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

[AlienX]

One more online store is selling SINXP1394.
The price is 314 :Q
Really wonder when the price will drop down to around 210

 

[ArborBarber]

DaPunisher...you make a valid point...however crap still stinks! If you think I'm whining, you would be correct! $315 bucks for a SiS based chipset is completely unreasonable! Let's think about this for a minute...I'll pay $400 bucks for 5.1 Klipsch speakers, why? Because they are quality speakers. I'll pay $630 for a 3.06 Intel cpu, why? Because it's a quality cpu. Now, chipsets can be a funny thing, take a look at the E7205, why hasn't Intel produced their own E7205 mobo? It's a new platform designed for server apps, not desktops. Is this chipset by SiS really the deal breaker? Is the SiS chipset a quality chipset? My point here is that SiS hasn't quite won my confidence in their chipset. Do I want the 655, you bet! Am I willing to pay $315? Not yet. Do I like what I see in the SINXP? Absolutely! I guess my question to you is, how much of that $315 will SiS actually see? $37 dollars? My biggest problem is with 3rd party vendors who rip everyone off...including SiS. Will we all anty up? I'm not sure, I don't think I will. If the mobo isn't on the streets by April, why bother? Springdale/Canterwood will be right around the corner. Now if SiS puts out their DDRII chipset by June or July that may change everything. Right now we're talking apples and oranges, but when we start talking $315 bucks it becomes a whole new ball game.

 

[ArborBarber]

Evan,
Okay, it's 3 to 1....There are 3 intel responses to every 1 amd response...so lets give the skinny on the SiS 655 and we'll deal with the kt400a later on...LOL! All kidding aside, I know everyone wants someting from you(it must be nice to be loved?), but I thought the Gigabyte SINXP (or GA-8SQ800 Ultra or what ever the damn mobo is called) review would be released last week? Good thing I'm not your boss, you probably wouldn't like me much if I were...did you ever hear the one about the body parts fighting over who was boss? Well, as it turns out, the azzhole ended up as boss...don't mean to be an azzhole, but wuz sup? Is there an SINXP review on the way? You are working this week-end correct? LOL! See, I said you wouldn't like me as your azzhole! Has Gigabyte sent you a sample of the mobo or what? Problems? Is this the same thing as with their GB offerings? Alot of us are waiting for your word on this chipset being offered by Gigabyte...Do you still like me? LOL....

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: ArborBarber
DaPunisher...you make a valid point...however crap still stinks! If you think I'm whining, you would be correct! $315 bucks for a SiS based chipset is completely unreasonable! Let's think about this for a minute...I'll pay $400 bucks for 5.1 Klipsch speakers, why? Because they are quality speakers. I'll pay $630 for a 3.06 Intel cpu, why? Because it's a quality cpu. Now, chipsets can be a funny thing, take a look at the E7205, why hasn't Intel produced their own E7205 mobo? It's a new platform designed for server apps, not desktops. Is this chipset by SiS really the deal breaker? Is the SiS chipset a quality chipset? My point here is that SiS hasn't quite won my confidence in their chipset. Do I want the 655, you bet! Am I willing to pay $315? Not yet. Do I like what I see in the SINXP? Absolutely! I guess my question to you is, how much of that $315 will SiS actually see? $37 dollars? My biggest problem is with 3rd party vendors who rip everyone off...including SiS. Will we all anty up? I'm not sure, I don't think I will. If the mobo isn't on the streets by April, why bother? Springdale/Canterwood will be right around the corner. Now if SiS puts out their DDRII chipset by June or July that may change everything. Right now we're talking apples and oranges, but when we start talking $315 bucks it becomes a whole new ball game.

Preorders suck! wait for the boards to hit the shelves and see what they cost@that time, then make a decision, because as you said, "3rd party vendors rip everyone off" :frown: sad but true! I personally speculate the price will be substantially more reasonable than the preorder price but I'm no market analyst so take MHO with a grain of salt

 

[Wesley Fink]

The SINXP has a US suggested Retail Price of $210 - I don't know where some of the preorder people got $315. It is widely for sale in Japan at the equivalent of about $170.

