SiS 655 *2-18-03 UPDATE* MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS Done

[xtraits]

I've just ordered my (GA-SINXP1394) from NEWEGG.com and I'm just wondering if this borad come with B0 stepping ?
I wanna make sure i have right board (b0 stepping)

 

[ArborBarber]

you won't know till it gets there...luck of the draw at this point....I just ordered mine too, keep your fingers crossed.

 

[DaisyCutter]

Well,
Thumbs down here...
I can't do anything with a mobo that tops out at 169fsb.
At slower timings, it's a good mobo, but for xtreme oc'ing, not so good.
C

 

[liveevil]

well if 169fsb is the max overclock i think i can saftly say it wont support 200fsb processors...

 

[Schneider]

Originally posted by: liveevil
well if 169fsb is the max overclock i think i can saftly say it wont support 200fsb processors...

In SINXP's article Gigabyte syas it can o/c to 200mhz
Plus people here are testing with regular Pentium 4's
you need a P4 m to see how far u can o/c

 

[liveevil]

people can overclock to 180 on a 845pe chipset are limited to 169... i havent seen anyone oc a sis655 chipset past 170 ...

 

[Yozza]

Indeed, the fact that it tops out at ~160-170MHz FSB will disappoint some who are looking for high FSBs + fast Dual Channel DDR, so the chipset certainly doesn't suit everyone.

However, performance at asynchronous DDR333 and DDR400 is quite impressive, especially for the money. Not all CPUs will be able to overclock to 165MHz+ FSB either But for that, E7205 is still the best choice for 1:1 performance, and overclocking to 170MHz+ FSBs, but it's very expensive

 

[bigtoe33]

I have seen the 8sg667 board at 174fsb and have heard the rev2 would hit 180+ with ease.An Unlocked p4 is the way to test as P4-Ms can be problematic as i have found with the 8INXP where the chip does 200fsb in the P4G8X but 177fsb max in the 8INXP.

 

[DaisyCutter]

Well,
I have a "golden" SL6DX P4 2.66 that does 183mHz fsb at cas2,6,3,3 on an Albatron PX845PEV Pro on AIR. With the GA-8SQ800, I can do 167-168 at cas2, 6,3,3 and 169-170 at cas2.5, 7,3,3. And at this latter setting the memory bandwidth was pathetic.
However this board does great things down low...I can run 150mHz fsb at cas2, 6,2,2 at ddr442 with exceptional performance. But this doesn't give me enough cpu speed.
So, good...just not for me. RMA time
C

 

[BobReily]

Duvie, how's the video editing going? Your system looks pretty impressive - I'm planning on upgrading my computer from a 400 MHz and do some heavy video editing.

Would you wait for a Springdale/Canterwood chipset or is your setup good enough as it is?

I'm thinking of getting an ASUS P4PE mb with 2.4 MHz P4.

 

[CrispySilicon]

My SINXP1394 from newegg is getting here today... in approx 4 hours according to FedEx tracking.
I'll let you know how it does ^^

 

[xtraits]

which stepping did you recieve A0 .or B0 ?

 

[Conscript]

how can you tell what stepping it is? I have a SINXP, and in sandra it says it supports two cpus, so I'm assuming HT works. Also, if the boot screen say its in single 128-bit channel mode, does that mean dual channel is working? thanks

 

[Elvis2]

Also, if the boot screen say its in single 128-bit channel mode, does that mean dual channel is working? thanks

Yes, that indicates it's in dual channel mode. Just use two of the same color dimms for 2 sticks of identical ram. Can't help you with the stepping question. My SQ800 came with the F3 bios and I flashed to to F4 so HT's enabled I guess.... I'll have to wait for one of the new HT cpu's to come out .
That 3.06's is still a little rich for my blood .

 

[Conscript]

Originally posted by: Elvis2

Also, if the boot screen say its in single 128-bit channel mode, does that mean dual channel is working? thanks

Yes, that indicates it's in dual channel mode. Just use two of the same color dimms for 2 sticks of identical ram. Can't help you with the stepping question. My SQ800 came with the F3 bios and I flashed to to F4 so HT's enabled I guess.... I'll have to wait for one of the new HT cpu's to come out .
That 3.06's is still a little rich for my blood .

Well I only have a 2.26 chip. so HT isn't a big deal, but when the 3ghz chip isd under $250..I'll probably upgrade. As fas as bios', mine came with the F2, and I don't see any available on the gb website, so I'm assuming this is the most recent one.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Evan give us your avatar.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp
Evan give us your avatar.

Never!

 

[Curley]

I never thought I'd see the day that the I850E PC1066 would give you the best bang for the buck!!!

$250.00 for a dual channel DDR motherboard?

Nvidia's Nforce2 is less than $100.00.

Intel is trying to force expensive technology on us just as RAMBUS did to them and it seems that they are now doing the same thing to RAMBUS at our expense. This is a ridiculous pissing contest and I'll buy an I850 or Nforce 2 before spending $250.00 for a Motherboard just to spite what is clearly obvious.

