Round Up - Integrated 3D Graphics Motherboard Shootout
Review by Edward Chang, call sign: Big_E
September 22, 2002
The Motherboard:
EPoX 4G4A+
(Click on image for close-up)
The most distinguishing aspect of the 4G4A+ is the black PCB. Seems like EPoX is jumping on the colored PCB bandwagon. One day, green will be a new color.
The EPoX 4G4A+ is a well designed motherboard. It has 11 Sanyo 3300 uF (micro-Farad) capacitors and three inductors around the CPU socket to ensure a clean electric signal. Similarly, two giant Teapo 4700 uF and smaller capacitors straddle the three 184-pin DDR memory slots.
The 4G4A+ has three visible yellow jumpers. One next to the Northbridge is for FSB selection. This jumper has the three following options: Default, 100 MHz, or 133 MHz. Another to the right of the USB1 and PS2 connectors allows the user to enable or disable a keyboard power on feature. The last clear-CMOS jumper is situated above the floppy connector. That's keeping it nice and simple!
In comparison to an Intel 845E-based motherboard our website tested recently, this EPoX motherboard has one additional memory slot. Unfortunately, that does not allow for more RAM support, as the Intel 845 series of chipsets will only allow up to 2-GB of DDR RAM or four memory banks. A double-sided stick of RAM takes up two banks. A single-sided one uses one bank. The use of two double-sided modules in two DIMM slots fills all four available banks. The EPoX manual included with the motherboard package clearly delineates on page 3-6 which memory configurations work.
EPoX 4G4A+i845E Features:
Supports Socket 478 Processors.
Intel Pentium 4 (400/533MHz FSB)
Intel 845G AGPset.
Winbond Super Multi I/O Controller.
1 Floppy drive controller
1 Parallel port (EPP, ECP)
2 Serial ports.
USB v2.0.
4 supported onboard.
2 additional as option.
Award PnP BIOS. Flash upgradeable.
120MB ATAPI floppy drive and ZIP support!
Standard ATX form factor.
305mm x 245mm
UltraDMA EIDE Controllers.
PCI Bus IDE Port/UDMA100 x 2 (Up to 4 Devices)
Extra IDE Port by HPT372 with Ultra DMA-133 & IDE RAID x 2 (Up to 4 Devices)
3x DDR-DIMM Slots for PC2100.
2GB max. supported
533MHz FSB.
PS/2 connectors.
1 PS/2 mouse
1 PS/2 keyboard
6 (32-bit) PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR (shares 1 slot with PCI).
AGP supports 4x mode 1.5v. (3.3v AGP card not supported)
AC97 sound.
Compliant with AC97 2.2 specification
6 channel slot selectable DAC output for multi-channel applications
Supports digital SPDIF
Supports 2 general purpose I/O pins
Integrated Graphics Controller.
Integrated Network Controller.
10/100Mb fast Ethernet controller using Realtek RTL8100B LAN chipset by RJ-45 connector.
Extended Functions for Greater Value!
Supports Hardware Monitoring Function by W83627HF-AW
Supports exclusive KBPO (Keyboard Power ON)
Supports STR (Suspend To RAM) power saving Function
Supports CPU Vcore and Clock Settings via BIOS (Vcore range -.1 ~ +.35 volts in .25 volt increments; Clock rage 90 ~ 200 MHz)
Supports AGP Voltage Setting via BIOS (0 ~ +.4 volts in .1 volt increments)
Supports Memory Voltage Setting via BIOS (0 ~ +.7 volts in .1 volt increments)
Supports Magic Health and easy Boot
Supports Asynchronous Transfer Mode between PCI & FSB
Supports Wake-On-LAN Function
Intel 845G Chipset Technology
What's Included:
Mainboard
User's Manual
Floppy ribbon cable
ATA-66/100 Hard drive ribbon cable
Driver and utility
Game port + COM2 port cable
I/O Shield
Overclocking:
Supports CPU Vcore and Clock Settings via BIOS (Vcore range -.1 ~ +.35 volts in .25 volt increments; Clock rage 90 ~ 200 MHz)
Supports AGP Voltage Setting via BIOS (0 ~ +.4 volts in .1 volt increments)
Supports Memory Voltage Setting via BIOS (0 ~ +.7 volts in .1 volt increments)