Asus P4B533-E or Giga-Byte GA-8IEXP or Epox 4G4A+ or Abit BD7II-Raid ?????

[gsethi]

considering the Abit BD7II-Raid. I like the IT7 but i also need serial/parallel/PS2 ports, so that board is not for me.

 

[Prototype]

Originally posted by: gsethi
ok....the EPOX is officially out of my list now. The 2 people at HardForums who said that board worked fine for them have now changed their minds. It seems like they are also having some issues with the board. They are coming to the conclusion that the missing 12v power connector is the culprit here.
So, i am not 99% sure than I am not going to but Epox.

Is that just a problem with overclocking?
I wanted to grab Epox, but have no desire to OC.

 

[WideMouth40]

[/quote]

Is that just a problem with overclocking?
I wanted to grab Epox, but have no desire to OC.[/quote]

If you aren't planning on doing any serious OC'ing, the board soudns pretty solid. Check out the thread here:
http://www.hardforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=409649

Peace

 

[Unic5]

Hi guys!


I have the mobo Asus P4B533 since 1 week.
It is great. My P4_1.8a runs to 2.5Ghz @ 1.80V (18x139, 4:3, AGP/PCI 66/33).
The mobo have the divider ratio 4:3 (also AUTO & 1:1). You can fix the AGP/PCI (66/33 -> 100/xx).
You can also fix voltage of the Core (1.5 to 1.95V), DDR (2.6, 2.7, 2.9), AGP (1.5, 1.6, 1.7).

I have tried the P4S333 & P4B266 and i returned them, bacause they are not stable (the P4S333 have a problem very weir! It was capable to run 3Dmark 2001 during 6 hours & more, but it bugs in Explorer or Outlook :/)

I hope it helps you!

Bye

PS: Sorry for my "french" english

 

[walwynd]

Hi gsethi,

what do u think about the ga-8ihxp and the p4t533-c?

 

[gsethi]

what do u think about the ga-8ihxp and the p4t533-c?

i would definately prefer the GA-8IHXP since you get more features with that board. That seems like the best bang for your buck. But i am highly weary about going with the RDRAM setup now since Intel is backing out on it.

I know you get performance but i wouldnt invest in anything that wont be supported 1 year from today. Also, DDR 400 will easily meet or reach near PC800.

I went ahead and ordered GA-8IEXP (I845E version) and should be here on Friday. I will post reviews of the board here (being a guinea pig here.....)

I am just hoping that it wont have the rebooting problem like the RXP.....will let you guys know about it though. It seemed to me like the best solution since it had everything that i needed. I wanted to order the i845g version (GA-8IGXP) but i dont think that gigabyte is going to come out with it. The highest they will go is GA-8IGX w/o Raid but i really need RAID, thats why i went with "E". I know that there are rumors that GXP will be out in about 2 weeks, and if it does come out, i might replace my EXP for it but EXP for now.

hold on till Friday even if you want to go with GA-8IHXP so that i can confirm whether it will have the rebooting issue or not. Fingers crossed here.............

oh yeah, it looks like i ordered the last GA-8IEXP from newegg..... so you guys get to wait longer now (phew.....getting the first batch of the motherboard......little scared here)

Thanks
gsethi

 

[Barrei]

Gsethi thats wierd about the 8irxp problem and the cold boots ,I have that board and have never ONCE experienced the cold boot problem I'm running my 1.8a at 142fsb = 2560mhz and 1.625 cpuv and it works fine , reboots shuts down and starts, I run the f6d bios .I must have gotten a good one cause I never get that problem.I idle with stock hsf at 34-36c even at 1.625 cpuv , once my alpha and Y.S. adjustable fan get here I hope to run at 145 fsb= 2610mhz.Good luck on the 8iexp.

