EPoX EP-9U1697-GLi: ULi M1697 Goes Mainstream
by Gary Key on March 15, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
The EPoX EP-9U1697 GLi offers excellent performance at a bargain price. The performance of the board in the majority of the benchmarks was extremely competitive with the ATI and NVIDIA chipset offerings. The stability of the board was superb at stock settings and very good at overclocked settings. We find it refreshing that a board with this performance is being offered for a retail price around US $85. While the ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2 offers a greater feature set for the same price, the EPoX board offers significantly better performance in the overclocking area.
With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding this board.
In the video area, the inclusion of dual PCI Express x16 connectors provides dual card capability with eight PCI Express lanes per graphics connector available during dual card operation. The board utilizes a manual jumper system to switch from single x16 PCI-E operation to dual x8 PCI-E operation. While not as convenient as a digital switch, it does assist in keeping the cost of the board down. The performance of the board under SLI testing matched that of our nForce4 boards and offered full SLI compatibility with the ULi PowerExpress Engine Enabling driver although the board is not SLI certified. We tried this driver with the 81.85, 81.95, 81.98, and 82.12 drivers without any issue in a myriad of benchmarks and games. EPoX will not be supporting or certifying SLI operations on the board. The board also fully supported our ATI X1900XTX and EVGA 7900GTX video cards in limited testing.
In the on-board audio area, the EPoX board offers the Realtek ALC-655 AC97 audio codec. While the ULi M1697 chipset fully supports 7.1 HD audio, EPoX only provided 5.1 AC97 capability, probably due to the implementation cost of the Realtek HD audio codecs. The audio output of this codec in the music, video, and DVD areas is decent for an on-board solution. The audio quality in gaming was okay, but it did not match the output of the Sound Blaster X-FI or even the Realtek ALC-882. If you plan on utilizing this board for gaming, then our recommendation is to purchase an appropriate sound card for consistency in frame rates across a wide range of games and audio quality. However, the Realtek ALC-655 should suffice for the majority of home/office users.
In the storage area, the EPoX board offers the full complement of storage options afforded by the ULi M1697 chipset. The board offers RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 capability, NCQ, Hot Plug, and 3Gb/s support along with dual channel ATA133 Ultra DMA capability. The board also offers eight ULi USB 2.0 ports when utilizing the two USB 2.0 headers. The performances of the ULi SATA and IDE controllers were excellent and easily exceeded the nForce4 solutions.
In the performance area, the EPoX EP-9U1697 GLi generated outstanding benchmark scores in the majority of applications, considering the price of the board. The board's performance was consistently competitive with other ATI, ULi, and NVIDIA chipset offerings in the majority of benchmarks and applications. The stability of the board was excellent during testing and general usage.
However, we feel that EPoX made the following errors in the design and execution of the board. The location of the floppy drive connector at the bottom of the board, the location of the 24-pin ATX power connector right above the CPU socket, and the use of active cooling on the ULi M1697 chipset could be improved.
Although we understand the budget nature of the board, we believe that the lack of PCI-E or PCI based Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller is an issue for a board being targeted to an enthusiast market. Also, the lack of an HD audio codec hampers the audio capability of the board and while we understand most serious gamers will opt for a discreet audio solution, we still feel that this option should have been included, considering the native support provided by the ULi M1697. EPoX will be offering the 9U1697 GLi-J board with PCI-E Gigabit via the Marvell 88E8053 controller, but it will only be upgrading the audio to the 8-channel capable ALC-850 AC97 codec. EPoX has not disclosed pricing or availability of this model at the time of our writing.
The BIOS issue that we encountered, which caused random lockups after exiting Windows XP, was disconcerting, although we did not notice any stability or performance issues within Windows or during testing. EPoX has provided us with an updated BIOS for testing. However, it also has issues. At the time of this writing, we are still waiting for an acceptable solution from EPoX.
We feel that it is unfortunate that the ULi M1697 chipset utilized on this board will probably have a short life span in light of the NVIDIA acquisition, but we are glad to see that EPoX has done a wonderful job in bringing this board to market at a low price-point while offering superb performance and stability. If you're willing to live with the few minor shortcomings mentioned above, this is a great board given the budget price.
The EPoX EP-9U1697 GLi offers excellent performance at a bargain price. The performance of the board in the majority of the benchmarks was extremely competitive with the ATI and NVIDIA chipset offerings. The stability of the board was superb at stock settings and very good at overclocked settings. We find it refreshing that a board with this performance is being offered for a retail price around US $85. While the ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2 offers a greater feature set for the same price, the EPoX board offers significantly better performance in the overclocking area.
With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding this board.
