Epox 8KRA2+ (KT600): KT600 Hits the Streets

Final Words

There are some good and some bad things to say about the Epox 8KRA2+. We’ll start with the bad. First off, the Epox 8KRA2+ simply isn’t as fast as nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards, Gigabyte’s model in this case. This is made abundantly clear by this review’s benchmark results, and will be even clearer with future KT600 motherboard reviews (though we will not rule out the possibility of an “uber” KT600 BIOS coming out that increases performance significantly). We should reemphasize, however, that the gap between KT600 and nForce2 Ultra 400 is not huge by any means, and in most cases will not be noticeable in real world usage. However, it is large enough that obsessive enthusiasts will stray away from the Epox 8KRA2+ in favor of nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards.

Despite the somewhat mediocre performance of the 8KRA2+ there are some very positive features this motherboard carries. The most positive feature is the 8KRA2+’s Serial ATA and IDE support. The VT8237 South Bridge natively supports two SATA drives (not taking into account daisy chaining) and eight USB 2.0 ports. This type of South Bridge is something nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards cannot provide, and probably won’t be able to provide for at least the next one to two months when MCP-S (or some sort of name like that) is released. Another positive feature the 8KRA2+ brings to the table is an onboard PCI HighPoint HPT372N controller that supports RAID 0, 1, & 0 + 1 arrays via two IDE connectors and is Hot Swap capable. In combination with the VT8237 South Bridge and Primary/Secondary IDE connectors the 8KRA2+ supports a grand total of ten SATA/IDE disk/optical drives. This is worth reiterating because these particular combinations of features are unique among high-end Socket A desktop motherboards.

The 8KRA2+’s overclocking ability is a mixed bag. While a 215MHz FSB overclock is not terrible by most standards, it’s still consistently lower than nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards we’ve tested before. The lack of an AGP/PCI lock is also a big minus as overclockers are forced to tweak their FSB overclock based on how out-of-spec they want their AGP/PCI buses to run. We were indeed forced to run the AGP and PCI buses out of spec because of the lack of an AGP/PCI lock.

However, in the end, we would still highly recommend the Epox 8KRA2+ to anyone striving to find that elusive high-end desktop motherboard. If you’re willing to spend a few more dollars for an nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard we suggest you do so, as it brings higher performance and better FSB overclocking potential to the table. In addition, a good MCP-T powered nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard, SPDIF-in/out ports, and speakers with a receiver will bring you the best onboard sound out of any desktop motherboard currently available on the market for a fraction of the cost of an add-in sound card.

UPDATE 7-3-2003 After testing the new Epox 8KRA2+ BIOS it is clear that application performance is nearly identical to the scores initially posted in this review. We now have a handful of KT600 motherboards in our West Coast Labs and it is, for the most part, quite clear that KT600 motherboards will be generally slower than nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards. Perhaps as BIOSes mature performance will improve enough to overtake nForce2 Ultra 400, but we won't be holding our breath.