Epox Ep-af550g Pro Driver
Usually when there s one dominant player in the market, its products are far and away better than anything else its competitors have to offer. In the microprocessor land, there s a very interesting situation. Intel s Core 2 Duo does hold a lead over AMD s Athlon64 X2 series, however in most applications you probably won t even notice this.
That has given AMD and its partners a bit of breathing
room. As the saying goes, if you can t match Intel then drop your prices. That s the strategy that AMD has been following, and it has resulted in some good success. AMD also has the whole entry level market going for it, AMD computers can be converted to higher end PCs with less changes. With AMD it s usually as simple as installing a bit more memory and perhaps a faster videocard. With Intel you often have to swap out the motherboard for something with a more powerful chipset.
nVIDIA s GeForce 6100 series AMD motherboards have been a hit by any measure you like, and most come in the MicroATX motherboard format. That limits the motherboard s ability to expand and support more features, so PCSTATS was pleased to see Epox release a full sized ATX motherboard built on the nVidia GeForce 6100 chipset.
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro supports all Socket AM2 AMD Athlon64/X2/FX and Sempron
processors, and up to 16GB of DDR2-800 memory. The board obviously includes an
integrated DirectX 9.0C compatible Geforce 6-series videocard. The EP-AF550G Pro
hits all the standard bullet points like Gigabit networking, high definition 5.1
channel audio, Serial ATA II with RAID options, nearly a dozen USB 2.0 slots,
and one lowly IDE channel. The nVIDIA nForce 430 Southbridge supports RAID modes 0, 1, 0 1 and 5.
Expansion comes care of the PCI Express x16 slot
for videocards, a PCI Express x1 slot for higher bandwidth devices and four 32
bit PCI slots. All this for a retail price of just 105 CDN 90 US, 45 GBP.
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro a very enticing board for those looking to build an inexpensive PC, and with onboard graphics you can differ buying standalone videocard until you really need one.
Epox EP-AF550G Pro Motherboard
User Manual, Driver CD, Ultra/133
IDE Cable, Floppy Cable, 2 Serial ATA Cables, I/O
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard is very well laid out and it is an easy board to install. The onboard GeForce 6100 videocard will be just fine for typical 2D office applications, email, web, and things of that nature. It produces satisfactory 3D gaming framerates, but if you desire to play the newest game titles you re best of installing a PCI Express x16 videocard. There s plenty of space between the PCI Express x16 slot and the adjacent slot so videocards with dual slot heatsinks are not a problem.
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard board has four 3GB/s SATAII channels, and
one IDE channel up to two Ultra DMA100/66 devices. There s also a floppy drive
connector if you still use that medium.
The EP-AF550G has three USB2.0
headers, but they will probably go unused as no USB brackets are included with the
slim pickings bundled along here.
If you re building a new machine you might as well get a new power supply that supports the ATX 2.0 spec. While the EP-AF550G Pro will run on ATX 1.4 type power supplies, it s not recommended.
Rounding out the list of things that stood out to use was a PCI Express x1 based Realtek 8111B Gigabit network card. With the device running along the PCI Express bus, it won t sap any bandwidth from any PCI peripherals you may install down the road.
Epox has long equipped its motherboards with Port 80 diagnostics card and the
EP-AF550G Pro is no different. The two digit Port 80 display is located right on
the PCB on the lower right hand corner just above the floppy drive connector.
Whether you re a tweaker or not, in times of hardware trouble the little Port 80
device makes life a lot easier.
The standard that dictates what codes are displayed on the Port 80 card have
been around for years, and the values are the same no matter what brand or model
of motherboard you use if it has the card anyhow. Even if your motherboard
doesn t have one, it s possible to get a Port 80 diagnostics PCI card to install
into the system if you do a lot of troubleshooting.
