Do you guys reccomend the CUSL2 with all its "problems"

[frombauer]

I live in Brazil so my mobo choices are limited. We don't get MSI mobos, or any brands other than Asus or Abit. Should I go with the CUSL2 or make a more "conservative" choice with the CUBX? I would be using the following hardware with it:

p3-700
Asus V6800 vidcard
MX300 sound card
Yamaha 4416E burner
Realtek PCI LAN card

Thanks for your help!

 

[Bartman39]

Ditch the lan card unless you like long........ pauses but otherwise the board is very nice

P3 700e @1000mhz 1.75 volts (looping 3dMark2000 + prime95)
CUSL2 (original bios)
G400Max (DH)
128megs Samsung GH (Older PC100 but runs great at 143fsb Cas3)
Adaptec 2940UW
Seagate Cheetah 4.55UW
WD153BA
UltraPlex40Max
Yamaha 4260i (old but perfect)
Soundblaster Live (value)
3com USB nic
Boca USB 56k V.90 (hardware modem)

 

[ceraph]

Long pauses only occur if your LAN card isn't configured correctly. For example, if you're setup to use DHCP and your connection can't find a server to obtain WINS information from.

Remember that the CUSL2 is an FC-PGA only board, so your P3-700 won't work if its slot1.

I wouldn't call the CUSL2 risky as long as you are willing to wait for the "new hardware" kinks to work out.

The only things you should be concerned with:

1. RAM - The 815E is a little picky about what it will run at PC133. If you have some generic out-of-a-bin PC133 RAM, you may have problems. People have successfully run this board with Samsung, Hyundai, Corsair, etc. I use Micron PC133 in my CUSL2.

2. ATA66/100 Performance - Right now there are issues with the 815E and the Intel Ultra ATA Driver that are yet to be resolved by Intel. The last post from Intel stated that they are working on the problem. The errors consist of IO errors with CD-RW devices mainly.

3. USB Devices - I don't use any, but this board has some issues with USB devices and Windows conflicts. These will hopefully be fixed in future BIOS revisions.

Hope this helps. The CUSL2 is a fantastic board, it's just new so some of the things that could never have been found in development are being resolved.

System Information:

Asus CUSL2 PCB Rev 1.02 Bios 1001.A
Intel(R) Pentium III 733/133FSB FC-PGA
256MB PC133 Micron CAS3 SDRAM
Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS DDR Pure
Soundblaster Live! Gold
3Com Ethernet XL 10mbit NIC
Creative PC-DVD 6x DVD-ROM Drive (Secondary IDE - Master)
Creative Dxr3 DVD Decoder
Yamaha 8x4x32x CD-RW (EIDE) (Secondary IDE - Slave)
IBM Desktar 15GB 7200rpm ATA/100 (Primary IDE - Master)
IBM Desktar 30GB 7200rpm ATA/100 (Primary IDE - Slave)
Zoom 56K PCI Voicemodem

 

[frombauer]

hmmm... I do own a USB MS Steering Wheel.

And if my burner doesn't work I could be in trouble, I use it a lot.

Could all this be fixed with a new BIOS? And what about intels drivers? I read that WinMe supports the 815 out of the box, will the IDE devices work better if I use WinMe?

 

[Bartman39]

Thanks ceraph... that might explain some of my pauses I had before I installed a 10/100 usb nic (learn something every day and live better for it!)...

P3 700e @1Ghz 1.75 gotta love it!!!

 

[Snapper]

I own this board and think it is great, no problem to speak of yet. I have a Plextor 12/10/32 burner and it works great. Have USB mouse, and there again no problems.

 

[ceraph]

[frombauer]
>> hmmm... I do own a USB MS Steering Wheel.
>> And if my burner doesn't work I could be in trouble, I use it a lot.

The USB problems aren't uniform. Some people report having problems shutting down, detection errors, etc. If it detects your steering wheel and you can shutdown fine, then you probably don't have problems.

You don't HAVE to install the Intel Ultra ATA drivers that could possible make your CD-RW not work. If you do install them, and it stops working perfectly, you can uninstall them and it will work again.

