CUSL2 vs CUSL2-C A few questions....

[SaturnX]

Hey,
Well I've been looking up some info on the boards, and it seems that the CUSL2-C uses a Standard AGP Port, while the CUSL2 uses a AGP Pro, what is the difference between them? Both support 4x,2x, and 1x is there any difference between them really? Also, from a review/comparison i've read, it said that when not overclocked the -C actually runs slower than the original model, whats with that? (Though i'm going to check out other reviews to double check) Thanx a lot.

--Mark

 

[Bartman39]

Dont know about the being slower part... But the pro AGP slot is for AGP pro cards that use more power for graphics like cad or other graphic programs. I dont know of any video cards for gaming that are AGP pro format??? My former Geforce 2 GTS 64meg card used drivers for both it and a "pro" card but I dont think they meant a pro sloted card... Also I would think the reg CUSL2 would have a better slot because of the pro addition (more power availible to the reg video card). Not sure though... Earlier AGP sloted boards would not supply enough power for the newer spec`d cards like the Geforce DDR & GTS

 

[AndyHui]

Effectively there should be no difference between AGP Pro and AGP slots for consumer level video cards. There is no difference in speed. The only difference exists in the extre power pins that the AGP Pro slot provides.

Currently only Quadro cards use AGP Pro; there is also an ASUS GeForce 2 Ultra that uses AGP Pro.

But according to ASUS, the CUSL2-C uses an AGP Pro....the only other physical difference between the CUSL2 and the CUSL2-C apart from the onboard video is that the CUSL2-C has only 1 CNR slot instead of 2.

 

[Vegito]

Know whats weird, the port for VGA was removed so it's like a empty space there.. they should have put back the serial port 2 there but that might take more $$ to do since serial port 2 was already onboard in a different area... oh well, just looks weird..

 

[AndyHui]

Yes, it does look strange, but they have been doing the same thing for the CUV4X for a while as well.

 

[Bartman39]

Thanks Andy did not know about the Ultra "pro" also do you think they did not want to remote the video connector because of possible interferance??? (maybe the reason for the board mount) Is the serial port going to be phased out maybe because of USB???

 

[Vegito]

I think eventually, usb or usb2 or firewires will replace all these old connectors.. they simply work better unless it's a driver issue.. and serial is slow as hell now... but for some speciality equipment that only runs on serial I doubt they'll phase it out completely since I don't know how reliable a usb->serial converter can be.

 

[Smbu]

The CUSL2-C also can't use any older Celeron cpus (PPGA ones). The CUSL2-C doesn't have the integrated video card(i752). The CUSL2-C doesn't support AGP pro cards only regular AGP cards.

 

[Vegito]

Ouch, I didn't know that it can't use old ppga ? Man, i'll spend the extra $ for the regular one since the -c doens't really offer anything better...

 

[subhuman]

It's better since it's cheaper -- especially nice if you won't be using the extra features such as onboard video, celeron support (put in a 700E! , and one less CNR slot.


I think you'd be happy with both these boards if you have a p3 flip chip.

 

[Smbu]

I forgot to mention that the CUSL2-C only has 1 CNR slot compared to the 2 on the CUSL2, not that I ever even use the CNR slots on my CUSL2, but it is another difference.

Here's a review at OC Workbench of the CUSL2-C that tells about the differences between the two and has benchmarks comparing the CUSL2 to the CUSL2-C.

 

[Pluto]

I was thinking about buying this board (CUSL2-C) but the fact that it has only an AGP and no AGP Pro scares me... sure right now there are hardly any boards that make use of AGP Pro, but what about the next generation of video cards?

I would hate to buy this board and a year from now when I want to upgrade my video and the card I want is AGP Pro, and not be able to use it because I saved $20.

Other factors such as the inability to use PPGA Celeron CPUs seem to make this a bad choice.

Maybe if the price was much better it would be worth it. ($195 cdn for CUSL2-C $220 for CUSL2)

 

[SaturnX]

Hey all, and from what I read at OC Workbench, I personally feel that one who wrote it has no idea what they are even talking about, as stated by Asus, the CUSL2-C does in fact have AGP Pro support,
An AGP Pro slot that supports AGP 4X, AGP 2x, and AGP 1x lets you upgrade to the most advanced graphics cards.
~Taken from Asus Expo 2000 - CUSL-C

I would like to see an article other than that of OC Workbench stating that CUSL2-C does not have an AGP Pro slot.

As for Celeron support, it does support FC-PGA packaged Celerons.

Just making a statment, not trying to start any flaming.

--Mark

[EDIT] After carfeully reading over the OC Workbench article, the writer even states that the CUSL2-C has an AGP Pro slot
OC Workbench CUSL2-C Page 2
It's under the heading "Support of the Latest High Performance Standards" though mind you that whole section was a copy/paste of the Asus Expo Info, and yet in the end of the article states that it doesn't have AGP Pro support. It boggles the mind.
[/EDIT]

 

[Smbu]

Look at the picture of the CUSL2-C at the OC Workbench review. In the picture the AGP slot doesn't have the extra 20 pin bay at the front of the slot , you can see the little metal things where the extra space should be, just like where the extra CNR slot should be next to the 6th pci slot. What's strange is that the agp slot also doesn't have the 28 pin bay on the other side of the agp slot, you can also see the metal things where it should be.

 

[SaturnX]

Hrmm.. I didn't notice that small difference between the two boards, hrmm, makes you wonder why Asus states that it has an AGP Pro Slot.

--Mark

 

[Mday]

i am in the market for a new motherboard, reading reviews, and asus's reputation, i am looking at both, and i am so confused. ;-)

i just need to know how many bus mastering PCI slots it supports, which is probably the default 5 =(

i'll probably wind up getting the cusl2 as opposed to the -C. but then... see confused ;-)

 

[AndyHui]

All 6 PCI slots are bus mastered, but they still have to share IRQs. Nothing you can do about this.

I am almost positive that the CUSL2-C has an AGP Pro slot.....every board since the P3V4X has had an AGP Pro slot.....I'll check with my shop contacts.

 

[Pluto]

Seems that none of the Gigabyte i815EP offerings (GA-6OX, GA-6OXE etc.) have an AGP Pro slot either.

Are there any other boards with i815EP models announced/available yet?

 

[Pluto]

FYI the newly announced MSI 815EP Pro seems to feature AGP Pro slot.

 

[subhuman]

Pluto - re MSI vs CUSL2, you may want to look here