has been gaining a lot of momentum among enthusiasts over the past eighteen months. Other than stacking their boards with a lot of features, their overclocking ability is right up there among the best. They have been great supporters of AMD, using almost every possible chipset available, and today, we'll be checking out their nForce2 powered 8RDA+ motherboard. Please note that this particular motherboard does not come with the integrated GeForce 4 MX graphics (that would be the 8RGA), but items such as integrated sound, LAN, and lots of expansion capabilities are present.

nVidia shouldn't need any introduction. Thier GeForce GPU family has been pushing the 3D graphics industry for several years now, and in late 2001, there entered the motherboard arena. It wasn't a smooth introduction though, as the original nForce was delayed, and partner support wasn't as strong. Things have gotten better on try number two though, as industry support has doubled, and the nForce2 was a little more punctional in its arrival.

Not that it means anything at all, but the Epox 8RDA+ ships in a nice matte box with an electrical skeleton draping the box. This design continues onto the manuals inside. The manuals, and the quick start guide, are pretty well written, and explains pretty clearly how to setup your motherboard.

Specifications
Processor: AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron
Core Logic: nforce2 Platform Processor Chipset
BIOS Award/Phoenix BIOS v6.0
Max. FSB: 333MHz
Memory: 3 x DDR SDRAM PC3200, 3GB max.
Form Factor: ATX

Expansion Slots
AGP 1, 8x
PCI 6, 32-bit

Ports
PS/2 1 mouse, 1 keyboard.
Serial 2
Parallel 1
USB 4 onboard, 2 optional. USB 2.0
Network 1 x Realtek RTL8201 PHY
Floppy 2 drives max.
IDE 2 x E/IDE Ultra DMA/133, 4 drives max.

Controllers
Sound Realtek ALC650E 6-channel full-duplex integrated sound
Option IEEE1394 Firewire interface

Special Features
Hardware Monitoring Function provided by Winbond
Keyboard Power On (KBPO)
Suspend To RAM (STR)
CPU clock settings are adjustable by BIOS
CPU V-core settings are adjustable by BIOS
Memory voltage settings are adjustable by BIOS
AGP voltage settings are adjustable by BIOS
Wake On Lan (WOL)
P80P Diagnostic LED

Whew! Now that we've dispensed with the obligatory specifications, let's look into the stuff that really matters...

NVIDIA nForce2 Platform Processing Architecture

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We covered the nForce2 previously, so I won't go into great detail about it here. I suggest you refer to our nForce2 Preview if you want to get the full story, but I will touch on a few things specific to the Epox 8RDA+.

System Platform Processor (SPP)

Similar to the Northbridges most of us are familiar with, the SPP is nVidia's solution. You'll need a graphics card, as the SPP does not have an integrated graphics core, but it will support up to AGP 8X, allowing for up to 2.1GBs/sec of bandwidth. As more video cards come out, they will all be AGP 8X, though if you have a AGP 4X video card, it'll work just fine.

DDR400 Support is here, and that DDR333 ram you've stockpiled is now a paperweight. Actually, it isn't that dramatic, since the fastest Athlons are still on a 166FSB (333 double pumped), but users of overclocking ram will be able to get more out of it. With dual 64-bit controllers, each handling a bank of DDR400, we're talking about up to 6.4GB/sec of bandwidth. What about older 266FSB Athlons bottlenecking the ram? The CPU bus, DDR, and AGP can operate asynchronously of one another. In other words, everyone has their own line, and doesn't have to wait for the other to complete their task before it's their turn.

Like the original nForce, Hypertransport and its 800MB/sec bandwidth makes it's return. This AMD technology is primarily responsible for communications between the north and southbridges.

The Dynamic Adaptive Speculative Processor (DASP) watches the CPU and predetermines the requests that the CPU may make with the memory. Much like how cache works with your memory, the DASP works much the same way, where if it predicts correctly, the CPU will never have to go to the memory for information, thus speeding things up.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Epox 8RDA+ lacks the Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP), aka, an integrated GeForce 4 MX.

Rounding out the features of the SSP/IGP is one of the big features, DualDDR. Much like TwinBank of yesteryear, this time around, the goal of DualDDR is to increase memory bandwidth, while at the same time lowering latency. Although DualDDR is effectively a 128-bit interface, you have to remember that we're talking about two 64-bit controllers. nVidia refers to the controllers as "independent, complementary, and intelligent". Basically, both hands are working independently of one another, while still working towards the same end result. Therefore, latency is effectively cut in half. This is also where the DASP we talked about earlier can come into play to complement the controllers.

