Asus A7S333

[Jaytee]

Hi;
Just wanted to get some opinions on SIS 745 chipset boards in general, and the Asus A7S333 in particular.
They seem pretty inexpensive, and I just wondered if someone with experiece with them could tell me how good they are.
Thanks.

 

[PCcashCow]

Well it depends what your planning to so with this borad? overclock? gamming?

It seems that every time I reboot my wallet get smaller.

 

[Black_Cat]

I put a system together a few weeks ago and it has been running flawlessly from day 1. I really like the SiS chipsets. I'm glad to see the bigger mobo makers now using them and allowing consumers to choose SiS instead of the often flawed VIA chipsets.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

 

[Pwent]

SiS's 745 chipset is reliable. To me, it reeks of OEM, though. It has no special features. To me, it is KT266A with DDR support. It is about as fast as the KT266A, it has no new features, and the KT266A is widely recognized as the MOST reliable VIA chipset yet. DDR333 is the only reason to use the 745. Personally, I'd go with KT333, mine is as reliable as any chipset Intel has ever produced, I have yet to crash anything. Just steer away from boards that sacrifice reliability for speed like the 7VRXP.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a big SiS fan. I just think certain KT333 boards, from companies like Abit, MSI, and Shuttle are much better.

<font color=black>Need Money!! Accepting Donations to help better my future. Thanks!</font color=black>

 

[deadkenny]

An inexpensive and stable board, but with a couple flaws. First, the SiS745 chipset in general appears not to handle async (FSB:memory) very well. In tests, compared to KT333 chipset boards, the SiS745 chipset board (not necessarily the A7S333 in particular) didn't perform any better with 333 DDR than with 266. The second problem is specific to the A7S333, which is the lack of OC'ing features. In particular, no voltage controls and no 1:5 PCI divider. This means that as you increase the FSB to OC the PCI bus quickly gets out of spec and will ultimately limit your OC, even if you have a processor that can handle it. If you're interested in the SiS 745 chipset, and want to OC it seems like the MSI 745 Ultra is the better choice, until / unless ASUS comes up with a BIOS revision that provides at least a 1:5 divider. Unfortunately, the lack of OC'ing features and the poor async performance of the chipset mean that you don't really get much benefit from the 333 support. However, it's not bad as a bargain board running at 266.

 

[UO138]

Hey Deadkenny, You seem to know what you are talking about; Have you read or seen any recent reviews of SIS 745 boards (ie. Asus A7S333, ECS K7S6A, MSI 745 Ultra, etc.) versus how they stack up recently to the boards using the newest VIA and Intel chipsets? The only review that I could find was an old one done on the ECS K7S6A when it first came out.

 

[CMRvet]

<b>MSI 745 Ultra review:</b>

<A HREF="http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/msi/745ultra/745ultrap1.htm" target="_new">http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/msi/745ultra/745ultrap1.htm</A>

<b>(<font color=yellow>as good as it looks</font color=yellow>)</b>

 

[deadkenny]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/kt333-sis745/

 

[cakecake]

A7S333. Practically no OC features, practically non-OCable, but pretty damn stable. Power regulators on the mobo are TOP NOTCH. Even if you have one of the crappiest PSU's ever conceived you will run it fine with this board. But like I said no OC features.

If you're factoring in price into your purchasing decision, look no further than the Shuttle AK35GTR2 (KT333). Great benchmark scores, nice features (RAID), and good OC too. Extremely cheap too, since Shuttle manufactures all its boards in Chinese sweatshops. Course if you work for Amnesty Int'l don't buy from Shuttle ever. heh

This little cathode light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

 

[deadkenny]

Interesting comments on the power regulation. I got a decent 300w p/s, and monitoring the voltages they appear to be 'nailed' to specs (3.3v, 5v, 12v). Do you have more info on this aspect of the board? A link?

 

[Crashman]

I'd probably take the MSI 745 Ultra over the Asus A7S333.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[deadkenny]

I tend to agree, if you have any intention of OC'ing. Otherwise I'd have a slight preference for the ASUS.