Epox MF570 SLI gives 590 boys a run for their money

EPOX released a new motherboard that goes under the name of Epox MF570 SLI. This one is based on Nvidia's second most powerful chipset, the Nforce 570 and it is cheaper than its stronger 590 SLI brother. We don't know where MF in the name comes from but we hope it comes from My Favourite or something sweet like that.

The big catch of this motherboard is that it has two times 8x PCI graphics ports while the Nforce 590 SLI has two times 16x PCIs ports. It's not a big deal but sixteen sounds twice better than eight. Well it's not even close.

The board has a single chip chipset while the Nforce 590 SLI has two chips to get enough PCIe lanes. We were lucky to see three PCI slots for three upgrade cards. The MF570 SLI board also has two PCIe 1x slots but placed between two PCIe 8x graphic slots, so you can forget at least one of them.

The chipset is actively cooled and the cooler is not noisy, that's all we care about. The board supports four DDR 2 modules officially at 800MHz but the faster modules will work on it. Epox decided to put support for up to eight SATA ports so you won't lack the connectors for your beloved drives.

The good old IDE and floppy connectors are still with us. When you take a deeper look you can see that there is one more IDE slot, quite rare feature these days but it cannot do you bad. It's always better to have two over one. The board comes with Epox LED diagnostic display, a very useful tool that can tell you what's wrong with the board and has a reviewers beloved power and reset button on board.

Six of the SATA II ports come from Nforce 570 SLI chipset and they support Raid 1, 0+1 and 5. The two LAN ports are Gigabit and will work with the help of Marvell's 88e1116 GBE chip.

The board supports ghost bios so if you fry your bios you will be able to recover it without much hassle - a very nice feature for overclockers and Epox always makes its boards with them in mind. You just insert a CD and can recover your bios a neat feature.

The 24-pin power connector is placed between the AM2 socket and the first PCIe card that will work at PCI 16X mode with single card. It is not the easiest place to plug it in. Once you plug the second card you will be set back to two times 8X PCIe.

The back panel hides keyboard and mouse PS2 ports, Optical and SPDIF audio connectors, four USBs, two LAN cards and 5.1 analogue audio connectors.

The box includes a lot of cables, back panel is there, IDE and floppy cables, additional cooler to blow out the air out of the case, four white SATA cables, additional USB ports. The SLI bridge is still present and the board comes with an installation CD, User manual and system installation guide.

Epox support bios upgrades via windows and calls it Thunder Flash. Thunder Probe will let you monitor the board, voltages and temparutre the board in Windows while the Thunder Screen will let you change the boot screen. This is very nice to show off to your friends as you can boot with your own picture.

We decided to compare the board against Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe board and used Gainward Bliss Geforce 7950 GX2 card.

Benchmarketing
We used :
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Nforce 590 SLI mothebroard Epox MF570 SLI Nforce 570 SLI motherboard Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 graphic card Athlon FX 62 2800 MHz 90 nanometre Windsor core
2x1024 MB DDR2 Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3 memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon Athlon 64/X2/FX cooler and Intel CPU's
Silverstone Strider ST60F, 600W ATX 2.0 SATA
We expected that Epox MF570 SLI has to end up slower but it was close. Asus is just 120 marks faster in 3Dmark03. In games the difference is even smaller. CPU test shows a slight advantage of the Nforce 590 SLI chipset. Asus ends up 30 points faster and four frames faster in game 1 test.

Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	29993	261.2	212.1	181.5
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	29879	260.9	212.0	180.9
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	1427	156.2	25.8	64.8
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	1394	151.9	25.3	?
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	8194.9	22440.6	88.5	408.4
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	8194.7	22440.6	88.4	406.9
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	13668	52.8	42.0	73.6
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	13556	52.0	41.7	73.6
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	7350	3.3	7.2	?
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	7425	3.3	7.3	?
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	9441.0	22749.9	637.5	129.5/94.8
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	9412.0	22806.2	636.0	129.4/95.1
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	8048	?	?	?
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	8034	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	3639	29.067	31.589	?
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	3621	28.909	31.438	?
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	3476	30.985	38.545	?
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	3464	30.732	38.539	?
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	2091	0.669	1.045	?
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	2106	0.680	1.043	?
?	?	?	?	?
PC Mark 2005	CPU	Memory	HDD	Total
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	5689	5342	5260	6323
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	5704	5180	5204	6294
?	?	?	?	?
Sandra 2007	CPU	Memory	Multimedia
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	20379/17195	8593/8546	52936/57458
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	20380/17204	8630/8601	52930/57463
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	128.5	127.5	126.7	116.6
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	126.7	126.0	124.4	116.1
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	128.1	120.7	103.5	71.1
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	125.4	118.4	102.8	71.0
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	97.03	96.81	95.76	76.51
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	95.48	94.12	93.73	76.28
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	168.7	166.6	163.5	150.0
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	167.1	162.3	159.5	148.9
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	162.9	155.8	145.6	118.9
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	162.5	153.0	144.8	118.2
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	138	128	108	78
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	138	127	108	77
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	122	98	69	45
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	120	96	69	44
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	154.2	151.8	150.5	127.7
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	151.0	148.7	147.3	126.6
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2	153.2	141.4	123.0	91.0
Epox MF570 SLI - Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 SLI	150.1	140.0	122.1	91.0

In 3Dmark05, the difference stays at around 100 points. The difference in games is always less than a single frame. Epox runs the CPU test 75 points faster than the more expensive Asus. Single and multi-texturing and Shader numbers are almost identical. In 3Dmark06 Asus is only fourteen marks faster, in Shader model 2.0 test its 18 points faster or around 0.1 FPS in games. In Shader model 3.0/HDR test, Asus is only twelve or only 0.2 in one game or not at all at the second game. The CPU score is almost identical.

PC mark 2005 CPU test miraculously runs faster on the Epox board powered by slower chipset. Asus wins the total score by 29 points but you can clearly see that the memory runs faster on Asus by more than 150 marks.

Both CPU and memory scores are slightly faster on Epox board and even in last multimedia test, Asus wins in just one multimedia test for a nail.

Now to the games. In Doom 3, Epox stays half to two frames faster. The difference at Doom 3 4X FSAA and 8X Aniso is from 0.1 to three frames at 10x7. Far Cry 4X FSAA and 8X Aniso runs up to two frames faster on Asus.

Quake 4 shows up to four frames difference while once you turn 4X FSAA and 8X Anisotropic filtering the difference drops to less than a frame. FEAR is either the same or for a single frame faster on Asus. It can win by up to two frames with FSAA 4X and 16X Aniso. Serious Sam 2 with or without FSAA shows from nothing to three frames difference.

In Short
Epox board costs at least 50 to €60 less than Asus one that we tested and runs only a percentage point or two slower than it. We like the features, you can really overclock and tweak this board and you get enough cables and CDs with it.

Nforce 570 SLI chipset showed that it can really perform well against its faster, warmer and double-chip Nforce 590 SLI chipset. Epox boards are nice for overclocking and gaming and if you need a new M2 motherboard you should consider this one. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic