I received my new computer parts a couple of days ago which I've, since then, struggled to get up and running. At first, it seemed like I had dodged any imaginable errors as the system got up and running without a hitch, but then it started crashing over and over again.

First it seemed like it was the display drivers, then it seemed like it might be the integrated sound card. I realized late last night that it was the integrated gigabit card. I'm not sure wether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm not the only one having these problems with this motherboard.

I bought an EPoX motherboard, model 4PCA3+ to be specific, because I know EPoX is a great brand and that they are particularly popular among overclockers (not that I am one). On top of that, I had read several very positive reviews of the motherboard in question, which lead me to the silly conclusion that the board was a good buy. I was wrong.

One person got a reply from EPoX, saying:

Dear Customer,

Probably this BIOS is the problem since it doesn't work stable with the boards with a revision number below 2.0 or higher, this revision of the board is not released yet. AOA Forums

Great. The problem is solved on board revisions which does not yet exist.

Which brings me to a related topic; how is it that none of the reviewers of the board noticed that the system invariably resets/bsods when the integrated gigabit ethernet card is used for even a split second? Are hardware reviews completely bullshit? Do motherboard "reviews" largely consist of someone looking at the card's layout and reading it's specification and manual?

Ass.

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