EPoX began operations in 1995 with the goal of offering performance oriented motherboards at a value price point. EPoX has a long history of providing a wide range of motherboards based upon core logic chipsets from varying manufacturers. EPoX has prided them selves on their research and development capability, and the have generally succeeded in offering high quality products at very competitive prices. More information about the entire line of EPoX products can be found here.


While the 945P has been around for over a year the performance and compatibility of the chipset is still very good and provides a solid platform for those interested in full featured boards that are usually priced in the $65 ~ $95 range. The 945P will eventually be replaced by the recently released P965 chipset which is turning out to be an excellent chipset for the performance oriented crowd. We have to be honest and state that from an enthusiast viewpoint the 945P chipset is not that exciting, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Here we have a chipset that was a solid follow up to the Intel 915, still offers some of the latest technology, provides very good performance for the dollar, and is available in a myriad of configurations. The most important aspect of the Intel 945P is that is simply works without issue. Our article today is a review of how well the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO performs against other budget Core 2 motherboards that we have recently reviewed.


The EPoX EP-5P945 PRO motherboard uses the Intel 945P chipset paired with the Intel ICH7. Our first impression of the motherboard is that it has a very good layout and contains excellent components for the price. The chart above lists the standard feature set available when utilizing the Intel 945P (82945P) and ICH7R (82801GR) chipsets.

However, the EPoX board uses the ICH7 which drops RAID support. The 945P/ICH7 combination enables full support for a single X16 PCI-E graphics slot, up to six X1 PCI-E devices, 4GB memory addressability, and native DDR-2 533/667MHz memory support. This combination also enables support for eight USB 2.0 ports, HD Audio, Gigabit Ethernet support, six PCI slots, four SATA 3.0Gb/s ports, and two IDE devices. The 945P chipset does not support the Pentium EE or XE series of processors.

One of the main design features EPoX engineered into their board is an additional physical PCI Express X16 slot that runs in PCI Express X4 mode. This enables Intel's Graphic Link Interface (GLI) which allows two PCI Express video cards to be installed allowing quad display capability. This additional PCI Express X4 slot runs off the 82081GB (ICH7) chipset so the primary graphics slot still operates at full X16 capability. If the user chooses X4 mode for the secondary graphics slot then the two single PCI Express X1 slots must be disabled via jumpers.

Let's see what this board is capable of and if the 945P is still worth considering.



Basic Features

EPoX EP-5P945 PRO Specifications
Market Segment:	Budget Performance
CPU Interface:	Socket T (Socket 775)
CPU Support:	LGA775-based Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo
Chipset:	Intel 945P + ICH7
Bus Speeds:	200 to 350 in 1MHz Increments (800/1066MHz FSB) 133 to 199 in 1MHz Increments (533MHz FSB)
Memory Speeds:	Auto, 400, 533, 667
PCIe Speeds:	Auto, 100MHz~150MHz
PCI:	Sync., Fixed at 33.33. 37.5, or 40.00MHz
Core Voltage:	Default CPU, +.0000V ~ +.4000V in 0.0125V increments
CPU Clock Multiplier:	Default, 6x-11x for Core 2 Duo, Locked to CPU
DRAM Voltage:	1.80V, +.05V ~ +.37V in various increments
DRAM Timing Control:	SPD, tCAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS
NB Voltage:	1.50V ~ 1.80V in .10V increments
Memory Slots:	Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots:	2 - PCIe X16 (1x16, 1x4 operation in multi-GPU setup) 2 - PCIe X1 (must be disabled for secondary x16 slot to operate at x4 operation) 3 - PCI Slot 2.3
Onboard SATA:	4 SATA 3Gbps Ports - Intel ICH7
Onboard IDE:	1 ATA100/66/33 Port (2 drives) - Intel ICH7
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394:	8 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 4 via Headers
Onboard LAN:	Gigabit Ethernet Controller - PCI Interface Realtek RTL8110SC
Onboard Audio:	Realtek ALC883 HD-Audio 6-channel CODEC
Power Connectors:	ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EATX 12V
I/O Panel:	1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel Port 1 x Serial Port 1 x RJ45 1 x Audio Panel 1 x S/PDIF Coaxial Out 4 x USB 2.0/1.1
BIOS Revision:	AWARD 06.07.27

The BIOS layout and configurable options are representative of a budget performance system. We would like to note that if the second X16 PCI Express slot is not utilized for a GPU in an X4 configuration then it will operate as a standard X1 PCI Express capable slot. Again, note that the two X1 PCI Express slots must be disabled via jumpers in order for the secondary X16 PCI Express connector to work in X4 mode. This slot can also be used for other PCI Express peripherals in X4 mode. While the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO does not offer the BIOS configurability of enthusiast level boards it certainly does contain enough settings to ensure the user has the ability to moderately overclock the board.

