8RDA3+ Press release

[Holst]

EPoX Releases Its Evolutionary nVIDIA nForce2 Mainboard: EP-8RDA3+
Following the worldwide success of the nForce mainboards, EPoX Computer Co. LTD. continues the legacy of nForce2 with a new born “full feature” model, 8RDA3+


[TAIPEI, 03 April 2003] –After the great success of the EP-8RDA and EP-8RGA series of mainboards, the world renown manufacturer of PC Motherboards, EPoX Computer Co. Ltd. (EPoX), today announced the launch of its evolutionary nVidia nForce 2 mainboards called EP-8RDA3+.

Besides possessing FSB 400 overclocking capability, this new EPoX offering provides the added functionality of Serial ATA with RAID function, Dual LAN, and IEEE 1394, whilst maintaining all of the options that have made EPoX original offerings so desirable.

This new full spec model is well-designed for those who
crave abundant features and tremendous platform performance.

Based upon nVidia nForce2 SPP and MCP chipset, EP-8RDA3+ features 1 x AGP 8X, 3 x IEEE 1394a ports, CMedia 9739a audio with Dolby AC-3 Audio processing, 6 x USB 2.0 connect ports, 2 x LAN controllers and Silicon Image 3112a Serial ATA connectivity.

Besides, the board supports front side bus (FSB) 400 MHz and comes with 3 x DDR DIMMs to support dual channel DDR 400.

As is expected of all EPoX mainboards, this evolution of the ever popular EP-8RDA series mainboard continues to feature all of the overclocking features admired by the users whilst is equipped with other useful functions. In addition to the EPoX’s most favourable troubleshooting tool, Post Port, EP-8RDA3+ offers the following EPoX in-house features:

Power BIOS provides abundant BIOS adjustability. Users can tune their motherboard performance via BIOS.
Various adjustable features include FSB/AGP/Memory speed adjustment and CPU/Memory/AGP voltage tweaking.
Magic Flash offers automatic BIOS update utility in Windows environment, making DOS based flash utility a thing of the past.

Magic Screen is a user-friendly software utility, allowing users personalise their boot-up screen.
Magic Health facilitates users to monitor their system hardware health status including CPU temperature, chassis temperature, CPU/Memory/AGP voltage, fan RPM speed for chassis fan, CPU fan & power supply fan.
Prior to the introduction of the EP-8RDA3+, EPoX has introduced two nForce2 mainboards, EP-8RDA+
and EP-8RGA+. Until now, the EP-8RDA and EP-8RGA series of mainboards have won awards both on the internet and in the press throughout the world, as their performance, stability and immense overclocking potential has won the hearts of journalists and end-users alike.

[Holst]

Please dont moan about the lack of MCP-T, I know some of you wont like it but thats the way it is.
Dont annoy us by moaning about this for months and months.

I can confirm VDD ajust in the bios, ill try to find out other Overclocking specs and get you a decent pic later on.

[bradmax57]

Looks ratrher nice, what will the on baord sound be like though? has the mcp-t been replaced to allow 400fsb out of the box?

[K6-III]

Sounds like the perfect board for me, seeing as I already have the M-Audio Revolution.

Does it have the 12v connector???

Is it to use the new S2 stepping NForce2???

[youthemandan]

JW don;t get mad at me if u can't but can u comment on any of the voltages. Like max vdd vcore and vmem

[K6-III]

I'm sure it'll be coming along. VAgp would be nice to know as well...

[FoP]

When can we expect these to hit US markets? Last I heard was mid-April...

[Holst]

Ok, power is from 12v.

We had a board in with Cmedia sound in a whyle aggod and the sound quality was pretty good. The Nvidia software is probably a bit easyer to use but the Cmedia isnt as bad as you might think.

As for voltages im not sure on the specifics, if expect the same options as the 8RGA+

[K6-III]

Price???

[m1ke101]

Anyone know when this will be available?

[K6-III]

Originally posted by m1ke101
Anyone know when this will be available?

Same question.

[Walrusbonzo]

I know you don't want me to say it, but I'll say it anyway, and I wont add to it. But.......

There are good reasons why Epox should have used the MCP-T and not some CMedia chip.

Tom's Hardware Sound Processors and their Performance in Games

As you can see, games run quite a bit faster with NForce APU sound than CMedia and unfortunately this is going to be a let down for many.

Sorry, I won't post any more on this issue, I just wanted to make it known.

