Opinions: Which motherboard and why? MSI 815EP Pro/ASUS CUSL-C...... or DDR...... MSI PRO266/ASUS CUV266???

[Cybordolphin]

Can't decide....

MSI 815EP Pro - has Raid and on board audio.
ASUS CUSL-C - Has more USB expandability, supposed to have onboard audio (if you can get a straight answer from etailer BEWARE).

Both of the above boards appear to be great for overclocking. I don't mind the onboard sound. I have other setups with Blaster/5.1 audio, etc..

Then there is the DDR boards out.....

MSI PRO266 (raid) - Horrible overclocker. Unless there is an upgraded bios flash that will allow core voltage tweaking.... and more FSB settings. My luck they will just come out with a revision board, and I will have wished that I could have waited.

ASUS CUV266 - Just plain bad ass! But when will it be available.... and how will it test out.

What do you think? And why?

 

[Cybordolphin]

Well........

That went over big. lol

 

[LXi]

Is there a review for the Pro266? Personally I will take the 815EP Pro-R, it's got the most complete feature set and the best board layout, and its very cheap if taken into account that it has RAID.

 

[Cybordolphin]

YEah.. that's the board I am pretty much sold on.

I just wish the PRO266 had better overclocking features. It will allow SDRAM OR DDR to be used (not together). Kinda liked that idea.

Here is a review of it.

MSI PRO266 (R)

 

[LXi]

I'd say forget the ApolloPro266 boards, they barely beat/tied the i815E in performance.

 

[oldfart]

815e and ep based boards are the most solid on the market. Get one, set it up, done. They work and work well.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Yep... I have an Intel EP board now... rock solid... just no overclocking. Now I am building another system.... and kind of liked the idea of being able to use DDR on it. Will probably hold off on the DDR setup, and go with another EP board.

Not sure which one though. MSI or ASUS.

 

[LXi]

You wont go wrong with the MSI. It has everything Asus has, and more.

 

[AndyHui]

Although the CUV266 has just been announced, I'm not too sure if it is available yet. The CUV266 only supports DDR SDRAM, and does not support SDR.

You might want to keep a watch out for the CUV266-E, a kind of "bigger brother". It has two additional IDE channels (RAID capable) as well as support for both DDR and SDR RAM.

 

[Cybordolphin]

I went ahead and got the MSI 815EP PRO (R).

I am going to pick up the ASUS CUV266 (big brother version) when it gets out.

Thanks.