Asus P4B266 or P4S333 for 1.6A ?

[herbage11]

Dang...thanks for all your help but I am still not sure? I like the P4b266 a little better but I am not sure if it is worth the extra $. I would like a few more personal experiences please...thanks for your help all.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

P4 1.6A Malaysia/P4B333@133/133/1.1ratio/2.133ghz@1.5v so far so good. On-board sound is better than my OEM SBLive 5.1 is IMO. I like this board but I hear the Turbo1 mode on the P4B266 lets you lock the PCI/AGP in spec, well 31mhz for the PCI but thats cool, and then change eveything else! That's a cool feature and I'm thinking may have been worth the extra $$$ especially since it's a super solid Intel chipset as others have pointed out. No regrets about mine just saying I'm second guessing myself now and if you get the P4B266 I don't think there would be any second guessing.

 

[herbage11]

Thanks Punisher. I had not heard of that option. That would be worth the extra $.

 

[sybertek]

I just ordered my P4S333 & 1.8A P4 from newegg Tuesday. Like you, I only plan on a little overclocking [for now ]. I researched it as much as I could & settled on it based on cost and what I thought would be the most value for my $$. I liked some of the extras of the Soyo Dragon Ultra, but at nearly 50% more than the Asus it just wasn't worth it. I guess in the end I saved some money by going with the SiS chipset over the 845 and put it toward the 1.8A & PC2700. I think I'll be content with it. This is my first build, too. Can't wait til everything arrives!

 

[herbage11]

Awesome Sybertek. Sounds like a great system. Let me know how you like it after you get it built. Good luck.

 

[MesBoogie]

I'm also on the fence with the P4B266. I was told by a coworker who bought this board about something that concerns me. He said that if you install the s/pdif connector, you will lose access to a PCI slot. True? Also, and more importantly, he said that by installing the USB 2.0 module that ou would lose another PCI slot. True?

I've never built a computer. I was basing my choice on the P4B266 because on the onboard capabilities. If I'm going to lose two slots anyway, I can reuse my current sound card and USB 2.0 cards (instead of leaving them in my old machine). Would the P4B266-C make more sense?

Thanks!
-mb

 

[SpongeBob]

I was also trying to decide between the p4b266 and the p4s333. I finally made up my mind this morning and got a p4s333 and a 1.6A from googlegear. I just couldn't justify the extra cost of the p4b266. It sounds like a lot of people are getting good overclocks from their p4s333's, so hopefully when I get it (5-8 days) I will also be able to get a good overclock.

 

[dbwillis]

Good luck with your combo, Im still loving mine, I put another drive with 2000 in my PC and tried to see what I was able to get the cpu up to, all I was able to do was 153fsb with 1.65v (in bios) and the DDR at 4:3 ratio with fast timings.
It wasnt too stable though..had a few explorer.exe and iexplore.exe errors/crashes..back down to 138 or 144fsb..I forget which, it was kinda late...

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Read this if you wanna see how good the AsusP4266b is.



http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=28&threadid=708052

 

[Savatage]

herbage11,

I just bought the P4B266 with a P4 1.6A here last night and after getting home tonight
from work I'm slowly bumping up th FSB. Right now I'm at 120 FSB without a problem. I'm not
going for the max on O/C'ing this combo but I will run it at 125 FSB for the 2GHz mark. I'm
running PC2100 ( Micron chips ) by the way. I payed $159.00 at my local Fry's for this board
and I'm very happy with the O/C'ing of this board as well as the stability too.

 

[herbage11]

Thanks.....like the look and sounds of that P4B266...

 

[Chepaman]

I just ordered my P4s333+1.6a from Pcnut.com... Pre tested to 2.2@138fsb They say it may go as high as 2.4 so when it gets here i'll
try for 150fsb.


I hope it works =)

 

[rgowen]

Savatage, I am thinking of picking up the P4B266 from Fry's as well. That way if I get a bad board, it will be easy to exchange. At $159, the price is not that much more than other places after you add shipping.

