If you have an Asus CUBX-E Would you please "yay!" or "boo!" it?

[Klosters]

I'm interested in this mainboard. All I want to
do with it is run a(133 Mhz FSB) P3EB 800 on it,
solidly. And run a Tekram DC390U2W SCSI host
adaptor. Thanks very much for your hands-on
experience!

 

[tws98]

I don't have a CUBX-E, but I have the regular CUBX and it is a great board.
I'm running a P3-550E@770. It is a very stable and solid board in my opinion.
Switched out the regular heatsink on the BX chipset and put a tennmax one on there.
Works great!

 

[AndyHui]

It's a very good board....but I would wonder why not the CUSL2/CUSL2-C instead?

 

[micron]

My dad had it and we had nothing but problems with it.

 

[Klosters]

AndyHui,
I'm slowly building a SCSI box that just might become a poor man's Web Server. While the CUSL-2 and CUSL-2C allow you to OC the FSB to the moon and back, I've been overclocking ever since the C300A @450 popularized the "sport." Frankly, I'm sick and tired of doing it. Watching my temps like a worried maiden aunt is tiresome. Now that AMD's competition has driven Intel's CPU prices down, the price spread is no longer a zillion bucks between a P3E 700 and a P3EB 933. Overclocking is no longer necessary. It is a means to an end for me, not a fetish. I just want to run a P3EB 800 at "stock." Period.

The 440BX chipset is overclocked at 133 Mhz FSB. Nonetheless, my P3B-F accomplishes this with aplomb. At this point, the P3B-F is looking like the best mainboard for my SCSI box. Most folks are happy with their CUBX's and CUBX-E's---yet I just don't think it's a rock solid board. The hassle is that P3B-F's aren't listed on Pricewatch any more. The CUBX-E incorporates a Promise ATA-100 controller. This would let me run ATA-100 HDD's AND U2W SCSI HDD's. The Promise ATA-100 Controller on a PCI card is detected as a SCSI controller in my P3B-F's Bios. Adding a PCI SCSI host adapter to my P3B-F doesn't seem possible, AFAIK.

The long-winded Klosters strikes again. Here's my beef with i815e/ep's: their Sandra 2K/2001 Memory Benchmarks are flat out embarassing. That Chipzilla took a step backwards from the 440BX's performance when they made the i815e's isses me offpay. Why reward a company for making a new product worse than the older one? 160 Mhz FSB capability means nothing to me. As I wrote, I'm SICK of OCing.

 

[AndyHui]

Sandra benchmarks are very low....that is true....but I suspect that there is something wrong with those benchamrks, as Sandra is known for giving very odd results on i815E boards. Those memory benchmarks are not a very good indication of real world performance anyway. Sandra is also the ONLY benchmark to give those sorts of results...do you fully trust Sandra? I don't. It can't even tell me the AGP divider on my CUSL2.

If you insist on not overclocking, I still think you should get the CUSL2-C....you buy one of these boards, you keep everything in spec, and you can run your drives at ATA100 (questionable gain) without an external controller; AGP is still in spec, unlike the CUBX-(E/L). I still don't see what overclocking has to do with buying a CUSL2-C or not....OC is NOT my primary reason for recommending this board.

Look....if you REALLY want to run everything in stock, buy an Intel D815EA then.

 

[Klosters]

Thanks for your reply, AndyHui!
After more examination of the CUBX, I find that I don't think that this is a top notch mainboard. Many people are happy with it--yet the CUBX isn't simply a P3B-F with a S370 instead a of a Slot 1 on it. That's a shame.

I have a question, please. It appears that many mainboards that have a built-in ATA-100 Controller have a separate Bios for it. When you boot, the mainboard's Bios takes a time out, waits for the ATA-100 Controller's Bios to boot, then the mobo's Bios continues booting the mainboard. Plus, the ATA-100 Controller is seen as a "SCSI device" by the board's Bios. If this is so, is it even possible to boot a real SCSI host adapter that's on a PCI card?

Your advise regarding the CUSL2-C is very good. As much as I resent the backward step in some performance benchmarks, the CUSL2-C is a more realistic choice than a CUBX-E. Thank you for your help!

 

[tws98]

You should be able to.
It'll just take a little longer because you have an extra BIOS to boot.

I believe most motherboards with an onboard controller will allow you to disable it like on the CUBX.