Seriously, I've only just come across the Asus P2B mobo. I'm sure someone has recommended one to me at one stage, but maybe I just forgot to follow up the lead. 😦
Is version 1.0x OK? I think I only want to add a P3 500mhz CPU to it. I don't need anything super-fast.
Is it a good mobo? As it's Asus, I'm guessing it is. Thanks for any general comments about this mobo. 😀
Best P2B page: http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/p2b_p … pgrade_faq.html and a modification guide if you want some adventures: http://tipperlinne.com/p2bmod .
Thanks a lot for the links! 😁
Best board made for the Win9x days. You may also want to look into a Powerleap adapter to make it faster. I've posted info and links before on this forum.
wrote:Best board made for the Win9x days.
Oooo let's start up a little Abit vs. ASUS war! For old times sake!
wrote:Oooo let's start up a little Abit vs. ASUS war! For old times sake!
He he. 😏 Fight fight!
As linked above: http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/p2b_p … pgrade_faq.html 😉
And what I built: Pair of Retro PC's
I was never an ABIT person, but is it also fully compatible with Slotkets and Powerleap adapters?
Lately I also compared some intel 440bx chipset boards, like:
Asus P2B - 4xPCI, 3xISA, 3xRAM
Asus P3B - 5xPCI, 2xISA, 4xRAM, STR, jumperfree, 1.65V
Abit BX6 II - 5xPCI, 2xISA, 4xRAM, SB-Link, jumperfree, 1.65V
Gigabyte GA-BX2000 - 5xPCI, 2xISA, 4xRAM, dual-bios, SB-Link, STR, 1.65V
Soyo SY-6BA+III - 5xPCI, 2xISA, 4xRAM, SB-Link, jumperfree, 1.65V
etc....
link to an overview with pictures
Anyone wants to give some actual arguments for the P2B, I am kinda curious as to why it is in such high regard, even with the availability of the P3B.
wrote:I was never an ABIT person, but is it also fully compatible with Slotkets and Powerleap adapters?
Well I've run a few different Abit 440BX mobos and they are pretty good. You definitely wanted to steer clear of the boards with the Highpoint chips though. But the Softmenu setup was really great, and they are compatible with everything. I have my Abit BF6 running a Tualatin 1400 (Slot T) and a GeForce FX 5950 right now.
I had a friend with a P2B back in the day. He ended up swapping it out when he wanted to go Coppermine. I think his revision was too old perhaps. I can't remember anymore exactly what the reasoning was. He picked up a Abit BE6-II (BF6 + evil Highpoint) that was ok as long as you didn't share IRQs with certain components and managed to get a drive the Highpoint controller worked with. Onboard extras == bad.
An interesting aspect of my BF6 (and BE6-II) is that it not only has the jumperless Softmenu functionality, but also a dip switch bank that overrides that if you would rather go the hardwired route. Probably meant to comfort OEM sellers.
I've been benching the thing lately. Posts over in the PCI IDE Controller thread in this forum. If you are interested.
wrote:Anyone wants to give some actual arguments for the P2B, I am kinda curious as to why it is in such high regard, even with the availability of the P3B.
I am starting to think that most of the boards back then were overrated simply because of the arrival of the first good overclocking BIOSs. Easy overclocking and decent stability were all it took to get enthusiasts and reviewers excited.
Highpoint, that's an additional 'faster' (UDMA 66) Harddisk controller right? Indeed it seemed like a elephant solution for little gain over the default UDMA controller, I sure hope that you can choose to disable it in the bios.
What I personally find important are; plenty PCI slots, 1,65V support, SB-Link for my yamaha soundcard, a good Bios, and I would like functioning Suspend to Ram. Currently I am lacking just this last feature.
I'd like to ask a question to those who have an Asus P2B or P3B running: Does the Throttle slowdown utility work on your boards? I tried it on both the P2B and the P3B, and it failed, but on other BX chipset boards (like the Epox BX3) it went fine. Is this some problem with Asus' ACPI implementation?