The Media & Communications Processors (MCP & MCP-T)

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Where the SPP/IGP is the Northbridge, the MCP is nVidia's Southbridge. Like most Southbridges, the MCP will handle all "lower" level I/O functions. Ethernet 10/100 support, USB 2.0, ATA133, and AC'97 Audio are included, but the more impressive features are found in the MCP-T, which the 8RDA+ has, but unfortunently, Epox does not take full advantage of it.

The nForce 2 Audio Processing Unit (APU) is present, and acts as a digital sound processor (DSP). It is capable of true 5.1 stereo surround sound, doing all the Dolby Digital encoding in hardware. Missing here is the Soundstorm certification, so sound quality would not be at the same level as other nForce 2 boards that include it.

There is IEEE 1394a (Firewire) support, and although support is somewhat shrinking, thanks to USB 2.0's emerging popularity, the addition of Firewire may sit well for A/V junkies.

For networking, what is missing is the Physical Layer Device (PHY) to enable the integrated 3Com MAC, but the nForce Ethernet MAC is present.

With the features out of the way, let's take a closer look at the Epox 8RDA itself...

The Board

The 8RDA+ is a little larger than most boards I've worked with in the past, requireing ten motherboard screws to mount it into your case. Given the amount of quality integrated peripherals, the six PCI slots should last you a very long time. Layout-wise, there were a few things that initially caught my attention as being less than ideal.

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To begin with, the ATX power connection is located in the upper left hand side of the motherboard (looking at it socket up, length up/down). It is a fair distance away from the Socket-A, but its location, being slightly below that of the socket, can create problems with ATX power cables interfering with CPU fans. You can easily route power cables away, but the power connection would be better suited closer to the memory slots.

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Speaking about memory slots, they are almost certain to rub closely with large video cards such as the Ti4600 (again... as with most motherboards it seems). Although it didn't snap any capacitors off, uninstalling ram will almost certainly require the removal of the video card first. Epox is aware of this, and documents it . In anycase, cards such as the Radeon 9700 don't even come close to the memory slots, so if your card is on the more "normal" size of things, you'll be fine.

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The IDE and floppy connections were a little oddly placed, in my opinion. Being at the lower right of your motherboard, if you have a large full tower, it is possible that you'll have problems hooking up optical drives. A maximum of 4 IDE devices are supported, which is probably enough for most users. Power users will be somewhat discouraged that there is no RAID controller (for RAID or extra IDE connections). Serial ATA is also absent, but at the moment, there isn't exactly a whole lot of choices when it comes to shopping for a SATA hard drive.

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A lot of motherboards these days lack the four holes needed for large heatsinks, such as the Swiftechs and Alphas, due to AMD's new specifications. This is not an issue exclusive to nForce2 mobos, but many KT400s as well. In terms of nForce2s, I believe only the Asus, the Epox, and revision 2 Abit nForce2 motherboards have them.

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The Northbridge (SPP) uses a passive heatsink. Considering that there's no GeForce 4 MX, it isn't necessary for an active solution. Silent freaks will appreciate one less fan to deal with.

The I/O back panel is not quite standard affair, if you're used to PC99 standards. There are 4 USB 2.0 slots, a couple serial ports, a printer port, PS/2 ports, a LAN connection and a speaker output.

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The 8RDA+ uses the Realtek RTL8201BL as the onboard LAN controller. What happened to the nForce2 LAN? To understand a bit about how networking works, you can take a look at . Basically, the nForce2 MAC handles the first four networking layers, and the Realtek controller is the Physical Layer (PHY). It provides the connectivity for the nForce2 MAC, which in turn, handles the traffic. Like we mentioned earlier, there is no PHY for the 3Com MAC, which the nForce MCP-T supports.

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Much like the networking portion of the 8RDA+, the sound works the same way. The Realtek ALC650 is the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) for the nForce2 APU. The nForce2 APU does the work of processing the sound, and the ALC650 (which supports 5.1 output) converts that into an analog signal for your speakers.

