ASUS P5A Super 7 Motherboard Reviewed by Jereme Wong Jong Siang (06/09/98)
| Motherboard Specifications | |
Processor |
|
Chipset |
|
Cache memory |
|
System Memory |
|
PCI IDE |
|
I/O Interface |
|
Expansion slot |
|
Power Management |
|
Form Factor |
|
BIOS |
|
<Introduction><The Good><The Bad><Conclusion><Rating>
Back to topIntroduction
After moving on to the Slot 1 mainboards, it has been quite a while ever since I last laid my hands on a socket 7 motherboard. ASUS has always been a leading manufacturer in the mainboard arena over the past few years. The last time they came out with the T2P4 HX board which was the first board in the market to have the 83 Mhz setting, ASUS managed to capture a larger portion of the HX market. Today, with the birth of Intel's Celeron with 128KB integrated cache and all the Slot 1 mainboards available in the market, it seems as though the Super7 market will not last long. However, after trying the P5A motherboard, I am convinced that there may be a revival of the Super7 market afterall.
The Good
Featuring 3 DIMM slots and a 5/2/1 expansion slot ATX design, the ASUS P5A is able to fit comfortably into many conventional casings available in the market. The general layout of the board is neat and jumpers are easily located on the right side of the board. The 3 DIMM slots means that you are able to fit a total of 768MB of ram onboard, however be aware that only the first 128MB of RAM will be cached. This is because of the limitations of the current design of the ALi Aladdin V Chipset.
The initial setup of the board is generally easy with the help of the well designed manual that comes with the motherboard. By using the ALi Aladdin V Chipset, which is well supported by Windows 98, the board supports a whole range of conventional bus speed settings like 66/66.8/75/83.3/95/100MHz along with the unofficial FSB settings including 105/110/115/120Mhz. The 95Mhz FSB setting which is not commonly found in most Super7 mainboard allows the support of the AMD K6-2 333, which runs at 95x3.5. In addition, the stability at the 95 and 100MHz setting is also exceptional and using the AMD K6-333, I am able to obtain a very stable configuration at 95x4=380MHz. There has been reports claiming that this board is also able to take the 125 and 133MHz setting. Unfortunately, these two options are not stable enough to be considered viable options for normal operation.
In addition to the wide range of bus speed settings, the P5A also boast a wide selection of core voltage settings. Stepping through the 2.0v all the way to 3.5v in 0.1v increments, ASUS seems to have designed this board with the intention of winning the best overclocker's motherboard in the arena of Super7 mainboards. Furthermore, the P5A also has the ability to up the I/O voltage to 3.6v for added stability. However, be aware when the CPU external clock (bus speed) is set above 105MHz, the VIO voltage will increase to 3.8v if the VIO jumper is set to 3.5v and 3.9v if it is set to 3.6v.
The Test
Initially a AMD K62-333 chip was used for the testing of this board. However, I had the fortune to try out a sample of the pre-released AMD K62-350 chip on this board as well. For all the tests conducted on both chips, I couldn't push either of the chip past the 400MHz barrier. In fact, the highest stable configuration I achieved was at 385MHz @ 110x3.5 using the AMD K62-350. I did manage to boot up into Windows 98 at 400MHz @ 100x4 using the same chip. However, the system hang after a while. This is probably due to the insufficient cooling. As for the AMD K62-333 chip, I achieved a very stable configuration at 380 @ 95x4 setting.
