Recommedation for i815E Motherboard

[Steven2050]

I am building my own pc, and i just want your suggestions for what the best mb would be. I want one that is reliable and is easy to overclock. Thanks for you help.

 

[Gunner]

I'm going for the Asus CUSL2. Only problem, it won't be available until after 7/31. But, I'll gladly wait.

 

[Unexpected]

I got the Abit SE6 yesterday and it's a damn fine motherboard !! Very very stable !! It equals my P3B-F very easily witch was my most stable board I ever had ! Also very nice features to overclock and to tweak

 

[dakost]

The main difference between the SE6 and the cusl2 is that the Asus board supports a couple more fsb above 133 ...
SE6 133,137,140,145,150,153
cusl2 133,137,140,145,150,160,166
The Asus also supports vio tweaking while the Abit doesn't. Bearing
in mind that a great number of coppermines oc above 133 MHz and higher, the number of supported between 133 - 155 MHz is really disgusting ! If you're not in a hurry you can wait and see what the
other manufacturers will offer, maybe MSI or Aopen will come up with
something more interesting.

 

[Mem]

I would go for the Asus CUSL2 unless it gets lots of bad reviews, knowing Asus reputation you are pretty safe with their boards.

 

[CamaroGuy]

I too vote for the CUSL2, but based mainly on Asus' reputation for quality. I just finished reading the manual, which can be downloaded on Asus' website, and it's pretty thorough. Aside from the few extra FSB settings that dakost mentioned, Asus is also is making the onboard audio optional where ABIT is not. Less components mean less cost. Usually.

But in the end, I can't really recommend the board, since we're all waiting a few more weeks to get ahold of it.

-CamaroGuy

 

[Bill L.]

"It has been shown time and time again that a BX based motherboard running at a front side bus speed of 133 MHz produces the fastest possible motherboard solution. Even the recently announced i815 chipset from Intel proves to be no match for a BX at 133 MHz"

The above is from "BX-133 Video Guide", dated July 5 over on Anand's home page. My son-in-law has just started a "Cost is no object" system for friend. I'm doing the CPU selection and overclocking testing. We are going with a BX MB. Just thought I'd throw that in. You don't have to wait until 7/31 for BX boards.

Bill

 

[Dug]

Everybody that has an Abit SE6 loves it. It's rock solid, overclocks well, and is fast (after the Bios update). I don't know what is so magical about Asus. As far as quality, I couldn't recommend an Asus P3V4X.

 

[slacker2]

Myself, I'm waiting for Aopen AX3S Pro - http://www.aopen.com.tw/products/mb/ax3sp.htm

 

[Unexpected]

There is only one bios update available after the release version I updated but can't seem to notice any faster movements !! I also have the ASUS P3B-F and they "feel" the same speed ! In windows AND in games

 

[dakost]

To some up the situation with the 815e boards ...
Abit SE6 ... 133,137,140,145,150,153
Asus cusl2 ... 133,137,140,145,150,160,166
Aopen AX3S Pro ... 133,138,140,144,146.6,150,157.3,160,166
MSI 6337 ... ?
All of the above have vcore tweaking. The asus is the only one which
allows vio tweaking. The Aopen doesn't support asynchronous memory timing i.e the memory always runs at host clock.
In terms of overclocking, if one has memory which can go at 150 - 160
then the Aopen seems to be the winner. If one requires a bit of vio tweaking to make the memory stable above 148 fsb, then the asus may be
the choise. Not a lot in the differences ! Still, considering the record of all the above manufacturers with oc'ing features, the number of fsb's betwen 133 - 150 is appauling cosidering that many coppermines can be oc'ed in that range.

 

[pyr]

I agree about the FSB settings. kinda annoying that abit didnt use softmenu3 on this board

Edit:
WTF is this???
Its about the Aopen DIE-HARD BIOS feature.
"Tips: If you place the switch to the middle, you will not be able to boot your system, thus you can protect your data ROM molesting."

What the hell is data ROM molesting?

 

[JellyBaby]

<< What the hell is data ROM molesting? >>

Not sure but I bet it's illegal in all but the southern most states.

 

[Unexpected]

Why should they use Softmenu III ? the II is proven very reliable and you can change everything you need to !!

 

[Dug]

What is vio tweaking? What does it do?

