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MSI 815EP Pro-R, Abit SA6R, or Asus CUSL2

M

mwtrull

Member
Which is preferable for speed and reliability, MSI's 815EP Pro-R or Abit's SA6R? Or should I give up on IDE and go with Asus' CUSL2? The selected board will be used to build a CAD workstation.

Due to Autodesk's official position of only supporting "WIntel" platforms, I am limiting my motherboard selection to Intel CPUs and chipsets. I am only concerned about stock performance and reliability! I will not be overclocking this system.

Thank you for your help!

Michael
 
i dont exactly follow what you said about giving up on IDE and going with the CUSL2. but i will suggest getting the CUSL2 b/c i have one and it is the best board i have ever worked with. it is solid as a rock, and it is the only i815E mobo that can run all three DIMMs @ 133 mHz (and if you are using a P3 xxxEB CPU, 133 mHz eould be the default FSB, no OCing involved). this would be a plus, since a CAD workstation would undoubtedly use all 512 MB of SDRAM that the i815E chipset supports. also, another plus for a CAD workstation is the fact that the CUSL2 has an AGP Pro slot, and an AGP Pro card would be wonderful for CAD. remember that not all CUSL2_Cs are guaranteed to come with an AGP Pro slot, so just get the CUSL2 and disable the onboard video in the BIOS.
 
I use AutoCad with my ABIT SE6 with 256mb memory at 133FSB, 232, Mushkin chips, 733@133 P3 processor.

Very stable. The onboard video is fine for me. Don't need extra cards and drivers to worry about. The onboard sound is also fine for my use. This is a work machine. Rasters fast.
I have not had the problems that I have read the Cusl2 had (All the revisions) even though the CUSL2 is probably stable now. Also Abit was quick to respond to my questions when i first built the system.--The technicians CALLED BACK the same day.
Either board will serve you well, but the CUSL2 does not normally come with sound--just another $ to spend that you don't need for a work machine. I am thinking of buying another and going with the P3700 and oc to 933@133.
Tombilliodeaux@hotmail.com

 
Thank you for your responses!

The first paragraph should have included the word RAID to read as:

"Which is preferable for speed and reliability, MSI's 815EP Pro-R or Abit's SA6R? Or should I give up on IDE RAID and go with Asus' CUSL2? The selected board will be used to build a CAD workstation."

One of the CAD tasks is solid modeling, which accesses lots of files from disk (particularly in assembly modeling) to then create large models in RAM. Without question, I will max out the RAM and I was hoping IDE RAID would help with improve hard disk performance.

Thanks again,

Michael
 
ahh...that sentence makes much more sense now. while i can see the importance of data redudancy and other features of a RAID setup, i was under the impression that a good video card and RAM would be higher up on the priority list. this is of course just my opinion, but if i were to be putting together a CAD workstation, i would invest in both of those first. TomBilliodeaux, its good to hear that your onboard VGA works fine, but have you considered the performance boost you might get from getting an AGP Pro card? maybe the level at which each of us you CAD programs are all different. my dad runs a cabinet business and needs a number of such programs do design kitchens and baths and soforth. he uses autoCAD 2000, Bryce 3D, and a few other programs that i cant think of off the top of my head. so if you're not running a business, i guess you wouldnt need all that. as for onboard sound, you can always place an order for the CUSL2 w/ onboard audio. if you dont then they dont bother to send you one w/ onboard audio. it will save you money from not having to buy a PCI sound card.

PS - the only reason i suggest getting a video card is b/c my dad used to design kitchens on a system using onboard video, and it would process graphics slower than molasses. not to mention that even the most inexpensive video cards these day outperform onboard video. now my dad has Dell workstations all around the office, and their CAD abilities are amazing...i'm not sure what cards are in the machines, but they are AGP Pro 100 cards.
 
I will be using 512MB of RAM (the 815's limit) and a Quadro2 video card. Whether I use an Elsa card or modify a GeForce2 card has yet to be determined.

Thank you for your comments,

Michael
 
If you are concerned with HDD perfpormance, consider a SCSI HDD. They are more reliable and faster expcially if you buy a 10RPM. alot of Professional workstations have come with SCIS HDD's because of performance issues.

I would also recommend windows 2000 Pro. rock solid stable and will use the 512 mg of RAM which windows 9x will not use very well at all even if you apps want the RAM.
 
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