[Daniel ~]

Is this the same Tom's that became legendary for the review they posted of a VapoChill they had never even seen? Of course this WAS justified as Tom talked to the manufacturer on the phone and as Tom assured his readers, due to his (Tom's) standing and importance in the hardware community no one would dare lie to him... why yes I do believe it is!

I remember this as I too wrote a review of that particular VapoChill model. I too was contacted by the manufacture. But my conversation took place after I published my review. He contacted my boss at the time to denounce me! He actually told him that I was immoral to publish without getting his approval of what I had to say.

I found myself at a real disadvantage as I had actually BOUGHT the VapoChill I reviewed, had actually seen, indeed used the product. Evidently this was a method of approach unheard of at VapoChill.

Sorry just one of my "Unforgettable moments" browsing Tom's reviews.
It will be interesting to see weather Tom's review/comparison bears any relation to the new boards in the hands of those who use them...

[webmedic]

thanks for the info holst. it's not quite the same as the info I got but then they hadn't actually seen the boards when I talked to them.

As for the sound well get a life. I remember when you almost couldn't even sell a board if it had onboard sound. It's not really that big of a deal. Also I'm not really sure but maybe the 8rga3+ will have what you want. I sure know whenever I try another kind of board I end up thinking why did I did that stupid thing. I'm looking at an a7n8x deluxe and I sure would rather have the epox board. You can tell the quality difference just by looking at it.

[Genius]

Can we ask why Epox chose a different sound controller? I'm just curious to know. I already have an Audigy 2 so I don't care either way. It is a question that deserves answering though.

And another question, does Epox actually support this board at 200 fsb or merely advertise the presense of overclocking features?

Any day now Nvidia is going to announce an updated nForce chipset that is officially supposed to support 400 MHz Athlons. I'm guessing it would be better for one such as myself with an 8RDA/+ to wait for boards based on that chipset.

[Walrusbonzo]

As for the sound well get a life.

*NOTE*
Post Edit:

Please read our announcement at the start of our EPoX Topic as they include restrictions which do not apply to other AOA topics.
************************************************** ***************************


Get a life? have I done for you to say that? All I wanted to do was to make this issue known so that people are AWARE. Epox are hardly going to tell you that their new motherboard uses inferior onboard sound that will slow your games down 10%.

As for Toms Hardware, yes I know they're not exactly the best review site out there, but they're not the only one to show the NForce 2's APU being superior to everything else in games.

I'm looking at an a7n8x deluxe and I sure would rather have the epox board. You can tell the quality difference just by looking at it.

And? What's this got to do with anything? I wouldn't touch **** with a big stick anyway. I realise that Epox boards are generally higher quality, but I definitely wont be purchasing an 8RDA3+ solely on the grounds if has inferior sound processing that WILL slow my games down. AND, as you can see, NO sound card is going to fix this as the NForce 2 APU is the best there is! So what you said about it not being a big deal is RUBBISH!

[EPoX Tech]

Hey - remember that the C9739a still does have to use the MCP as an actual DA source to decode - this is nothing like the CMedia PCI solution "abused" in many mainboard designs - the 8738-6.

This is a very good audio solution, similar in some respects to VIA's new 1616, but benefitting from hypertransport and MCP.

[Walrusbonzo]

Originally posted by EPoX Tech
*NOTE*
Post Edit:

Please read our announcement at the start of our EPoX Topic as they include restrictions which do not apply to other AOA topics.
************************************************** ***************************

Hey - remember that the C9739a still does have to use the MCP as an actual DA source to decode - this is nothing like the CMedia PCI solution "abused" in many mainboard designs - the 8738-6.

This is a very good audio solution, similar in some respects to VIA's new 1616, but benefitting from hypertransport and MCP.

Are you saying that this board still uses NForce APU? So when installing drivers there is no need for CMedia ones, it's just NForce 2 sound? Please explain EXACTLY what the CMedia sound chip is doing on the board, is it doing the same as the Realtek ALC650 that is found on most other NForce 2 boards?

If that's the case then I'm wrong, which is good

Thing is, I know ****** boards used some CMedia sound chip and not the NForce 2 APU at all.

[EPoX Tech]

I've stated above what the sound is doing in my previous post.

[Walrusbonzo]

So you're saying the 8RDA3+ uses NForce 2 APU to do audio processing, thus no slow down in games? Straight answer please unlike your one above, thanks.