**Update, now with Mainboard comparision** All about P4 1.6a Northwood here!

[Scott5000]

I am about ready to order a 1.6A/motherboard combo, but I'm torn between picking the retail Asus P4S333 or the P4B266-C. Both Newegg and Googlegear have the P4B266-C listed as OEM or Bulk which I'm not too comfortable with. I know on the Asus site it looks like the only difference is minus the on-board sound, which is good, and minus the USB 2.0, which I don't really need anyway. However, since this is not a retail boxed board, I am concerned about the quality of it (ie possible different manufacturing/layer process) and how it has been shipped to both Newegg or Googlegear and how it will be shipped to me without its own box. Additionally, I am worried about how the warranty will be different with this board vice a retail one. I really want the P4B266 series, but I don't want to pay the $50 more for the retail one. Also just found out PCnut is selling the P4S333/1.6A combos guaranteed to 2.2+, so he must be having good luck with the P4S333. What are your thoughts on this and thanks for any replies.

Scott

 

[kulki]

I wanted to ask 2 questions regarding the p4s333
a) Can I still use me older PS for this board or do I need to buy a special power supply
b) Hows does P4B266-C compare with P4S333
Thanks

 

[Strawberrymom]

i guess thats why its so cheap

at googlegear they warranty it for a year which is standard so maybe go with googlegear

 

[kulki]

hmm I have been doing some reading and it seems that both MBs support older style PS. So I guess I can save save some $$$$$s
Now is there any reason to prefer one MB over the other?
p4s333 supports 3 DIMM slots. Thats a clear plus.
Is there anything else?
thanks

 

[imgod2u]

The thing with the RDRAM based boards like the P4T-E is that I can change the RDRAM multiplier from 4x to 3x. That way, I won't be limited by RAM when I overclock. I would only be limited to my processor and FSB speed. With the P4B266, on the other hand, there is quite a difference. I am content on reaching 3 GHz with a 2.0 GHz Northwood (probably will sell for around $200 in a month or so) and that would require a 150 MHz FSB (which means a 199.5 MHz DDR SDRAM). Now, I may be wrong, but I'm guessing most RAM (even crucial) can't reach that high. And even if I was lucky enough to get a module that could, expandability would be kinda a hassle because I'm not sure whether the new RAM could handle it. Does anyone else have a solution to this?

 

[JackBurton]

<< I am content on reaching 3 GHz with a 2.0 GHz Northwood (probably will sell for around $200 in a month or so) and that would require a 150 MHz FSB (which means a 199.5 MHz DDR SDRAM). Now, I may be wrong, but I'm guessing most RAM (even crucial) can't reach that high. >>


Overclocking on an RDRAM board is different than a DDR based mobo. On an RDRAM mobo with PC800 and a Northwood, the default FSB is 100MHz with the memory running at 4X. So once you move that FSB up even 1MHz, you are overclocking that memory (forget about dropping the memory to 3X for now). On the other hand, when you put a Northwood chip in a DDR based mobo it is also running at 100MHz FSB but most people have PC2100 memory which is designed to run at 133MHz (266MHz DDR). So you see, even if you run your Northwood at 133MHz FSB on a DDR based mobo, you haven't even begun to overclock your memory. And at 150MHz FSB (300MHz DDR), the DDR memory is only running 17MHz overclocked (34MHz DDR) which A LOT of the Crucial memory can do and can even do it at CAS2. That is why A LOT of people are going to the DDR board. SUPER HIGH overclocks with minimal memory overclocking.

I however have a P4T-E and prefer to wait for PC1066 to come out so I can take a Northwood and run it overclocked with my RDRAM running at 533MHz.

 

[KenAF]

imgod,

The i845 boards, and the P4B266 in particular, have all sorts of divider options. You never have to worry about clocking your DDR memory higher than it can go, cause you can clock it less than your FSB, more than your FSB, or the same as your FSB. You can run both your FSB and memory at 150MHz if you want, or you can run your FSB at 132MHz and your memory at 176MHz, etc.

IIRC, the P4S333 motherboard doesn't have voltage adjustment for memory, if that is important to you. The P4B266-C is the cheaper oem version of the P4B266; to cut costs (its about $30 cheaper, I believe), they reduced it to two DIMM slots, eliminated USB2.0, among other things(?).

Personally, I think its best in the long run to go with an Intel chipset. Who knows where SIS will be in a year? You are guaranteed that every vendor and their mother will test all software and peripherals on an Intel chipset based board...but SIS? I doubt there will be any issues, but I would not want to take the chance.

 

[Expandable]

kulki,

If you have 300W+ PS, it should be fine.
About the boards,

ASUS P4B266.
It is Intel Chiset (compatibility).
It is famous .
Overclock very good.

ASUS P4S333.
It is SIS Chipset.
It is cheaper.
It has C-Media on board which sound very good.
Overclock just fine.
3 DIMM just as you aware of.
DDR 333 support.

