ASUS P2B Slot 1 Motherboard
Reviewed by Vijay Anand (28/11/98)

Motherboard Specifications
Processor	Intel Celeron® Processor 266MHz-333MHz (66Mhz). Intel Pentium® II Processor 233MHz-366MHz (66Mhz). Intel Pentium® II Processor 350MHz-450MHz (100Mhz) Slot 1 Socket for Future Expansion.
Chipset	Intel 82440 BX AGPset
Cache memory	CPU Built-in 128KB/512KB L2 cache for Celeron/Pentium II Processor
System Memory	3 x 168-pin 3.3v DIMM sockets support Supports 8/16/32/64/128/256 MB DIMM Module Supports SDRAM PC66 & 100(Supports ECC, 72 bit) Supports 8MB to 768MB DRAM Size Supports 66/75/83/100/103/112/133 MHz System Clock Speed Setting Supports 1.5-8.0 Multiplier Setting
PCI IDE	2 X PCI Bus Master UDMA/33 IDE ports (up to 4 ATAPI Devices) Supports for PIO Mode 3, 4, UDMA/33 IDE & ATAPI CD-ROM
I/O Interface	1x floppy port (360KB-2.88MB) 2x serial ports (16550 high-speed) 1x parallel port (SPP/EPP/ECP) PS/2 Keyboard PS/2 Mouse 2x USB
Expansion slot	4 x PCI 32-bit slots, PCI 2.1 compliant 3 x ISA 16-bit slots 1x AGP (1x & 2x Mode,66/133MHz) slot Supports Creative PCI Sound Card SB-Link™.
Power Management	Power On by LAN, RTC Alarm, Modem ring on, Keyboard & Mouse & Soft-Power Switch Power Off by Windows® 95 Shut down & Soft-Power Switch Supports 3 Level ACPI LED
Form Factor	ATX Form Factor, 4 layer PCB Fits in Regular ATX Case ATX Connector on Board Double Deck ATX Back Panel
BIOS	2 Mbit (256KB) FLASH RAM Award PCI BIOS with Green, PnP, DMI, INT13 (HD>8.4)and Anti-Virus Functions + Anti-Boot Virus Bios by Trend ChipAway. LS120, ZIP, ATAPI CD-ROM, IDE #1, #2, #3, #4 Bootable

<Introduction><The Good><The Bad><Conclusion><Rating>

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Introduction

The same day when Intel announced officially of their 440BX chipset, Asus announced their new BX motherboard, the P2B. Very shortly they were joined by other variants that had either an on-board SCSI, Ethernet or Dual slot-1. SHZ chose to review the P2B since most of us will be interested about the basic model, the P2B without the extra costly frills mentioned above. Asus always has a well-built product with good performance albeit the higher cost, so let's venture on to see how this board stacks up:

The contents of the box include the following: 1 P2B motherboard, 1 packet of FDD & HDD cable, 1 Stand for P2 cpu, 1 Drivers+Utility-CD, 1 sticker of settings, 1 motherboard-manual & 1 Guarantee Card. Lets take an in-depth look at its features & what it has to offer.

The Good

The board comes in a slightly older 4/3/1(PCI/ISA/AGP) expansion slot configuration. The main connectors like the FDD,HDD & the 3 DIMM slots are easily accessible in front of the board. The various LED & all other connectors are clearly labeled on the board.

The board includes a green-coloured heatsink over the 440BX chipset. This helps to dissipate heat better & is even better if one is overclocking the board. Speaking of cooling, there are three 3-pin power connectors for CPU, Chassis & AGP fan installation. Should you need the SB-link connector for some PCI sound-cards, you'll be content to know that one is provided, although the Creative PCI sound-cards(which the SB-link was 1st intended for usage) are engineered in a different way that you don't require this connector to get full DOS sound support.

For setting the FSB speed & the multiplier control, they come in the form of the old fashioned jumpers. There are still some people out there that still like this kind of setting although those variables are easier to set through the Bios. These people fear that if the board or chip refuses to boot at the high speeds, clearing the CMOS might not work all the time. These days it's much safer. Asus did have a Bios controlled setup for their 1st revisions of their LX board, but was not functioning too well & Asus removed it. Till now they have shy away from the modern Bios controlled setup. Anyway Asus has printed the settings on the board for some convenience.

The board even comes with an Anti-Boot Virus Bios by Trend-ChipAway, in case your struck with a nasty virus that threatens to corrupt the Bios.

The given CD comes with these software: Intel LANdesk Client Manager (LCM), PC-cillin Anti-Virus ver.3 & Asus PC Probe 1.2. The Intel LCM is more suited towards being used in a setup where there are many PCs that use Asus motherboards & this software helps to manage all of them from 1 place. The Asus PC Probe is diagnostic tool.

The Manual is of course the normal Asus standard that is well presented and is one of the best motherboard manuals. It has got more diagrams than most motherboard manuals which simplify understanding & gives a better view of the installation procedure.

The Test

The processor used for this test is a P2-300 (0.25 micron ver.) which is of the SL2YK batch & is very overclockable. Usually I'm limited in my processor speed choices as it is multiplier-locked at 4.5x & using the 75 or 83MHz FSB would hang on Windows boot-up, due to AGP card being overclocked by the faster AGP bus. But this time it worked, thanks to the high tolerance of the Hercules Beast. But I had troubles going faster by using the 112MHz FSB or above, either because that's the chip's limit or needs better cooling.

Wintune 98 Results

*Take note that the low 2D, 3D & OpenGL scores are due to the different architecture of the Savage3D chip on the Hercules Beast & it could also be that this board is not tuned to benchmarking because the frame rates I achieved in Quake-2 are fast. Please Check the Hercules Beast review for more details.

Sisoft Sandra-98 & Norton SI

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The Bad

The ATX connector is at the back of the board behind the slot-1. This can cause some obstruction of the air flow as the ATX power line will pass over the P2-chip & it can mess up a clean looking interior. Also if you want to access some parts of the motherboard, you'll need to disconnect the ATX power-line & this will not be easy in a case where all the peripherals are inside & because of the P2 chip, you can hardly reach the back to unplug the cord!

Another complaint is the jumper setup. It's a bit old fashioned and they could have used a DIP-switch block instead of jumpers. On top of that, the jumpers are difficult to take out! Some motherboards use jumpers that have a handle to pluck them out easily.

It comes with a motherboard temp sensor but no cpu temp sensor. Oddly, Asus, sells it separately. It's just a wire that activates the cpu-sensor but it ain't cheap! I hope they include this useful item in the future as their boards are slightly pricy and this sensor further adds to that cost.

The led connectors & others are bunched into one corner which is not easy to pull out & put back if the board & other parts are all fixed inside the case. Although it's labelled, it's hard to see them within the case in one small corner.

And of course, a 5th PCI slot and a 4th DIMM slot would be make this board better but these features are now available in a slightly modified model called the P2B-F. In fact the the number of PCI & DIMM slots is what makes the P2B & P2B-F different. Of course this would be slightly costlier than the P2B.

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Conclusion

Although it's not the fastest board that is tested by benchmarks at SHZ, it's still is fast. Overall it's a solid board by a very reliable manufacturer, ASUS. Too bad that it's bit more pricy than most boards on the market!

MOTHERBOARD RATING

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