Here s a quick rundown on the most common Port 80 errors. C1 usually
indicates a system memory problem, usually that the memory has been overclocked
too high for the computer to POST. C0 tells us that the L2 cache on the
processor is running too fast, a 26 error is a bit more vague but usually
indicates to enthusiasts that the system has overclocked too high and
cannot POST. FF means hardware wise everything was able to pass the POST tests
although it s still possible for you to have other hardware stability
If you do run into problem with your system the Port 80 should be the first thing you check. It s
possible that it may display an odd two digit value, so keep the user s manual
handy because Epox has a reference at the back of its user s manual of all
The nVidia GeForce 6100 series chipset brings integrated video
to the AMD Athlon64 in a low cost, fully integrated solution had been lacking
for this platform. The GeForce 6100 C51 GPU has been embraced by
cost-concious users and system integrators ever since. It shares 128MB of memory
with the system, so install a good 1GB or 2GB of RAM
All current socket 939 and socket AM2
AMD Athlon64/X2/FX and Sempron processors are supported. The Epox EP-AF550G Pro is
one of the new generations of GeForce 6100/nForce 430 motherboards, and in this
case the two chipsets have been integrated into one. Previously both chipsets
6100 chipset utilizes a 1 GHz 16-bit wide upstream and downstream Hypertransport
connection between itself and the Athlon64 processor. The GeForce 6100 is a
little less feature packed than the Geforce 6150 model, and thus does
not support a TV encoder, TMDS/DVI, 1080p/1080i
HD playback, or high quality 5x4 video scaling. Instead, video scaling
is pegged at basic quality 2x2, and MPEG-2/WMV9 playback at standard
definition 4:3 video playback.
6100 graphics core operates at
a slightly lower speed than its brethren too, 425 MHz as opposed to 475
MHz. All Geforce 61XX-class chipsets support a total of 18 PCI Express lanes, 16 for
the videocard and two for miscellaneous devices. In addition to the PCI Express
x16 graphics slot, motherboards like the Epox EP-AF550G Pro with a Geforce 6100
chipset are only allocated a single PCI Express x1 slot, instead of two as with
a chart detailing the different combination of features pertaining to the
Geforce 61XX-series chipsets available on the market. The Epox EP-AF550G Pro falls
under the second column 6100/430, and the most basic set of
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 and NVIDIA nForce
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 and NVIDIA nForce
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 and NVIDIA nForce 410
Socket 939/AM2 Athlon 64/X2/FX /
DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3.0 Support
The nVidia nForce 430 is Serial ATA II compatible, and it even includes the option of
setting up a RAID 0/1/0 1/5 array among the four SATAII ports. The nForce 430 chipset supports two IDE channels as well. The NF430 incorporates Gigabit LAN and nVIDIA s hardware ActiveArmor Firewall.
Connecting the two chipsets together is
a 800 MHz Hypertransport connection which has an 8 bit wide Up/Down data bus. The nForce 430 chipset is also compatible with Intel s new Azalia 7.1 channel high definition audio codec. Perhaps the most important feature of both the Geforce 6150 and 6100 chipsets is PureVideo, and that s what we ll be looking at
High definition is the future entertainment standard of
tomorrow s video s. Playing high definition content on current generation PCs can bog down
even the fastest processors because there is more data to handle. Similar to the
need for DVD accelerators a few years ago, nVIDIA PureVideo enables computer
users to view MPEG-2/DVD and WMV High Definition formats on the monitor
without slowing the system to a crawl.
standard incorporates a hardware accelerator for the afore mentioned MPEG-2/DVD,
and Microsoft Windows Media High Definition Video standards WMV HD. According
to nVIDIA s documentation on PureVideo, the GPU GeForce 6 and 7 series GPUs
takes on video decoding tasks from the CPU, and the end result is smoother,
shutter free High Definition playback. nVIDIA PureVideo also supports most
current and future high definition formats.
PureVideo is more than just a media accelerator; it also
includes features to improve video picture quality. DVD, cable and satellite
video provide poor crispness, clearness and smoothness that consumers have been
desperate to be saved from. nVIDIA s PureVideo technology applies spatial
temporal de-interlacing to apparently deliver a better image than traditional
de-interlacing can muster. PureVideo also fixes the 3:2 pull down problem that
can arise from 24 fps video being converted to 30 fps for viewing on TVs or
monitors. By recovering the original 24 frame content, PureVideo allows for a
of PureVideo is its ability to scale videos to any resolution, while maintaining
a relatively detailed picture. This means users can view lower resolution videos
at a high resolution without suffering too much from blocky or blurry
Examining CPU Load with PureVideo
To test PureVideo s High Definition accelerating capabilities
on the Epox EP-AF550G Pro, we ll playback a video downloaded from
Microsoft s WMV HD Content Showcase through Windows Media
Player 10. The Discoverers IMAX video is available in both 720P and 1080P
formats. Socket AM2 processor utilization will be monitored via Task
When running the 720P version of the Discoverers video, CPU usage
jumps between 20-28 with the Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard. That leaves a lot
of CPU resources for background applications/services without the worry of
dropped frames or interrupted video.
