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By Tikkler (tikkler@onepc.net) - October 7, 2000
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Two years later, Intel introduced two new chipsets for their Pentium III line of processors, the i810 and i820. The i810, coupled with their low-cost Celeron processors, was supposed to give Intel even more foot room in the low-end computer system market, while the i820, coupled with the over-rated RDRAM memory interface developed by RAMBUS, was supposed to give Intel more market share in the high-end arena and shoo off stiff competition coming from AMD and their Athlon processor. Unfortunately, these two new chipsets proved to be either too ahead or behind their times.
The i810 chipset was a low-end solution; therefore, Intel neglected to include any high-end features. These features include faster PC133 SDRAM support and the most important feature: an AGP slot. Since the i810 had integrated video in the form of a 2-year-old Intel graphics controller, Intel decided to not include any support for an AGP bus or slot. This meant that those who had jumped on-board the i810 bandwagon was limited to low-end graphics performance as most video card manufacturers don't make PCI versions of their cards (3dfx, however, does make a PCI version of their Voodoo5, which, in fact, performs almost identical to the AGP version). Coupled with the slow PC100 SDRAM limitation that prevented users from plugging a new Pentium III Coppermine processor that uses the 133MHz FSB, the i810 turned out to be a weak seller, especially in the minds of power users and gamers.
Unfortunately for Intel, their high-end solution, the i820, proved also to be a weak seller. The chipset had all the high-end features such as support for a 133MHz FSB and a 4X AGP slot for high-performance graphics cards such as NVIDIA's Geforce2 GTS, but the memory interface that Intel had chosen is where the i820 failed to deliver. Intel had decided to strike a deal with a company (RAMBUS) that designed this new type of memory called RDRAM and was supposed to perform considerably better than its SDRAM competition. They had designed the entire i820 chipset around RDRAM, expecting performance to be significantly boosted over the competition. RDRAM, however, turned out to perform almost identical to its SDRAM competition, even slower at some tasks, but there was one problem that was, and still is, preventing RDRAM from being used as a norm: its price. At the first release of the i820 chipset, RDRAM was about 6-8X the price of regular SDRAM-you do the math.
Not only wasn't their new chipsets selling strongly for Intel, they had some pretty stiff competition from VIA and their Apollo Pro 133A chipset. This chipset had support for the 133MHz FSB, AGP 4X and, most of all, the PC133 SDRAM support that Intel had neglected to include with any of their new chipsets. This chipset proved to perform very well, and could compete quite nicely with all of the Intel chipsets, including its 440BX. With Intel having problems selling their new chipsets and the fact that their Apollo Pro 133A chipset is an excellent-performing, feature-filled product, VIA gained a considerable portion of the market.
From the looks of things, Intel seemed desperate in terms of the chipset arena...
What users wanted was a true 440BX successor. They wanted a chipset that had the best of both the i810 and i820 worlds; more specifically, support for the 133MHz FSB, PC133 SDRAM support and AGP 4X support. This time, Intel heard these cries and went to work developing what will eventually be called the i815 chipset. Like its name suggests, it is a chipset that borrows features from both the i810 and i820 chipsets, plus a little extra on the side.
The i815 also utilizes Intel's new Hub Architecture, much like its i810 and i820 siblings do. Unlike the older 2-chip "North Bridge" and "South Bridge" combination that was used with Intel's older chipsets and still is being used by VIA and other chipset makers, the Intel Hub Architecture is a 2-chip, 3-controller (or "hub) architecture. These 3 hubs include the Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH), the I/O Controller Hub (ICH) and the Firmware Hub (FWH).
So, what does this all mean and what type of an advantage does the new Hub Architecture have over the traditional North Bridge and South Bridge chipsets? Let me explain.
