Asus has been one of the most popular motherboard manufacturers for years, not surprising considering the quality and features of their motherboards. They were actually first to offer a motherboard with alternate busspeeds. Back in 1996 when standard Pentiums were still the fastest Intel CPUs on the market, Asus came out with the Asus P55T2P4 rev. 3.x. This motherboard had undocumented jumper settings that allowed the user to select a 83 MHz busspeed, a feature never before heard of.
This motherboard immediately became the motherboard of choice for all computer enthusiasts who wanted to unlock their system’s full potential. This trend continued with the release of the Intel TX-chipset; Asus’s TX-97 line of motherboards again offered 83 MHz busspeed, and more features like thermal monitoring and CPU voltage control.
Asus has always been known for the quality and stability of their motherboards; their manuals are always very comprehensive and they regularly update the ‘BIOS-upgrade’ section on their website. They usually answer emails to their customer support within a couple of days, so after-sales support is good.
Asus has been producing BX-chipset motherboards for quite some time now. The Asus P2B was first to hit the market, followed by the Asus P2B-F with an extra DIMM-slot and slightly different board layout. Both models continued to be top of the line as revisions added a wider range of busspeeds and more BIOS features.
Features
Their latest board is the Asus P3B-F, the successor to the Asus P2B-F. This board is the first to offer CPU voltage and busspeed selection from within the BIOS, a first for Asus as they have always stuck with jumpers while other motherboard manufacturers already offered ‘jumperless’ solutions.
This motherboard is also equipped with the new V6.0 revision of the well-known Award BIOS, that now uses a GUI (Graphic User Interface) to facilitate setting up the motherboard.
But let’s summarize the features, with a little background on what this means to the end-user — i.e., what these features will enable the end-user to do.
JumperFree BIOS:
Allows the end-user to set frequency and CPU voltages through BIOS setup alone when JumperFree mode is enabled. Easier-to-use DIP switches instead of jumpers are provided to manually setup the processor.
Smart BIOS:
2 MB Firmware Provides CPU voltage and CPU/SDRAM frequency adjustments, boot block write protection, and HD/SCSI/MO/ZIP/CD/Floppy boot selection. Power supply is auto-detected to enable/disable Suspend-To-RAM and KB / PS/2 mouse power up, eliminating those jumper adjustments.
PCI & ISA Expansion Slots:
Provides options for five 32-bit PCI (rev 2.2) and two 16-bit ISA expansion slots, six PCI with one ISA, or six PCI without ISA. Every PCI slot can support Bus Master PCI cards, such as SCSI or LAN.
Onboard LED:
The onboard LED will light up when there is standby power to the PCI bus. This acts as a reminder to the user to turn OFF the power before plugging in and unplugging devices to protect the motherboard, peripherals, and components.
ACPI Ready:
Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) provides more Energy Saving Features for operating systems that support OS Direct Power Management (OSPM) functionality. With these features implemented in the OS, PCs can be instantly ready, yet satisfy all the energy saving standards. To fully utilize the benefits of ACPI, an ACPI-supported OS such as Windows 98 is necessary.
Suspend and Go!:
Suspend-to-RAM (STR) provides maximum power savings (average of 5 watts) as an alternative to leaving the computer ON and QuickStart. This is to ensure that waiting times for system bootup are as short as possible (Suspend-to-RAM requires OS support and does not support ISA cards; ISA cards may fail to work coming out of STR mode).
Easy Installation:
Incorporates BIOS that supports auto-detection of harddisk drives, PS/2 mouse, and Plug and Play devices to make their setup and that of other devices virtually automatic.
PC-99 Compliant:
Both the BIOS and hardware levels of ASUS motherboard are PC-99 compliant. The new PC-99 system and component requirements are based on the following high-level goals:
– Support for Plug and Play compatibility and power management for configuring and managing all system components.
– 32-bit device drivers and installation procedures for Windows 95/98/NT
– Color-coded connectors and descriptive icons for easy identification of connectors and peripherals.
System Resources Alert:
Operating systems such as Windows 95/98/NT require much more memory and hard drive space than their predecessors. The system resource monitor will warn the user before the system resources are fully depleted to prevent possible application crashes.
Temperature Monitoring and Alert:
CPU temperature is monitored by the ASUS ASIC through the CPU’s internal thermal diode (on Pentium III, Deschutes Pentium II, and PPGA370 Celeron in conjunction with the ASUS S370-D or S370-L transform card) to prevent system overheating and system damage.
Voltage Monitoring and Alert:
System voltage levels are monitored to ensure stable voltage to critical motherboard components. Voltage specifications are to be more critical for future processors, so monitoring is necessary to ensure proper system operation and management.
