nForce2 roundup @ Deviant PC

Another nForce2 roundup, this one is Deviant PC’s three-horse race between the EPoX EP-8RDA+, Leadtek K7NCR18D-Pro and ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, by Alan Ogden:

“In this roundup we will be looking at 3 of the stalwarts of motherboard production, the nForce 2s from Asus (A7n8x-deluxe), Leadtek (Winfast NCR18D-Pro) and EPoX (8RDA+).

Currently, the nForce 2 platform is considered to be one of the highest performing AMD boards around, geared towards performance users. This tends to mean that the components at one point will be overclocked. In this respect the EPoX 8RDA+ is considered to be the most suitable board to use.It is slightly disappointing however, that no IDE RAID or Serial ATA was included in the EPoX package. This is where Asus takes the lead. For features Serial ATA is considered to be the technology for the future. For the same price as the EPoX, Asus have included 2 Serial ATA connectors and a SATA RAID controller to boot, although SATA > IDE converters have to be purchased seperately.

I was disappointed by Dual DDR technology. Claiming double the bandwidth of standard 64-bit controllers the 128-bit memory controller on the nForce 2, does very little over standard boards.

Pricing for the Leadtek NCR18D-Pro is less than both the EPoX and the Asus. They are priced just either side of the £100 mark whilst the Leadtek is almost £20 cheaper at £82 inc VAT. For a negligible performance drop, the money saved may make the NCR18D-Pro a very attractive option.”

Full review @ deviantpc.com