higher videocards support PureVideo which is nVIDIA s High Definition
accelerator. That means the onboard GeForce 6100 has built in High
Definition Video accelerator and explains why CPU usage is low when watching HD
movies on the monitor. It can however only output a Standard
Definition signal via component output on boards which support this. In
this test with the 720P video, nForce 6100/40 chipset combination handles the job well and CPU resources remain in line
Epox EP-AF550G Pro Geforce 6100 Motherboard Review
Abstract: The Epox EP-AF550G Pro supports all Socket AM2 AMD Athlon64/X2/FX and Sempron processors, and up to 16GB of DDR2-800 memory.
Home Reviews Page Title: Epox EP-AF550G Motherboard Gallery
accomodates a single PCI Express x16 videocard, one PCI Express x1
and four PCI devices. The board offers users a pretty decent set of
The bottom right hand corner of
the Epox EP-AF550G motherboard is very busy. The large passive aluminum heatsink
cools a single GeForce 6100 chipset. To the right of that are the four
Serial ATA II slots and IDE channel. Below are the blue, black and yellow
USB 2.0 headers. You can also see the large two digit port 80 diagnostics
card, floppy drive connector and reset/power buttons.
memory slots can be filled with up to 8GB of PC2-6400 memory DDR2-800.
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro is compatible with all Socket AM2 Athlon64/X2/FX
and Sempron processors. Space around the CPU socket is tight, so
installation of larger heatsinks may be
Around the 940pin AM2 socket there is a row of tall capacitors, so extra wide AM2 heatsinks may not fit on the EP-AF550G motherboard. To the right of the CPU socket the memory slot is also pretty closely positioned, so PCSTATS would advise you to stick with AMD s socket AM2 reference heatsink.
Epox motherboards generally overclock quite well, but
seeing as the EP-AF550G is a budget board we re not sure what to expect
this time around. Before the overclocking began, the AMD Athlon64 X2 5000 processor was set to use a 8x multiplier, and the Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C3 memory to run in DDR2-533 MHz mode. This way neither component will hold the Epox AF550G from reaching its best.
Starting at 200 MHz the Epox EP-AF550G motherboard clock
speed was increased in 5 MHz increments. There was absolutely no need to adjust the CPU, chipset or memory voltage during any of our testing. Epox s EP-AF550G hit the motherboard s top speed of 250 MHz with ease, but that is where our tests also had to stop. It s worthwhile to remember that the Epox EP-AF550G is aimed at the entry level market, and is not designed for overclockers.
We would have liked to see higher motherboard clock speed options. but for what the Epox s EP-AF550G offers we are satisfied.
There are certainly lots of DDR2 memory timing adjustments to choose from, if
you re a tweaker you ll no doubt familiarize yourself with all these
The motherboard frequency can be adjusted between 200-250 MHz
in 1 MHz increments. The integrated GeForce 6100 core clock speed can
be increased between 1-100. There are CPU clock multiplier adjustments. Maximum
CPU voltage is 0.15V above stock, chipset goes up by 0.3V, and memory by 0.7V.
The details of how the Epox EP-AF550G
Pro motherboard test system was configured for benchmarking; the specific
hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions is indicated
below. In the second column are the general specs for the reference platforms
this nVIDIA GeForce 6100 based motherboard is to be compared against. Please
take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on
to the individual benchmark results on the next page.
SYSmark 2004 is BAPCo s latest revision
of the mainstream office productivity and Internet content creation benchmark
used to characterize the performance of the business client. It is based on a
foundation of extensive research into emerging usage models and computing trends
and incorporates the latest benchmarking methodologies to evaluate platform
technologies. SYSmark 2004 contains scientifically designed workloads that
represent the range of activities that an office productivity or Internet
content creation work may encounter. In addition to extensive validation across
multiple platforms, users can be sure of a consistent and reliable performance
MSI P4N Diamond NF4 SLI 200/800
Foxconn 975X7AA-8EKRS2H 975X 200/667
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe P965
ASRock AM2V890-VSTA K8T890 200/800
ECS KA3 MVP Extreme CF3200 200/800
Albatron KM51PV-AM2 GF6150 200/800
MSI K9N SLI Platinum NF 570 SLI
Epox MF570 SLI NF 570 SLI 200/800
Foxconn C51XEM2AA NF 590 SLI 200/800
Asus M2-CROSSHAIR NF 590 SLI 200/800
Epox EP-AF550G Pro GF6100 200/800
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard performs
pretty well compared to the competition, especially if you consider its price.