The board ships with a standard accessory package along with several BIOS and software features such as Ghost BIOS (BIOS rescue program via a bootable CD), EZ-Boot (ability to choose bootable devices at boot-up), EPTP (EPoX Thunder Probe software based monitoring utility), Magic Flash (Windows based BIOS update program that does not require a DOS flash utility or bootable diskette), and Magic Screen (Windows utility for personal bootup screen design). The board also features a CP80P post port debug LED.



Features and Layout

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EPoX designed a well laid out board with all major connections easily reached. The layout provides very good clearance for all cards and most components and was very easy to install in our mid-size ATX case. The board features a well-designed 4-phase voltage regulator power design that provided superb stability during general usage and light overclocking. EPoX installed a combination of solid state capacitors along with high quality Sanyo electrolyte capacitors.


The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules are easy to install with a full size video card placed in the primary PCI Express X16 slot.


The orange ICH7 SATA ports are conveniently near the board's edge and in front of the to the yellow IDE port connector. Unlike other recently reviewed boards the SATA ports are not color coded for primary and secondary operation if this is important to you. We found the positioning of the SATA ports to be excellent when utilizing the PCI slots or the single IDE port connector. The Intel ICH7 chipset is passively cooled with a low-rise heatsink.

The yellow IDE connector did not present any connection issues in our mid-size ATX test case. The location of this connector is very good for most cases and those users still utilizing IDE hard drives, though most will use it for an optical drive(s) instead. The chassis panel and system fan header are located on the left of the drive ports. The black floppy drive connector is located in an inconvenient position at the left edge of the board. The CP80P post port debug LED is to the right of the floppy drive connector and in front of the EPoX EG1 I/O controller chip. The two USB 2.0 headers are located on the left edge of the board next to the last PCI slot.


The board comes with two physical PCI Express X16 connectors, two PCI Express X1 connectors, and three PCI 2.3 compliant 32-bit connectors. The layout of this design offers an exceptional balance of expansion slots for a full size ATX board.

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Returning to the CPU socket area, we find a limited amount of room for alternative cooling solutions. We utilized the stock Intel heatsink and heatsinks such as the Cooler Master X-Dream P775 that utilize the same footprint size as the retail unit without issue. However, we verified our Tuniq 120 Tower and Scythe Infinity would not fit properly in this area during our tests due to the close proximity of the 945P MCH heatsink. We doubt most users of this board would go to that extreme to cool the processor due to the limited overclocking capabilities of the board.

Our other fitment concern is the location of the 24-pin ATX power connector as the cabling tends to interfere with the CPU heatsink/fan during usage. EPoX places the four-pin ATX power connector next to the 24-pin ATC connector. The cabling to this connector proved difficult to install if the main power cable was already attached.


The PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports are located to the left of the LPT parallel port, 9-pin serial port, and S/PDIF Coaxial port. The first two USB 2.0 ports are located next and are followed by the LAN (RJ-45) port and the second pair of USB 2.0 connectors. The audio panel consists of 3 ports that can be configured for 2, 4, and 6-channel audio connections.



FSB Overclocking Results

EPoX EP-5P945 PRO Overclocking Testbed
Processor:	Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Dual Core, 1.86GHz, 2MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 7x Multiplier
CPU Voltage:	1.3125V (default 1.3V)
Cooling:	Cooler Master X-Dream P775
Power Supply:	OCZ GameXStream 700W
Memory:	2 x 512mb Transcend JetRam DDR2-533 Tested at 3-4-3-9 1.95V, 1:1 Ratio
Video Cards:	1 x EVGA 7600GS
Hard Drive:	Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer
Maximum OC: (Standard Ratio)	319x7 (3-4-3-9, 1:1), CPU 1.3125V, MCH - 1.60V 2233MHz (+20%)
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This board is a decent overclocker for the price and we were pleasantly surprised considering the previous limits we have seen on other boards with the 945P chipset. At these settings the system was able to complete our expanded benchmark test suite three consecutive times along with Dual Prime95 and Dual SuperPI 32M without issue.

In order for our board to operate properly at 319FSB we had to set the memory to a 1:1 ratio and were able to even post at 323FSB but the system was not stable. When we changed our memory to the 4:5 ratio (DDR2-667) our FSB capability dropped to 307FSB and we had to change our memory timings to 4-4-4-12 for stability. We tried different memory modules from our value memory roundup with the same results so it appears there is a limitation with the chipset or BIOS.

