XXX What's in a model name ? XXX (Asus P4S8X-X)

Member Name: isvikthere

Product:	Asus P4S8X-X
Date:	05/01/04 (2899 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: affordable big brand motherboard

Disadvantages: still lacks some modern features, some anomalies

----Introduction----

Well there is no way I can review this motherboard for Intel Pentium4-type socket 478 processors without referring to my earlier review of the Asus P4S-533 found here :
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/computers/motherboards /asus_p4s533_e_l_sis645dx/_revie w/415876/
Because in that review I regret certain features that this Asus P4S8X-X does have. Funny enough it seems that even this 'newer' board ? which is also fifteen months old now - misses out on yet again on features that have become mainstream since I reviewed the P4S533.

These important missing features are support for
1. SerialATA
2. the latest generation 800Mhz frontside busspeed(FSB) Intel processors
3. Dualchannel DDR400 memory

It seems I am always running behind the facts but that's what you get when in hardware you try to be budget conscious. If you want to get the best value for money buying the latest craze is never a good idea. Better to wait till prices come down a bit and new technologies become mainstream and affordable.

----The Board----

I haven't managed to find any reference to what the last X really stands for in the model number but it's my educated guess that it's something to do with a line of value (=budget?) motherboards, where the word value has to be understood as "being a bit less equipped" than the top-of-the-range Asustek motherboards. But is is not to be misunderstood for some cheap rubbish..

Or is it simply that everyting with an x in it is considered sexy in the PC hardware world ?

However how this X-series then ties in with the products offered under the recently launched Asrock (= an asus subsidiary company aiming for the entry-level market) banner, I do not know.

So the model name roughly translates into

P4 = for pentiumIV type Intel processors
S = SiS Chipset
8X = AGP 8X
-
X budget line ?? eXtra special ??


-----Specifications summary -----

Those of you familiar with motherboards know that the most important feature to be found on them is their chipset, this chipset is really the heart of the beast and controls all of the motherboard functions.

In the case of the P4S8X-X it's the SiS 648 that is at the heart of the matter. It includes support for Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology, accomodates Intel P4 processors up to and over 3.06GHz, it support sAGP 8X videocards, hence the 8X in the model name, it has an S/PDIF out connector, supports USB 2.0, and up to 533MHz Frontside bus. So alas no support for the latest of the Intel processors that support 800 Mhz busspeeds, and this is, on paper the major disadvantage this exact mainboard has compared to other Asustek offerings with different chipsets. The specifications details follow hereafter.

----My view----

I've been using the motherboard for some months now in my main system and although I really appreciate the onboard features the P4S8X-X has over the older P4S533 I somehow can't get rid of the impression that the P4S533 is the stabler of the two. Is it because the onboard sound, network and USB 2.0 garble up resources ? I don't know, but I did run some Sisoft Sandra 2003 benchmarks on both boards with same processor and memory modules installed and the older board came out on top, even when its SiS 645DX chipset internal transfer is supposed to be only half that of the SiS 648.

Apart from this the two boards are quite similar with similar strengths, especially in the very elaborate BIOS settings.

One strange thing did happen, with the Asusprob hardware monitor programme the readings for Processor and Motherboard temperature get reversed on the P4S8X-X, it took me a while to realise that my motherboard temperature could never be that high, while in fact it was the processor temperature that was indicated and vice versa.

The P4S8
X-X also lacks the connector for Asus' Ipanel which the P4S533 does have. I don't know whether this was done to save money or if Asus has stopped adding it to their boards.

Also the onboard sound chipsets on the two motherboards are not the same although both claim six channel audio support. Why Asus changed from the CMI8738 C-Media chip on the P4S533 to the SoundMAX chip (made by Sensaura) on the P4S8X-X, I do not know, and I'm afraid having to give here again the advantage to the older motherboard.

But in the end it's the global picture that counts and when I compare the features and the purchase price of both motherboards the P4S8X-X wins hands down, because it has more integrated funtionality and was less than two thirds of the purchase price of the older board.

----Specifications details-----

For which processors was this board desigend ? Well for CPU Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron up to 3.06GHz and above and it supports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Chipset specifications : North Bridge = SiS 648 and South Bridge: = SiS 963L FSB 533 / 400 MHz One of the main features of this chipset is the MuTIOL Technology : The P4S8X-X supports high-bandwidth DDR333 and unique MuTIOL technology increases the bus speed between the northbridge and southbridge to 1GB/sec.

Memory modules supported : You can insert three 184-pin DDR DIMM Sockets
with a support for maximum. 3GB of PC2700/PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory

The motherboard has one AGP8X slot. AGP8X (AGP 3.0) is the last generation VGA interface specification that enables enhanced graphics performance with high bandwidth speeds up to 2.12GB/s. With a bus of 533MHz, AGP8X is twice as fast as AGP 4X theoretically. AGP 8X will be the latest incarnation of the AGP-slot until the brown AGP-slot and the white PCI slots will merge into PCIexpress later this year.

----Available Expansion Slots ----
r>6 x PCI IDE
Note :
with all the on-board stuff (Lan/Sound/USB2.0) I really wouldn't know what other 6 PCI cards you would want to install, but it's always nice to keep your options open.
2 x UltraDMA 133/100/ 66/33 supporting four devices: so no serial ATA support here !
There is on-board Audio AC?97 compliant (3D) audio with 6-channel audio support and S/PDIF-out interface and also an Integrated network controller by LAN SiS 963 integrated 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet with external Realtek RTL8201BL

Like most latest generation Asustek motherboards the P4S8X-X has advanced motherboard health monitoring features through PHY HardWare Monitoring with 2 fanspeed sensors, and monitoring 4 Voltages and 2 Temperatures (CPU and motherboard). All this settings are read out both in the BIOS as in the Asus PC probe software running under the latest Windows operating systems for which you can customise the alert levels.

The board also has these special Asus features :
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 (BIOS Auto-Recovery Tool)
ASUS BIOS EZ Flash (simplifies the tedious flashing of the bios)
Wake on Ring, Lan, USB, Keyboard & Mouse
STR (Suspend-to-RAM)
STD (Suspend-to-Disk)
Overclock Features CPU & Memory & AGP voltage adjustable
FSB frequency adjustable with 1MHz step (SFS)
AGP/PCI Asynchronous Mode with FSB
ASUS C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall)

On the backpanel you find following I/O Ports :
1 x Parallel
1 x Serial
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x Audio I/O
1 x RJ45 LAN
1 x S/PDIF -out
4 x USB 2.0

There are some additional internal I/O Connectors for
1 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 2 USB 2.0 ports
1 x Game Port
CD / AUX audio in
CPU / Chassis FAN connectors
20 pin ATX Power connector
4 pin ATX 12V Power connector
20 Pin Panel connector for power-on, reset, speaker, HD-led, etc.
4-1 pin chassis intrusion conn
ector
Intel Front Panel Audio Connector

BIOS Feature :
2Mb Flash ROM, Award BIOS, TCAV, PnP, DMI2.3.1, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3

The board supports followoing Industry Standards
PCI 2.2, USB 1.1, USB 2.0, WfM 2.0, DMI 2.3.1

Software on the included CD :
ASUS PC Probe
Trend Micro? PC-cillin 2002 anti-virus software with Windows® XP support (OEM version)
ASUS LiveUpdate Utility

Also in the box are :
a small User?s manual
one UltraDMA 133 / 100 / 66 cable, it is better than none but two would have been better still
a Floppy DiskDrive cable


The motherboard has a an ATX Form Factor 12?x 9.6? (30.5cm x 24.5cm) dimensions.