 

[ArborBarber]

It's called...do a search! $315 and $314 are the 2 preorder prices! No joke! "Where did some of the preorder ppl get them?" Believe me, they're there, do a search!

Show me one site(US) offering the sinxp for $170 US and I'll be first in line to pre order it!
Put your money where your mouth is! Suggested is a whole lot different than actual! I will not advertise for these rip off sites, but would be more then glad to shout a vendors site offering the sinxp for $170 US dollars!
The proof is in the pudding Sir!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Hey ArborBarber take a deep breath and relax If this is the Prometheus I think it is, he's a well respected and very knowledgable power user/Guru on other forums and his statements almost invariably prove to be factual, so I respectfully suggest we withhold judgement and see what the actual street price is before getting too worked up over this issue I know he didn't intend for his comments to be demeaning to anyone and he, like myself, probably just never considered pricing it outside of the well established and highly reliable channels he usually purchases from so the preorders the shady vendors are charging are basically irrelevant as there's no way in hell I'd order from them anyways, and presume he wouldn't as well

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Hey ArborBarber take a deep breath and relax If this is the Prometheus I think it is, he's a well respected and very knowledgable power user/Guru on other forums and his statements almost invariably prove to be factual

That's still no excuse for something like this to be said:

Originally posted by: PrometheusN
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

That's just impolite....Evan is incredibly thorough with his motherboard reviews, and always listens to the ideas/concerns of forum members here when writing a review. If they take more time, then that's what it takes to do some of the best motherboard reviews I have ever read.

 

[THUGSROOK]

its not like Evan is holding out on us ~ he's said many times that he's having problems getting boards. he got the MSI and reviewed it ~ when he gets more he'll review those too.

and a little birdy told me he might be doing some testing @ 200+fsb too

 

[ArborBarber]

I apologize if I offended ANYONE, that icludes you also Evan! I only know what I searched for came up with 2 sites asking $315 and $314 US funds for the SINXP. It's not as if I invented these figures or fabricated them in any way.
Evan, I hope you know I was only kidding you, I think you do awesome reviews. I also know from experience that you are a very rare breed...you actually take the time to talk with others on a personal level, which is very refreshing. We all know how full your plate is...keep up the great work!!! You deserve a pat on the back...Thanks!
Now, all of us here who have been waiting for the GB mobos to hit the streets in volume also know how frustrating this GB experience has become. The added expense for the mobo(GB) doesn't seem to justify a 5%-7% gain in performance, especially when the mobo(GB) is still out performed(in most tests) by an older chipset. To tell you the truth, most of us wanted a mobo that was top dog, it seems we got the dog part right! Don't get me wrong, the GB is an awesome board, however not as awesome as I hoped it would be, couple that with a high price and extreme delays and you end up with a frustrating experience. I think most of us are just tired of the same old hype, it would be nice for a change to have a manufacture hit a grand slam and produce a product equal to their hype.

 

[Wesley Fink]

It is my understanding Evan has had WORKING Gigabyte and Asus 655 boards longer than he has had WORKING MSI. Evan's review of the MSI was objective, but I can't help but notice that MSI is a large front-page Anandtech advertiser - and concluding it's the fastest P4 board available has got to help MSI until the reviews of all the more capable 655 boards appear. Perhaps there is another explanation, but we don't have another one that makes sense.

 

[Wesley Fink]

Royal PC has the SINXP1394 for sale for $210 - it's MSRP. They always tend to list MSRP on new stuff and it then drops when finally available. There are people on eBay asking $385 Buy-It-Now for the Granite Bay 8INXP because it's hard to find - but that doesn't mean that is the common selling price. I know you found those prices - I wasn't questioning that. I'm a Gigabyte dealer, and I reported to you - because you were so upset at $315 - what my Gigabyte distributor is telling me, and what I found in my own search of the better Japanese sites.

Evan has already stated that MSI has a price of $165. Be logical - Gigabyte can get a premium price with enough features, but NOT $315 -- Gigabyte is NOT a monopoly! We also know the SiS655 chipset costs a good deal less than Granite Bay and a bit more than 845PE, so that should help place the price.