 

[metapy]

Well you will have to let us know if they have resolved the reboot issues with the Gigabyte boards in this latest revision. The boards look great on paper, but in reality it is a different story. The old brother of the board you bought the 8IRXP has a KNOW issue rebooting after you change the voltage from the default (saws default if the bios) even if you keep the voltage the same. In my case changing the voltage from default (actually 1.5v) to 1.5v and I can no longer reboot in Windows you have to power cycle the power supply to get it to reboot again. They did not release a new bios until the news organizations picked up on the story and then the new BIOS did not resolve the issue. The reson Gigabyte stated that they could not fix the issue was that they did not have a Nothwood p4. I thought it was ludicrus that a motherbaord manufacture would release a board for a process that they "could not get"!!! Come one if Joe Nobody can get one at EVERY retialer that carried CPUs I thought it highly unlikely that a motherboard manufacture could not acquire one.

There are other issues with the board as well. There is no way to disable the onboard LAN, the manual says that there sould be a jumper for this (there is not and no option in the BIOS to do so) There is also no reset jumper on the board, once again they forgot to add this "option" although some people have had luck shorting the two solder points with a screwdriver.

Although the board does look good before I bought one I feel that way Gigabyte has handled the situation was abizmal at best. I will not nuy another board of there for along time and will recomend that others do the same. If anyone has doubts of Gigabytes reluctance to remedy a known situation please read some of the posts on the news groups.

I really hope the board you recieved works well and that Gigabyte has learned some lessons. Please keep us updated here as I am sure I am not the only one who has been burn by the 8IRXP.

 

[gsethi]

yeah......i had the rebooting problem with the board too when i increased the Vcore.

luckyily, i was able to run my processor (1.6a) at 2.4 Ghz (150 fsb) at default voltage. Must be a good processor. So i didnt had to deal with the rebooting issue but i did try to test it by manually increasing the vcore and it wont reboot. I didnt care to update to the latest BIOS, used version F4 since i had mine running fine.

hopefully, no problems on the EXP. I will be seriously mad if they get the GA-8IGXP out couple of weeks. I dont expect it because they showed it on their website first and then they took it off. Logically, it wouldnt make sense for the 8IGXP to come out since I845G is for cost conscious people who dont want to buy and extra video card, and so they wont be needing raid. But if they will come out with the GA-8IGXP, i guess i will have to return this EXP to get that GXP since that will most probably have 3:4 and possibly 4:5 memory ratio that we all want.

right now, i am just hoping that the EXP comes with 3:4 memory ratio and doesnt hangs on rebooting when Vcore in increased. I have some PC2700 to go all the way up to 2.6 Ghz (thats the highest retail heatsink/fan is rated for).

cant wait till Friday.....

Thanks

 

[Barrei]

I agree Metapy the irxp has the cold boot issue , I just don't know why mine doesn't.

 

[Rectalfier]

Unic5

I've got the same board, but my highest voltage is 1.7. Which BIOS are you using?

 

[walwynd]

Hi Guys what do u think about this setup
p4b533
2x256 pc2100
p4 2aghz cpu
ata 100 60gb 7200rpm hdrive
not looking to over clock just want a good setup any ideas greatful

 

[gsethi]

if you are not going to overclock, then go with the I845G chipset. those will give you slightly higher performance but they seem to be having some problems overclocking.

imho, dont spend that much money if you are not going to overclock.

What features you want....i might be able to recommend you a board. The Asus board is good but its a bit on the expensive side. you can get boards with same stablity with more features for less money if you are not looking for overclocking.

thanks

 

[walwynd]

gsethi......ok i have a ata 100 60 drive and a 64meg ati video card...... looking for a good fast setup to go with these.....some thing fast even if i have to over clock it....

 

[gsethi]

ok...heres my questions:

Do you want the following :

1) RAID ?
2) Onboard Sound ?
3) Onboard LAN ?
4) IEEE Ports ?

that GA-8IEXP that you asked for is turning out to be a great board after some initial problems. you might want to look into it. Also, if you dont want RAID and IEEE, look into GA-8IEX (it has the same overclocking features as the GA-8IEXP).

will let you know of other boards, Abit, Epox and others after you answer my question

 

[walwynd]

ok gsethi ,,,,was doing some checking on the ga-8iex and i think i will go with that one...
which cpu and memory should i go with? thanks

 

[gsethi]

Originally posted by: walwynd
ok gsethi ,,,,was doing some checking on the ga-8iex and i think i will go with that one...
which cpu and memory should i go with? thanks

ah...tough question there.....

