I'm looking towards buying a new 815E mobo, and o/cing to the sky's with my new refrigerated Kyrotech renegade case unit. Can anyone provide any helpful hints as to which motherboard can provide better o/cablity, or is just plain better overall? Also I'm leaning towards a P3 800 rather than the 700 or 750 b/c I won't have to deal with the CB0 stepping problem since 800's and higher are all CB0. But does anyone know if the 800's are good o/cers just as the 700 and 750?
Which 815E mobo is better for o/cing; the Abit SE6 or Asus CUSL2??
- Thread starter Madcowz
- Start date
Mem
Lifer
- Apr 23, 2000
- 21,476
- 13
- 81
The Asus CUSL2 is very good for overclocking(better FSB selection then Abit SE6)also it`s a higher quality motherboard then the Abit SE6,you should really go for a 700E cB0 or 650E cB0, IMHO they are easier to overclock then the 800Mhz also cheaper & are pretty easy to find for purchase.
Madcowz at the moment, if you want to overclock an 815 motherboard there are only 2 choices. Either the Asus cusl2 or the MSI 815e pro.
Both of them have fsb settings in steps of 1 MHZ. Both support vcore and vio tweaking. The main difference is that the Asus has 2 cnr slots while the 815e has 1 cnr and 1 isa slot. Also the vio tweaking in the Asus is by jumpers for 3.3, 3.4 and 3.6V while in the MSI it is via the bios in steps of 0.05 V. The final difference is that the asus supports hardware monitoring via the diode, while the MSI uses thermal probes. Both boards are quite stable even at high fsb. For problemws with these mobos you can look around in this forum and on the respective manufacturers newsgroup sites. At the moment the rest of the 815 mobos in the market are very poor in oc'ing features.
Both of them have fsb settings in steps of 1 MHZ. Both support vcore and vio tweaking. The main difference is that the Asus has 2 cnr slots while the 815e has 1 cnr and 1 isa slot. Also the vio tweaking in the Asus is by jumpers for 3.3, 3.4 and 3.6V while in the MSI it is via the bios in steps of 0.05 V. The final difference is that the asus supports hardware monitoring via the diode, while the MSI uses thermal probes. Both boards are quite stable even at high fsb. For problemws with these mobos you can look around in this forum and on the respective manufacturers newsgroup sites. At the moment the rest of the 815 mobos in the market are very poor in oc'ing features.
The ASUS CUSL2 is already an AnandTech Editor's Choice even though i815E boards have barely hit the market. I noticed that it has been around 18 months since an Abit board last received that award.
Speaking in a very general way, I think Abit is not so highly regarded as a manufacturer of motherboards as ASUS, and, as I understand it, ASUS also has manufactured OEM boards whereas Abit has not, perhaps reflecting quality or manufacturing concerns. Abit came to prominence because they pioneered boards that had more adjustable features than others, features that are now taken for granted by overclockers. I think Abit has limited itself to 4-ply PCB boards.
P.S.
The 800/100 should on average o'clock about like a 750, but probably not any better either - I guess you are buying a little insurance with the 800. And when you get the chip, before opening the box check its S-spec against the following chart to be sure it's a cB0, which you still want to get (I've read that there may be a few non-cB0's @ 800):
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=196333
Speaking in a very general way, I think Abit is not so highly regarded as a manufacturer of motherboards as ASUS, and, as I understand it, ASUS also has manufactured OEM boards whereas Abit has not, perhaps reflecting quality or manufacturing concerns. Abit came to prominence because they pioneered boards that had more adjustable features than others, features that are now taken for granted by overclockers. I think Abit has limited itself to 4-ply PCB boards.
P.S.
The 800/100 should on average o'clock about like a 750, but probably not any better either - I guess you are buying a little insurance with the 800. And when you get the chip, before opening the box check its S-spec against the following chart to be sure it's a cB0, which you still want to get (I've read that there may be a few non-cB0's @ 800):
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=196333
hmm, that isa slot might just win me over for the MSI board... but may I ask what the CNR slots are for?