It is paced about middle of the road here.
Winstone 2004 runs real applications through a series of scripted activities and
uses the time a PC takes to complete these activities to produce its performance
Creation Winstone 2004 is a system-level, application-based benchmark that
measures a PC s overall performance when running top, Windows-based, 32-bit,
content creation applications in Windows XP.
If you need to build yourself an inexpensive workstation
machine, you re certainly going to be pleased with the performance from the Epox
designed to test the theoretical power of a complete system as well as the
individual components. The results are also purely theoretical and may not
represent real world performance.
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe P965 200/800
ECS KA3 MVP Extreme RD580 200/800
MSI K9N SLI Platinum NF 570 SLI 200/800
SiSoft Sandra results for the Epox EP-AF550G Pro are
very strong, even with its onboard Geforce 6100 videocard. We re a bit surprised
at how high the memory bandwidth is, but that s AMD for you.
calculates the number PI to 1 Million digits in this raw number crunching
benchmark. The program allows the user to change the number of digits of PI that
can be calculated from 16 thousand to 32 million. Our benchmark is set to 1
Million digits and 19 iterations.
We see here that the onboard videocard affects Super
Pi s results, but only by 1 second.
is a premium tool for measuring both normal home use and simple 3D performance
of the latest PC hardware. There are 11 system tests - each one is designed to
represent a certain type of PC usage. By running these tests, PCMark05 stresses
the components in a similar manner as they are stressed in normal home usage.
PCMark05 results are interesting to see, the CPU score
looks a bit on the low side, but overall the memory results are nice and high.
So far we ve been focusing on data crunching and office based tasks, let s see
how the Epox EP-AF550G Pro handles 3D games.
is best suited for the latest generation of DirectX9.0 graphics cards. It is the
first benchmark to require a DirectX9.0 compliant hardware with support for
Pixel Shaders 2.0 or higher. By combining high quality 3D tests, CPU tests,
feature tests, image quality tools, and much more, 3DMark05 is a premium
benchmark for evaluating the latest generation of gaming hardware.
NF 570 SLI 200/800 7800GTX Single
NF 570 SLI 200/800 7800GTX SLI
590 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX Single
590 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX SLI
590 SLI 200/800 7800GTX Single
Epox EP-AF550G Pro GF6100 200/800 Onboard
Epox EP-AF550G Pro GF6100 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX
3DMark05 results are very interesting; the onboard
GeForce 6100 scores poorer as expected, but when a GeForce 7800GTX PCI Express
videocard is added to the mix the score improves.
is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A
fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and
gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC
performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D
feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0
graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU
tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next
generation gaming performance today.
3DMark06 results mirror that of 3DMark05, the onboard
GeForce 6100 just doesn t have the power to get a good score scoring 183 in the
Overall section. Let s see what real games say
editing, bump mapping, static lights, network system, integrated physics system,
shaders, shadows, and a dynamic music system are just some of the state
of-the-art features that the CryENGINE offers. The game was set to Ultra quality
and the Ubisoft s Regulator demo was run.
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro s onboard videocard does pretty
well in FarCry remarkably, running the game at about 76FPS if everything is
turned off and run at low resolutions. When a GeForce 7800GTX videocard is
installed, performance jumps to levels close to that of nVIDIA nForce 570/590
Doom 3 takes advantage of the latest videocard technology
and pushes the processing power of the CPU to its absolute limit. At its highest
setting, Ultra quality, texture sizes pass the 500MB mark which means even
tomorrow s videocards will have a hard time running everything. The frame rates
in the game itself are locked at 60 fps so anything above that point is wasted.
Each test is run three times with the third run being recorded.