Specifications
Processor:
- Slot 1 for Intel Pentium II/III 233MHz~550+MHz or Celeron SEPP Processor
Chipset:
- Intel 440BX AGPSet Support and PIIX4E South Bridge
System memory:
- 4 x 168-pin DIMM’s support for 8Mb to 1024Mb total memory capacity
- PC100 SDRAM 8/16/32/64/128/256MB 168-pin SDRAM, ECC supported
AGP Slot:
- Supports 2X Mode AGP 66/133MHz (Sideband) 3.3V device
On Board IDE & Floppy Connectors:
- 2 x UltraDMA/33 Bus Master IDE Ports (Up to 4 IDE devices)
- ATAPI IDE CD-ROM & LS-120 supported
- 1 x Floppy Port (3 Mode, up to 2.88MB)
PC Health Monitoring:
- PC Health Monitoring ASIC supports CPU Voltage, Fan Status, and System Temperature
- Intel LDCM S/W and ASUS PC Probe Utility Bundled
Smart Slots for Expansion Flexibility:
- 6 PCI Slots compliant with PC-99 requirement, 6 PCI Slots and 1 ISA Slot or 5 PCI Slots and 2 ISA Slots
PC-99 Compliant Colorful I/O:
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
- 1 x Parallel Port (ECP, EPP Port)
- 2 x USB Ports
- 2 x Serial Ports
ATX Power Connector:
- 3.3V, 5V and 12V 20-pin ATX power connector, Soft Power Off supported
Smart BIOS:
- Allows the end-user to set frequency and CPU voltages entirely through BIOS setup when JumperFreeTM mode is enabled. Easy-to-use DIP switches instead of jumpers are provided to manually setup the processor
- 2 MB firmware provides CPU voltage and CPU/SDRAM frequency adjustments, boot block write protection, and HD/SCSI/MO/ZIP/CD/Floppy boot selection. Power supply is auto-detected to enable/disable Suspend-To-RAM and KB / PS/2 mouse power up, eliminating the need to make jumper adjustments
Package Contents:
- P3B-F Motherboard x 1
- Universal Retention Module x 1
- User’s Manual x 1
- Driver CD x 1
- IDE Cable x 1
- Floppy Cable x 1
Board Size:
- ATX Form Factor: 19.2cm x 30.4cm (7.55″ x 12.0″)
Performance
Asus has always been one of the best performing motherboards on the market and with the Intel BX-chipset you cannot go wrong. The Asus P3B-F offers a broad range of busspeeds: 66/75/83/100/103/105/110/112/115/120/124/133/140/150 MHz, so in combination with the CPU voltage adjustments you will be able to unlock the full potential of your CPU.
Using SiSoft Sandra 99 to benchmark the CPU’s performance, we tested a Retail Pentium III / 450, a Retail Slot 1 Celeron 300A and a Retail PPGA Celeron 366 with a Powerleap PL-PII Slotket. So let’s see how fast we could run these CPU’s while making overall system stability our primary consideration!Pentium III / 450 Results:
We were able to clock the Pentium III / 450 to 558MHz (124×4.5) at 2.0 volts using the standard Intel retail heatsink. At 600MHz (133×4.5) at 2.2 volts it would run, but would be somewhat unstable. This is cooling related, and we will look into that when we finish the Bxboard Roundup; there we will supercool each CPU and motherboard combination to test absolute maximum attainable speed and performance.Slot 1 Celeron 300A Results:
We were able to clock the Slot 1 Celeron 300A to 450MHz (100×4.5) at 2.0 volts using the standard Intel retail heatsink. Running at 504MHz (112×4.5) made it a bit unstable, even at 2.2 volts.PPGA Celeron 366 with Powerleap PL-PII Slotket:
We were able to clock the PPGA Celeron 366 to 550MHz (100×5.5) at 2.2 volts using the standard Intel retail heatsink.
Conclusion
The Asus P3B-F proved to be a really stable motherboard and a consistent performer; it was able to run the PPGA Celeron 366 at 550MHz with a Powerleap PL-PII, something we could not accomplish with the Asus P2B rev. 1.10.
If we look at the performance and stability it offers, the PC-99 compliance and the added ‘jumperless’ CPU voltage and busspeed selection, we can only conclude that this motherboard is very appealing.
Asus has always been known for their good quality and good after-sales support; they regularly update the ‘BIOS-upgrade’ section on their website. Emails to their customer support are usually answered within a couple of days, so you can be sure that they will help keep this motherboard at the peak of its performance.
HardwareCentral would like to thank X-Treme Technologies for donating the pre-tested PPGA C366 Celeron.