Memory Stress Testing
Memory Tests

Our memory stress test looks at the ability of the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of DDR2-533 at the best memory timings we can achieve. Our DDR2 memory is from Transcend and was utilized in some extensive HTPC testing for our upcoming Intel DHCAT article. The memory features average 5-5-5-12 latencies at DDR2-667 but was able to perform at much lower latencies in our testing with increased voltages at DDR2-533 and DDR2-667, and it only costs around $70 for a 1GB kit.

EPoX EP-5P945 PRO Stable DDR2-533 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 slots populated - 1 Dual-Channel Bank)
Clock Speed:	266MHz (1066FSB)
Timing Mode:	533MHz - Default
CAS Latency:	3
RAS to CAS Delay:	3
RAS Precharge:	3
RAS Cycle Time:	9
Voltage:	1.90V

The EPoX board was perfectly stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-3-3-9 at 1.9V. We were able to hold 3-4-3-10 at 2.07V at DDR2-667 but could not overclock the board at this memory speed without increasing to 4-4-3-12 timings. We will now install all four available memory slots that result in more strenuous requirements on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.

EPoX EP-5P945 PRO Stable DDR2-533 Timings - 2 DIMMs (4/4 slots populated - 2 Dual-Channel Bank)
Clock Speed:	266MHz (1066FSB)
Timing Mode:	533MHz - Default
CAS Latency:	3
RAS to CAS Delay:	4
RAS Precharge:	3
RAS Cycle Time:	10
Voltage:	2.02V

The EPoX board was completely stable with four DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel operation at the settings of 3-4-3-10 at 2.02V. We tried several combinations of memory settings and memory modules at lower timings but the board was not stable enough to complete our test suite. Overall, our recommendation would be to utilize DDR2-533 memory that offers low latency memory timings at reduced voltages on this board.



Test Setup

Our test setup for "budget motherboards" such as the EPoX is not the same configuration we use for performance motherboards. We are using the test configuration from our recent Core 2 Duo memory performance articles since we had a base of information with the E6300 and several competing Intel and VIA based motherboards. Also, this test configuration is well suited for this board's capabilities and would be considered a mainstream solution in regards to the overall system cost.

EPoX EP-5P945 PRO Performance Test Configuration
Processor:	Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz, 2MB Unified Cache)
RAM:	2 x 512mb Transcend JetRam DDR2-533 Tested at DDR2-533 3-3-3-9 1.90V
Hard Drive:	Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer
System Platform Drivers:	Intel - 8.0.1.1002
Video Cards:	1 x EVGA 7600GS
Video Drivers:	NVIDIA 91.31 WHQL
CPU Cooling:	Cooler Master X-Dream P775
Power Supply:	OCZ GameXstream 700W
Motherboards:	ASRock 775Dual-VSTA (VIA PT880Pro) ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 (Intel 945P) ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI (Intel 945P) EPoX EP-5P945 PRO (Intel 945P)
Operating System:	Windows XP Professional SP2
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Our configuration was operated at a resolution of 1024x768 with high quality settings for each graphics benchmark. We are testing our motherboards at the fastest stable timings we can achieve and still pass our benchmark test suite. By increasing the memory voltage on the EPoX board we were able to run our Transcend modules at 3-3-3-9 at DDR2-533 and 3-4-3-10 at DDR2-667. Using memory ratios our CPU speed remains the same at 1.86GHz in the test platform, allowing us to get a good view of how memory bandwidth affects performance on these chipsets. Our memory settings were derived from extensive stress testing with a variety of applications. While certain settings that allowed lower latencies worked well with some applications, the final settings we arrived at had to work with all applications.

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The Sandra Bandwidth Unbuffered memory performance of the EPoX board is the second highest of our group at DDR2-533 (1:1 ratio) and third highest at DDR2-667 (4:5 ratio). The Unbuffered scores of the EPoX board increase by 8% when going from DDR2-533 to DDR2-667 which is near the same increase found on the ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2. However, the P965 equipped Biostar board scales at a rate of approximately 15%. The buffered memory scores are very competitive with the other solutions but we usually find these scores do not correlate well with real application performance.

In other synthetic testing, the EPoX board scores very well in our SuperPI 2M tests where it ties the Asus P5NSLI in the DDR2-533 results and places second in the DDR2-667 test. The latency results are average but improve upon the ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2. A very good guide to understanding how the chipset, memory, and CPU relate to each other on Intel chipsets is located here.



Application Performance

We also test motherboards with a few real world applications that typically stress the CPU, memory, and storage systems to see if the results from our synthetic memory tests carry over to the desktop. Our tasks include three activities that are common on the desktop.

Our first test was to measure the time it takes to shrink the entire Office Space DVD that was extracted with AnyDVD into a single 4.5GB DVD image utilizing Nero Recode 2. Our second test utilizes WinRAR 3.6 and measures the time it takes to compress our test folder that contains 444 files, 10 folders, and has 602MB of data.

