Should I buy a CUSL2?

[Tired of the Bull]

I'm building a system for my son and I'm planning to upgrade my Motherboard and give him mine (BH6). After reading all the reviews I could find the CUSL2 sounded like the only board to get. BUT, after reading some of the threads here I'm having second thoughts. For a while (a few months) I will be running a Celeron 566 @ 850, I have 256Meg of PC133 and one ATA66 HD and one ATA33. Other components; SB-Live X-Gamer, Hauppage Win-TV PCI, VooDoo3 3000, Plextor 12x10x32, Afreey 50X and an ISA USR 56k modem (I know I have to give this up.)

Should I get the CUSL2?

 

[Deuce300]

get a cusl2...its awesome. you may have to try a few different pci slots for your peripherals, but its worth the effort you put into it.

my setup:
agp-geforce mx
pci1-adaptec scsi39160
pci2-3com etherlink
pci3-sb live
pci4-ati tv wonder

 

[rkoenn]

I would say that the CUS2L is a good bet at this time. Please read my post from earlier today in motherboard forum about Abit SE6 and the Asus. These are my personal experiences from using both. There are now a number of other 815 boards out but the Asus seems to usually top the reviews. It is definitely better than the Abit with the current BIOS versions. I think that maybe all of the 815 boards need the BIOSs to catch up with the boards. They all seem to be very picky about memory at the 133MHz speed and there are other minor annoyances, like getting the machine to boot after attempting to OC. Anyway, my current best bet is the Asus and prices of the various flavors doesn't vary to significantly.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

I'm going to go read the reviews of the MSI and Abit again. I just scanned them earlier because I had CUSL2 on the brain. Most reviews said CUSL2 would be better for overclocking which is a hobby of mine but with people posting about problems with overclocking I'm a little concerned.

 

[han888]

this is the first board can push my p3-800E@1066 (133fsb) load to windows, andi can still run windows application, surfing! but crash when i play the game or run setihome! the best now just at 1000 and run stable here

==========================
p3-800@1000 1.75v alpa pal-35t
asus cusl2 1001.a
256 hyundai pc133
asus v7700

 

[Narse]

I love my CUSL2
I have been running it since it came out, Just remember the steps to update your BIOS its kinda tricky. Have a P3 700 at 933.

 

[SailorSasami]

Don't buy it, its a POS and ASUS has never heard of a thing called an installation manual or tech support. So its not worth it. Go with Abit or an Intel board.

 

[AndyHui]

SailorSasami: the CUSL2 is not a POS. For the solution to your problem, go look in your other thread....Asus CUSL2 Serious Problems

 

[subhuman]

the best board i've ever owned. seriously. it comes with the extra USB headers as well, you get 4 (or was it 5?) *stock* usb ports with this board!

also if you're building a budget all-in-wonder 'junk' box for your websurfing/little sister, then be sure to check out the ASUS CUSL2-M which is a microATX board with the onboard audio as well as the onboard video... cool!

 

[judgmentday1]

>>Don't buy it, its a POS and ASUS has never heard of a thing called an installation manual or tech support. So its not worth it. Go with Abit or an Intel board.

SailorSasami,

Have you tried regular SDRAM in stead of the ECC SDRAM that you were using?

Please do me a favor if you can, replace your ECC SDRAM with SDRAM to see if your problems get resolved.

I'm interested in this board too, please let me know.

Thanks a million...

 

[TuffGuy]

another vote for the cusl2. it has a few quirks, but those will be worked out with bios updates.

all of the i815s have problems, since it's a new chipset. they will be resolved in time.

 

[bluezebra1098]

I'm still smarting from five weeks of hell fighting with Intel's 820 chipset back in May which drove me to the VIA chipset reluctantly.
Now after five months of VIA I'm reluctant to ever go back to Intel's chipset. Their 815 was released way too fast after the 820 chipset fiasco, so they're gonna have to prove to me that they've got their business straight and their "Solano" isn't just a quick fix.
The ASUS CUV4X is recommended here.

 

[HeatMizer]

Another vote for the CUSL2
My system:
CSUL2
P3
256 Mushkin HP 133 Rev 2 2.2.2
Asus Geforce2 GTS
It rocks!

 

[rosarian007]

Good board. You can't go wrong with it.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Well I'm afraid all the CUSL2 support came a little late. I got a few well stated replies to another post in favor of the MSI 815E and after reading that the only thing that really pushed the CUSL2 over the top in the reviews was the extra USB which I don't plan to need in the near future and the reputation of ASUS (which I think is only as good as your latest product). I ordered the MSI.

I hope that wasn't an overwhelmingly bad choice. It took a while but the CUSL2 got a late push of support.

 

[NOS]

NO, NO, NO! Buy the cusl2 if its not too late! Its ranked the best board on all the sites! Asus is top Quality! I have never been too fond on Microstar MoBo's! Goodluck though!

 

[HeatMizer]

I'll Pray for you.
CUSL2 is a ROCK SOLID board.
Good Luck with the MSI, it's a good board.

 

[Gunner]

I would strongly recommend the Asus CUSL2.

No problems when I installed mine. DO NOT use ECC memory, standard good quality PC133 SDRAM. Mushkin or equivalent. If you flash the bios from 1001.a to 1002 and do have problems booting, just remove the CMOS battery for 10 seconds or so reinsert it and you should come right up.

My other suggestion, do not over-clock until everything is up and running stable at normal settings, then go for it.

I have to say this has been the most problem free board I have ever installed.

 

[juiio]

I keep reading contradicting reports. http://www.necxdirect.com/hai/prod_page.html?key=0000155330 says "Fastest IDE/ATA Mode: ULTRA ATA-66". I thought it supports ATA100. Can someone confirm or deny this please? Thanks.

Oh - and anyone have any issues with this board and win2k? Thanks.

 

I went for the MSI.
And now im looking at the CUSL2, the MSI has been giving me headaches all over. Cant get my 700@933 no matter what I do.
But the MSI has neet little features like a BIOS flash jumper so you dont have to pull the battery so flash it.
As well as the LED system that msi has.
Whats the best BIOS revision to use on this MOBO?

 

[Gunner]

Juiio:

The CUSL2 does support ATA100 as long as your IDE drive does. An 80 conductor cable comes with the board also. Sorry, can't answer your question about Win 2K.

 

[jzodda]

Besides cold boot problems, good board.

Without cold boot prob the board would get an A, with it I give it a C

If you OC bigtime and the CPU you have can not cold boot at default voltage at whatever FSB you are stable at then I would look for another board unless they plan to fix it.

 

[judgmentday1]

>>this is the first board can push my p3-800E@1066 (133fsb) load to windows, andi can still run windows application, surfing! but crash when i play the game or run setihome! the best now just at 1000 and run stable here

>>==========================
p3-800@1000 1.75v alpa pal-35t
asus cusl2 1001.a
256 hyundai pc133
asus v7700


Hi han888,

How is your board working? I see that you are using Hyundai PC133 memory. I have seen in the CUSL2 forum that a guy posted a message saying that he had to exchange his Hyundai PC133 for another brand because the mobo wouldn't work with it. What are your experiences? I have 128 NEC PC133 and I'm afraid that perhaps wouldn't work with the mobo because a guy told me in the CUSL2 forum that it didn't work for him. What do you think? Why is it that the same memory that didn't work in one mobo would work in another?

Thank you.