Intel Hub Architecture Explained
Let me first run through the architecture of the North Bridge/South Bridge so you have some room to make comparisons. The North Bridge is what controls the CPU, system memory, AGP bus and anything else that talks directly with the system memory and CPU-it also includes support for the PCI bus. This PCI bus includes all the PCI expansion slots on the board, the ISA bus and its expansion slots and the Southbridge controller that controls your I/O devices such as IDE, USB and Firewire devices. All of these devices go through the PCI bus, which is only capable of 133MB/s total throughput (skipping the math that's involved to calculate this) and into the North Bridge chip for interface with the CPU, AGP or system memory. As you can see, this 133MB/s bandwidth becomes a bottleneck when taking into consideration of how many different buses and devices are plugged into and using the PCI bus.
North Bridge/Sound Bridge Architecture
The answer to this aging problem? Intel's Hub Architecture! With the Hub Architecture, Intel has reorganized the different buses and controllers for more efficiency.
First off, we have the Graphics and Memory Controller Hub, which is essentially the equivalent of the North Bridge. It controls the CPU, system memory, AGP bus and anything else that interfaces directly with the CPU and system memory. So far, everything seems pretty much the same-but that's soon to change.
Along comes the I/O Controller Hub, which can be considered as the equivalent of the South Bridge. The difference, however, is that it does not interface with the Graphics and Memory Controller Hub through the slow, 133MB/s PCI bus, but through its own dedicated channel that's capable of double that throughput, 266MB/s. As we move down, the PCI bus is now connected to the I/O Controller Hub, along with the usual I/O buses and controllers such as IDE, USB and Firewire. All of these buses and controllers interface through the I/O Controller and communicate with the Graphics and Memory Controller Hub through the dedicated 266MB/s channel. One interesting fact to note is that with the Hub Architecture, Intel has completely removed native support for ISA slots, which, in my mind, is a good move. Manufacturers, however, can add support for ISA slots on their motherboards by using an ISA to PCI bridge controller, but most manufactures have chosen the same route as Intel of abandoning the ISA bus.
The last piece of the puzzle is the Firmware Hub. This little chip, which is capable of storing 4Mb of data, is basically a CMOS chip for storing the BIOS and communicates through the I/O Controller Hub.
Intel Hub Architecture
i815 and i815E - Specific Features
There are 2 versions of the i815 chipset, the i815 and the i815E. Both of these are identical in their use of the Graphics and Memory Controller Hub and the Firmware hub, but the difference lies in the I/O Controller Hub that each utilizes. The i815 uses the original ICH, which is also used in the i810 and i820 chipsets, has support for ATA-66 and has a USB controller for support of up to 2 USB ports while the i815E uses the new ICH2, which is also used in the newer i820E chipset and has support for ATA-100 and 2 USB controllers with support for up to 4 USB ports.
The ASUS CUSL2 board that we have here uses the newer i815E chipset.
Both chipsets have support for up to 512MB of memory, which shows that Intel was not aiming this product in the high-end market--but 512MB of memory should be enough for almost everyone. They also include built-in AGP video in the form of a modified version of a 2-year-old Intel graphics controller. The integrated video is a very-poor performing, 1MB VRAM (shared with main system memory) solution for OEM's, so most of you would probably want to plug in a nice high-performing AGP card of some sort in there. Once an AGP card is plugged in, the on-board video will disable itself.
One of the most significant features of the i815/i815E chipsets is that they support asynchronous operation of the system memory and the front side bus. With this neat feature, the user can run the memory either 33MHz higher than the 66MHz FSB when using a Celeron or 33MHz lower than the 133MHz FSB when using Coppermine Pentium III's. This can be useful for those people who have PC100 memory and would like to either gain some performance when running it with a Celeron or save some money by not having to go out and buy PC133 memory to go with their new Coppermine Pentium III's (of course, when running a 133MHz FSB Coppermine Pentium III with PC100 SDRAM, you'll be losing some performance when compared to using PC133 SDRAM). Unfortunately, for you people who have PC66 SDRAM and would still like to use it with their Celeron processors, you're going to be at a loss because Intel has removed support for PC66 memory in these chipsets. If you wish to upgrade to an i815/i815E motherboard such as the CUSL2 we're reviewing here, you're going to have to throw away that PC66 SDRAM and buy either PC100 or PC133 SDRAM.
