EPoX AF570+ Ultra nForce 570 Motherboard Review :: General Board Usage

Once everything was installed, I put the motherboard through our battery of tests. Of special note is the near-imminent arrival of Microsoft Vista. We will likely move both of our test platforms to a Microsoft Vista platform with new tests new video card and new CPUs once Vista hits retail early next year. The EPoX AF570+ board is Windows Vista Premium Ready, meaning you can use it with the new OS when it hits retail next year.

The first thing I do with a new motherboard is check to see if the video card will interfere with things like the SATA ports or power connections as some boards tend to do. Installing an 8800GTX from ASUS caused no problems, as the memory sockets are offset and not in the way. The SATA ports on the board are under the PCI slots, leaving plenty of room.

Expansion

Installing a variety of memory, including the new Kingston 9200 and 9600 memory I encountered no difficulties. One thing about this board is it doesn't support the EPP profiles like its bigger brother the 590 SLI does, meaning the board will only go up to 800MHz on the memory. An AMD TV Wonder 650 also worked like a charm with this board.

Onboard Audio

The onboard audio on the EPoX AF570_ board is the Realtek ALC883 CODEC. This CODEC supports High Definition Audio and is adequate for onboard sound. The key features of High Definition Audio include multiple audio streams, where you can play a 5.1 source and a 2-channel source at the same time, Native 7.1 Surround Sound support where AC'97 supported 5.1 and Dolby Digital Live support.