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ASUS CUSL2-C
I was asked to provide a mini-review of Asus's new i815EP chipset-based motherboard. Overall, I like the board, but there are a few chipset-related things I don't like as well as some layout issues.
Onboard VGA is gone, which is great. It brings down the price of the board substantially for a feature few (if any) of us need.
The i815's bus speed limitations have not been corrected. The CPU/Memory bus ratio of 100 (CPU)/133 (RAM) still is not supported. It does support 133/133 and 133/100. Frankly, I think a ratio of 100/133 is far more useful than 133/100. Many of us have CPU's that run on a 100 MHz FSB and PC133 RAM. If you don't have a CPU that can run on 133 MHz bus, I see no reason at all to upgrade from a BX board to the i815.
I did some testing yesterday with a BX board. My PIII 550E, overclocked to 733 MHz, was faster in gaming benchmarks than a PIII 800 (100 Mhz FSB) on the same platform. Games seem to really like the 133 MHz memory bus, and I got higher scores with Q3, 3DMark 2000, and UT with at 733 MHz. Winstone 2000 scores did improve with the higher clocked CPU, however.
The missing VGA output is not replaced with a serial port, although a second serial port is supported by the chipset. Asus provides a sticker to cover up the hole in your I/O panel. They also provide a second, optional serial port which can be installed above a PCI slot and plugged into a jack on the motherboard. Two additional USB ports can be installed in much the same way.
PCI 1 and 5 appear to share an IRQ. God knows why.
AGP aperture continues to be limited to 32 or 64 MB.
After setting the CPU/Memory bus ratio, you have the option to increase them in increments of 1. They are synchronized, so if you increase the CPU clock, the memory bus will follow.
I'll provide an update on performance a bit later.
Onboard VGA is gone, which is great. It brings down the price of the board substantially for a feature few (if any) of us need.
The i815's bus speed limitations have not been corrected. The CPU/Memory bus ratio of 100 (CPU)/133 (RAM) still is not supported. It does support 133/133 and 133/100. Frankly, I think a ratio of 100/133 is far more useful than 133/100. Many of us have CPU's that run on a 100 MHz FSB and PC133 RAM. If you don't have a CPU that can run on 133 MHz bus, I see no reason at all to upgrade from a BX board to the i815.
I did some testing yesterday with a BX board. My PIII 550E, overclocked to 733 MHz, was faster in gaming benchmarks than a PIII 800 (100 Mhz FSB) on the same platform. Games seem to really like the 133 MHz memory bus, and I got higher scores with Q3, 3DMark 2000, and UT with at 733 MHz. Winstone 2000 scores did improve with the higher clocked CPU, however.
The missing VGA output is not replaced with a serial port, although a second serial port is supported by the chipset. Asus provides a sticker to cover up the hole in your I/O panel. They also provide a second, optional serial port which can be installed above a PCI slot and plugged into a jack on the motherboard. Two additional USB ports can be installed in much the same way.
PCI 1 and 5 appear to share an IRQ. God knows why.
AGP aperture continues to be limited to 32 or 64 MB.
After setting the CPU/Memory bus ratio, you have the option to increase them in increments of 1. They are synchronized, so if you increase the CPU clock, the memory bus will follow.
I'll provide an update on performance a bit later.
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