Specifications
Here are the specifications pulled right off of ASUS's web site:
Processor
Socket 370 for Intel® FCPGA Pentium® III 450MHz~933+MHz processors and Intel® PPGA CeleronTM 333~566+MHz.
Chipset
Intel® 82815 Graphics and AGP Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
Intel® 82801BA Enhanced I/O Controller Hub 2 (ICH2)
Intel® 82802AB Firmware Hub (FWH)
Support 4x AGP, 4MB AIMM, PC133/PC100 SDRAM, UltraDMA/100 IDE Devices
Super I/O & USB Hub
ITE IT 8703F LPC Chip
AU9254 USB Hub
FSB
66/100/133 MHz Front Side Bus
System Memory
3x 168-pin DIMM supporting 8MB to 512MB 3.3V PC133/100 SDRAM
Maximum 512MB PC133/PC100 non-ECC SDRAM
Expansion Slots
1 x 32-bit AGP Pro/AGP 4X slot
6 x 32-bit PCI
2x CNR (Communication and Networking Riser)
Supports AGP Pro Slot with Universal AGP Connector and additional Power Connectors to Support Highend 3D or Workstation Class Graphics Adapters
VGA
AGP Pro/4X/2X/1X Graphics Adapter Compatible
Integrated 4X AGP Graphics
IDE Ports
2 x UltraDMA/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE Ports
Supports DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and LS-120 Drives
Special Features
Power Loss Restart
ASUS JumperFreeTM CPU Throttle
STR (Suspend to RAM)
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
Vcore & VIO Adjustable
Back Panel I/O Ports
2 x USB Ports
1 x Serial Ports
1 x Parallel Port (ECP, EPP Port)
1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port, 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
1 x VGA Port
Onboard I/O Interface
ASUS® iPanel Connectors
3 Headers to Support Optional 5 USB Ports
24-pin ASUS® Panel
SIR/CIR
CPU/Power Supply/Chassis Fan
ATX Power
IDE LED
COM2
TV/Out/LCD Module Connectors
BIOS
Award® 4Mb BIOS with Full ACPI, SM BIOS 2.3, Green, PnP, Trend® ChipAway Virus (TCAV) & Symbios® SCSI BIOS
Industrial Standard
PCI 2.2, USB 1.1
Manageability
Wfm 2.0, DMI 2.0, WOL (Wake-on LAN), WOR (Wake-on Ring), Chassis Intrusion, SM Bus
Accessories
User's Manual
UltraDMA/66 Cable
IDE Cable
Floppy Cable
3-Ports USB Bracket
Board Size
ATX Form Factor with Size : 20.8cm x 30.5cm (8.2" x 12")
From the looks of the specifications, the CUSL2 is a pretty basic board that borrows most of its features from the i815E chipset that's on-board. Through the chipset, this board supports all three Intel-standard buses: 66MHz for the Celeron, 100MHz for older Pentium III's, some Coppermine Pentium III's and 133MHz for most Coppermine Pentium III's. It supports 512MB of PC100 or PC133 SDRAM but not PC66 SDRAM because it utilizes the asynchronous memory and FSB operation built-into the i815E chipset (mentioned above) that allows, for example, PC100 memory to be used with the 66MHz FSB Celeron.
A quick look at the specifications shows us that this board has 6 PCI slots, while most other boards have only 5, and 2 CNR slots, while most others have only 1 or even none. These 2 CNR slots show that this board is targeted towards the OEM market where system builders might want to shave off a few bucks by purchasing CNR networking, modem or sound cards instead of the usual PCI cards, while the 6 PCI slots makes it perfect for power users who are looking for plenty of room for expansion. The 2 CNR slots are shared with 2 of the PCI slots to save space on the PCB and, most importantly, cost.
