CUSL2-C, BX133-RAID, or 815E Pro?

[Instig8r]

Hi All!
I am looking to purchase a new motherboard to replace the Microstar MS-6309, since it does not support overclocking in 1mhz increments and Vio Adjustment. Also, I receive frequent lockups with this mainboard, and it has the famous glitch involving bootup although it's running with BIOS version 1.7. I am interested in an Intel chipset and have narrowed my choices to the Asus CUSL2-C, Abit BX133-RAID, and Microstar 815E Pro. I don't need onboard audio nor onboard video, so I am leaning towards the Asus or Abit.
Also, cost is not an issue since all the boards are priced similarly, but stability, quality, reliability, and overclocking are important. Any recommendations, other manufacturer suggestions such as Gigabyte or Aopen, or documentations of experiences with the latter boards would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Instig8r]

Anyone?

 

[subhuman]

Well, be sure to check out this thread ASUS vs MSI 815

 

[Instig8r]

Thanks Subhuman.

 

[Vinnie2pliers]

I just got the CUSL2-C from:
CDR Express, Inc. / CDRExpress.com
965 Mission Street, Ste 160
San Francisco, CA 94103
1-888-882-8237
1-415-543-1006

I was very impressed with both the board and the company.

Item Quantity Unit Cost Cost
8964-CUSL2C $117.02

Got a P3 933 FlipChip running at 1Gig Temp with stock fan is about 33 degrees. FSB speed of 143mhz with Crucial Cas2 256meg Ram single stick.

 

[Instig8r]

Thanks for the info everyone!

 

[Asha]

I have a Cusl2-c with a cel 600 @ 1008 and I absolutely love it!
Very stable sofar and very tweakable

Asha

 

[UltraWide]

the only bad thing about msi 815pro is the power cable placement, real bad!

 

[subhuman]

If you like to tweak, the CUSL2 is THE board to get.

 

[Regalk]

Duh what is the famous glitch at bootup??? I have a MSI 6309 with RAM tweaked and it boots faster than my CUBX, A7V, Soyo7VCA and Asus P3V4X. This is actually one of the best boards I have had for a long time - purty darn fast and there is no way I would ever dream of replacing it with an I815E or EP or whatever chipset. No sir.

 

[jaeger66]

If you're overclocking, avoid the CUSL2.

 

[Sesopedalian]

I would vote for the Abit BX-133 RAID board. Even if you don't do RAID with it, it will give you two more IDE channels to play with. Mine is set up for ATA100 RAID, and it is noticably faster than without the RAID setup.

 

[Clinth]

I have the CUSL2-C and must say this is the best board I have ever used for overclocking, I can overclock the ram or let stay closer to default, I can overclock the CPU in 1mhz increments to get the very most out of it. I have voltage adjustment with 1 minor problem @1.85v. I not sure what you guys are calling fast boot ups but Using SCSI this is into window in no time.

I say go with the CUSL2-c

jaeger66- Why avoid this board for overclocking?

Clinth

 

[jaeger66]

Because the system will always POST at the CPU default voltage. Only after will it step up to what you specify. Therefore, whatever your overclocking goal is your chip needs to be able to complete the POST at the default vcore. Some can, a lot can't. The voltage will "stick" on a warm boot though, so if you really wanted to you could set your vcore, start at a safe speed, reboot, set desired speed, restart...kind of a pain. Also, the inability to manually set dividers basically eliminates fsb funcionality from 125-132 and 84-99. This however is a chipset limiation not exclusive to the Asus.

 

[Instig8r]

Regalk, The famous bootup problem does not deal with speed. Instead, it involves a situation in which the board does not send enough power to certain components, so the reset button must be hit a few times in order to boot the system. This is not a terrible problem, but it is somewhat vexing..

 

[CraigRT]

I've noticed this problem. my 10 GIG HDD which i replaced with my Quantum Fireball would not get enough power at times. i'd have to hit the reset more than once to get it to fire up. Since i put in the Fireball it's been ok.. weird but no problems because of it.

 

[Mem]

I would go with the Asus CUSL2-C or MSI 815E PRO,however you don`t want onboard video or sound so the Asus is your best bet.