-

[THUGSROOK]

its also missing almost all of the overclocking features. (P4B533-VM)

 

[SupermanCK]

i believe the VM version doesn't even have an agp slot...correct me if i am wrong

 

[THUGSROOK]

youre wrong

it does.

linkage

 

[SupermanCK]

my bad...
i guess asus added on to it...

 

[THUGSROOK]

 

[Bobbyeyes]

i believe the VM version doesn't even have an agp slot...correct me if i am wrong

Actually the VM version w/ onboard video does not have an agp slot

ps i am making great progress w/ this p4b533 vm board.
i have located the memory voltage regulating chip.
it is the HIP6028CB chip near the usb ports. after careful testing w/ a volt and ohm meter i have narrowed it down to TWO of the 14 legs that needs to be jumped w/ a 40k ohm resistor.....(that will give me 2.8 Vmem)
but witch one??

I WILL LET THE DICE ROLL FOR SURE ON THIS ONE!

it is the F'ING memory voltage that is holding me back on this board...
it could be a real screamer w/ this voltage mod.(it feels very fast already)

any suggestions on how to do this voltage mod are EXTREMELY welcome!

again.. never put a price on a good time!
if the dice roll and i fry my board, i had a great time trying!
(thugs can be inspiring)

 

[Freejack2]

I'm eyeing a the P4B533 and -E version. I have 4 hard drives and 2 cd devices all ide.
I have an older udma66 raid controller that will run devices also.
The 533 without the raid is almost $50 cheaper.
My question though is, how close to 33mhz does this keep the pci bus if I oc my cpu to 150mhz?
Mooo!

 

[THUGSROOK]

heres Mikki's thread on the P4B533-E. all of that onboard stuff does appear to be hurting overclocking

to answer your question...
the P4B533 has complete AGP/PCI control options thru bios.
you can set it for 66.66/33.33 at any speed. options range from 66.66/33.33 to over 100/50.

after reading Mikki's thread, the raid pci card sounds like the better idea.

HTH

 

[Toymaker]

Hey Thugsrook. Excellent info. Man, I wish I'd seen it before I bought my P4S533. At least I know what my next motherboard will be like. A 50% overclock(1.6A @ 2.45) is certainly nothing to sneeze at and i'm pretty happy right now. But, the P4B533 is definitely the overclockers board. I hope you're still around when it's time for my next board.

 

[SupermanCK]

what's HTH?

 

[THUGSROOK]

Toymaker ~ thx man

SupermanCK ~ lol yea sorry im showing my age with that abbreviation huh?
its from the old USENET days way before webased forums became the norm.

HTH = hope this helps
TIA = thx in advance

HTH

 

[SupermanCK]

lol...

 

[Rectalfier]

Does anyone know if there's a way to trick the Ratio's on the P4B533, like on the P4B266?

 

[THUGSROOK]

nope not yet.

rest assured if one is found, there will be a thread on it!

 

[THUGSROOK]

new beta bios v1007.011 is available from the Asus german ftp site.

ill try it tonight and see if its worth anything.



<EDIT> fixed link (stupid ftp)

 

[THUGSROOK]

im starting to really appreciate the built in bios flasher on this board.
its easier - faster - and for some reason, it seems alot safer. (probably cause its so quick)

anyways the new bios works fine for me.
no new options.
performance was slightly better than v1007.003 and v1006.

 

[Mikki]

the raid pci card sounds like the better idea.

I don't even know about that, Thugs. After messing with this stuff, I've come to the conclusion that the whole Raid thing in general isn't worth it for me. I bought the -E board mainly because I haven't messed with raid before, and I like to tinker. I saw NO difference (no benchmarks, just real-time observation) in normal operation between the two setups, and by that I mean normal loading, copying, etc. And of course the hit on the cpu was disappointing. I'll mess with it some more mainly because I can't leave well enough alone. One thing I really liked about the raid was it gave me more freedom for configuring my ide stuff, I was able to put my cd-r on a channel by itself like it's recommended. With it disabled I have my main drive and storage/backup drive on the same channel and my cd and cd-r on the other. I haven't messed with it enough to recommend either way, just enough to express my disappointment. You're going to end up having me go with a straight, no usb, no anything setup, aren't you?!!!

Sorry this is so long, I talk a lot, huh? Thanks for the HTH explanation, always wondered but was too embarressed to ask....

 

[SupermanCK]

i thought the whole point of getting raid is to set up raid configuration instead of using it for regular idle uses...
for me...i definiitely notice the shorter load up time and fast copying time...and i don't have hds connect to my on-board idle channels...i do have a pci raid card

 

[THUGSROOK]

RAID isnt for everyone.

i used to RAID back in the P3 days but no longer.
the new 133ata drives are so fast that i no longer can tell the difference in my typical daily use. (which im sure isnt typical at all)

i found that the best alternative to RAID is to use 2 drives.
a smaller C: for OS and apps, and use a larger D: for mass storage. (no actual running programs at all on D: )

 

[THUGSROOK]

hey SupermanCK, do you use HD tach benchmark?

i smell a shootout

 

[SupermanCK]

Thugsrook Bring it on...and i do use HD bench...
and I do have my drives partitioned so Windows and application on one...mass storage as one...i mean MASS
and I also have a game only drive...

 

[THUGSROOK]

if you dont already have it - download HDTach. (small simple proggy)
bench each partition of each drive and save the results (5 results per test) (dont do write tests)
feel free to defrag and reboot between tests.

ill posts my scores in a little while.
should we start a new thread? "How high can you tach?" (there is no HD forum - hehe)

LMK

 

[SupermanCK]

i have the progy
i think a new thread is good...
I do have my drives set up as Windows & Apps one drive, games one, and MASS storage one...I really mean it when i say MASS
I am not going to defrag since it takes too much time, plus I want it to be as close to real world benchmarks as possible...who would have an empty drive out there...
no write test is fine...
i think in the new thread we all should put in our setup of course...what hds...what raid controller and raid set up

 

[THUGSROOK]

ok some rather interesting new info......

been doing some HD benchmarks which led me to messing around with the PCI lock at different speeds.
*HD scores remained uneffected by PCI speed upto 37.5mhz - thats where scores dropped off.

also since im running 167fsb and this board has a 1/5 divider i thought id turn off PCI lock and see what happens.
*not only did HD scores improve but all benchmarks improved!

altho im sure those results wont be universal - it may be worth running some tests and tweeking your AGP/PCI lock

 

[LazyC]

I just built a rig with the same components.... 1.6a on a P4B533 ( i845e, no raid ). I haven't overclocked yet... but I noticed Sandra is slowing the FSB to be 101.... is that correct? Bios ( 1006 ) shows 100 fsb, as does PCProbe.

Also, is 1006 the latest non beta bios?