ASUS P4S8X Review September 23, 2002 Brandon Bell

Introduction

Page:: ( 1 / 12 )

[image]

DDR400 update

DDR400 memory isn’t officially supported by the chipset, but as we found with our SiS 648 reference motherboard, it definitely works. We witnessed a nice (roughly 5%) performance boost by using DDR400 memory, and while it may not sound like much it was just enough to catch up with, if not outperform a similarly equipped system with 1066MHz RDRAM.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to reproduce reliable DDR400 scores with any of the SiS 648 motherboards we’ve tested. We’ve used modules from TwinMOS and Corsair Microsystems with no success. SiS was originally going to release a follow up to the SiS 648 chipset (SiS 648DX) with official DDR400 support, but it looks as if those plans have been put on hold in preference to the company’s upcoming dual-channel DDR chipset. Dual-channel DDR theoretically provides more bandwidth than DDR400, so if SiS is indeed focusing their efforts on it rather than SiS 648DX, we applaud this move. Besides, as you’ll see in our test results the SiS 648 chipset is no slouch when it comes to performance with DDR333 memory.





SIDEBAR: ASUS P4S8X Product Webpage

Special Features

Page:: ( 2 / 12 )

[image]

Serial ATA

The first feature most enthusiasts will notice is the P4S8X’s Serial ATA hard drive support. ASUS boasts that this makes the P4S8X the world’s first Pentium 4 motherboard with AGP 8X and Serial ATA technology, a claim they should be proud of. Since the SiS 648 chipset doesn’t support Serial ATA, connectivity is provided via the Promise PDC20376 chip. The PDC20376 supports the Serial ATA 1.0 specification, which means it supports hard drive speeds up to 150MB/sec.

The P4S8X comes with two Serial ATA ports, since each port only supports one hard drive, this allows for a maximum of two hard drives. ASUS bundles the P4S8X with two Serial ATA cables, but the P4S8X packaging does not include an adapter for connecting today’s existing parallel hard drives to the Serial ATA ports. This is a bit of a disappointment especially since Serial ATA hard drives haven’t made it to market just yet. Fortunately ASUS does include a third IDE connector that is tied to the Promise controller which supports two parallel hard drives, but we would have liked to see a fourth IDE connector provided as well. Also keep in mind that the Serial ATA and Parallel ATA ports cannot be used at the same time.

6-channel audio

The P4S8X supports 5.1 audio thanks to its use of the C-Media 9739A chip. It’s a tiny little chip, but its audio capabilities should be more than enough for most Windows applications. Our biggest complaint isn’t with the audio quality of the chip itself, rather the omission on ASUS’s part of the S/PDIF output. Historically ASUS motherboards have shipped with this feature, however for some reason it didn’t make its way onto the P4S8X. The pins on the motherboard for the external S/PDIF remain in place however, so perhaps end users will be able to pick the add-on at a later date.

[image]

ASUS Q-Fan/EZ Plug

ASUS has begun shipping all of its recent motherboards with its Q-Fan and EZ Plug technology. Q-Fan is designed to reduce system noise levels. It works by monitoring system load versus the CPU’s current temperature. If system load picks up and temperature increases, Q-Fan kicks up the RPMs on the CPU’s fan. Once the system load is reduced and the processor cools down, Q-Fan slows down the CPU fan, ensuring quiet yet cool operation. This also increases the efficiency of the CPU fan, theoretically extending its lifetime.

With EZ Plug, end users with non-ATX12V power supplies don’t have to worry about upgrading to these units. Simply plug your existing 20-pin ATX connector in the EZ Plug and you’re good to go!






SIDEBAR: ASUS provides an optional Serial ATA adapter for its A7V333, P4T533, and P4B533-E.

Board Design

Page:: ( 3 / 12 )

[image]

Board layout

The P4S8X uses a very similar layout to its predecessor (the P4S533), which was based on the SiS 645DX chipset. This results in a very unique board design which is unlike anything we have seen in the past. For instance, the orientation of the CPU socket relative to the chipset’s North Bridge is perpendicular. ASUS used a unique chipset to processor orientation for its 850 series of motherboards as well, so it’s not surprising to see that carry over to its SiS 648 product. Typically such moves are made to reduce trace lengths.

