Wednesday, June 23, 1999

The performance tests results

All tests were performed under Win98.

The system setup was as following:

Motherboard: EPoX EP-BX3
CPU: Intel Pentium II 350mhz
Memory: 64mb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE first channel Primary port: Western Digital 4.3gig UDMA66
IDE second channel Primary port: Kenwood 52X True X
AGP slot: ATI Rage Fury 128GL
ISA slot number 2: Ensoniq Soundscape soundcard
ISA slot number 1: US Robotic 56k X2 modem
OS: Win98 4.10
DirectX 6.1

Winbench 99 CPUmark

As we can see with the Winbench 99 CPUmark benchmark, the EPoX EP-BX3 is really not a bad performer...

Winstone 99

During this test, each motherboard has been tested 3 time but only the highest result has been retained for each of them. On this test, the EP-BX3 clearly takes the lead of the pack as we can see on the above results.

Overclocking

To give a good idea of the excellent Overclockablity of this mainboard, I performed a double Overclocking test.

As it can be observed in the above tests results, the EP-BX3 is very easy to Overclock and it performances under such conditions are not only very good but they are accompanied by a rock solid stability. The 392Mhz operating conditions were obtained by a 112Mhz Clock frequency in conjunction with a 3.5X multiplier. The 412Mhz operating conditions were obtained by a 103Mhz Clock frequency and a 4X multiplier.

Video sub-system tests

The above tests results are including Overclocking tests as we can see. The 392Mhz operating conditions were obtained by a 112Mhz Clock frequency in conjunction with a 3.5X multiplier. The 412Mhz operating conditions were obtained by a 103Mhz Clock frequency and a 4X multiplier. Under the normal operating conditions of the Intel PII-350Mhz processor used for all the tests, the EPoX EP-BX3 motherboards scored on top of the pack. The same apply for the Overclocking tests but with a tad less obvious difference.

Hard disk drives sub-system tests

Once again, the EP-BX3 is showing excellent performance as we can see in the above tests results.

The below evaluation table is showing the strong points and the weak points of the tested motherboard. No need to remember to you that we never buy a motherboard only for its performances. Most of today's motherboards are exhibiting performances very close to each others, so, we need additional information in order to help us distinguish what are the real advantages of a motherboard compared to the others and this is exactly where is coming into help this evaluation table.

This motherboard obtained a score of 92 points on a possibility of 100. As we can see, with such a score the EPoX EP-BX3 can be considered as an excellent motherboard with some minor drawback as explained in the weak points down below.

The weak points

The weak points of this motherboard are: the very annoying placement of its disk drives connectors, ATX power connector and the devices connectors. The same questionable placement of these connectors has be reported in my review of the EP-MVP3G-M Super 7 review. However, the EP-BX3 precedingly mentioned connectors placement is even worst as the devices connectors (power led, power-on button, hdd led, ect) are located right in front of the HDD connectors. Gaining access to these connectors is therefore complicated by the presence of the hard disk drives holding structure as well as the hard disk drives IDE cables. The last reproach I have to do about this motherboard is concerning the fact that many settings of the BIOS are missing in the users manual. For instance, in the "BIOS Features Setup" menu, there is a setting named "Processor Number Feature" about which there is no information in the users manual. I also found many other such undocumented settings.

The strong points

The strong points of the EPoX EP-BX3 motherboard are: its very high performances, its rock solid stability, its great ease of use and the excellent design of its BIOS menu.

Conclusions

Once again, I have been very pleased to conduct an indepth analyse of an EPoX products. Even if the EP-BX3 motherboard is not totally reproachless, its has so much to offer that it easily overcome its minor drawback. In my book, the EPoX EP-BX3 is really among the pack of the best BX slot 1 motherboards on the market at this moment.

For any additionnal information, please visit EPoX's web site.