In the video area, the inclusion of dual PCI Express x16 connectors provides dual card capability with eight PCI Express lanes per graphics connector available during dual card operation. The board utilizes a manual jumper system to switch from single x16 PCI-E operation to dual x8 PCI-E operation. While not as convenient as a digital switch, it does assist in keeping the cost of the board down. The performance of the board under SLI testing matched that of our nForce4 boards and offered full SLI compatibility with the ULi PowerExpress Engine Enabling driver although the board is not SLI certified. We tried this driver with the 81.85, 81.95, 81.98, and 82.12 drivers without any issue in a myriad of benchmarks and games. EPoX will not be supporting or certifying SLI operations on the board. The board also fully supported our ATI X1900XTX and EVGA 7900GTX video cards in limited testing.
In the on-board audio area, the EPoX board offers the Realtek ALC-655 AC97 audio codec. While the ULi M1697 chipset fully supports 7.1 HD audio, EPoX only provided 5.1 AC97 capability, probably due to the implementation cost of the Realtek HD audio codecs. The audio output of this codec in the music, video, and DVD areas is decent for an on-board solution. The audio quality in gaming was okay, but it did not match the output of the Sound Blaster X-FI or even the Realtek ALC-882. If you plan on utilizing this board for gaming, then our recommendation is to purchase an appropriate sound card for consistency in frame rates across a wide range of games and audio quality. However, the Realtek ALC-655 should suffice for the majority of home/office users.
In the storage area, the EPoX board offers the full complement of storage options afforded by the ULi M1697 chipset. The board offers RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 capability, NCQ, Hot Plug, and 3Gb/s support along with dual channel ATA133 Ultra DMA capability. The board also offers eight ULi USB 2.0 ports when utilizing the two USB 2.0 headers. The performances of the ULi SATA and IDE controllers were excellent and easily exceeded the nForce4 solutions.
In the performance area, the EPoX EP-9U1697 GLi generated outstanding benchmark scores in the majority of applications, considering the price of the board. The board's performance was consistently competitive with other ATI, ULi, and NVIDIA chipset offerings in the majority of benchmarks and applications. The stability of the board was excellent during testing and general usage.
However, we feel that EPoX made the following errors in the design and execution of the board. The location of the floppy drive connector at the bottom of the board, the location of the 24-pin ATX power connector right above the CPU socket, and the use of active cooling on the ULi M1697 chipset could be improved.
Although we understand the budget nature of the board, we believe that the lack of PCI-E or PCI based Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller is an issue for a board being targeted to an enthusiast market. Also, the lack of an HD audio codec hampers the audio capability of the board and while we understand most serious gamers will opt for a discreet audio solution, we still feel that this option should have been included, considering the native support provided by the ULi M1697. EPoX will be offering the 9U1697 GLi-J board with PCI-E Gigabit via the Marvell 88E8053 controller, but it will only be upgrading the audio to the 8-channel capable ALC-850 AC97 codec. EPoX has not disclosed pricing or availability of this model at the time of our writing.
The BIOS issue that we encountered, which caused random lockups after exiting Windows XP, was disconcerting, although we did not notice any stability or performance issues within Windows or during testing. EPoX has provided us with an updated BIOS for testing. However, it also has issues. At the time of this writing, we are still waiting for an acceptable solution from EPoX.
We feel that it is unfortunate that the ULi M1697 chipset utilized on this board will probably have a short life span in light of the NVIDIA acquisition, but we are glad to see that EPoX has done a wonderful job in bringing this board to market at a low price-point while offering superb performance and stability. If you're willing to live with the few minor shortcomings mentioned above, this is a great board given the budget price.
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Marlin1975 - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
Again with the cheap sound and fan heatsink. When I see Realtek sound i think jubk. But then ui see a NON-HD ALC-655 I think even less of the board. I mean what did they save a whole quarter by going to the cheap non-hd sound? Let alone the pOS that is realtek.Then instead of juts putting a large passive heatsink they put a small one with a fan. Fans will wear out and even when working 100% still make noise.
Good chipset but another example of the bean counters killing decent sound, PCIe ethernet, good heatsink, etc...
jimveta - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
One quibble: the onboard Nforce4 ethernet controller is NOT a PCIe device. None of the onboard devices are in fact.kb3edk - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
I was thinking about building my first SLI rig off the ASRock 939SLI32 board reviewed here a few days ago but I'm glad I held off... it seems like the EPoX is a better overclocker. I already own two ASRock 939Duals with M1695, they overclock pretty decent but are held back by the vcore... I even tried one of the volt mods and it didn't work out for me. And yes, the BIOS on the M1695 board is the wackiest I have ever used, there's all sorts of hardware it still won't recognize. I think this is the most I've ever flashed a BIOS on any mobo I've owned. But I think things are under control now... ;)Why does the EPoX M1967 board beat the ASRock M1697 board in most of the gaming benchmarks despite the fact that the EPoX's PCI Express lanes are only x8 in SLI? According to the review of the ASRock board here that board is supposed to be running x16 in both lanes in SLI mode. Is it just that there are no PCIe cards out there yet that are maxing out PCIe x8 bandwidth?
Anyway as long as my gaming isn't going to be held back by x8 PCIe (and it sure loks that way now) I think this EPoX board is a winner... thanks AnandTech for the great benchies!