I just checked out the MSI 815E pro and seemingly it doesn't have any isa slots 
... also does anyone know the difference between the solano and solano 2 chipset? All except the Asus CUSL2 use solano 1
... also does anyone know the difference between the solano and solano 2 chipset? All except the Asus CUSL2 use solano 1The Solano 1 uses the ICH1 I/O hub. Solano 2 uses ICH2. Here is a link that has some info:
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/cs061900.htm
Given a choice, I would go for an ICH2 board for the ATA-100 support.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/cs061900.htm
Given a choice, I would go for an ICH2 board for the ATA-100 support.
Madcowz i think that the SE6, cusl2 and the MSI 6337(MSI 815e Pro) are solano 2 boards, ie support 2 usb ports and ata 100. The Abit SL6 and the MSI 6326(815 Pro not 'e') are not a solano 2 ie it is missing the 2nd usb port and the ata 100.
Regarding the MSI 6337 or MSI 815e pro, according to the specs and the first review i have seen ...
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/microstar/815epro/815eprop2.htm
it has 6 pci slots, and one CNR slot. One of the pci slots shares sith an isa slot, so there should be an isa slot.
CNR slots or 'Communications and Networking Risers' are for connecting specially designed audio, modem and networking cards. These cards are controlled by software drivers and are driven via the mainboard chipset. Or at least thats what i understood from reading around a while ago. Haven't seen any CNR's on the market yet !
Ulysses Asus has been making some very interesting motherboards for coppermines lately, while Abit have been concentrating on the BE6 II BX board. None of Abits VIA or 815 chipste motherboards have more than 4-5 fsb dettings between 133 and 150 fsb and i think none have vio tweaking. So it is not amazing that an Abit motherboard hasn't received an AnandTech Editor's Choice for a long time. However, that
doesn't say a lot to me. After all the Asus p3v4x is was and is the AnandTech Editor's Choice via 133a board, and the number of posts with problems for this board is the highest i ever remember for any board !
It needed 3-4 bios upgrades, 2 via driver upgrades and a lot of beta testing from end users ! So i am not impressed at all by Editor's choices these days ! Especially if they miss facts like the additional 10? fsb settings on the MSI 6309 mothrboard review in the via 133a roundup ! However, the cusl2 is a nice mobo, i have one running at 150 fsb for about 9 days and with no problems apart from the hardware monitor insisting that my cpu is cooler than my motherboard, and i am not the only person with that problem) ! Then again there is already a mini wish list for the cusl2 :
1) There is no way to adjust the AGP aperture for an AGP card in the
bios, it can only be adjusted for the onboard graphics card
(according to the Asus newsgroup and personal experience)
2) To correct the issues with the hardware monitoring (numeroues
posts in the Asus newsgroup, and in this forum, and personal
experience)
3) The ability to disable the 2nd usb port (could be handy !)
Not amazing issues, but still there are issues which should have been picked up by quality control. Anyone remember which was the last mobo in the market that could not adjust AGP aperture ?
Regarding the MSI 6337 or MSI 815e pro, according to the specs and the first review i have seen ...
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/microstar/815epro/815eprop2.htm
it has 6 pci slots, and one CNR slot. One of the pci slots shares sith an isa slot, so there should be an isa slot.
CNR slots or 'Communications and Networking Risers' are for connecting specially designed audio, modem and networking cards. These cards are controlled by software drivers and are driven via the mainboard chipset. Or at least thats what i understood from reading around a while ago. Haven't seen any CNR's on the market yet !
Ulysses Asus has been making some very interesting motherboards for coppermines lately, while Abit have been concentrating on the BE6 II BX board. None of Abits VIA or 815 chipste motherboards have more than 4-5 fsb dettings between 133 and 150 fsb and i think none have vio tweaking. So it is not amazing that an Abit motherboard hasn't received an AnandTech Editor's Choice for a long time. However, that
doesn't say a lot to me. After all the Asus p3v4x is was and is the AnandTech Editor's Choice via 133a board, and the number of posts with problems for this board is the highest i ever remember for any board !