Overall the board itself is rather small, especially when you consider how many features it is packed with. To conserve space ASUS placed the IDE connector for the Promise controller parallel to the right edge of the motherboard, while the floppy connector is located on the very bottom of the motherboard below the sixth PCI slot. We like the unique placement of the Promise IDE connector, as it conserves space on the motherboard without getting in the way of any important components, but the location of the floppy connector is a little inconvenient.

[image]

Those are our only real gripes with the design of the motherboard, and if you have a roomy case they shouldn’t pose a problem. For connecting your P4S8X to external devices, the motherboard provides six USB 2.0 ports (four on the motherboard, two external) and two Firewire ports (one internal, one external).

ASUS continues to provide its power LED, which can be great for diagnosing problems with your motherboard, in addition to its newer Post Reporter. The Post Reporter provides voice warnings through a speaker on the P4S8X (or an external speaker) that explains what went wrong during POST. End users can even modify the voice warnings to their own voice via the bundled voice editing software.

[image]

P4S8X BIOS

Page:: ( 4 / 12 )

BIOS implementation

[image]

One other memory-related setting ASUS includes in the P4S8X BIOS is the option to run the chipset in synchronous, asynchronous, or performance modes in relation to the memory bus. We definitely noticed a nice performance boost by running in the performance mode, so we recommend you use it if you can.

[image]

Overclocking

The P4S8X was a real champ when it came to overclocking. We were able to reach new heights in clock speeds with our 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor. With its locked 21.0 multiplier, we were able to reach a bus speed of 150MHz before stability became an issue. This results in a final clock speed of 3150MHz, the highest speed we’ve seen out of our P4 chip to date. We stopped at 1.75V, so it’s entirely possible that we could have cranked even more speed out of our chip, but we decided to play it safe since the hardware monitor’s default settings were being hit. Since the clock multiplier on our CPU was locked we were unable to confirm if the limitation to our final overclock was the CPU or the motherboard. We wouldn’t be surprised if the CPU was holding us back.






SIDEBAR: The ASUS Post Reporter supports multiple languages

System Setup

Page:: ( 5 / 12 )

Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz

ABIT IT7-MAX2 (i845E)
ASUS P4S8X
MSI 648 MAX

256MB Corsair XMS DDR333 CAS2 SDRAM

NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 reference board
Driver version Detonator 40.41

30GB IBM Deskstar DTLA 307030 ATA/100 Hard Drive
AFREEY 12X DVD-ROM

Windows XP Professional

DirectX 8.1

Desktop Resolution: 1024x768x32

Benchmarks

3DMark 2001 Second Edition - 32-bit color, 32-bit textures
Quake 3 Retail - High Quality
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter - Normal (32-bit) The Elephant Atrium demo
Jedi Knight II
Business Winstone 2001
Content Creation Winstone 2002


SIDEBAR: AGP 8X can be activated or deactivated via the BIOS of the P4S8X.

3DMark 2001

Page:: ( 6 / 12 )

3DMark 2001 - DirectX 8

SIDEBAR: We tested the P4S8X with a RADEON 9700 and it certainly worked.

Serious Sam 2

Page:: ( 7 / 12 )

Serious Sam 2 - OpenGL

SIDEBAR: ASUS also bundles the P4S8X with a copy of PC-cillin 2002 anti-virus software

Quake III

Page:: ( 8 / 12 )

Quake III - High Quality

SIDEBAR: ASUS is the world’s largest motherboard manufacturer

Jedi Knight II

Page:: ( 9 / 12 )

Jedi Knight II

SIDEBAR: The SiS 648 chipset has an improved memory controller over SiS 645.

Business applications

Page:: ( 10 / 12 )

Content Creation Winstone 2002

Business Winstone 2001

SIDEBAR: The P4S8X motherboard we tested was revision 1.03.

Ballistics Report

Page:: ( 11 / 12 )

Pros

SiS 648 chipset: The SiS 648 chipset that the P4S8X is built on is currently our favorite for the Pentium 4 platform. With 845E lacking DDR333 and AGP 8X support, it just can’t come close to matching the performance of the SiS 648 chipset. In addition, its low price results in inexpensive motherboards. It is not uncommon to find SiS-based motherboards for under $100.

Serial ATA support: Thanks to its onboard Promise controller, the P4S8X supports the next generation in hard drive technology today. Unfortunately an adapter for parallel hard drives does not ship with the motherboard, but the Promise controller still supports conventional hard drives. An IDE connector is provided for connecting up to two hard drives. We just wish the first generation Serial ATA hard drives would get here already.

