Epox Mobos?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Hardenbrook
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Dave Hardenbrook

My current self-built system has an Epox Mobo (from 2002), and because
it's been good to me, I was planning to use an Epox in a custom-built
system for a client. However, I've found that none of the retail chains
(CompUSA, Microcenter, Fry's, &c.) carry Epox Mobos anymore. Why not?
Are they no longer consiered high quality? Should I go instead for an
ASUS or other brand? I am planning to build an AMD CPU-based mainstream
PC for clients who may want to use Photoshop for digital photography,
but otherwise are "Word-and-Email-only" users.

Also, any opinions on which chipset is best, VIA or nForce, and which
BIOS is superior, Award or AMI?

Thanks ahead.
 
My current self-built system has an Epox Mobo (from 2002), and because
it's been good to me, I was planning to use an Epox in a custom-built
system for a client. However, I've found that none of the retail chains
(CompUSA, Microcenter, Fry's, &c.) carry Epox Mobos anymore. Why not?
Are they no longer consiered high quality? Should I go instead for an
ASUS or other brand? I am planning to build an AMD CPU-based mainstream
PC for clients who may want to use Photoshop for digital photography,
but otherwise are "Word-and-Email-only" users.
Click to expand...

Have you ever known chains to carry anything that wasn't either the
most popular or cheapest; that's why. I'm typing on an Epox
ep9npa+ultra and it has been cranking it out since December, thank you
very much.
 
Dave Hardenbrook said:
My current self-built system has an Epox Mobo (from 2002), and because
it's been good to me, I was planning to use an Epox in a custom-built
system for a client. However, I've found that none of the retail chains
(CompUSA, Microcenter, Fry's, &c.) carry Epox Mobos anymore. Why not? Are
they no longer consiered high quality? Should I go instead for an ASUS or
other brand? I am planning to build an AMD CPU-based mainstream PC for
clients who may want to use Photoshop for digital photography, but
otherwise are "Word-and-Email-only" users.

Also, any opinions on which chipset is best, VIA or nForce, and which BIOS
is superior, Award or AMI?

Thanks ahead.
Click to expand...

I'm an IT professional. In my opinion, Epox quality is FAR SUPERIOR to ASUS
in particular, and most other brands in general. However, Asus is so
over-hyped that everybody knows them, while Epox is not as well known
outside the enthusiast crowds. I've never seen Epox carried in any of the
retail stores I've visited, so I was surprised to learn that they ever were.

Build with Epox. Buy online from www.mwave.com, and the EP-9NPA+ ULTRA
looks promising. I'd slap a Athlon 64 X2 processor in there. It is
overkill . . . but only until Vista is released. Speaking of which,
remember to order your OS at the same time that you order the mainboard so
you can get the cheaper OEM version. It's too bad you can't wait until
after Vista ships. Buying XP now and Vista in a few months is going to
hurt. :(

Nvidia chipsets are the only solution for AMD procs. As for which BIOS is
superior, that totally depends on the mainboard manufacturer. On a side
note, I believe Award is actually owned by Phoenix now, but that is a red
herring. BIOS manufacturers develop a chip with core firmware on it, and
sell it to mainboard manufacturers. Mainboard manufacturers HEAVILY MODIFY
the firmware and install it on a very specific model of mainboard. That's
why when you need a BIOS update, you get it from the mainboard
manufacturer's web site.

So, which BIOS is better boils down to . . . how good are the programmers
that the mainboard manufacturer employs? An Award BIOS on an ECS board is
likely to be SHIT, while the same Award BIOS on an AOpen board is likely to
be pretty darned good.

Buy a good brand-name of motherboard, and don't worry about what BIOS is on
it. -Dave
 
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