Doom 3 is not as kind to the onboard GeForce 6100
videocard as the other games have been. While the game does run, frame rates of
18.5FPS are extremely choppy. It s nice to know that you can turn the Epox
EP-AF550G Pro into a decent gaming machine though, by simply installing a full
fledged PCI Express x16 videocard.
is the latest shooter from ID and is based on the Doom 3 engine. Tweaked to for
more eye candy, Quake 4 promises to be tougher on videocards and systems than
its predecessor was. Quake 4 also does not have a 60 fps limiter like Doom 3,
with the Ultra setting, graphic textures can surpass the 500MB mark. Each test
is run three times and with the third run being recorded.
In the final benchmark of the day, Quake 4, the Epox
EP-AF550G Pro does pretty well. The onboard GeForce 6100 videocard handles this
game at about 30FPS, but with a GeForce 7800GTX the system really flies.
The nVIDIA GeForce 6100 series of chipsets have spawned
a very popular class of motherboards, and for good reason. The Geforce 6100
offers up great performance, a ton of integrated features, and comes at a very
low cost. Up until now most GeForce 6100 based motherboards have been the more
compact MicroATX formfactor, so it is nice to see Epox release this platform
which has a few more expansion slots.
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro makes a great platform build an
office oriented PC from; the onboard Geforce 6100 videocard is more than
satisfactory for tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, email, web surfing
With a retail price of 105 CDN 90 US, 45 GBP, there
are few items included in the box. What the Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard does offer
in the way of extras is built onboard; video which supports high definition
acceleration, 5.1 channel audio controller, Gigabit networking, a Port card, and
SATA II RAID. That s pretty much everything you really need for a workstation
environment Let s not forget the motherboard also has a PCI Express x16 for
videocards, a PCI Express x1 for high bandwidth devices and four 32 bit PCI
slots. That should allow the Epox EP-AF550G Pro to tackle anything you throw at
The onboard GeForce 6100 is perfectly adequate for
workstation applications and does not negatively affect system performance, even
though it saps a bit of system memory. The Epox EP-AF550G Pro performed just as
well as higher end nVIDIA nForce 570/590 SLI based motherboards in 2D tasks. The
onboard videocard is not really powerful enough for 3D gaming. If you want to
play games, get yourself an actual PCI Express x16 videocard. With a GeForce
7800GTX installed the Epox EP-AF550G Pro keeps up with the fastest Socket AM2
The Epox EP-AF550G Pro has some decent tweaking options
in the motherboard. There s a huge list of memory timing adjustments, but the
EP-AF550G Pro is not really tuned for the overclocker. The motherboard frequency
options top out at just 250 MHz and without much surprise the EP-AF550G Pro had
If you need to build yourself a good all around low
budget workstation computer, the Epox EP-AF550G Pro is a great platform to start
from - thanks in large part to the Geforce 6100 chipset. It comes with good
feature set that covers all the important bases. Budget doesn t have to mean
poor performance or quality, and the Epox EP-AF550G Pro proves just that.
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Overclocking the Epox EP-AF550G Pro Epox s EP-AF550G hit the motherboard s top The details of how the Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard test system was.
EPoX EP-AF550G Pro/G NVIDIA 6100-430 mainboard review intro 1/5 Bluetooth 29 Jan 2007. Pricing of ECS GeForce6100SM-M Introduction.
- TechPowerUp Review Database. Our category browser page lets you browse through recent Epox EP-AF550G Pro reviews, AMD Radeon Crimson Edition Drivers.
- The Epox EP-AF550G Pro supports all Socket AM2 AMD Athlon64/X2/FX and Sempron processors, Driver CD, Ultra/133 Epox EP-AF550G Motherboard Gallery.
- Epox EP-AF550G Pro Geforce 6100 so PCSTATS was pleased to see Epox release a full sized ATX motherboard built on the Epox EP-AF550G Motherboard.
- EP-AF550G Pro Motherboard DDR2-533MHz Machine name: Epox EP-AF550G PRO Motherboard CPU options: - AMD Athlon 64 Processor - AMD Athlon 64 FX.
- Epox Overclocking the Epox EP-AF550G Pro Starting at 200 MHz the Epox EP-AF550G motherboard The details of how the Epox EP-AF550G Pro motherboard.
Amazon.com: Epox EP-AF550G PRO Motherboard Memory Upgrade 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz DIMM RAM PARTS-QUICK BRAND : Computers Accessories.