1.6A = ~$135
1.8A = ~$170
2.0A = ~$195

depends on your budget. Right now 1.8A seems to be the best bet but if you tight, you can go with 1.6A and overclock a bit.

Remember, at 133 FSB:
1.6a = ~2130 Mhz (Highly Likely, 90-10 chance here, most 1.6a will do this, but not guaranteed)
1.8a = ~2400 Mhz (Likely, 50-50 chance here)
2.0a = ~2660 Mhz (Highly Unlikely, 10-90 chance here)

Memory:
If you are not going to overclock now or in the future, save some money and go with PC 2100 (DDR 266). Go with Brand name like Samsung, Corsair or Crucial. They are all about the same.

If you will overclock, then go with atleast PC 2700. Samsung (buy only TRUE Samsung - samsung chips on samsung PCB - newegg has those, i got mine from them) or Corsair

Motherboard:
It seems like you dont need IEEE or RAID: here are my suggestions:

i would recommend i845G ("G") chipsets if you are not overclocking or overclocking just a bit. I845E ("E") if you will do some heavy overclocking like i am trying to do
Abit BG7
GA-8IEX or GA-8IGX
Epox 4G4A+ (NO OVERCLOCKING ON THIS BOARD)
Asus P4B533 - good board, but on expensive side

hope that helps

 

[Baslim]

I've really enjoyed this thread, folks. I am on the verge of ordering (from NewEgg)
all the parts for my first home-built system. My P-III 450 died a couple of months
ago and I have been limping along on my old Gateway P-166 (hey, a matter of cash
flow and job woes).

So, now that I'm flush again, I have been looking at the following:

- ASUS P4S533
- Intel 1.6a or 1.8a
- Corsair, Samsung, or Crucial RAM (in order of prefeference) at 256mb of 2700, CL2 or better
- Antec Case, probably a nice big 1060 w/430 watts (question on that coming up)

The only reason I haven't ordered the kit is that the mobo went out of stock while I was
dithering.

I have a Maxtor 40GB 7200rpm and a couple of smaller hard drives that I will simply
hoover over to the bigger drive while adding a second identical or bigger Maxtor.

Software, including OS, is not a problem. I've got XP Home ready to go.

Now, after reading this thread, I wonder about my choice of the ASUS P4S533. I'm
not locked into ASUS; I looked at Soya, Gigabytr, MSI, and even Intel for the same reasons
recommended. I've never overclocked, though I would like to play in that sandbox in a minor
kind of way. The choice of an ASUS was because I had heard they were one of the more
reliable boards. I didn't like the lack of USB2.0 support but hey, a PCI card would have cured that.

I do like the idea of just about everything I'll want to try is on the GA-81EXP. I have a LAN card, I have
a Creative X-Gamer 5.1 card, but still, I could put those in another system for my gf.

So I'm thinking about tailing the ASUS in favor of the Gigabyte 81EXP and keeping the rest
of my options. Any recommendations?

The good news is that I'm going to commit sometime soon, as soon as NewEgg has the board in stock,
or to some other board in their inventory. The P-166 saved me and is a workhorse but, as a steady
diet, is hard to take -- despite the fact that when I bought it two computers ago, it was SotA.

The earlier reference to the Antec case with the TP 431w psu involves this: I intend to run two hard
drives, a Pioneer 116 DVD-CDROM player, and a Yamaha CD-RW ,as well as the rest of the gear. Do
I need this much power, or will the case w/330w serve my needs?

