SiS 655: Yes or No ?

[aLDo1234]

Okay im about to build a new computer and i would really like to have a mainboard with DualDDR compatible chipset, but all intel's cost $350+ which is over my price-limit for a MB.

So i was looking at getting the Asus P4SDX, which looks good on all the benchmarks etc. but after hearing that they don't work with AGP 8x and have memory problems with DDR333, im having second thoughts.

Anyway my questions are:
Has everyone had these problems with the SiS655 chipset?
Are the problems with SiS655 really bad?
Are they still worth buying?
Does DualDDR make alot of speed difference?

Thanks in advance.

 

[melvin13]

There are issues with memory timings on that chipset, however after some adjustments the board is quite stable and very quick. I have the P4SDX and love it.

I havent seen anything about AGP 8X issues, I could be wrong...I havent got an 8x AGP card yet and will worry about that if there is an issue later.

Dual DDR gives the P4 the memory bandwith and performance comparable to Rambus Ram, for way cheaper. It makes a ton of difference. For the price that these boards are, it is totally worth it. Trust me, if you get this board you will very happy with it. I've seen it as low as $127. The MSI board apparently is great also and I think performed a little better in some bench test than the Asus did. (probably nothing really noticable tho)

 

[LumberJack]

In general the SIS655 boards are good. I personally prefer the E7205 boards but they cost more money so since your on a budget go with SIS... try either gigabyte or msi they have good versions of these boards...



To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!

 

[Aethelred]

I have a limited edition of gigabyte board and it runs stable without any problems concerning memory or anything else. The only thing that I must complain about are the fans on the board, After 3 weeks they started to be more noisy than my processor fan. I had to replace them with Zalman passive heatsinks and now is ok. General rating - great, I did not tested memory hard enough as I have crappy seitec modules ( looking for Corsair

 

[aLDo1234]

Ok thanks
I guess ill stick with the asus and hope for the best

Everyones saying SiS655 supports ddr400MHz ram but on the asus site it only specifies drr333MHz

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4sdx/overview.htm

whats with that?

 

[stealth_blade]

itll run fine with ddr 400, or at least it should, that was part of some of the RAM problems, but you can always set the RAM underclocked down to 333 instead of 400, there should be no problems

"Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion."
- Gen. (Ret) Norman Schwartzkopf

 

[melvin13]

nah, you can leave it at DDR400. yes it does have initial issues with DDR400 but just adjust the CAS settings from 2 to 2.5. I'm running 2 sticks of Corsair 256 XMS3200 and set the timings to 2.5-3-3-6 and its still quick.

I didnt like the gigabyte and ran into problems when I had it...I exchanged it for the Asus board and have been happy and stable ever since

 

[logo20heli]

I had the Asus P4SDX for about a week. Everything worked fine except that it didn't support AGP 8X with my PNY GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP 8X card. The screen would flash and the graphics would get corrupted. Switching to AGP 4X in the BIOS solved the problem. I was uncomfortable keeping the board with this problem, so I decided to return it and get a Canterwood board.

 

[melvin13]

their available already? Where did ya pick it up from?

 

[LumberJack]

They are not...



To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!

 

[melvin13]

thats what I thought...


Hey, any idea when they will release the 800 Mhz FSB CPU's? I was told that Intel will be releasing new versions of their CPU's (i believe from 2.53 and above) with HT. Can anyone confirm this, or is the guy I heard that from just messing with my head?

 

[aLDo1234]

how much difference is there between 8x and 4x AGP?

 

[melvin13]

I cant rember the exact number..something like 2.4 GB transfer rate (twice as fast as AGP4)

Right now, there is nothing really that will push an AGP 8X card to its limits, or requires the amount of bandwith that an AGP8 card can handle. I still have a Gefroce 3 Ti 500 4x agp card.

 

[LumberJack]

New P4s are slated for April 22nd.. but you may not be able to get them after a week or two after..



To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!