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As with the sound and LAN, the Firewire output is provided by the Realtek RTL8801B, whereas the communications and processing is done by the MCP-T. There aren't any ports built-in, so you'll need to use the included two port bracket and plug them into the Firewire header on the motherboard.

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The 8RDA+ supports 6 USB 2.0 connections, with four of them already installed. There is an USB bracket included for an additional 2 USB ports in the rear, but if you're looking to move those to the front of your PC, you can only bring one as there is only one USB header on the motherboard, unless your case supports two connections via one header.

The BIOS

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The Phoenix Award BIOS powers the Epox 8RDA+. It's fairly flexable, allowing for a number of changes and tweaks to be made. Standard items such as PC Health are present.

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Things get more interesting with the Advanced Chipset Features. You can adjust the multiplier, front side bus, and memory timings. The memory timings are especially impressive as you have a lot of options available for CAS latency, and Active to Precharge timing. As with other nForce2 boards, AGP 8x is supported. Another nice touch for overclockers is the option to lock the AGP bus at 66MHz. Like the PCI lock, this AGP lock will come in handy as you start jacking up the FSB.

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FSB options are fairly extensive, though you'll need to have to have the latest BIOS to unlock speeds up to 250FSB. One frustrating aspect of this is you can't key in the FSB you want. Instead, you'll have to scroll up and down, which can get to be a bit of a hassle. If you're worried about you PCI cards not being able to handle excessive overclocking, don't be, as they are locked at 33MHz. Overclocking would come to a screeching halt without voltage adjustments. The 8RDA+ has plenty of options for you to choose from, allowing for a maximum 2.2 vCore. Ram and AGP voltage options are also available, and it can go a long way towards a stable overclocked environment.

Overclocking

We covered a bit on the overclocking abilities in our 2400+ review, so our concern this time is not going for the maximum MHz, but rather, we're looking to see what is the maximum attainable FSB. Cooling was provided by the Swiftech MCX462+, and a Delta SHE 68CFM fan.

A 230FSB was pretty much a piece of cake, using an 8.0 mulitplier. I tried 8.5 but the system would not post. I also tried 8 x 231, but the system, although posting at 8 x 231, would not boot into Windows. Naturally, memory and AGP settings were lowered to extremely conservative and safe settings, and vCore was boosted up to 1.95v, but the system wouldn't cooperate.

We did manage a POST at 5 x 242, but it never got into Windows either. The fact that it at least POSTed at 242FSB is a bit of an encouragement as upcoming AMD CPUs will likely ride the 400FSB bus, so you'll still have some OC headroom when the new chips arrive.

Next up is a maximum, stable overclock with memory timings running the same speed as the FSB...

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Limited greatly by our Crucial PC2700, we only managed an overclock of 189FSB. Memory timings were 5-2-2-2.5. The 189FSB was also the same result when we lowered the multiplier down to 10. I'm pretty sure some quality stuff like Corsair XMS will allow for some better results.

Edit: We've replaced the Crucial PC2700 with Corsair TWINX PC3200, and redid the overclocking. As a result, we were able to improve our sycronous overclocking results to 12.5x190, which may not seem like much, but the memory timings are 5-2-2-2, which should result in much better overall system performance. By moving to a CAS latency of 2.5, our syncronous overclocked result was 12.5x192.

As mentioned in our 2400+ review, the Epox 8RDA+ allows for unlocking the multiplier on the Thoroughbreds without any modifications to the CPU. Previously, I unlocked our TBred by bridging the L3, #5 bridge. While that worked fine, I removed the conductive grease to test out the Epox's unlocking ability. It worked like a charm, just like unlocking the traditional way... the 2400+'s stock multiplier is 15, and unlocking opens up 12.5 and lower.

Test Setup

Epox 8RDA+ nForce2: Athlon XP 2400+ provided by (15x133: 2.0GHz, 12x166: 1992MHz, 12.5x189: 2.363GHz), 2 x 256MB Corsair TWINX PC3200 Ram, ATi Radeon 9700 Pro, 120GB Western Digital SE 8MB Cache, Windows XP SP1, nForce 2 Unified Driver Package 2.0, ATi Catalyst 3.0

MSI KT4 Ultra KT400: Athlon XP 2400+ provided by (15x133: 2.0GHz, 12x166: 1992MHz), 2 x 256MB Crucial PC2700 Ram, ATi Radeon 9700 Pro, 120GB Western Digital SE 8MB Cache, Windows XP SP1, VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.45, ATi Catalyst 3.0

Test software will be:

SiSoft Sandra 2003
PC Mark 2002
PiFast
3D Mark 2001SE
Unreal Tournament 2003
Quake 3: Arena
Jedi Knight 2

Except for 3D Mark, all game tests are done at 640x480 to eliminate the video card as a possible bottleneck (though the Radeon 9700 will not likely have any problems at any resolution). Quake 3 and Jedi Knight 2 were run at "Fastest" settings.