[frombauer]
>> Could all this be fixed with a new BIOS? And what about intels drivers? I read that WinMe supports the 815 out of the box, will the IDE devices work better if I use WinMe?

Asus is still working on getting a new BIOS for the CUSL2. The latest they have 1002 beta 5.

Intel is working on fixing the CD-RW issues with the Ultra ATA Driver, check the support forums for the Ultra ATA driver on intel's website. (support.intel.com -> chipsets -> 800 series -> ultra ata -> forums)

Neither Intel nor Asus have said anything about ME to my knowledge.

--

C

 

[jzodda]

I would wait to see what the next official non-beta bios fixes first before I'd buy if I were you

 

[Dedpuhl]

Most of the people that are having the problems with the board are either using generic ram or just don't know what they are doing.

Intel recommends the use of crucial/micron pc133 ram with the board.


I am runnning the following and mine works great:

p3 700 o/c to 933MHz @ 1.65v
asus cusl2 w/ bios v1002.005 beta
128Mb crucial pc133 ram
Dual boot Win2k/WinME
voodoo 5 5500
sb Live! x-gamer
Plextor PleXwriter 12/10/32A
WD 20.5gb 7200RPM caviar HD
Maxtor 40gb 7200RPM HD
intel pro 10/100 ethernet card

 

[jzodda]

yeah well many of the people I know that are having problems have crucial PC133 and still have things going wrong.

Also there are alot of folks over at CUSL2.com who do know what they are doing and are having probs anyway. Whose fault is it that after a bios flash the floppy stops working? Or not being able to shutdown without the bios forgeting all the OC settings? Its not the users fault. I agree that generic mem and this board do not go together at all, but I dont agree that most people have either generic mem or dont know what they are doing.

And yes I have Crucial PC133 and cant cold boot without a big hassle

 

[Jamey]

Back to the original question....YES. Just pray you don't have the pesky problems some (including me) have had. Get the latest drivers for your hardware. That solved my only problem (although severe) with the board.

 

[Sao Paulo]

I'm an ABIT VT6X4 user, and I have had absolutely no problems with this board no matter what I've thrown at it. The new BIOS update gives a decent performance boost but does not sacrifice stability. Considering that this is only the second BIOS update, I think ABIT would be a better choice. Performance is almost on par with equivalent to that of a P3V4X or CUSL2 but stability and compatibility is where this board shines.

 

[frombauer]

I'd be using "brand" memory with it. Maybe Micron or Siemens, but not generic. I saw Asus just released beta 7 of the 1002 BIOS...

I think I'll get the CUSL2 anyway.

Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[TheBigZ]

What it really comes down to with this board, is that everyone's mileage is varying.

I'm runnin a cusl2 with a p3700@933 at 1.8v. I tried to upgrade the mb and cpu while keeping my 98se install intact. Wasn't happening with the hardware I have. So I ended up formatting and installing WinME, since it has the proper inf files for the board. I have 3 usb devices, using a hub off the main usb ports on the mb. I did not install the other usb ports. Other cards are 3c905btx nic, Plex 12/10/32, Asus v6800 vid, Adaptec 2940 scsi, SB Live Plat and RealMagic dvd... and it almost all hums. I have a Dymo LabelWriter EL60 usb label printer that won't install. Dymo tells me they need to make new drivers for WinME... doesn't make much sense to me, but ok.

As for the overclock, I'm using 256 meg of old Micron pc100, so I'm running at 133:100:33. I'm hoping to switch to Mushy pc133... might get me up a little higher.

All in all, this was definately NOT the easiest I've upgrade done since back in the 286 days. But I have a lot of faith in Asus & Intel to work out the relatively minor problems with the 815 chipset. I expect to get this bad boy a little closer to 1ghz and not have to upgrade anything other than the vid card for a good 18 months.

I think everyone will be thrilled with this board given just a little time.

 

[jzodda]

This sums it all up nice I think

http://www.cusl2.com/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=1&TID=754&SID=7