It needed 3-4 bios upgrades, 2 via driver upgrades and a lot of beta testing from end users ! So i am not impressed at all by Editor's choices these days ! Especially if they miss facts like the additional 10? fsb settings on the MSI 6309 mothrboard review in the via 133a roundup ! However, the cusl2 is a nice mobo, i have one running at 150 fsb for about 9 days and with no problems apart from the hardware monitor insisting that my cpu is cooler than my motherboard, and i am not the only person with that problem) ! Then again there is already a mini wish list for the cusl2 :
1) There is no way to adjust the AGP aperture for an AGP card in the
bios, it can only be adjusted for the onboard graphics card
(according to the Asus newsgroup and personal experience)
2) To correct the issues with the hardware monitoring (numeroues
posts in the Asus newsgroup, and in this forum, and personal
experience)
3) The ability to disable the 2nd usb port (could be handy !)
Not amazing issues, but still there are issues which should have been picked up by quality control. Anyone remember which was the last mobo in the market that could not adjust AGP aperture ?
Madcowz instead of buying an 800 coppermine to ensure it is a cb0 stepping, why don't you get a 650 or 700 cb0 quaranteed to oc at 133 fsb. Many of the guaranteed ones reach a bit higher.
A number of places sell them, like
http://members.aol.com/pretestedcpus/
http://www.outsideloop.com/
http://www.pcnut.com/welcome.html
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
And i am not affiliated or have anything to do with any of them.
Well, apart from buying my 650 cb0 which runs at 150 fsb on the
cusl2 from one of them.
A number of places sell them, like
http://members.aol.com/pretestedcpus/
http://www.outsideloop.com/
http://www.pcnut.com/welcome.html
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
And i am not affiliated or have anything to do with any of them.
Well, apart from buying my 650 cb0 which runs at 150 fsb on the
cusl2 from one of them.
dakost
Do you know what you're talking about?
You state that either only Asus or a MSI should be chosen when looking for a 815 motherboard, you then list some features available with these motherboards, you then go on to say a board without these features will be a "poor" overclocker.
First, there's nothing wrong with 1MHz FBS increments but they would only allow you to overclock 4MHz higher than a board with 5MHz increments, with a 7.0 multiplier that means 28 extra CPU MHz, not a big deal with an 800+MHz CPU.
Vio adjustments - The I815 chipset uses a different implementation of the GTL bus over the BX chipset. AGP video cards run at the 66MHz specified AGP port speed. This makes changing the Vio voltages quite pointless but if tweaking this feature makes you feel better then go for it.
You should know that my poor overclocking POS Abit SE6 has no problems running my 550E at 153MHz FBS(860MHZ). It also is available now from many dealers and is priced cheaper than the Asus or MSI offerings but I suppose this is bad in your eyes.
I'm not on an Abit soapbox, I could personally care less what I815 board anyone uses, Just get you're facts straight before you sprout off - M.
Do you know what you're talking about?
You state that either only Asus or a MSI should be chosen when looking for a 815 motherboard, you then list some features available with these motherboards, you then go on to say a board without these features will be a "poor" overclocker.
First, there's nothing wrong with 1MHz FBS increments but they would only allow you to overclock 4MHz higher than a board with 5MHz increments, with a 7.0 multiplier that means 28 extra CPU MHz, not a big deal with an 800+MHz CPU.
Vio adjustments - The I815 chipset uses a different implementation of the GTL bus over the BX chipset. AGP video cards run at the 66MHz specified AGP port speed. This makes changing the Vio voltages quite pointless but if tweaking this feature makes you feel better then go for it.
You should know that my poor overclocking POS Abit SE6 has no problems running my 550E at 153MHz FBS(860MHZ). It also is available now from many dealers and is priced cheaper than the Asus or MSI offerings but I suppose this is bad in your eyes.
I'm not on an Abit soapbox, I could personally care less what I815 board anyone uses, Just get you're facts straight before you sprout off - M.
Just a quick question
Mem says that the CUSL2 has better FSB setting than the SE6..Well cant you adjust the SE6 1mhz at a time..What selections does the asus have that can possibly match or be better than that..I'm just curious, cause I'd rather have an asus over abit. I will be overclocking and need many fsb selections between 133 and 150..On the asus site I only see fsb settings of 133, 135, 140 and 145..So how is that a better selection than 1mhz at a time?