SiSoftware Sandra 2003

Although a synthetic benchmark, it's a popular one, freely available if you wish to make comparison benchmarks. We will be testing the CPU, MMX, and memory speeds.

CPU Arithmetic Benchmark

At 133FSB and 166FSB, the 8RDA+ scores closely with itself, but pulls away from the KT400 board by a noticable margin. At 189FSB, the 8RDA+ really pulls away from the pack.

CPU Multimedia Benchmark

As with the CPU Arithmetic benchmarks, the 8RDA+ maintains its lead over the KT400, albeit by a small margin. Naturally, at 189FSB, the Epox 8RDA+ pulls way ahead.

Memory Benchmark

Edit: Please note that these numbers reflect the change in ram since the original publication of the review. The benchmarks shown are with Corsair TWINX PC3200.

Given the hoopla over DualDDR, this part of testing is where the nForce2 is supposed to flex its muscle. Although it does hold an advantage over the KT400, it isn't much of a lead as I had expected it to be. Keep in mind that you'll have to put your ram in the right place to get this performance, which we'll see next.

Here it's a little more apparent with what kind of performance you can expect with ram placement. Ideally, you'll want to occupy two spots, though it doesn't seem to make much difference which two ram slots you use. What is supposed to happen with slots 2 & 3 used is 64-Bit mode. I ran the benchmark several times, and the performance seems just fine, but I do suggest you follow the manual's guidelines, and enable 128-Bit mode by using slots 1 &2, or 1 &3. Using just slot 2 or 3 severely limits performance (64-Bit), and although slot 1 by itself is supposed to allow for 128-Bit, performance suffers here as well.

PC Mark 2002

In both the CPU and Memory benchmarks, the nForce2 powers by the KT400, save for the instance where the KT400 is running at 166FSB vs the nF2's 133FSB.

PiFast

New to our testbed, but a good indicator of CPU/Motherboard performance is version 4.2, by Xavier Gourdon. We used a computation of 10000000 digits of Pi, Chudnovsky method, 1024 K FFT, and no disk memory.

Lower is Better

According to the team at , PiFast is fairly memory intensive, so the DualDDR is probably helping out the 8RDA+ with its overall performance here. The KT400 lags a little behind the nForce2 at both 133FSB, as well as at 166FSB.

3D Mark 2001SE, 1024x768 - Default

3D Mark is one of those benchmark apps that will eat up as much processing power as it can. Benchmarks were run at default 1024x768, as I felt 640x480 is getting to be fairly pointless.

The 8RDA+ scores another victory, but not by too much. Overclocking the 8RDA+ is going to make for some impressive 3D Mark scores, though the days of 15 000+ scores are nearing an end as Futuremark is prepping their latest version of 3D Mark.

Unreal Tournament 2003

I've been playing around with the retail version of UT2K3 for quite sometime now, and have been pretty impressed with the graphics. It's a real system killer, and can bring many pre-2002 killer rigs to its knees. We used the scripts written by , which are excellent tools in testing various resolutions and detail levels. We selected the CPU test, which uses the dm-inferno map.

Oddly enough, the KT400 wins this round. Although we run benchmarks at least 5 times here, I ran it an extra 3 times to make sure I wasn't imagining it. The KT400 is only beaten by the 8RDA+ when it's overclocked, so I'd imagine an overclocked KT400 would still lead for this test.

Quake 3 Arena, 640x480 - Fastest

It's getting old, I know, but Quake 3 is still a decent benchmark for almost anything. For motherboards and CPUs, we run at the lowest settings and fire away.

Despite its win in UT2003, the KT400 succumbs to the nForce2 again. It isn't really close here, but if you can spot the difference with your own eyes in actual gameplay, hats off to you.

