**OFFICIAL ASUS P4B533-V (845G) THREAD**

[5150Joker]

Ok got the board last night and had the day to mess around with it. So far my impressions are very positive. Looks like Asus did a solid job of making a stable high quality board that delivers on features and performance. While a lot of the extras included with this board may not appeal to the enthusiast who's looking for numbers only, they do add a lot for people who want an all around great board. Some of the noteworthy features present on this board include:

1. 
   1.C-Media 5.1 Sound
   2. Intel integrated lan
   3. Q-Fan Technology (reduces fan speed when cpu is not heavily used)
   4. CPU overvolt to 1.8v in .025v increments
   5. Memory voltage adjustable up to 2.85v
   6. Adjustable AGP voltage up to 1.7 volts
   7. 6 PCI Slots

Those are some of the things I can name off the top of my head, there are still a lot of other features people may like that are listed in the tech manual on Asus's website. This motherboard's only real shortcoming I see is that it doesn't allow 3:4 above 132 fsb. However, at 133 fsb and higher you can use the 4:5 divider and depending on your cpu, can push it to 160 fsb @ ddr 400 like I have. I've done some brief benchmarks and so far the numbers are on par with the Abit BG7:

• 
  3DMark 2001se:

• 13,352
  SiSoft Sandra Memory Benchmark: 3108/3105

I haven't really tested much at lower fsb speeds but I have my vcore set at 1.65 volts and it fluctuates between 1.65-1.69v and my +12v line at 12.35v and +3v line at 3.35v. Can't remember what my +5v value is but it is above 5v. I finally found a motherboard I can settle on for awhile and feel confident recommending it to others. One downside is that you pay a premium for this board compared to other 845G boards but in return you get great overclocking, high quality workmanship and very good features. The only other 845G board that piques my interest is the Gigabyte 8IGXP and it remains to be seen how well that board performs. If you're interested in purchasing this board, you can get it at CDR Express for around $166.

 

[Lance22]

Hey joker, thanks for the info...would you happen to have any info on the MSI 845g max? You can't go wrong with a $99 price tag, im just curious to how it stacks up.

thanks again

 

[TuffGuy]

How does the P4B533-VM stack up?

 

[5150Joker]

I haven't heard very many positive things about the MSI 845G board. If you go to their website they have a link to their forums where people have various complaints about it. As for the P4B533-VM, from what I heard it's not very good. It doesn't have the incremental fsb changes and most importantly, it lacks the 4:5 divider. I would recommend the BG7 to people who don't want to spend $40-50 more on the Asus.

 

[jaeger66]

I'm about to pull the trigger on this one, but part of me wonders what sort of fool pays $180 for a motherboard these days.

 

[NanoMem]

Hey 5150Joker! Few questions here if you would.
1)How hot are the CPU and NB at 160 FSB? What kind of cooling device are you using?

2)In jumper mode using dipswitch DSW1, can this board do the same thing as the P4B266 hack ie. use hard coded FSB's above 132 but fractioning them with a soft 3:4 from the BIOS? How high can you push FSB in Jumper mode under 1:1, 3:4 (if hack works) and 4:5 respectively? Are you able to hit 160 or even 166 under any ratio? Does ratio 3:4 (again if hack works) stick when you go back into the BIOS while FSB > 132?

3)How low can you tweak the Cas settings for DDR400 with 160 FSB and a 4:5 RAM ratio?

I just placed an order for this board but it'll be few days before I see it. Keep us posted.
Peace

 

[farstar]

I have the P4B533-VM, cost was $115 at NewEgg. I love it. I have the fsb at 133, haven't tried anything else. As to the stepping of the fsb I'll have to check it out when I get home and report back.

I put a 1.6a into the board with 256mb of DDR266 crucial, $43 at NewEgg.

No problems at all at 2.133ghz.

I'm running at about 43 degrees c, when should I start worrying about temp???

Thanks, keep the info flowing

 

[dbarton]

I'm confused!

I thought the E version of this board was the best one.. Am I wrong? Is the V better?

Seems like the V has onboard LAN, and uses different memory.

The chipset is an 845g on the V version and 845e on the E version. Is one chipset better than the other?

I'm trying to decide on a board and I dont understand what to buy!

 

[dbarton]

I just called ASUS and the tech I spoke with recommened the p4t553c as it uses RAMBUS.

More confusion for me..

I know Rambus costs a little more, and that's fine, but should I be getting this Rambus board instead of a DDR board?

 

[cobrasvt]

I will have my P4B533-V here at some point today.

As far as the differences between the V and E boards. The E is a 845e chipset. It still supports 533mHz front side bus processors, but thats about it. Basically, the 845e chipset is the SAME as the 845d, just with "official" support for 533 fsb. The top of the line P4B533-E comes with all the bells and whistles (firewire, usb 2, raid, sound, and lan). It supports DDR266 officially (PC2100), but also with high quality DDR, will support faster than DDR333 speeds (354mhz).