 

[Rebels7]

After several weeks of running my P4B266-C with a 1.6a at 150 FSB I decided to try to get more out of this board. I am now running at 160 FSB for a system speed of 2.48 Ghz. System is extremely stable and core voltage is 1.625. Temps are around 36-43 degrees C. I tried running at 165 but system would not post.

 

[Raiz]

I decided to go with the P4S333 because of the extra ram slot, the cheaper price, and a few comments from people who have the board. It seems to be just as stable as the P4B266 and has pretty much all the same features. This board is also set up to run the next generation of P4 Processors at the 533MHz speed (2.6GHz and beyond), whereas the P4B266 is not. Hope that helps.

 

[herbage11]

Yes that does help Raiz. I keep finding myself leaning one way then the other. Maybe in a month or 2 by the time the wife turns lose of the credit card I'll have this figuered out. Thanks for the input all.

 

[Savatage]

rgowen,

Agreed. Unless I can save over $20.00 or more ( including shipping) I'll check Fry's first for quite a bit of comp stuff
I buy. Plus my Fry's location is only about a 10 minute drive for me.

 

[alkaprim]

<< P4 1.6A Malaysia/P4B333@133/133/1.1ratio/2.133ghz@1.5v so far so good. On-board sound is better than my OEM SBLive 5.1 is IMO. I like this board but I hear the Turbo1 mode on the P4B266 lets you lock the PCI/AGP in spec, well 31mhz for the PCI but thats cool, and then change eveything else! That's a cool feature and I'm thinking may have been worth the extra $$$ especially since it's a super solid Intel chipset as others have pointed out. No regrets about mine just saying I'm second guessing myself now and if you get the P4B266 I don't think there would be any second guessing. >>



Right on.
But I've seen somewhere that SIS645 supports 1/5,2/5 dividers.
Can anybody confirm that?
Looking forward to bios 1005.

P4S333 , 1.6A@2.4, 1.6v.

 

[Chepaman]

I have a question:

Do all the P4s333 asus boards have built in sound?
If not how do I tell which ones do?

I ask because I ordered mine from pcnut.com and it does not tell you wether it has.

Thanks

 

[herbage11]

I think they do but I was wondering the same thing...Good to know .

 

[Chepaman]

Yea... I hope it does have the c-media sound because I did not buy a sound card for my setup. =-)

I know that mine does not have the built in lan.

 

[Duvie]

I bought my p4s333 board from accessmicro and had it next day....I liive in oregon and the webpage listed NY...

I paid about 30+ less and I have the ability with latest bios to hit higher bandwidths then the p4b266 could ever hit...I can get a usb 2.0 controller later when I actually need one...I likely would have gotten to about the same fsb anyways...might as well get the best memory bandwidth allowed...

Future bios could give support for a 3:5 ratio instead of just a 4:5 after 133fsb...regardless I think the asus i845 mobo will only give 1:1 after 133, and for 1.6 owners many need to hit 150 so therefor they run memory at 300mhz ninstead of potential 375mhz...that translate into available memory bandwidth.

 

[herbage11]

good points....p4s333 looks dang good for the price...plus as you said usb 2.0 can be added later

 

[Regalk]

The P4S 333 (no suffixes) is the best board to get since it has onboard C-Media (I have 2 of them)
It offers excellent price/performance. This model comes also with LAN and w/out LAN.
DDR voltage adjustments using on board jumpers (2.5/2.7/3.9)
Soft Bios for FSB adjustments
BIOS core voltage adjustments (1.5 to 1.7) - no wire trick necessary
Ability to run PC2100 DDR at 1:1 FSB when at 133 FSB and higher
Voice activated BIOS to let you know all is well,
Some other great features that may come in handy in future:
USB 2.0, Smart card reader, SD and MS connectors for Secure Digital memory card and Memory Stick for fast and secure downloading of all types of digital files such as music, photos, movies, videos etc.
Excellent board and features for the price
Both of my boards hit 2.2G using Intel NW1.6A easily at 1.55v.
Sheesh I sound like an Asus/Sis salesman but the 2 boards I have are really great period.

 

[Chepaman]

Regalk...


Thanks very much for breaking it down for me, I ordered the P4s333/no lan. I'm glad to hear it has the audio.

Thanks again