There is nothing that has come out that can "clearly" outperforms the I850E. Most reviewers are reluctant to comment on this obvious fact which makes me wonder when someone will buckle. $500.00 for good XMS DDR400 and a dual channel DDR motherboard? For what?? For 5-7 FPS over the I850E, 1066RDRAM, 2.4GB533FSB for less than $400.00.

Go Figure.

My next board is the Soltek nForce2 gold edition.

 

[liveevil]

reason no chipset will improve things much... clockspeed is far more important than memory bandwidth.
No chipset is going to give improve fps much if the cpu clockspeed is the same.

 

[Elvis2]

$250.00 for a dual channel DDR motherboard?

Well, let's see...I paid $112.00 for my dual channel Gigabyte 8SQ800 mb

someone will buckle. $500.00 for good XMS DDR400 and a dual channel DDR motherboard? For what?? For 5-7 FPS over the I850E, 1066RDRAM, 2.4GB533FSB for less than $400.00.

Hmmm...I paid $170.00 for 2 x 256mg sticks of Corsair XMS pc3200C2 ram.
Looks to me like a little over $280.00 for mb and ram but I will agree with you that the $250.00+ for a mb is damn rediculous.

You go ahead and enjoy the Nforce board. I for one was seduced by "the dark side" six months ago and will never go back. I got tired of the noise, heat, and compatibility issues.

 

[Curley]

I like messing with both platforms but my main box if you haven't already guessed is I850E/4200RIMM/2.8GHZ. I have some nice DDR memory XMS Corsair C2 256MB sticks.

I must have mistaken the 7205 Granite bay that I saw for $239.00 on PriceWatch.

I love this stuff.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: BobReily
Duvie, how's the video editing going? Your system looks pretty impressive - I'm planning on upgrading my computer from a 400 MHz and do some heavy video editing.

Would you wait for a Springdale/Canterwood chipset or is your setup good enough as it is?

I'm thinking of getting an ASUS P4PE mb with 2.4 MHz P4.

Video editing is great!!! I don't see a limitation...more pseed is always welcomed and i plan on getting a c1 2.4b here shortly with an attack on 3.2-3.4ghz and run 185fsb with my pc3000(370mhz) at spec and turbo 2,2,2,5 on the 4g4a mobo....

I will be waiting for springdales as I want to see this official 200fsb support so maybe these pathetic reviews of late of dual ddr setups will be stable at the ranges I will likely hit now with my 1.6a or my future 2.4b....


For me all the sis reviews don't cut it...My 4bda and 4g4a both can run stable right up to 180fsb but I don't like the vcore needed to do it. However it can do it and that is more then can be said about the same old sis crap!!! I had the 645 chipset so I know....I could throw in the 2.4b in this mobo and run 180fsb or throw it into a gigabyte board and max out around 164-166 and end up 250mhz slower in cpu speed...I have done the testing even dual pc2700 wont match the 2.4b doing 180 with 360mhz ddr at highest cas speeds...

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp
Evan give us your avatar.

Never!

OMG NEVER? Thats it time to join the clergy I aint gonna be here if I cant have that avatar.

 

[CrispySilicon]

Alright... I said I would put some marks up on how this thing is doing but first I stopped to fufil another request, whether the SINXP1394 from newegg.com is a0 or b0 stepping and..... I have no flippin clue. I've tried every software diagnostic method I can think of and short of pulling the heatsink off the northbridge (which I think voids the warrenty) I can't find any way to be sure. I do know that the bios version was f2 and it came with native HT support, BUT it also came with a little piece of paper stating the limited abilities with HT, those limited abilities are only related to hibernation and APCI functions however, nothing about performance so I would assume it is A0? If anyone knows another way to find out tell me please. On another note I am not posting benchmarks yet because of the memory I am using, which is CHEAP memory, namely generic bestbuy pc2100 dimms, but I should say that even with this cas 2.5 3,6,3 I am scoring 3.2gb in sandra which bodes well. I haven't oc'd the fsb yet either, as it wouldnt do much good yet as the memory couldn't very well cope with it. I am ordering 1 gig of new memory quite soon as I found a company that has in stock the new GEIL golden dragon series of memory, and I ordered 2x512. It is 4ns and is native pc3700 so we will see how far I can push it soon ^^


Oh yeah, I almost forgot, for some reason (assuming because Sandra notes the board as SMP capable due to HT?) the benchmarks it gives me are limited to MP references, anyone know how to make it give me single proc results? It's kind of annoying as the fastest MP references use pc800 rdram.

 

[ArborBarber]

Crispy...just got my mobo today ... I saw the same insert, haven't fired it up yet, am waiting for my serial hd from Seagate. Although at this point I'm tired of waiting for new products to be released...I'm thinking we might have the AO stepping chipset...Does it support HT in the bios? And why only F2 bios?
Tell ya what, I just might "mess up" and RMA this mobo if it is AO stepping!!!!