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

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: chainbolt
Nice review, good write! And it makes me keep my E7205 board. This below quote is a knock-out for anybody interested in hardware and overclocking. Every Northwood I have tested so far needs at least 0.2 on top to exploit full Mhz headroom. My 3.06 is yielding 3500 Mhz at 1.6, but goes up to 3880 Mhz at 1.75. And if you have a phase-change cooling set up, the voltage laod is becoming even more important. The same by the way applies for the SINXP from Giga, also only 0.1 volt on top, but the Giga is at least not undervolting.

"The Vcore adjustments present in the 655 Max BIOS are very weak, even for casual users. The max attainable Vcore is just 1.60V. But what makes this Vcore even worse is the fact that stock Vcore runs at an actual 1.44V on average (as read by the BIOS' hardware monitor). Therefore, in reality, you won't be able to operate your P4 processor at anything higher than about 1.54V."

The undervolting is a bit of a disappointment, but I am use to it with my epox 4bda that does the same amount...

As for the 1.6v bios (1.54v actual)....For us who have the experience with the vid pin mod for the p4 I can easily set it to 1.7v default and thus have 1.64v actual...No big deal...I ran mine ofr 6-1/2 months with no issues, so don't pay attention to the fear campaign I have seen about it. It usually was the morons running the 1.85v and giving their chips a bdad case of N.S.D.S...

 

[AlienX]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb
The SINXP1394 is already selling for $210 at certain online vendors I believe. $310 is not realistic at all, don't worry.

by the way, where do u see it at $210 online?
I only find it @ $310 via pricewatch.
would u mind posting the link?

 

[liveevil]

considering its for sale for $375 australian i would suspect 210 would be a fair price
now where the hell is the full sis 655 round up

 

[Jimborama]

Great Article, I've been waiting to see what kind of improvements Dual Channel DDR 400 would bring to the mix. After seeing these scores on a preproduction board, it will certainly be interesting to see how the rest of the Mobo Makers respond to the challenge. Asus' entry should be very interesting, as they always cook the BIOS a little more than the competition.

 

[THUGSROOK]

the funny thing is....
im looking at this board because of its underclock mem ratios
i wonder if it really can go 250fsb?

 

[ArborBarber]

I wrote an email to the company excepting pre orders for the SINXP @ $315 bucks...I asked them if it was a typo and if they actually meant to ask $215...I wonder if they'll reply back? Well, I think the days of $80 boards are over, it seems that these companies have found that consumers will pay the big bucks for new tech...I was also reading an article that said asian companies will be increasing their prices as they believe they have now broken into the west's market..."Gee, maybe if we allow vendors to charge $315 dollars for our board we'll sell more ?" If that price holds, I know one guy who won't be getting a SiS 655 !!! Under volting isn't the problem, over charging IS !!! That'll be the REAL deal breaker!!! RD Ram isn't looking so expensive anymore! LOL !!! I would highly recommend that anyone here reading these threads to NOT pay that insane price, if you do, it'll only inspire these rip offs to keep asking for EVEN higher selling prices. If these companies think the economy is in a slump now, wait till they see how few boards they sell @ $315 BUCKS !!! It's time to draw the line don't cha think?

 

[Elvis2]

It's time to draw the line don't cha think?

I quite agee. I'm definitely a hardware junkie but only too a point. I learned my lesson after going temporarily insane and paying the rediculous price of $249.00 + shipping for one of the first GB 8INXP boards only to realize the expenditure wasn't worth the 5-7% performance gain over my previous mb. You know the story, after a week I sold it to PJ and with the proceeds I bought a new retail Iwill P4HT (845PE) for $70.00 and a Thermaltake Aquarius II watercooling kit and still had bux to spare. Performance is pretty close to the GB for a whole lot less. With the money I have leftover, I'll stash it away towards that upcoming ATI R350 I think. I still can't get over that fool that paid $610.00 for an 8INXP ( I'm sitting here shaking my head ).

 

[68GTX]

Thanx for the clarification on the HT support 68GTX

Glad to help.

I noticed they have the following on the Gigabyte Bios Support Page...



8sq800u_f3.zip

1. Fix display broken after run 3D mark 2001SE for 1 hour(Display NV18 chipset)
2. Fix FSB400/DDR400 unstable on SIS655
3. Support Hyper-Threading function on non-HT compliant NBs



Maybe there's a chance that the A0 chipset will have some form of HT support.

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: Elvis2

It's time to draw the line don't cha think?

I quite agee. I'm definitely a hardware junkie but only too a point. I learned my lesson after going temporarily insane and paying the rediculous price of $249.00 + shipping for one of the first GB 8INXP boards only to realize the expenditure wasn't worth the 5-7% performance gain over my previous mb. You know the story, after a week I sold it to PJ and with the proceeds I bought a new retail Iwill P4HT (845PE) for $70.00 and a Thermaltake Aquarius II watercooling kit and still had bux to spare. Performance is pretty close to the GB for a whole lot less. With the money I have leftover, I'll stash it away towards that upcoming ATI R350 I think. I still can't get over that fool that paid $610.00 for an 8INXP ( I'm sitting here shaking my head ).