The V motherboard uses the 845g chipset. It is basically a new IC from Intel with integrated graphics AND a new memory controller, that "unofficially" supports DDR333 (PC2700). What makes the "g" chipset so tempting is the 4:5 memory divider. If you are lucky enough to have a P4 1.6A that will do 160 fsb, then it will be running the memory at DDR400. The P4B533-V also has all the bells and whistles, minus raid support, but plus the DDR333 support. Supposedly, the memory controller on the "g" boards is faster than then
"e" boards, but other tests really show them pretty much neck and neck.

The P4T533 uses RDRAM, and uses the older ICH2 hub (no USB 2 support). If you can afford the PC800, or better yet, the 1066 RDRAM modules, and want to beat out all the SiSoft memory benches, then go for it! Asus did not hold back with the features with this board, as they have incorperated almost every available feature into it...

The thing to think about here is that the P4 is very memory hungry. The more bandwidth you can throw at it, the happier it is! However, it is still quiet happy with DDR at PC2700 or above speeds...

I originally ordered a Abit BG7 after reading Joker's review and success with it. After further investigating and searching, I came across the P4B533-V and fell in love with it!

 

[dbarton]

First off, thanks VERY much for this great reply.

>The P4T533 uses RDRAM, and uses the older ICH2 hub (no USB 2 support).

Wont that be a problem in the long term not having USB2 support? I plan on keeping this MB for about 3+ years.

>If you can afford the PC800, or better yet, the 1066 RDRAM modules, and want to beat out all the >SiSoft memory benches, then go for it!

I'm tyring to get a fast stable system, so am open to suggestions about RambusB vs DDR.

A quick check shows Kingston 256meg rambus at around $75-90, while 2700 ddr seems to be about $80. Is one or the other better?

Looks like 1066 is kinda expensive.

I see that Rambus will offer bandwidth up to 4.2g ps, and the DDR board up to 2.1. Does that actually translate to twice as fast doing anything??

>The thing to think about here is that the P4 is very memory hungry.

I use p3 win 98 with 128 meg and it seems fine. For the new machine I guess I'll get 256 or 512 if p4 demands it.

Still kinda hard to see why I would want the p4t over the p4b or vice versa.

So far my impression is that the p4b533e with 512m of 2700 memory and a p4 2.2 is a really good way to go.

The p4t is slightly faster/better, but only if i get 1066 memory whcih will be about $100 more overall.

Comments?

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: dbarton

I use p3 win 98 with 128 meg and it seems fine. For the new machine I guess I'll get 256 or 512 if p4 demands it.

Still kinda hard to see why I would want the p4t over the p4b or vice versa.

So far my impression is that the p4b533e with 512m of 2700 memory and a p4 2.2 is a really good way to go.

The p4t is slightly faster/better, but only if i get 1066 memory whcih will be about $100 more overall.

Comments?

If you want a DDR board, get the V rather than the E because you can run PC2700 RAM without overclocking the fsb. The T will be a little faster, but also more expensive because you'll need RDRAM. And with RDRAM you'll need to buy your RAM in pairs.

 

[5150Joker]

I haven't gotten a chance to test the 3:4 locking trick that people have done with the P4B266. I may give it a try later today depending on how busy I am. Someone at the Asus forums with a P4B533-VM should be attempting it pretty soon so if you're interested in that, you can go here for more info. An interesting thing I've noted about this board vs the BG7 is that I can run at 155 fsb at default vdimm voltage (2.5v) whereas with the BG7 I needed to push it to 2.7v for the system to be stable. Also, this board tends to overvolt quite a bit in idle mode. I have my voltage set at 1.62 and it overvolts to 1.65-1.70 when the cpu is idle but when I push the cpu hard, it brings it down to around 1.62-1.65v which is right in line with it's setting. Personally I much prefer the board overvolt and keep everything stable than undervolt. Another nice feature I noticed about this board is that I haven't needed to reset my CMOS during a failed overclock. What happens is the board locks up and I have to power down, once I power back up the voice system notifies me that I had a bad overclock attempt and then it allows me to enter the bios to fix my mistake. It's little things like this that make me like this board so much. I'm sure cobra will share my enthusiasm (if he doesn't already) once he receives his later today.

 

[THUGSROOK]

nice scores
exspensive board

 

[Bobbyeyes]

so it is fact that there is a 4/5 mem ratio over 133...??
or is it a 5/4 mem ratio, making it a mem downshift?

 

[dbarton]

>If you want a DDR board, get the V rather than the E because you can run PC2700 RAM without >overclocking the fsb.

Is there ANY reason I'd want a DDR based board other than that it's cheaper???

The T board looks good, but shoudln't I be concerned that USB 2.0 isnt supported?

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: dbarton
>If you want a DDR board, get the V rather than the E because you can run PC2700 RAM without >overclocking the fsb.

