OVERCLOCKING: We had a very good experience overclocking with the Epox 8K7A+.  We were able to take our 1GHz. AXIA T-Bird all the way up to a completely stable 1470MHz. (10.5x140) at default voltage!  Should you need / want to increase the voltage to your CPU or memory, it can be done in .1 volt increments, up to .4 volts over spec.  Multiplier adjustments are made via DIP switches mounted near the Southbridge.  Although it is definitely easier and more convenient to manipulate these settings via the BIOS, extreme overclockers may not mind.  If you've ever pushed your system beyond it's limits with a jumperless setup and had to clear your CMOS and reconfigure your system, you'll understand why we don't hold anything against Epox for their decision.  When you think about it, In either instance, you'll have to open your case! The time it takes to set the date, tweak your memory, configure the integrated peripherals and adjust your FSB is much longer than flipping a switch or moving a jumper. The Hot Hardware Test System No Slouch...   1GHz AMD AXIA Athlon (T-Bird @ 1000MHz. & 1450MHz.) Epox 8K7A+ AMD 761 / VIA 686B Hybrid 2568MB Corsair PC2400 (16-8-8-2-5-2-2) GeForce 3 (12.41 Drivers) Netgear FA310 NIC Hercules Game Theater XP IBM 7200RPM 30GB HD x (2) Creative Labs 52X CD-Rom Standard Floppy Drive Windows Millennium DirectX 8.0a Via 4-in-1s v.4.32V AMD Chipset Drivers   Performance It's good to see...

We've done enough "talking", let's see how the 8K7A+ performs!  First up is some SiSoft Sandra testing...

SiSoft Sandra:

As you can see, the Epox 8K7A+ does not hold back our CPU one bit.  Notice the aggressive clock timing generation on the board while at the CPU's default clockspeed. Even though it is set to it's default speed, the PLL (phase lock loop) clock is driving something a little higher than the standard clock speed.

While overclocked the 8K7A+ outperformed all of Sandra's reference systems in the Multi Media tests.

At both the default and overclocked speeds, the 8K7A+ posted excellent scores in Sandra's memory benchmark.

The 8K7A+ is equipped with an on-board HighPoint Tech. IDE RAID controller.  With two IBM hard drives connected to the HPT370 in a RAID 0 array, we again see the 8K7A+ outperforming all of Sandra's reference systems.

QUAKE 3 ARENA:

No review would be complete without a little Quake 3 action! So lets get to it!

Quake 3 performed very well on the 8K7A+.  While overclocked we gained almost 20 FPS over the default clockspeed.