Specs & Features Continued

     The EPoX EP-8RDA+ is loaded with "most" of the latest features, but lacks any type of RAID or Serial ATA ports. RAID I can live without, but why EPoX chose to not feature Serial ATA on any of their nForce2 motherboards is beyond me. Serial ATA isn't incredibly impressive just yet, but within a few months it will be the driving force behind hard drives. Of course, nothing is stopping you from using a Serial ATA interface card...

     I can't say enough good things about how most nForce2 motherboards come standard with a LAN port. I think LAN is something that should have been standard on motherboards years ago. USB 2.0 is now standard and the 8RDA+ has plenty of ports. Not shown are the extra USB, Firewire and game ports that mount in an empty PCI slot.

     A welcome feature is EPoX's "80 Port Debug 7-segment LED Display". In the unlikely event that you have an hardware conflict or problem, this handy LED will give you error codes that you look up in the user's manual. This nifty feature helps take a lot of the guesswork out of hardware trouble shooting.