EPoX EP-3VCA Apollo Pro 133A Socket-370 ATX

The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

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The 3VCA is definitely one of the more stable Apollo Pro 133A solutions we have seen, which is something that we have come to expect from EPoX as a manufacturer. They have always been big with VIA chipsets, especially after their strong introduction of their VIA based Super7 line not too long ago.

The 3VCA does have its shortcomings, primarily relating to overclocking or its lack of cooperation when overclocking. It is definitely a shame that a feature such as a manual voltage configuration hasn't made its way onto all of the latest motherboards, but it is a feature that will keep the 3VCA out of the hands of many. Even if you have faith in your FC-PGA CPU and believe that it will overclock to 733MHz+ without increasing the core voltage, you'll want to take into account that the higher clocked Pentium IIIs are set at a 1.65v core voltage for a reason. If you plan on overclocking, the 3VCA isn't for you.

As a general usage Apollo Pro 133A board, the 3VCA isn't bad at all. The stability of the board is about average and if the overclocking limitations aren't bothersome and you have limited access to the 133A boards you can get your hands on, then the 3VCA isn't a bad choice, it's just not the greatest.

How it Rates

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