Is there ANY reason I'd want a DDR based board other than that it's cheaper???

The T board looks good, but shoudln't I be concerned that USB 2.0 isnt supported?

Well if you go to the overclockers.com database, the best performing systems are DDR. So it's cheaper and you will overclock better and meet/exceed PC800 bandwidth memory scores.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Bobbyeyes
so it is fact that there is a 4/5 mem ratio over 133...??
or is it a 5/4 mem ratio, making it a mem downshift?

It's 4:5.

 

[NanoMem]

Originally posted by: Bobbyeyes
so it is fact that there is a 4/5 mem ratio over 133...??
or is it a 5/4 mem ratio, making it a mem downshift?

5:4 would result in underclocking RAM vs. CPU. In that case if FSB=160 ==>RAM=160/5*4=128 ==>DDR=256 resulting in a maximum of 8*256=2048 for sandra.

With 4:5, RAM gets overclocked and FSB=160==>RAM=160/4*5==>DDR=400==> sandra maximum=8*400=3200 which is consistent with the results of 5150Joker.

So the answer is 4:5 and not 5:4 where the first digit refers to CPU and the second to RAM in each ratio.
Peace.

 

[Bobbyeyes]

PLEASE DONT TEASE ME!!
you mean i can have the 4/5 mem ratio @175mhz front side bus??
you mean i can have the 4/5 mem ratio @169mhz front side bus??
now for better memory

 

[NanoMem]

Bobbyeyes, yes you can do that provided the rating of your DDR RAM is at least DDR333 and that this board can handle those hi FSB's of yours.

5150Joker, the electric behaviour under overclocking loads according to your voltage measurements looks very promising indeed . If anything you know you have further room to push FSB higher maybe near 200. Speaking of which what's the max value in BIOS for FSB? I checked that link over at the asusboards forum, it doesn't look like the owners of p4b533-vm know what they're doing, so no answer yet as far as whether 3:4 will work in jumper mode for fsb>132.

Let's hope Asus didn't close the door on it...It would cost them overhead in the BIOS since they would need to detect that Jumper Mode is in effect, verify that ratio is not set to 1:1 when fsb>132 before kicking automatic routine code into flipping ratio back to 1:1 mode. It's probably for that extra code they never got to close it on the p4b266.

Thanks for the info. So far things look good. Let's hope I don't regret my purchase.
Peace.

 

[cobrasvt]

dbarton - its really a presonal choice rather you go with DDR vs. RDRAM. Its all in a matter of what you want to spend

The P4T533 DOES support USB 2.0 via the NEC usb controller. I noticed that after I had posted your reply. PC800 RDRAM still is a good choice, but to really exploit the P4, the 1066 would be much better! FedEx came through with my P4B533-V. After my online NASCAR race tonight, I'll pull the 8IRXP and install it... Can't wait!

Don't forget though, you mentioned you could get RDRAM for about $5 cheaper than DDR, but remember, you must by 2 RDRAM's (128mb = (2) 64 chips, 256mb = (2) 128 chips, etc.), so its kinda a moot point. With DDR, you can buy 512mb of Samsung original PC2700 for $101 @ Kommax.

If you decide to go DDR, get the V board, as it will allow you the use of the correct memory ratio's for true DDR333 performance, and even faster if you push beyond 133 fsb...

One more thing I almost forgot - you were asking which was faster, RDRAM or DDR? If you are into the benchmark numbers game, then RDRAM will yield you higher benchmarks in Sisoft Sandra Memory scores, as well as 3D Mark 2001 SE scores. How this relates to the "real world" is moot! There really isn't that much of a drastic difference from one to the other. In fact, I would bet you wouldn't be able to tell the difference running the same app side by side!

 

[P4spooky]

I am about ready to buy this board. Need to know if it has the PCI/AGP lock at any FSB. Plan to pair this with a 1.6A/Corsair 3200. Quick answer would be nice since I would like to order this board tomorrow.

Thanks

 

[Krellor]

Well Joker, you've changed my mind. I just ordered this new board from Memory Media. I really like the fact that you didn't have to up the voltage on the memory and the overvolting on the Proc. This time I paid for overnight shipping though... I can't stand to wait another week before I get my board!

Now I just hope that Googlegear is good about RMAs.

 

[jaybee]

I see that Rambus will offer bandwidth up to 4.2g ps, and the DDR board up to 2.1. Does that actually translate to twice as fast doing anything??

DDR266=PC2100=2.1GB/sec
DDR333=PC2700=2.7GB/sec
DDR400=PC3200=3.2GB/sec = dual channel PC800 (i850 at normal speeds)
dual channel PC1066 = 4.2GB/sec

Of course, there are no chipsets that officially support DDR400 or PC1066, but that hasn't stopped overclockers from attaining those speeds.

jaybee

PS Bandwidth of P4 at 100MHz fsb is 3.2 GB/sec.