Test Configuration |
|
| Processor(s): | AMD K62 - 333 & 350 Tray |
| RAM: | 2 - 32MB Mitsubishi PC100 SDRAM DIMM |
| Hard Drive(s): | Quantum SE 2.1Gb |
| Video Card(s): | Diamond Viper V330 (4MB SGRAM - PCI) |
| Bus Master Drivers: | Windows 98 Bus Mastering Drivers |
| Video Drivers: | Diamond Viper V330.4.10.01.0128 |
| Operation System(s): | Windows 98 (build 4.10.1998) |
FS3 |
FS2 |
FS1 |
FS0 |
CPU Bus (MHz) |
AGP Bus (MHz) |
PCI Bus (MHz) |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
60 |
60 |
30 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
66.8 |
66.8 |
33.4 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
75 |
75 |
37.5 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
83.3 |
66.6 |
33.3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
95 |
63.3 |
31.6 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
100 |
66.6 |
33.3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
105 |
70 |
35 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
110 |
73.3 |
36.6 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
115 |
76.6 |
38.3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
120 |
80 |
40 |
BF0 |
BF1 |
BF2 |
Multiplier |
1-2 |
1-2 |
-- |
1.5x |
2-3 |
1-2 |
-- |
2.0x |
2-3 |
2-3 |
-- |
2.5x |
1-2 |
2-3 |
-- |
3.0x |
1-2 |
1-2 |
-- |
3.5x |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
4.0x |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
4.5x |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
5.0x |
CPU
Vcore Voltage Settings
VID3 |
VID2 |
VID1 |
VID0 |
CPU Vcore (V) |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2.0 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2.1 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2.2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2.3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2.4 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2.5 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2.6 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2.7 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2.8 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2.9 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
3.0 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
3.1 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
3.2 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
3.3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
1-2 |
3.4 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
3.5 (Single Plane) |
| CPU | (1) AMD K6-2 with MultiMedia Extensions@381 MHz |
| Video Board | Diamond Viper V330 |
| Video Mode | 800x600@16bits/pixel |
| RAM | 64 MB |
| OS | Windows 98 4.10.1998 |
| Area Tested | Value |
|---|---|
| CPU Integer | 997.8986 MIPS |
| CPU Floating Point | 442.9933 MFLOPS |
| Video(2D) | 76.68916 MPixels/s |
| Direct3D | 80.33694 MPixels/s |
| OpenGL | 45.24541 MPixels/s |
| Memory | 626.577 MB/s |
| Cached Disk | 65.63762 MB/s |
| Uncached Disk | 2.466242 MB/s |
| CPU | (1) AMD K6-2 with MultiMedia Extensions@385 MHz |
| Video Board | Diamond Viper V330 |
| Video Mode | 800x600@16bits/pixel |
| RAM | 64 MB |
| OS | Windows 98 4.10.1998 |
| Area Tested | Value |
|---|---|
| CPU Integer | 1015.704 MIPS |
| CPU Floating Point | 447.9913 MFLOPS |
| Video(2D) | 80.11524 MPixels/s |
| Direct3D | 82.54626 MPixels/s |
| OpenGL | 47.42382 MPixels/s |
| Memory | 647.556 MB/s |
| Cached Disk | 68.49934 MB/s |
| Uncached Disk | 2.262353 MB/s |
| Settings | AMD K62-333 | Settings | AMD K62-350 |
| 330 @ 110 x 3 | 877 | 350 @ 100 x 3.5 | 924 |
| 333 @ 95 x 3.5 | 878 | 360 @ 120 x 3 | 957 |
| 345 @ 115 x 3 | 917 | 373.5 @ 83 x 4.5 | 979 |
| 350 @ 100 x 3.5 | 923 | 380 @ 95 x 4 | 998 |
| 360 @ 120 x 3 | 957 | 385 @ 110 x 3.5 | 1015* |
| 380 @ 95 x 4 | 997* | 400 @ 100 x 4 | 1053** |
* Recommended Settings / ** Unstable due to insufficient cooling
Back to topThe Bad
Overall, the P5A comes clean without much flaws in its design. However, the FSB selection jumpers could be better located elsewhere on the motherboard instead of sitting right below the AGP card slot. This will bring much convenience in setting the jumpers for the CPU bus speed setting.
Conclusion
The P5A proves to be a winner among the rest of the Super7 mainboards available in the market. ASUS has once again made its mark in producing such a good mainboard. If you have a AMD K62-333 CPU now, you can really see how the performance of your system fly if you overclock your chip to 380 @ 95x4 setting. All in all, if you are looking for a Socket 7 mainboard for the upgrading of your older Socket 7 chip, do give this board a thought.
Back to topOverall Rating (Out of a maximum of 5 Star) |
|
| Installation | **** |
| Performance | **** |
| Price | *** |
| Overclockability | **** |
| Material Quality | **** |
| Stability | ***** |
| Overall Rating | **** |
Copyright © 1998 by Singapore Hardware Zone. All rights reserved.
None of the above
shall be reproduced, copied and/or
modified without the permission of the WebMaster.