Once the credit card is replenished, I'm going to order a Hitachi 721F 19" monitor and an ATI 8500
or one of the new Matrox cards, Para-somethingt...I need a good clear and large screen for what I
do in life, like writing adn GIS. I don't need a screaming game box, though I like some of the newer
games.

Again, any suggestins or recommendations on any of these items?



Thorby Baslim

 

[tobih]

hy!
NEWS about the ASUS P4B533-V: supports DDR333 & > @ 133 & > !
i would prefer that.
I ordered EPoX 4G4A+ last night, but after reading the posts about the EPoX here im no longer sure if i cancel it and get the ASUS.

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://
http://www.asusboards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=890abc1296228613118d6672d6ebc7b6&threadid=17966">http://www.asusboards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=890abc1296228613118d6672d6ebc7b6&threadid=17966</a>

 

[walwynd]

ok Gsethi, how about this setup.....can afford this.......what do u think?

asus p4b533 i845e p4 ddr
p4 2a ghz 400mhz 512k
2X samsung 256mb ddr pc2700 333mhz



all ready have ati 64mb video
60gb ata 100 7200 H drive


What power supply should i used with this setup? 300/350/400

 

[Beefy79]

Hey guys..... my first post here, so please be gentle

I've got fairly deep pockets at the moment, and am looking at an Intel DDR system. I tend to trust Asus (despite early problems with my A7V), so was naturally interested when I saw the P4B533(E) and P4B533-V motherboards released.

Now I'm specifically looking at buying a 2.4GHz, 533 bus CPU and not looking to overclock. I'm probably going to pair it up with 2x256 Kingmax PC2700, because its the only stuff I can buy locally and after some bad experience I no longer trust computer parts sent by courier/post. Despite the possibility of running the memory at 333Mhz without touching the FSB (which I would really like to do), I'm still leaning towards the i845E model (not the RAID version). Why you may ask?

BIOS support. Go to Asus' tech support page, and they have already released 2 new BIOS' for the i845E models, but are still on the original one for the i845G models. It could be argued that the i845E was buggy and/or faulty (or that they got the i845G models spot on first time - I doubt that), but I personally think that Asus believe that the cheaper P4B533 and the RAID equipped P4B533-E will appeal more to the enthusiasts who are not afraid to do a BIOS update. The i845G seems to be aimed more at the OEM market, where such stringent support is not an absolute requirement.

Anyway, thats just my $0.02 on the matter. But to tip the scales to the point where I will actually place an order - does anybody actually have the P4B533 and can verify that it is a good solid board?

 

[Tom]

Two things about Rambus based systems...

First, I don't know where you got the information that Intel was dropping support for Rambus, I read an Anandtech article where the i850e was going to be the last P4 Rambus chipset, but how do you get from there to they are dropping support for Rambus altogether? Seems more likely to me that if it's even correct, that they feel the i850e chipset is adequate for the life of the P4. I don't see anything about them discontinuing production of i850e chipsets.

Secondly, if you are building a system now, and plan to upgrade to a dual ddr system sometime in the future, I doubt it is going to make any difference if the system you buy now is rdram-based or ddr-based. In either case you are going to need a new motherboard and very likely all new memory to upgrade to dual-ddr. And at this point I don't think it's a given that dual-ddr is going to be better than rdram anyway. By the time it comes out faster versions of rdram will also come out.

Having said all this, I don't mean anyone should pick rdram over ddr, I like them both, but I thought your comments about the demise of rdram were a bit premature.

 

[Unic5]

Rectalfier -> To set the voltage above 1.7V on the P4B533, you have to move the jumper "OVERVOLTAGE" on the board. Then you could go higher.

But there is something weir. When you go higher than 1.7 the board bips continually. i have to unpluggeg the buzzer to have peace. Even your system is stable and not overhated! Weir!
Another thing, i have to boot a first time at 133Mhz (FSB) and reboot at 139mhz to have this FSB, or the system don't boot @139mhz!!!

A guy on overclockers.com have the two same problems...
http://www.overclockers.com/tips004/

Is there a tweak bios for this board??? I wich!