 

[ArborBarber]

PrometheusN...Welcome aboard! Glad to have a Gigabyte dealer in the forum. Now, as for being logical...at this point, there doesn't seem any logic to the selling prices of these mobos, The GA-8INXP is over priced and under produced and because demand is high for it I assume that's why it's expensive(not to mention the higher cost of the E7205 chipset.) Why is it hard for Gigabyte to produce the GB mobo in quantity? Is this being done to keep the selling prices high? Also, what is the new name of Gigabytes 655 SiS mobo? Sinxp, GA-8SQ800 Ultra, GA-8SQ800 Ultra II...? I'm looking for the Gigabyte SiS 655 board that supports DDR400 and HT( the BO version of the chipset) is there anyway to order this board to make sure I receive the BO version? I've been trying to build my computer since early November and have seen nothing but delays and high prices...Intel,Seagate, Gigabyte,Sony....sorry if I seem illogical, but the last time vendors started taking preorders for the GA-8INXP the prices only rose instead of falling...hopefully this trend doesn't continue. Do you have any idea when the Gigabyte SiS 655 board will be available? BTW, thank you for the link...

 

[ArborBarber]

Okay...maybe I'm being alittle brain dead here...but I don't see Royal PC offering the SINXP1394 at all, let alone for $210. Could they have removed it from their site? If you could, would you give the link? Hell, I'll be glad to buy it from YOU! You already know what I'm looking for!!! LOL! Any help would be appreciated...

 

[Booter]

What determines the release of motherboards? i mean like in the case of 655 we know that it's been ready for a long time but yet when i go to my local computer shop, there is not a singel mb with 655 availble. Why?

 

[cgm3]

hm.........I don't see the board on Royal PC either....................

?

 

[Wesley Fink]

UPDATE: Evan just posted an MSI review update with HT info, and he says the Gigabyte review is in Anand's hands right now. Still no 800FSB info, but pictures of the Asus SiS655 show a switch block with FSB settings of 100,133,166,200. See the pictures at Asus FSB Pics
________________________________________________________________________________________

Royal PC has removed the listing - it was there yesterday. Sorry.

As for Granite Bay, the mfgs are not the problem - they are as frustrated as you are. Intel is either artificially constraining supply OR, more likely, they are having serious yield problems with the Granite Bay chipset. All the mfgs are complaining GB shipments from Intel are late and short - so it's not Gigabyte or Asus or AOpen or . . .

My intention was not to be rude to Evan - I respect him and his reviews. However, from posts on other boards we frequent, it looks like he has had the Gigabyte 655 for 2 weeks and the Asus for over a week. I also know he can turn a review on a dime and STILL produce an excellent review - so what's going on? If I had just tested the fastest P4 performance on a vCore crippled board, I know I couldn't wait to find out what a real Enthusiast board with the same chipset could do.

The people who come to Anandtech are MUCH more interested in the first reviews on the fastest P4 board - and whether that SiS655 chipset can run the upcoming 800FSB and Hyper-threading - than they are in a KT400A review for a portion of 15% of the market. I mean the KT400A doesn't even have the expected Dual-Channel, so it can wait a few days.

 

[THUGSROOK]

frustration is definately showing in this thread

wait til you see the price of Canterwood when it pre-releases :Q

 

[bluesky]

wait til you see the price of Canterwood when it pre-releases

Don't worry, just a half of G!

 

[First]

PrometheusN,

I've had the MSI 655 board longer than the ASUS and Gigabyte boards by about a week. I experienced several BIOS issues with the MSI board that delayed the review quite a bit. I had to work with MSI for several hours before we finally got a good BIOS and board. Our advertising is handled by a completely separate company btw, all I do is get boards from manufacturers, run lots of tests, and put out the review as early as possible. That's why MSI's review was first, I got it first and therefore had more time to work on it.

With the Gigabyte 655 board, I did benchmarking and stress testing with two different BIOSes (M01 and M04) before I finally got an acceptable BIOS for the review (M05). This took up considerable time. I'm done with Gigabyte's board, I have no idea why Anand hasn't posted the review yet.