Our third test consists of utilizing Exact Audio Copy as the front end for our version 3.98a3 of LAME. We set up EAC for variable bit rate encoding, burst mode for extraction, use external program for compression, and to start the external compressor upon extraction (EAC will read the next track while LAME is working on the previous track, thus removing a potential bottleneck with the optical drive). Our test CD is INXS Greatest Hits containing 16 tracks totaling 606MB of songs. The results of our tests are presented in minutes/seconds with lower numbers being better.

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Our application test results mirror those of the synthetic results where the EPoX board scores better than the ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 based on the same 945P chipset but trails slightly behind the ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI board. The EPoX board is scoring consistently near the top in these tests. The differences between DDR2-533 and DDR2-667 memory is minor so we suggest utilizing low latency DDR2-533 with this board and utilizing the money saved on your GPU choice. Overall, the EPoX board performs well and can be considered a solid choice if your budget is limited.



Gaming Performance

While Sandra and SuperPI provide useful information on how memory performs without the influence of other components, our first round of real world tests has shown there is not a noticeable difference in performance between DDR2-533 and DDR2-667 operation on the EPoX board. In fact, the overall differences at stock FSB settings are really minor between all of the boards. However, our next set of real-world benchmarks consists of gaming benchmarks.

We are utilizing Half Life 2 and Quake 4 in our testing because they are typically more sensitive to memory bandwidth changes and can potentially show how well a particular chipset performs. We added Serious Sam II to our benchmark mix because it is more GPU dependent, but we will see the effects of an optimized board in this game. We tested at the 1024x768 resolution with High Quality settings in order to reduce the effects of the video card on our motherboard testing. We found the 7600GS to be GPU limited at 1280x1024 but it still provided a decent gaming experience with scores dropping off around 30% on average but still remaining around the 60FPS level.




Our two memory sensitive games show a continuing pattern with the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO motherboard performing very well at both memory settings in Quake 4 and Half Life 2 - Lost Coast. The board finished second in Quake 4 and third in HL2-Lost Coast. The EPoX board finishes third in Serious Sam II where the Asus P5NSLI leads the test group. Once again, the difference between all of the boards and memory speeds are minor and only noticeable with benchmarks. Basically, your purchase decision should be based on price, features, availability, warranty, support, and manufacturer more than gaming performance.



Final Thoughts

The EPoX EP-5P945 PRO is a very affordable performance budget board for the Intel market that provides an excellent feature set for around US $90. The performance of the board in the majority of the synthetic and game benchmarks was near class leading the majority of time. This is very good for EPoX as our ASRock based 945P board did not perform as well in testing. The stability of the board was excellent in all areas of testing and general usage. With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding this board.


In the video area, the inclusion of a secondary PCI-E X16 slot provides for multi-monitor capability. This X16 slot will operate in X1 mode unless the two X1 PCI Express slots are disabled for X4 PCI Express capability. We had no issues utilizing two 7600GS cards for multi-monitor usage. With this setup the primary PCI-E X16 slot continues to operate in full X16 mode with the secondary video card installed.

In the performance area, the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO generated consistent and competitive benchmark scores in our gaming, general application, and synthetic tests. The stability of the board was at all times excellent during testing. Outside of performance, there are a few issues worth noting.

We did not care for the location of the 24-pin and 4-pin ATX connectors near the CPU socket due to cabling issues over our CPU heatsink/fan unit. Also, the MCH heatsink is located too close to the CPU socket. However, due to the limited overclocking ability of the Intel 945P chipset we can forgive this error, especially if the user has installed a Core 2 Duo processor. At a final 319FSB setting during overclocking with our E6300 CPU we found the board to be very stable but could not reach a higher FSB setting. In fact, by increasing our memory ratio to 4:5 during overclocking we could only reach a stable 307FSB. We recommend staying with a 1:1 ratio and purchasing low latency DDR2-533 memory for this board and others in the budget category.

Overall, the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO offers a very affordable and extremely stable platform for Intel's latest processor family. The ability of the board to use a secondary PCI Express video card in X4 capability allows those who need multi-monitor capability a unique budget option. The EPoX board is not the first choice for the computer enthusiast due to limited overclocking and memory speeds. However, it would make an excellent system for those on a limited budget looking to use an E6300 or E6400 Core 2 Duo. The inclusion of two PCI Express X1 slots and three PCI slots means this board is also very expandable. We found that while the Intel 945P chipset is not as feature laden as other chipsets it is still competitive a year after being on the market. Our opinion of the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO is the same as the Intel 945P: it may not be the sexiest offering on the market but it simply works and works quite well.