that you are likely to change your
motherboard almost as fast as you change any other component. So all that
matters as far as your current system goes is that you are happy with it.
But if it seems like you are alone, it's because most builders are going
nforce2 for the AMD chip, unless they are going straight to 64 bits. -Dave

 

[somebody]

I purchased this MB about a month ago on a whim. The price was right
(Newegg: about $65.00) and it had the features I wanted (I was
considering an nForce 2 board but settled for the KT400A to save some
money).

I'm happy with the board. I upgraded from a KT7 and it was a bit
more cryptic in terms of the set up. What bothers me is that I
feel like I am the only one in the universe using this board. I
can't find any reviews and the Epox newsgroup folks never mention it.
Does anyone know why this board seems to be ignored?

No, but there's really a lot of boards out there. Everybody can't be
famous.
I have one too, as you know. I'm delighted with mine. It's got
everything I wanted, lan, udma133. I'm afraid I got mine for $51

I can think of two reasons for the silence. First no problems (yea, I
hope ) Secondly, I think a lot of the limelight was stolen by
nVidias nForce2 chipsets at the time.

You know, I think the KT600 successor, EP-8KRAI, is down to $55 now.
Looks like a deal to me. But I like the 8K9A7I, as I said, I'm not
missing anything, and it's been flawless.

ancra

 

[Philip Nicholls]

No, but there's really a lot of boards out there. Everybody can't be
famous.
I have one too, as you know. I'm delighted with mine. It's got
everything I wanted, lan, udma133. I'm afraid I got mine for $51

I meant to type $56 and not $65. I buy almost exclusively from
Newegg and this was the lowest price on a MB that offerred SATA
support and five full expansion slots.

I can think of two reasons for the silence. First no problems (yea, I
hope ) Secondly, I think a lot of the limelight was stolen by
nVidias nForce2 chipsets at the time.

It was a whim for me. The nForce board I wanted was twice the price
of this one.

You know, I think the KT600 successor, EP-8KRAI, is down to $55 now.
Looks like a deal to me. But I like the 8K9A7I, as I said, I'm not
missing anything, and it's been flawless.

I guess I'm just spoiled. I mean, the KT7 had at least two FAQs and
loads of discussion on the best BIOS settings.

Thanks for the reply.