ASUS's 655 board hasn't had any BIOS issues or otherwise. Unfortunately, my contact at ASUS didn't notice that there weren?t any DIP switches onboard when he sent me the sample, meaning I can't do my usual round of overclocking with this particular version of ASUS's 655 board.

All these problems have delayed AnandTech?s 655 coverage greatly. Notice that there are very few reviews of 655 boards to begin with, and this is almost certainly because most 655 samples sent out to review web sites have either had an immature BIOS or some other growing pains. You would be seeing lots of 655 reviews if the samples review web sites received were trouble free. For the record, I usually don?t have to go through this much trouble to get out a review of a particular chipset. This lag time isn?t the norm you know.

Btw, I don't have any KT400A boards at all, I?m waiting on Soltek and Gigabyte boards. I started a KT400A thread so that people can post their suggestions for the review. If these threads create too much anticipation, I can always stop posting them.

 

[Wesley Fink]

Thanks for the expalnation, Evan. You owe us nothing, but the explanation is much appreciated. This is a very squirrelly time in the industry right now. People can't get Granite Bay and it's life now seems limited - it shows up for an hour somewhere and then is sold out. Springdale/Canterwood is a new incompatible bus speed, and SiS655 may be a solution but there are many unanswered questions as to whether it has a life beyond 2 months. People are trying to find answers to make informed decisions about buying - which is why they turn to review sites. In other words, there are MANY questions and few answers.

Please be flattered Enthusiasts are looking to your reviews for answers, Evan - you're one of the few who takes the time to share what's coming. It's the silence in between that can become deafening Please forgive us of little patience - we are just Computer junkies looking for a fix. And please tell Anand we are salivating to see the Gigabyte review.

Thank you.

 

[Wesley Fink]

SINXP1394 (8SQ800 Ultra2) Pricing

www.dabs.com is the largest online reseller in the UK. They have all 3 versions of the 8SQ800 (SiS655) listed and the 8INXP (Granite Bay). Prices for the SINXP1394 (8SQ800 Ultra2) are 109 pounds ($177) before taxes and 128 with taxes ($208 VAT). Price for the 8INXP for comparison are 136/160 ($221 before tax/$260 with Taxes). The SINXP1394 is the same board as the 8SQ800 Ultra2 - but the 8SQ800 Ultra described at OCworkbench is a lower level board. There is also the basic 8SQ800 at 68/78 pounds ($110/$127), and the mid-level 8SQ800 Ultra.

Hope this will put pricing in perspective since those 2 rip-off sites have people worried about this board's pricing. Check for yourself - search for 8SQ800 at Dabs and you'll get the 3 Gigabyte SiS655 boards.

 

[ArborBarber]

Prometh...thanks, was already at Dabs the other day and saw their offerings....I was going to order it through them, but they don't sell to addresses outside the UK...now, if I could only find those english relatives of mine.....lol !!! How about YOU Prometh...aren't you selling the mobo in question...?

 

[ArborBarber]

Evan,
No! We don't want you to stop posting! It's not you that has us frustrated and YOU are not the source of that frustration!!! If anything you have been a great help to us in making informed buying decisions. I know for me, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have even joined this forum! I know any comments that I made to you were in jest and was only trying to be humorous in my own feeble way!
I think I speak for the rest of us when I say we don't want you to stop posting your future reviews, you're a good guy Evan, don't let our frustrations get you down...it's not your fault and in no way do any of us think this is the case. There'd be a little less sunshine in our lives if you stop posting...so don't take our sunshine away from us! LOL !!! We all know you are a straight shooter and tell it like it is, please forgive the whinning. You know my situation, after all it was you who tried to help me back in early November to put together my system, so by now, you can see why my frustration level is high, my frustration has nothing to do with you, you have been of great help to me! Thank You Evan!

 

[liveevil]

you could just post the review in the forum... ok time to stop blaming evan and focus frustration at anand. Carn post the review we be good little boys if you do post the gigabyte review