Should I buy the P3V4X or wait on the CUSL2?

[cwand]

it's for my 700E cbo

 

[DaveCSparty]

I was in the same boat as you but couldn't wait and got the P3V4X. I'm sure that you can't go wrong either way though. But the CUSL2 will cost a lot more than the P3V4X. It's a hard decision to make, and I got the P3V4X. But I'm a college student with a budget.

 

[RayEarth]

go with the cusl2 because with the intel 815, you don't have to bother with these darn via 4.23 driver patches & upgrades. I have a soyo7vca apollo 133a & i'm running 700@933 at 1.65v which is good but if i didn't have a mother board now i would wait for the 815 instead.

 

[bluezebra1098]

The question you gotta ask yourself is:
Do you want a proven stable board (P3V4X) with a VIA chipset, which does provide a number of upgrades/patches or a board with a chipset which is not proven (only a few testers and reviewers have them)and the thought that the 815 is a patched up version of the 820 chipset?

One positive would be not having to use an adapter if you are using a flipchip processor, but that's about it.

If you feel like testing new waters go with the CUSL2, but expect a higher cost. You can get a P3V4X for just over a $100 does anyone know how much the CUSL2 is gonna run yet? If it follows suit with the 820 chipset expect to pay $150-$180.

 

[JellyBaby]

The p3v4x also has the advantage of 4 dimm slots. You can use all 4 for up to 2 GB (in theory) total RAM, all banks running at PC-133. The i815 has only 3 dimm slots and a maximum RAM limit of 512 MB. What's more if you use all 3 dimm slots the board reverts to PC-100, so you really only have 2 if you want PC-133.

Someone already pointed out the cost issue: via 133a is less than i815.

Only other difference is that the p3v4x can run your memory bus at 133 even when your fsb is at 100. The i815, while having other asychronous memory options, can't do this particular setting for some reason. It's no biggie as few will ever need this setup.

So I'd recommend either board. It may turn out the cusl2 is more stable and has fewer quirks than the p3v4x but only time will tell.

 

[Ulysses]

They're both AnandTech Editor's Choices. I'd go for an Intel chipset board in most cases, and the 815E has many forward looking features. Stuff gets outdated so fast that I'd like the most up to date myself.