Jedi Knight 2, 640x480 - Fastest

Jedi Knight is still a Quake 3 engine game, so the nForce2 keeps its lead over the KT400. As we increase the FSB, we can see that the added bandwidth increases performance accordingly.

Onboard Peripheral Testing

There was a time when an item such as onboard sound, or onboard LAN would have been considered a luxury item, but that is no longer the case. Almost every enthusiast motherboard nowadays, no matter the chipset, have all the fancy stuff, so the question is, does the Epox 8RDA+ stand out? One advantage it should have over non-nForce2 boards is the Hypertransport, which should allow for less CPU usage since the PCI bus will not get congested.

Audio Testing

We downloaded and installed to test its CPU utilization. Here's a screen grab (click to enlarge)...

CPU utilization was extremely low though all the tests, scoring a bit better than the CMedia, but a little worse than the Metis reviewed recently. In terms of sound quality, using our Logitech Z-560s, it sounded very good. Compared to the standard Realtek ALC650s I've tested in the past, games had more depth than I was used to. Compared to the Audigy I typically use, I had a hard time differentiating between the two. Certainly, if your PCI solution is lacking, or you don't have a sound card, with the nForce2, you probably have nothing to worry about.

LAN Testing

We used to test the networking speed, and Windows Task Manager for CPU usage. We copied a variety of install files, varying in size of 300kb to as much as 70MB per file from the Epox machine, to our Shuttle XPC.

Download (left), Upload (right)

Download speeds averaged about 8.8MB/sec, and upload speeds about 9.3MB/sec. Previous tests with the MSI Metis had similar results, thus the nForce2 MAC doesn't hold any special advantage in terms of speed. CPU usage was another story though, as the 8RDA+ averaged about 7% CPU, whereas the Metis was closer to 18%.

Hard Drive Tests

Firing up HD Tach resulted in 10% CPU Utilization, and 14.2ms access times. I was actually very disappointed with these results as the KT400 scored 5% CPU Utilization. In real world use, I don't notice much difference, but 5 tests with HD Tach netted the same results.

Final Words

Epox did one fine job with the 8RDA+. With support for 333FSB CPUs, ATA133, quality sound and LAN, six PCI slots, and an extremely overclockable package, you're looking at a board that should have a long lifespan.

That being said, the board isn't without its problems. CPU utilization with its hard drive controller is fairly high. The BIOS is excellent, in that you have loads of options, but the method Epox uses to select things such as FSB or AGP speeds is a little annoying. If my CPU is running at 100FSB (a common occurrence since testing the OC abilities often required a CMOS reboot), and I want to go back to 210, I would have to cycle through 110 settings until I get to it. The ability to key in a value would be much more convenient.

Although the nForce2 MAC is decent, Gigabit LAN would have been more forward looking. Same can be said for the lack of Serial ATA. Since there aren't many SATA drives, other than those by Seagate, out in force, this isn't a concern now, but 6 months from now, that may be another story. Having a RAID controller would have been a bonus, but it would have added to the cost of this board, which also happens to be one of the better bargains out there.

Overclocking, cycling through FSB settings aside, couldn't have gone more smoothly. We hit a wall at 230FSB, but I'm certain some watercooling would have allowed us to go a bit higher. With the ability to unlock TBreds, without bridge connecting, will make it very easy for people, inexperienced at unlocking, to overclock. Keep in mind this only works for TBreds, and not Palominos. The PCI is locked at 33MHz, and the AGP and memory speeds are adjustable, eliminating a hurdle in the quest for the perfect overclock. Stability was excellent as well, with nary a hiccup during the OC tests.

Equipped with a quality heatsink and fan, some fast ram, and a TBred, you'll have yourself a very speedy system. Add an ATi Radeon 9700, which happens to work just fine on a nVidia board, and you'll have a system that will run Carmack's next brain child with ease. Well, I'm sure 640x480 will run well...

Pros: Overclocking ability is excellent, feature packed, nForce2 peripherals will likely retire the stuff you currently use.

Cons: BIOS overclocking should be streamlined, no SATA, no 2nd MAC, high CPU utilization with hard drive controller.

Bottom Line: If you're looking for the fastest AMD platform on the market, the nForce2 is definitely the way to go. You'll have to be careful though, since it's up to the manufacturer to include whatever nF2 features they want. The 8RDA+ includes most of them, and if overclocking is your bag, you won't be dissapointed with it.