Mem says that the CUSL2 has better FSB setting than the SE6..Well cant you adjust the SE6 1mhz at a time..What selections does the asus have that can possibly match or be better than that..I'm just curious, cause I'd rather have an asus over abit. I will be overclocking and need many fsb selections between 133 and 150..On the asus site I only see fsb settings of 133, 135, 140 and 145..So how is that a better selection than 1mhz at a time?
mschell lets asume someone can't oc at 150 on the abit SE6 ... the next step down is 145 isn't it ? With a coppermine 650 that means a loss od 4 x 6.5 = 26 MHz, because on the cusl2 there is always a chance that he can still oc at 149 fsb !! So the extra fsb's can make a difference of around 3%.
Then lets take someone who happens to have a cas 2 pc 133 memory that can't work above say 148 fsb, in the culs2 case you top the vio to say 3.6V, the MSI is even more flexible cause one can try 3.5 or 3.55V before 3.6, and make the memory stable maybe even at 150 fsb. Actually thats what i've been doing both with my old MSI 6199VA and the cusl2. If i take the vio down to 3.3 i can't go above 148 fsb. When i set the vio to 3.6V i can ! And in general, whenever someone tries to oc over 155 or so, the vio helps to stabilize the memory signal. Another reason that prooves that the vio has an effect on stability is that some manufacturers including asus set the default vio to 3.4 V rather than the nominal 3.3V.
And if the 1 fsb increments and the vio tweaking weren't usefull, then why are these features included in mobo's by manufacturers like Asus and MSI.
Then lets take someone who happens to have a cas 2 pc 133 memory that can't work above say 148 fsb, in the culs2 case you top the vio to say 3.6V, the MSI is even more flexible cause one can try 3.5 or 3.55V before 3.6, and make the memory stable maybe even at 150 fsb. Actually thats what i've been doing both with my old MSI 6199VA and the cusl2. If i take the vio down to 3.3 i can't go above 148 fsb. When i set the vio to 3.6V i can ! And in general, whenever someone tries to oc over 155 or so, the vio helps to stabilize the memory signal. Another reason that prooves that the vio has an effect on stability is that some manufacturers including asus set the default vio to 3.4 V rather than the nominal 3.3V.
And if the 1 fsb increments and the vio tweaking weren't usefull, then why are these features included in mobo's by manufacturers like Asus and MSI.
I never implied that 1MHz FBS steps or Vio adjusting ability were bad things, all things being equal, a MB with extra adjustment features is better than one without those features but things are not equal at this point. Both the Asus and the MSI are not widely available at this time and both sell for more than the SE6.
One problem with the I815 chipset is it's more expensive than a BX chipset. Abit in an effort to keep cost down used a less expensive clock generator, hence the 5MHz steps. From a memo I read from Abit, they said their testing concluded that Vio adjustments had no effect on overclocking with the I815 chipset, why include a useless feature but things could be different with an Asus motherboard.
I ran an Abit BF6 for quite a while, it has the 1MHz steps along with Vio adjustments, the 1MHz steps were useful when OC'ing a Celeron as everyone else had 83 or 100MHz. You are correct in the fact that 1MHz steps could help in running a CPU faster but there's an equal good chance the processor limits will fall on or very near a 5MHz step. While I found upping the Vio seemed to help my video card work better on a overclocked AGP port, it never helped my memory run one bit faster. To tell the truth, no one has done any real testing to determine if more Vio helps in overclocking on any platform, it could be another factor. Just because a manufacture includes a feature, it does not make it viable feature, they just could be giving the public what they think they need.
The whole point of my post was just to point that the Abit or any other board other than the Asus/MSI is certainly worthy of consideration as long as it has the features you need with a price you can afford. - M.
PS: My overclocking numbers were wrong, my CPU is actually running at 840MHz - (5.5x153)
One problem with the I815 chipset is it's more expensive than a BX chipset. Abit in an effort to keep cost down used a less expensive clock generator, hence the 5MHz steps. From a memo I read from Abit, they said their testing concluded that Vio adjustments had no effect on overclocking with the I815 chipset, why include a useless feature but things could be different with an Asus motherboard.
