EPoX EP-8U1697-GLI Motherboard - Conclusion

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Overall this board performed well when I put it to the test.  It is very similar to its socket 939 brother, something which I’ve pointed out numerous times during this review. After a bit of looking, I was able to find it for about $74 online at the time of this writing, which makes it a good value for its price. 

Here are the pluses and minuses for the board, as I see them.

Pluses:

• Nicely built board
• Performed well, especially when overclocked
• Excellent overclocking potential
• Well priced
• Nice utilities (Ghost Bios, Thunderprobe)

Minuses:

• SLI Capability killed by new Nvidia drivers
• Only two SDRAM slots, not Dual Channel
• Power Connector in potentially hard to reach location
• Socket 754 nearing end of its lifetime

If you already own a socket 754 processor, this board may help you squeeze some more speed out of it, but it's not a reason to go out and buy a CPU with not much of a future.  The board does have its niche, and it performs very well at what it is designed for.

Based on this, I’m giving this board a rating of 7 out of 10.  It’s a bit lower than the score I gave its 939 brother, but that board was a bit more capable. 

I’d like to thank the people at EPoX for sending us this motherboard for review.  If you’d like more information about this board, or any of EPoX’s other products, visit their website at http://www.epox.com.

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Comments On: EPoX EP-8U1697-GLI Motherboard

· I love EPoX motherboards, and their ability to overclock easily.    · as far as SLI goes on this mb, the SLI bridge (not included) doesn't fit. the...    · Still haven't figured out how to run two video cards. just doesn't boot with...   >>> Post your comment now!

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