-Adam in Philly
Araemo - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
How long do you run prime95/superpi on an overclock to verify stability?I ask because I've just RMAd a board and CPU that could not run prime95 for more than about 5 hours at stock speeds, but it does run for about 5-6 hours before it shows an error. The replacement board and CPU have not arrived yet, so I haven't been able to check on a similar system yet.
Gary Key - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
We typically run the following or a combination thereof for both stock and overclocked conditions. We might utilize additional components or various combinations not listed in our test system and use such applications as Office2003, Nero, or Photoshop depending upon the situation.
A. Prime95- Priority 1 - 30 minutes (if it passes go to step B, if not, tune until it can pass, this includes memory/voltage/fsb settings)
B. Prime95- Priority 10 - 4~12 hours (depends on the board and target market)
1. SuperPI - 3 iterations with settings at 32m generally, sometimes less.
2. 3DMark01 - Demo Loop 2 hours
3. 3DMark05 - Demo Loop 2 hours
4. Prime95/3DMark05 - Prime set at priority 1 - 3DM05 Loop - 4 hours
5. WorldBench 5 - 3 iterations (optional, depends on board, target market, or new chipset)
6. Standard test suite - 3 iterations of each application.
7. Game Testing - 4~8 hours of actual gameplay, AOE III, BF2, GTR/Legends, Guild Wars or others depending upon the software image.
8. MemTest86 - 2~6 hours (depends on board, target market, or new chipset)
Please realize that a combination of components, drivers, bios settings, and software loads can all account for failures that are outside of the true capability of the board. Our test systems generally use premium components that assist in the ability of the board to pass these tests along with constant climate control settings. The amount of hours required to debug a system is sometimes staggering. Of course we cannot test every combination of components or software available so at times a certain combination that fails for a user is not seen by us. I hope this answers your question.
Araemo - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
Thats slightly better than I expected, but I have one last question: During the extended prime95 test, are other things done on it in the meantime(the 3dmark runs or gaming or some such?).In personal use I like to see at least 24 hours of prime95, but I FULLY understand that that would be even more time consuming for you guys, since you have to verify stability at multiple settings per board per review... 12 hours is welcome to me.
Araemo - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
Nevermind, I saw you answered my own question in #4(thats what i get for skimming the list)kb3edk - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
I like to run prime95 or other burn-in programs (like Sandra, etc) overnight just to be on the safe side, but in my experience if I am pushing an OC too hard I have always had burn-in fail within half an hour. Of course from reading countless other postings on OC message boards, YMMV :)To keep things topical here, my ASRock M1695 boards can bump an A64 Winnie 3000+ from 1.8 to 2.25 GHZ (250 HTT), and an A64 X2 Manchester 3800+ from 2 GHz to 2.4 GHz (240 HTT). After that the boards just run out of volts. If I try to push the HTT any higher the system doesn't even boot.
Did you make sure to check your RAM before RMAing that mobo and CPU? Sometimes if you have a bad register somewhere, a burn-in program will take a little time to reach it and conk out. Especially something like superpi which has such a low memory footprint. You might wanna run Memtest86 on your box as soon as you get a chance, if you haven't already.
Araemo - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
My RAM passed memtest86+ on both this motherboard, and my old NF7-S(Once I found out one ram slot on that board was bad and moved the second stick to the other slot, I left it running memtest86 all day and it never errored. But I wanted dual channel memory again, so I ordered the ASRock 939DualSata2 and a 3200+, and memtest86 passes, but prime95 dies eventually.)Technically, registers are in the CPU, and I think ram uses a different terminology, but I know what you meant. As far as I can tell, my RAM is fine, and I don't believe it is a windows problem(I've only had one crash in the week I've had the board: Winamp crashed on me randomly last night.. UT2k4 and NS/TS(Half-life mods) run fine)
My PSU should be plenty for this board(According to people in the ASRock thread in the forums, my PSU is higher end than others who have this system running well, and voltages are stable according to the mobo)... Sooo... I have no way of knowing if it was the board or the CPU, since I don't have any other S939 boards around. I'm just glad newegg let me return it with no hassle. (And I was smart enough to order the opteron 146 this time around instead of the 3200+.. but I never even got around to touching the overclocking on the 3200+. I don't start overclocking until I know prime95 is stable at stock settings)
On my mobile barton I experienced similar symptoms of a too-high overclock: Prime95 would error out relatively quickly, sound would start screwing up(I went the quick way, I'd load prime95, and the 3dmark03 demo.. nice heavy stress and audio(and sometimes video) would start going weird well before a hard lock.) And that CPU and ram still handle memtest86 and prime95 fine.
Araemo - Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - link
I'm also curious how you know a system is 'super pi' stable?As far as I can tell, it's more a speed test than a stability test in the sense that prime95 is..
Super Pi seems to be calculating a fresh value for pi, but not comparing it to the known value? Is there an easy way to compare its output to the known value?