Also through the i815E, the CUSL2 has an AGP slot that has support for up to 4X AGP and also AGP Pro, which is a feature that I've noticed ASUS include on most of their new motherboard products. The AGP Pro specification calls for an extra 20-pin bay to supply extra power to demanding high-performance AGP Pro graphics cards. Unfortunately, there are currently no consumer-level cards that utilize AGP Pro and only some in the high-end workstation level use AGP Pro, so this feature is pretty much useless. If you don't have, or don't wish to use an AGP graphics card, the CUSL2 also has the extremely poor-performing built-in video courtesy of, once again, the i815E chipset.
First Impressions
Included in the package was the motherboard itself, the driver/software CD, a USB connector board for 3 more USB ports (from my experience, ASUS is the only manufacturer that includes these connector boards in their motherboard packaging rather than making them "optional"), a connector for a second serial port, a floppy, IDE and ATA-66/100 (40-pin, 80 conductor) cable and a very detailed manual explaining all the facts that you need to know about installing the board and the software that comes with it.
A lot of the manufacturers out there nowadays simply include a quick-start guide to help you get started in installing the board and then includes the detailed manual on the driver and software CD. This is a pretty stupid idea, in my mind, because if you can't get the computer to work properly during the install process, how are you supposed to read the manual to help you figure out what the problem is if you don't have another working computer lying around? Fortunately, it's nice to see that ASUS is not moving towards including a manual on their CD instead of in hardcopy form.
It's also nice to see that ASUS has included all the cables that are needed, including both a regular 40-pin, 40 conductor cable for UDMA-33 or older devices and a 40-pin, 80 conductor cable for UDMA-66/100 devices.
Layout
The board had a Socket 370 ZIF socket that supports both older PPGA processors (for older Celeron's) and newer FC-PGA processors (for newer "Coppermine" Pentium III's and Celeron's). This is a very nice feature that ensures that this board will support any type of Socket 370 CPU you throw at it, regardless of how old or new it is. Placement of this socket was just perfect and not too close to the edge of the board. With a huge heatsink, the one included with the Pentium III 1GHz processor that I used to test this board with installed, it just reached the edge of the board and was quite a ways off from the bottom of the power supply.
Surrounding this socket is a whole bunch of capacitors to assure plenty of stability. Unfortunately, there was a group of these capacitors that are placed too close to the release clip for the socket and so I found it very difficult to get around these capacitors to release the clip.
The PCB is very standard in terms of its size and there shouldn't be a problem in putting it into any type of ATX cases. The ATX power connector was placed above the CPU socket, which means that the cable for the ATX power would have to be pulled around the processor and could block airflow if not properly restrained. Unfortunately, this isn't the most annoying component placement found on this board.
What is annoying is the placement of the CPU fan header. It's placed on the bottom side of the memory slots meaning that the cable for the CPU fan would have to be pulled over the RAM slots and could get in the way when inserting memory.
Other connectors such as the floppy and IDE connectors were placed pretty much in a pretty standard spot: near the bottom edge of the board.
The board that I received had no built-in audio (there's also a version of the CUSL2 that includes integrated audio) so all there is in the back of the board are 2 USB ports (you can add an extra 3 by using the included USB connector board), a parellel port, a serial port and a VGA monitor port for the built-in video in place of the second serial port. Another serial port connector board is included if you need that second serial port, but I have long abandoned the serial port so I won't be needing any.
So, I went and plugged in my devices and did a clean Windows ME and 2000 install. After installation, unlike my past experiences with AMD Athlon chipsets, I didn't have to install any of the drivers that were included on the CD because Intel chipsets have always run great out of the box. Stability was top-notch and I haven't witnessed a single hardware-related crash after heavy use on this machine for the past 2 weeks.