PJ doesnt even have that board anymore! :Q
does that tell ya something?

<EDIT> maybe ill go for one of those "cheap" RIMM4200 systems

 

[THUGSROOK]

ok im kidding

i just ordered the P4G8XD from neweggy (in stock)
ill be trying the SiS655 too when they comeout

 

[Booter]

Wow..check out Visionary & RiStaR's AOpen AX45-4D Max SiS655 Review!!!!

My thoughts: too bad that the AOpen AX45-4D Max didnt OC above 162 stable and it didn't ave any HT support either..but it's afast board! And the mem benches were impressive, even at it's stock Dual Channel DDR333 mode it beats both the Granite Bay and RAMBUS systems, basically it wins all the other benches as well.

 

[THUGSROOK]

nice layout on that aopen :Q

 

[liveevil]

apparently that board doesnt have a working pci/agp lock... that could be limiting the oc

 

[Piller]

considering its for sale for $375 australian i would suspect 210 would be a fair price

liveevil where did you see the $375 price here in Australia. I am in Brisbane QLD and am keen to get one. Although I think I will wait for the BO version to start hitting the market. I have only seen $450 at pluscorp.com (A bit too high I feel)

Also saw this over at

http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1044450771,46651,

aparantly "Believe it or not, this B0 stepping is 3 ~ 5% faster in certain benchmarks compared to its A0 stepping (according to our tests)".

Anyway If you could point me in the right direction that would be great

cheers

 

[liveevil]

www.secretnet.com.au has em for 387..

 

[neilm]

The whole Gigabyte motherboard situation is really beginning to get ridiculous, I've been waiting since the start of december for a 8inxp (we all know about that one), then turned to 8SQ800 (sis655) for obvious reasons then they get delayed.. (still none here in the UK, yay ).

 

[ArborBarber]

Here's a response I received from the company offering the SINXP in the US for $315....

"Thank you for visited our site. On the price of Gigabyte GA-8SINXP at this time no one in US has any MB or price so We can only pre set a price for customer, we just like to get customer to have pre order so they can be listed,so they can get the MB when it in stock. we do not charge on any credit card before the MB been ship, only after we ship the MB then it will be charge. So if you like to be on the pre order list please call in or order from the web Thank you& have nice day."

Yeah OK!!! I hope their price gets better along with his writting skills! Thanks, but no thanks...I'll pass for now...

What does $450 in Australia equal in US currency?

 

[neilm]

Originally posted by: ArborBarber
What does $450 in Australia equal in US currency?

450.00 AUD = 266.114 USD
(xe.com/ucc)

 

[Feldenak]

Hrmmm...ok I think I've followed this discussion fairly well for a hardware noob (ie. I know enough to get myself in trouble). My question is, would this chipset be worth waiting on to build a new rig? I'm about to start building my first comp. (build not own) and was going with an RDRAM solution on a P4T533. Would I have a better upgrade path with this chipset and PC3200(DDR400?)?

 

[liveevil]

i just have one more thing to say... hurry up with the review
i dont wanna buy one till i know it can do 800fsb

 

[GetInMyFatBelly]

Ditto here too.

By the way, any work on HyperThreading 2 support?

 

[poldi1]

I would strongly recommed to go with 3200 DDR and the SiS655 chipset. It offers more features and is better overclockable.....

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Judging by the estimated prices of boards based on the SiS655 chipset and what the chipset sells for to the board makers, It would appear SiS has finally arrived. They've continued to steadily improve performance and stability of their chipsets starting with the release of the 735 chipset for socket A (a major coup) while perforce undercutting their competitors prices due to a lackluster reputation and slightly less impressive performance, and now it appears evident they are going to seize the opportunity that their success the last 18months has created to increase their profit margins. As to those who say they will refuse to pay the premium, lets face it, most of us here will ante up for unparalleled performance and if SiS becomes the one to offer it....... The only reason I revisit this topic and speculate further is that one positive result will be even more $$$ fore SiS to throw@R&D and considering what they've done already with their resources I'd say it makes SiS the corporation to watch.

 

[Wesley Fink]

As I mentioned before, Evan, no one really cares much about the MSI review. We are waiting for:

1) the Gigabyte and Asus SiS655 reviews
2) Info on Hyperthreading and 800FSB on the SiS655 boards

 

[awgneo]

I care about the MSI review! I also believe that Evan did a wonderful job on it! So... if you want a GOOD review on the Gigabyte and ASUS SiS655 boards, BE PATIENT!