 

[kulki]

Hi
I am not interested in the on board sound since I will be using Audigy x-gamer and I figure audigy is better than c media.
What I am more interested in is in OC
So purely in terms of OC which board is better?I guess p4266 is better but is it value for money?

 

[Yourself]

Ok...Here is a little update.

Yesterday I got a 1.6 and an ABIT BD7. Install went ok, but I immediately had reboot problems, both warm and cold reboots. I could only get my chip stable at 16x142@1.625v. I kinda figured that the mobo was holding me back. Well I picked up an Asus P4B266 and it has made all the difference in the world. Here are my stats so far:


1.6@2.4(16X150) using an AVC Sunflower HSF
1.55v
Temp ?-Asus probe reads 40c no matter what and that ain't right
2x256 Crucial@2,2,5

Sandra Scores:

ALU-4657 MIPS
FPU-2904 MFLOPS
Memory- 2213/2213
CPU Mulitmedia-9517/11617

That's it for now, but this chip has more. I know the DDR did 160 in my AMD setup, so that's where I'm headed.

**small update**
At 150 fsb, the board won't boot with anything in the regular USB ports, but......the good news is that once I hooked up the USB 2.0 ports everything is sweet. Good information for those deciding on what flavor of P4B266 to get.


Self

 

[Possum]

Yourself,

What kind of device(s) in the regular USB ports gave you problems on booting? What kind of problems?

 

[Yourself]

Just a mouse in the regular USB port. With that plugged in, it wouldn't even post or let you into the BIOS.

 

[Duvie]

Have you locked the pci bus, which I believe is an option with this board? Maybe it can't handle the higher fsb????


could overclock though...I like that you are keeping the vcore voltages down...

 

[Yourself]

I have the P4B266-e I believe...w/USB2.0 and on board sound and I have yet to find a PCI fix/lock setting. Any other info would be great.

Self

 

[KenAF]

Yourself,

If the P4B266 has problems with the USB 1.1 slots at high FSB...thus requiring you to use the USB 2.0 slots for extreme overclocking...then that would be a very good reason not to get the cut down P4B266-C for oems, as it lacks the USB 2.0 slots that are standard on the P4B266.

In any event, please let us know how you do at 2.56GHz to 2.65GHz with that 1.6A.

 

[Yourself]

Ken-

I agree, I would recommend any version w/USB 2.0. I assume Asus will start releasing Bios revisions to address issues in the near future though.

Self

 

[Duvie]

The e version I believe has the ata133...

 

[Yourself]

I think the e version can be raid(ATA-133) or non-raid....if not, I don't know what version I have.

 

[Expandable]

So purely in terms of OC which board is better?

The Asus P4B266!

I guess p4266 is better but is it value for money?

I would think the P4B266-C ($122 Shipped) is.

Note: the P4B266-C has no on boad sound and the P4B266 does have.

Read my thread Here to know more about it.

 

[Scott5000]

The P4S333 does have voltage adjustments for the DDR. Also I tried to read more about the overclocking options for the P4B266-C and found no mention of the extreme overclocking options like those mentioned for both the regular P4B266 and the P4S333 (strange)

 

[Expandable]

Scott,

Read my Theard to know more about Asus P4B266-C.

Here's a part I ripped from the Asus P4b266-C manual over Asus website.

The P4B266-C overclocking features:

* Adjustable CPU frequency multiple in BIOS using the Asus JumperFree solution. (This fiel is for unlocked procesors only. If your processor frequency multiple is locked, you cannot acces this field).
* Adujustable CPU FSB/memory frequency ratio
* Stepless Frequency (SFS) for fine-tuning System bus frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increments
* Optimized system perfrormance through BIOS built-in Turbo Mode
* Adjustable CPU Vcore and DDR memory voltage.

 

[kulki]

if u compare p4b266 and p4b266-c only in terms of OCing which MB is better. It seems to me that people have had better experiences with p4b266 while the c-version seems to give some problems with the USB.
What do u guys think about MSI 845 ultra ARU? Anadtech guys seem to have given it very good reviews for this board.

 

[kevman]

<< if u compare p4b266 and p4b266-c only in terms of OCing which MB is better. It seems to me that people have had better experiences with p4b266 while the c-version seems to give some problems with the USB.
What do u guys think about MSI 845 ultra ARU? Anadtech guys seem to have given it very good reviews for this board. >>



I'm going with the p4b266. I figure the extra $$ is worht it right now, becuase we've seen damn good results with it. In addition, it's not that much, you can find it on pricewatch for like $144 or something like that.

 

[Scott5000]

I wonder if a add-in USB PCI card would allow USB devices above 150 FSB for the P4B266C?

 

[Scott5000]

Whoa!! Hold the phone, check out these discussions concerning the P4B266 series at the Asus forums. Looks like the P4S333 may be the best after all.

http://www.asusboards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=2648b5b2ec36eb5da4ff4afe7bca0c62&threadid=13387