I ran an Abit BF6 for quite a while, it has the 1MHz steps along with Vio adjustments, the 1MHz steps were useful when OC'ing a Celeron as everyone else had 83 or 100MHz. You are correct in the fact that 1MHz steps could help in running a CPU faster but there's an equal good chance the processor limits will fall on or very near a 5MHz step. While I found upping the Vio seemed to help my video card work better on a overclocked AGP port, it never helped my memory run one bit faster. To tell the truth, no one has done any real testing to determine if more Vio helps in overclocking on any platform, it could be another factor. Just because a manufacture includes a feature, it does not make it viable feature, they just could be giving the public what they think they need.
The whole point of my post was just to point that the Abit or any other board other than the Asus/MSI is certainly worthy of consideration as long as it has the features you need with a price you can afford. - M.
PS: My overclocking numbers were wrong, my CPU is actually running at 840MHz - (5.5x153)
Someone in this Forums said "Don't believe in everything you read".
He is right. Most people today is labeling Abit as bad and Asus as good and I don't know if this is right. I believe both brands are good.
I just bought my second Abit-SE6 (I had one BH6 to overclock a C300A to 450 and later even my 550E at 667@133, 1 year later its release) and it is working 100%. I had no problems to install it, I just supplied the i815 drivers and the installation was over. Everything is working, no need to reinstall OS and everything.
Actually, I tried both boards and with Abit I was able to overclock my 550E to 825 (150MHZ), which was not possible with the Asus (only 770@140). In addition, the Asus had a freezing or lockout every day at least and the Abit, even Netscape does not crash!!
It is true that this Asus i815 model offers more features than the Abit, but I don't need them, Abit was quite cheaper and was available. Thanks to the guys that through rocks at Abit, it was a good deal to me!!
Regarding performance, it is similar to the Asus P3BF I had before, no big diference like some sites are showing.
Why I made the upgrade? To reduce the overclock in the overall components (except the CPU) and increase stability. Believe, it works.
My machine:
Hercules Geforce 2 MX 32 SDram
ABIT SE6
P3 550E at 825MHZ (150-4-4-3)
128MB PC-133 generic
Adaptec 2930U2
Quantum 9GB Atlas IV U2W
ISDN Fritz
Diamond MX300
3Com USB network adapter
Win 98 SE
He is right. Most people today is labeling Abit as bad and Asus as good and I don't know if this is right. I believe both brands are good.
I just bought my second Abit-SE6 (I had one BH6 to overclock a C300A to 450 and later even my 550E at 667@133, 1 year later its release) and it is working 100%. I had no problems to install it, I just supplied the i815 drivers and the installation was over. Everything is working, no need to reinstall OS and everything.
Actually, I tried both boards and with Abit I was able to overclock my 550E to 825 (150MHZ), which was not possible with the Asus (only 770@140). In addition, the Asus had a freezing or lockout every day at least and the Abit, even Netscape does not crash!!
It is true that this Asus i815 model offers more features than the Abit, but I don't need them, Abit was quite cheaper and was available. Thanks to the guys that through rocks at Abit, it was a good deal to me!!
Regarding performance, it is similar to the Asus P3BF I had before, no big diference like some sites are showing.
Why I made the upgrade? To reduce the overclock in the overall components (except the CPU) and increase stability. Believe, it works.
My machine:
Hercules Geforce 2 MX 32 SDram
ABIT SE6
P3 550E at 825MHZ (150-4-4-3)
128MB PC-133 generic
Adaptec 2930U2
Quantum 9GB Atlas IV U2W
ISDN Fritz
Diamond MX300
3Com USB network adapter
Win 98 SE
mschell the original question in the start of the thread reads ...
"Can anyone provide any helpful hints as to which motherboard can provide better o/cablity". It doesn't ask anything about availability or price! Therefore, as you said, all other things beeing equal, the Asus cusl2 and the MSI 6337 are at the moment the best choices.
If oc'ability is the major requirement, how can then the Abit or any other board other than the Asus/MSI be worthy of consideration ? They simply lack a number of features which are very helpfull in o'cing.
"Can anyone provide any helpful hints as to which motherboard can provide better o/cablity". It doesn't ask anything about availability or price! Therefore, as you said, all other things beeing equal, the Asus cusl2 and the MSI 6337 are at the moment the best choices.
If oc'ability is the major requirement, how can then the Abit or any other board other than the Asus/MSI be worthy of consideration ? They simply lack a number of features which are very helpfull in o'cing.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter