Feedback on Epox and MSI, please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ancra
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Ancra

Well, I know some of you don't want to do this (and become embroiled
in silly brand wars), but I'm asking you to share a bit on your
regards for two mobos here.

I'm revamping my oldest ATX-box. I've chosen the XP2200 t-bred. For
the sake of economy before all, I've forsaken my usual Asus/Abit
preferences for mobo and stand undecided before Epox and MSI.

Epox EP 8K9A7i and
MSI KT4AV-L respectively.

Anyone reading this, and having anything to say on the matter is
welcome to do so. I have zero experience with either brand. I also
have zero experience with KT400 chipset.
As can be seen by my choices, I'm looking for AGPx8 and LAN, but not
integrated graphics, sound, raid or SATA.
Maybe someone has an url to a review of any of these boards?

And the idea is to keep one decent Win98SE machine, so that is the OS
it will run.


ancra
 
Ancra said:
Epox EP 8K9A7i and
MSI KT4AV-L respectively.

Anyone reading this, and having anything to say on the matter is
welcome to do so. I have zero experience with either brand. I also
have zero experience with KT400 chipset.
As can be seen by my choices, I'm looking for AGPx8 and LAN, but not
integrated graphics, sound, raid or SATA.
Maybe someone has an url to a review of any of these boards?
Click to expand...

I've always liked MSI, am using one now, and will be getting the K7N2-L here in another month or
so. It's only about ten bucks more than the one you listed above (at newegg.com), and can be
reviewed here:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20030721/index.html (BTW the MSI board you list above
does have integrated 5.1 sound, as does the one I listed - I don't have any experience with the
KT400 chipset.)
And the idea is to keep one decent Win98SE machine, so that is the OS
it will run.
Click to expand...

That's kinda like hobbling a race horse, but hey, it's your computer.

Jon
 
And on the Epox side, I have a 8K3A. Its been pretty solid, no
complaints.

However, I don't think you can go wrong with either company.
 
I have a 8K9A epox board and I love it. I've used a few MSI's as well and never
had any problems with them either. I just bought another epox for my sister,
4PCA3, an intel board, and I can't get the damn thing to post! I am really
happy with the 8K9A board I am using now, but I don't think I'd buy another
Epox board after the problems I've been having with the one I just bought. I'd
go for the MSI.

Ashley
 
I like MSI boards. I've had a couple of their boards with built in RAID. I
haven't had any trouble with them but I think that every company makes a
certain percentage of boards with problems. Do you know that your processor
is OK? MSI has a feature called live update. You run it and it determines
whether there are updates for the bios, drivers and utilities.
Unfortunately, it's not smart enough to realize if you've already installed
the particular update or driver. It does eventually show you the info in a
table telling you version number of what you've got and what they're
offering.
 
I like MSI boards. I've had a couple of their boards with built in RAID. I
haven't had any trouble with them but I think that every company makes a
certain percentage of boards with problems. Do you know that your processor
is OK? MSI has a feature called live update. You run it and it determines
whether there are updates for the bios, drivers and utilities.
Unfortunately, it's not smart enough to realize if you've already installed
the particular update or driver. It does eventually show you the info in a
table telling you version number of what you've got and what they're
offering.
Click to expand...

Well, guys, thanks to all of you. The MSI board sold out at the price
I considered it for. It looks like the Epox.


ancra
 
Well, guys, thanks to all of you. The MSI board sold out at the price
I considered it for. It looks like the Epox.


ancra
Click to expand...

Thanks again guys. As I said I went with the EPoX. The build went like
breeze, though the cpu-cooler was a bit of a squeeze. It's running
cool and real quiet, sofar, and I'm quite happy with. It was really
dirtcheap, and I can't say that is possible to tell outright by
looking at the mobo. Nice mobo. Amazing how much you can get for your
money these day.

Ancra
 
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