nForce2 Roundup: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe, DFI Infinity NF2 Ultra, DFI LanParty NF2 Ultra B, EPoX EP-8RDA3+

We looked at four of the latest nForce 2 Ultra400 offerings from DFI, Asus, and EPoX. If there is anything to conclude from our testing it would be that all products perform equally and all performed very well. With all products showing no tangible difference in performance, what will influence your decision will be features, warranty & support, and stability… Each motherboard has SATA RAID 0 and 1 compatibility, at least 6x USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port, digital audio out through a coax connection, and 10/100 LAN connectivity. However what each manufacturer does beyond these bare features will determine what you should buy.

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
This motherboard has decent layout but larger heatsinks may be a problem. AGP Pro is supported which make this board a perfect candidate for a graphics workstation. The bundled 802.11b Wifi LAN card, 10/100 LAN and Gigabit LAN offer the best network connectivity of the bunch. Q-Fan, the nVIDIA MCP-T (3Com and Soundstorm) make it a great addition to any environment. However, the A7N8X-E Deluxe does not have many overclocking features by default (fixed by some 3rd party BIOSes) and lacks a +12V power connection. It has 3-year warranty which is the best here today.

DFI Infinity NF2 Ultra
The Infinity offers a lot in the overclocking department including a Northbridge voltage control and many memory options. CMOS Reloaded is a handy feature allowing you to save and restore BIOS settings with ease. 4 SATA, 3 Firewire, and coax input and output put it ahead of the others. However, the Infinity has a fair number of reported cases of BIOS problems, and the socket location may prevent you from mounting heatsinks using fans larger than 80mm. Warranty is ambiguous and is most likely vendor supplied. This motherboard also uses nVIDIA MCP-T for great sounding audio and a single 3Com LAN.

DFI LanParty NF2 Ultra B
This LanParty is identical to the Infinity but with some additional features. Notably it includes a PC carrying strap, FrontX port extension, UV reactive rounded cables and UV reactive motherboard parts. On top of that, it has 4 SATA, 3 Firewire, 8 USB connections, dual 10/100 LAN, onboard power and reset switches, and diagnostic LEDs. There are many overclocking features for memory, frequency and voltages. But like the Infinity, it suffers from the questionable warranty, poor socket location, and BIOS problems (which I personally experienced with this board). DFI LanParty comes with a lot of stuff, but also carries a higher price.
DFI BIOS Update (July 23, 2004):
I just found out that a new BIOS has been released that fixes some of the problems I experienced during this review. Thanks to DFI for releasing this fix! Please visit DFI’s website and download it there. Also visit our DFI forums to discuss this.

EPoX EP-8RDA3+
The EP-8RDA3+ is cheaper than most motherboards and offers a lot for the price. It has the best motherboard layout of the four and it should not have problems accepting larger CPU coolers. It also comes with two rounded IDE cables and a serial/game bracket. However, the IDE channels are a bit low on the board, so a standard 18″ IDE cable may not reach from your 5.25″ bays. This motherboard is the only one to feature an optical SPDIF output and an active cooler on the Northbridge. There are many overclocking features including chipset voltage control and 12V power for stability. The biggest disadvantage of the EP-8RDA3+ is that it does not use nVIDIA’s MCP-T, meaning you do not get the nice 3Com LAN or the SoundStorm APU. Instead EPoX uses the standard nVIDIA MCP, Realtek LAN controllers, and AC’97 audio. The board also lacks 5.1 audio support on the backpanel which means you will have to use the front panel or SPDIF-out to get that functionality. The EP-8RDA3+ comes with 1 year warranty which may be insufficient for your needs.

nForce 2 Socket A Motherboard Round-up @ PCPer