5.1 audio: ASUS has been offering onboard 5.1 audio via C-Media’s audio chips for quite some time now, fortunately that continues for the P4S8X. The chip may not floor you like the audio controller found on nForce2, but it’s quite capable of handling the day-to-day duties most end users put their audio cards through.

ASUS unique features: We’re big fans of some of the innovations ASUS has been including on its motherboards recently. Specifically, ASUS’s Q-Fan technology. Thanks to it, system noise is kept in check, resulting in a much more pleasant experience for the end user. After all, what’s the fun of having a full blown 5.1 audio setup if you can hardly hear it over your loud computer system? Q-Fan definitely works as advertised, and it’s a standard feature on many ASUS motherboards. EZ Plug is another feature that we really like, although its usefulness has been steadily declining.

Stability: The P4S8X is an incredibly stable motherboard. With the exception of DDR400 testing and overclocking, we didn’t encounter any mysterious application crashes or system lock ups. Once you’ve got the proper BIOS settings dialed in and a stable OS installed, you should be good to go for quite some time with the ASUS P4S8X.

Cons

Price: Of course, with all the added features ASUS provides, the P4S8X costs a little more than your typical SiS 648 motherboard. We found prices online as low as $130.50, so it’s by no means an expensive motherboard, but it still costs a little bit more that what some consumers may be willing to pay, especially when you consider that its primary feature, Serial ATA support, can’t be taken advantage of yet.

Lack of adapters: We really find it disappointing that ASUS does not include its P-SATA module, or any type of Serial ATA adapter for that matter with the P4S8X motherboard. It’s hard to get consumers to jump over to new technology cold turkey, (even though the P4S8X offers support for up to six traditional hard drives) by providing an adapter end users could one of the benefits of Serial ATA technology (thinner cables) today. Instead they’ll have to look at the cables and dream of those days.

Also, the C-Media 9739A fully supports six channel audio but P4S8X owners are left in the dark when it comes to digital connectivity. The S/PDIF output is now an optional accessory that end users will have to dig up if they want this feature. In our experience, you’ll be lucky to find one.



SIDEBAR: Three fan headers are present on the P4S8X.

Final Verdict

Page:: ( 12 / 12 )

FiringSquad says:

The P4S8X isn’t quite the fastest SiS 648 motherboard on the market, it finished just a hair behind the other motherboard based on this chipset. But when it comes to feature set, there isn’t another SiS 648 motherboard on the market that even comes close to touching it. With the P4S8X, you’ve got Serial ATA support, 5.1 audio onboard, 10/100 networking, USB and Firewire ports, plus you’ve got features that are unique to ASUS motherboards such as Q-Fan. From a features perspective, there really isn’t anything that ASUS has left off of the P4S8X.

Of course, there are a few features we would have liked to have seen bundled inside the packaging. A Serial ATA adapter would have been nice, as well as a S/PDIF output, consumers who quickly glance over the product specs may expect both features are present, and then end up disappointed when they get home and find out that they aren’t as easily available as they’d expected.

However, hardware enthusiasts will love the overclocking prowess of the P4S8X. We shattered our previous high 3,024MHz by overclocking our 2.8GHz Pentium 4 to 3,150MHz! With the conservative voltage settings found on other motherboards, we weren’t sure if the limiting factor in our previous overclocks had been the motherboard or the SiS 648 chipset itself. Based on our overclocking experience with the ASUS P4S8X, it certainly looks like those motherboards were at fault. We can honestly say without a doubt that the P4S8X is the SiS648 motherboard to get for the overclocking community.

Rounding out the package is the P4S8X’s superb stability. We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again, SiS really builds a reliable product with its SiS 648 chipset. When you top that off with the ASUS reputation for quality, you get a motherboard that shines in even the most demanding environment.

The ASUS P4S8X is the most robust SiS 648 motherboard we’ve seen to date. Quite frankly, we’ve looked over the features list for its competitors, and noone else comes close at this point. Therefore, we feel consumers would be hard-pressed to find a more powerful solution based on this chipset. ASUS’s engineers really got it right with this motherboard, and it shows by receiving our Editor’s Choice Award.




SIDEBAR: Does ASUS have another hit on its hands with the P4S8X, or were you hoping for a little bit more? Speak!