Epox 4PDA2+ Rev2 i865PE Motherboard Review

With the release of the i865PE 'Springdale' chipset in May of this year, Intel introduced a core logic that was targeted squarely at the masses. And did it ever sell! Enthusiasts, and regular consumers alike have been flocking towards this gem of a chipset, largely because it offers 95% of the performance of the i875P for about 80% of the price. Looking at the feature set and design of the Epox 4PDA2+ Rev 2.0, it's quite clear that designers built for the present, without cutting short on the future. Too many motherboards these days are being designed for the common PC of six months to a year from now. As you can see, the Epox 4PDA2+ is a pretty busy motherboard but the layout is still good. The 4PDA2+ has the main IDE and ATX power connectors placed in their ideal location to the right of the DIMM slots. Sure the ATX12V power connector is to the left of the Northbridge, but with the cable so small it will not affect airflow much. Incidently, the Northbridge heatsink is located far enough from the AGP slot that GPU heatsinks like the like the Zalman ZM-80A HP are installable.