the best socket 370 motherboard for my CPU

[princejoe]

I am looking for a socket 370 motherboard for my system, does anyone have any recommendations? I want a motherboard that is good on overclocking and stable as well... I have two in my mind already, just want to get you guys' opinions on it, thse two are Asus Cusl2 and Asus Tusl2-c. Which one is better among the two I just mentioned? Is Cusl2 good at gaming?
thanks

[JadedC36]

Hey princejoe;
The ASUS CUSL2 (CUSL2-C also), and the Asus TUSL2-C are essentially the same board. They have the same i815 chipset, the -C indicates no onboard video (even with onboard video there is still an AGP slot). The main difference is the first leter C means Coppermine, whereas the T means Tualatin. What is this difference? They both have socket 370, but the pinouts are slightly different for the Tualatin PIII. You can use any socket 370 Celeron, PIII, or PIII Tualatin on the TUSL2-C, but the Tualatin wont work on the CUSL2. Hope this clears it up for you.

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Mike

[kfh]

Hi princejoe,
I built my system around an Gigabyte GA60XE 815iEP It's very stable. I don't do overclocking,There are jumpers you can tinker with and a software programme easy tune111 which allows you to adjust the fsb. There is not allot of tinkering in the bios you can do so go with the asus. Take a look Here (http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q2/010620/index.html)
kfh



[This message has been edited by kfh (edited 01-01-2002).]

[princejoe]

thanks for the feedback, Jadedc36 and Kfh.
Jadedc36, do u have either one of the CUSL2 or TUSL2? Since u said that they are pretty much the same board, so there is no difference in terms of performance, overclocking, stability and features, right? You mention CUSL2 and CUSL2-C, are they different models or something? Do u think it's a good motherboard?
Kfh, is the Gigabyte motherboard "Gigabyte GA-6OXM7E"? If yes, I think it's a pretty good, right?

[Randy_tx]

Abit has pretty cool mobo's with jumperless manipulation of clock and other settings.

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XP didn't save Me !

[JadedC36]

princejoe;
Yes I have the TUSL2-C, because I chose the new PIII called Tualatin. It is still just a PIII, but is made using a smaller die. So the CUSL2-C, and the TUSL2-C are the same chipset, the Intel i815EP. The only difference is you can't use the PIII Tualatin on the CUSL2-C. So if you haven't bought one yet you can get either one. If you have already bought a PIII Tualatin cpu then you will need the TUSL2-C. I feel the i815 chipset privides the best performance for the Celeron/PII/PIII. Most boards will let you adjust the bus frequency some, but Intel frowns on the practice. I am not going to overclock, but that is just my preference. The brand that kfh recommended is using the same Intel chipset as the Asus models, so it would be prudent to check some other boards out. VIA also has a chipset for the socket 370 cpu's. Here are a couple of Tom's Hardware articles you might check out,Tualatin (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q3/010919/index.html) , and DDR for the PIII (http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q2/010430/index.html) ,and this one i815 mobo's (http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q2/010620/index.html) . Then again this might just get overwhelming, I think you have made a good choice. One more thing, the I didn't see a model of the CUSL2 (without the -C) on Asus's web site, so they may have dropped that model.

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Mike

[kfh]

Hi princejoe,
No it's GA60 XE with 815iEP chip set, dual bios, ata 100, extra slots, 2 onboard usb + 2 extras, onboard sound/graphics if needed, hardware monitor, str, wol, etc etc. Yes it seems to be a good board, its the first system I built so far so good. I would still go with the asus board if you are going to overclock. Or go P4 which is my next move when I got the readies.
kfh.



[This message has been edited by kfh (edited 01-02-2002).]

[princejoe]

Hi, Randy_tx, which particular Abit motherboard u talking about? thanks
Hi, Jadedc36 and Kfh, thanks for the feedback again. I agreed with both of u regarding the Asus 815 motherboards. As u know, Asus motherboards tend to be more expensive than other motherboards even base on the same chipsets. I was searching it on pricewatch.com, either the vendor don't have it, or they had replaced CUSL2-C with TUSL2-C, or the price was kind of high for a outdated motherboard. On the other hand, I found MSI 815E Pro which based on the same chip as the Asus, and MSI 815EP Pro at a much cheaper price, do u guys know anything about it? Thanks

[kenja]

I also have the Gigabyte GA-6OX (minus audio and video). Seems good to me. There is a setting for increasing the core voltage by %10, but that wasn't enough to convince a (default 1.5V) 600MHz Celeron to run at 900MHz with a 100MHz FSB. The chipset doesn't allow running the memory bus at 133MHz unless the FSB is 133MHz.