The BIOS
The BIOS of this board is where it really shines. On top of allowing you to set the Front Side Bus and CPU speed from the BIOS like most other manufacturers these days do, Asus has taken that concept one step further by showing every single bus speed/memory speed/PCI speed possible that you can choose in the BIOS. Overclockers will love this feature, as they won't have to manually calculate the PCI speed or memory speed because the BIOS will display everything for them! Voltage selection starts from 1.70v all the way up to 2.10v, in 0.05v increments when I had my Pentium III 1GHz processor plugged in, but I suspect that many lower settings such as 1.60v and 1.65v will appear if I plugged in a slower Intel processor that required lower voltage requirements than my Pentium III 1GHz processor (the 1Ghz version of the Pentium III uses 1.70v, while most other processors from 500-850MHz should require only 1.60v).
There are also a handful of FSB speed selections in the BIOS. The CUSL2 can go from 66MHz-93MHz in 1MHz increments, then from 100MHz all the way up to 166MHz, again, in 1MHz increments. All these settings and the capability of moving up by 1MHz increments, makes this board the perfect board for overclockers.
There was, however, a minor problem with the BIOS and my Pentium III 1GHz processor. The BIOS didn't recognize the 1GHz processor, so every time the computer booted up, it would give this annoying message telling me that the processor doesn't match with what's in the BIOS. Fortunately, operation of the computer was not affected by this problem, and I still could overclock the processor through the BIOS just like any other processor. A recent Asus BIOS update has fixed this problem, however.
The Bad
Unfortunately, my experience with this board (and chipset) has not been the best that I'd expect from an ASUS board. I decided to check out just how bad the integrated graphics were, but there was a major problem that prevented me from switching back to the integrated graphics. From what I know about the i815/i815E chipsets, the integrated video would disable itself after an AGP card was plugged in, but I never knew it wouldn't work the other way around!
So, I unplugged the AGP card and plugged my monitor cable into the integrated video port on the motherboard, turned on the computer and waited...
And waited... and waited... but I didn't get a single video signal.
So, I thought, maybe if I reset the BIOS it would work, so I went searching for the jumper in the manual to clear the BIOS, but I was unable to find it. A quick look through the entire board didn't turn up any jumpers or such that could be used for this function. My last resort was to remove the battery (something that I never had to do before in my life, so I was a bit hesitant at first) and, sure enough, when I put the battery back in and turned on the computer, the integrated video began working.
I'm not sure if this integrated video problem is a common occurrence in all i815/i815E boards, but it sure can get annoying, especially when you need to swap components in and out of your computer everyday like I have to do. I did, however, check that all was well when I plugged my AGP card back in, and, sure enough, the integrated video did switch itself off and the display defaulted to my AGP video card as it's supposed to.
I decided not to conduct any benchmarks on this motherboard because I currently don't have any other platform that will run my Pentium III 1GHz processor so that I can make some comparisons. Benchmarks are used for making comparisons, so if I can't compare the benchmark results with anything else, there's really not point in doing the benchmarks anyways.
The Intel 815 chipset is one that many, including myself, have been waiting for a long time. Asus has taken this excellent chipset and put together one of the best boards ever made for Intel processors. Other than that little AGP video to integrated video glitch (I'm still not exactly sure if the annoyance is caused by the i815 chipset or the ASUS motherboard itself), this board is the perfect board for anyone who's looking to run a Celeron or Pentium III processor. Plus, since it has a socket 370 that supports both PPGA and FC-PGA processors, you won't be limited to just the newer or older processors, perfect if you wish to use your older Celeron processor on this board.
Other than the very nice CPU selection screen found in the BIOS on this board and all the jazzy features such as 6 PCI slots (that should be plenty for anyone) and 2 CNR slots (for system integrators and those people who wish to save a buck or two), the fact that this board is made by ASUS ensures of its top quality construction; and quality is what this board's all about! Through extensive use of this board, I have not experienced a single hardware-related crash, which just shows you how impressive this board's quality and reliability is.
Pros
Cons
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