 

[dakost]

Btw, if anyone is interested, in
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus
there have been a couple of posts with problems and the cusl2 !!
By the looks of it, it seems like the initial situation / problems with the p3v4x ! Thermal monitoring not working properly, problems with the onboard audio and installation with AGP cards.


Dealer vio tweaking increases the memory that the io bus uses on the motherboard. The default is 3.3V in almost all the motherboards. I think the exceptions are the Asus cusl, p3v4x and cubx, where it is set at 3.4V. I think also the Asus and Abit slot one boards are set up with a higher vio default than 3.3V because of problems with high power requirements of the newer AGP cards, but i am not sure about that. By increasing vio, the memory signal receives a sort of boost, which may make the difference in running at fsb's higher than 155 MHz. Although there are situations that people have managed 150 fsb with pc 133 cas 3 and no vio tweaking.

 

[dakost]

Unexpected, they should use soft menu iii because they already use it on slot a boards and bx boards and it has prooven reliable there. It also supports vio tweaking, and a much bigger fsb selection and as far as i know asynchronous fsb - pci tweaking in intervals of ten ? Someone correct me if i am wrong on that ?! But i think you can set the fsb say to 133 MHz, then the pci is set at 33 and agp at 2/3 at 88.6, then increase the cpu fsb upto 143 MHz without increasing the pci or the agp, or am i wrong ? Soft menu iii is quite better than soft menu ii and a motherboard manufacturer who is renowned for oc'ing mobos should use it ! And i don't think that the people who buy Abit would mind if the mobo was $10- 20 more expensive and it was using softmenu iii. However, i think that Abits policy is to push the BE6 II and the slot 1 mobos with Softmenu III. Lets face it, if they would offer an via apollo 133a or an 815e fewer people would buy an Abit BE6 II. BX boards may be faster, but excluding memory throughput they are only about 5-6% faster than via apollo 133a or 815e and that figure comes out if one does the calulations in both Anands and the HardOCP tests ! In memory throughput BX boards are 16% faster which is significant. But BX boards have been around awfully long and have been tweaked and re-tweaked. And despite what Anand sais, i have a Creative Geforce which becomes unstable at 133 fsb on a BX board, its ok at 129, but becomes unstable during heavy gaming at 133. On a via apollo 133 it has no problem at 150 fsb !

 

[Unexpected]

oh well I am very satisfied with my Softmenu II the board is superb en extremely fast and stable ... what could I ask for more ?

 

[JoeH]

The CUSL2 supports 1Mhz FSB increments from 135-200Mhz. Basically the same as Softmenu III from Abit. This is verified in both the manual for the board as well as Anandtech's review. Makes you wonder why Abit didn't include Softmenu III in the SE6. Supposedly they said they didn't have a compatible clock generator for the 815 yet. Apparently someone does, cause Asus' has got it.

 

[dakost]

I just saw the 133 - 166 in steps of one fsb options. Apparently one has to own the damn maunal to see the features, the pdf has a couple of fuzzy little pictures explaining the fsb situation. Easy to miss if you don't own the manual. But it looks like Asus has a great mobo if problems similar to the p3v4x will not occur.
By the way, as mentioned in the lostciruits review
http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_cusl2/8.html
whoever gets this mobo better visit intels site to get the latest bus master drivers ! In the same review it is claimed that the 815e intenal agp and audio have been left out by asus ?!

 

[KenG]

dakost...... can you elaborate about &quot;intels site to get the latest bus master drivers&quot; please

 

[dakost]

KenG according to the lostcircuits site the intel bus mastering drivers included in the cusl2 cd is an older version. So they
suggest one visits intels chipsets site to get the latest drivers.
The i815 and i810 site drivers site is here. If you scroll down
there is a link for the storage device drivers
http://developer.intel.com/design/software/drivers/platform/810.htm

 

[AndyHui]

Just got my CUSL2 today.....very fast, very stable. That's my recommendation. Mine does not have onboard audio.

dakost is correct about older drivers being on the installation CD. The CD has 5.xx.....the latest are 6.00

 

[CamaroGuy]

Andy Hui, where did you buy your board?

Thanks!
-CamaroGuy

 

[AndyHui]

CamaroGuy: Hong Kong....