P2b Vs P3b-f

[dizzynoodle]

if the same amount of Ram and identical CPU were put on a P3B-F and a P2B would there be a performance difference. CPU is PIII 800/133 using an Asus slotkey.

so what's it gonna be ?

[Greebe]

The only difference you would have is a MB that's designed for newer cpu's and features the P2B lacks. Both are very well known for their quality.

Speed wise basically the same.

[Kruzin]

P2B is jumpers only for setting FSB and dividers, so it's very limitied in overclockability.
P3B-F has a soft BIOS that allows you to tweak MUCH more, if you are an overclocker.

At stock speeds, they will be about the same, but the P3B-F will let you do much more...

[dizzynoodle]

Does it make a difference though ?

How far can i tweak a P3B-F ? with a PIII 800 / 133 ? will it make a performance difference i will notice in Photoshop, After Effects and premiere ? Also, HOw far will it be able to overclock the CPU thru the BIOS settings [software push] ?

The reason asking is that i have just about completed upgrading one of my machines to a PIII 800 as mentioned above, it runs on a P2b sort of happilly. I was left with PII 400 cpu which was on that machine, so i thought i will buy an new Slot1 MOBO, luckily i came across a P3B- F [which was out of stock for a long time] so i picked that up. Now the P2B machine has manydevices on it and took some time configring them to all work well togther, so if i decide to used the P3B-f on that machine than it will take a bit of long work configuring the machine back to the shape it is in. If the perfomnace gains are worth it i don't mind doing it, but if they are 5-10% improvments , i don't think it is worth it.

What i would do then is stick the P3B-F on an old machine i have with the PII 400 on it and i will make something out of it as a render farm for After Effects !

You get the picture, what do think ?

Xortam, guess we need your guidance tonite aswell

[Greebe]

OK two threads on the smae subject is a bit... extreme.

Read my post in the other.

If all that can be had is 5-10% in OCing will be a subjective issue with the apps you're running. If it's not benificial then don't do it. But you won't know until you try.

Try OCing it first, then report back with your results/conclusions.

[dizzynoodle]

well...

Greebe, we have sort of reached a consensus on the facts on the other post... What i am asking here is if i should break down a whole setup to excahnge mobo's around... pretty much it...

[Dr Mordrid]

I have SIX P3B-F's in my lab and boy, do I ever love 'em. They are fast and ROCK SOLID stable.

They take a slotkey for use with PIII/850's nicely. I've used both the Asus Smart Slot 1 and the Gigabyte listed below. BIOS 1006 is the best way to go. With this BIOS they can use the PIII/850's and the PIII/1ghz slot 1 PIII's, if you can find them.

I've used this board with everything from an old Rainbow Runner Studio to G200/400/450 Marvels, RT-2000's, WinTV, ATI AIW's, mutiple types of OHCI IEEE-1394 and on and on.

IMHO it's about the perfect video editing mainboard, and if it can do THAT well it's good for a lot of other stuff.

Dr. Mordrid

[Greebe]

Yeah Doc! (thx)

Diz, problem is we're addressing all of this in two threads, just as I am having to address this to you here and there.

See my post in the other.

[dizzynoodle]

Phew !

Well i can say we can safely ignore the other thread... it had enough battering ! Anyways, good to hear from you Doc, I bought the board based on your recommendation a few months ago... actually itried to by it and only tpday i came accross one.

I think the P2B will serve pretty much the same puprpose with a PIII 800/133 CPU though, right ? I know i can OC better with the P3B-F, but i need less of a headache at this point, just a stable editing machine for Pshop6, After Effects and premiere and maybe MSP6 !

[Tom]

I wouldn't mind trading my P2B-L for the P3B-F....
my bus speed is maxed out at 112MHz.......133MHz
would be better!

EDIT:
p.s. The P2B-L I have is an early PCB v1.02..
some later boards do have the 133MHz bus speed.

[dizzynoodle]

I don't know if i should start a new thread of use this one....

Anyway, I have gotten my other machine to boot with the old PII 400 on the P3B-F, most seems well, but in the device Manager [WIN ME] I am getting an exclamation mark saying that the device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all drivers installed.

Try upgrading the device drivers for this device.

I tried to update, same error !

Also i am using a cheap 8m SIS chip VGA card, i can only use 16colour 640X480, in the display settings, i cannot change it. what is happening there ?

Just hit me... could it be that some resuorces are still in windows behind from the old MOBO ?

[Dr Mordrid]

Is it AGP or PCI? There is a setting in the BIOS to make the default display one or the other.

If it's AGP and the above is also set for AGP I'd then check the AGP apature setting. Some of those older cards can't handle it if the apature is set >64 megs.

Dr. Mordrid

[dizzynoodle]

It's PCI... i know there's a setting that sets the priority for AGP or PCI, but does that effect ? let me try...

Could a wrongly placed wire like the HDD bulb, or the system rest switch ...etc effect iof one is reversed !?

[Greebe]

Could a wrongly placed wire like the HDD bulb, or the system rest switch ...etc effect iof one is reversed !?

Nope, it will not affect it. For any bulb ie LED to function, it must be correctly biased... ie it's a diode, so for it to function correctly it must have power applied in the proper direction. Otherwise it simply will not work, but not cause problems if incorrectly set. The reset switch is nothing more than a switch and is not polarity conscience. It functions by placing a short across the terminals it's connected to.

[Bohrn]

ive had both, and was happy with both. But the 3-F is more future friendly, and will go farther and faster. It is made for more modern stuff, and does seem to be a bit faster. Both good tho...I still swear by the BX chipset. No probs, wierd driver configs, etc. Until I need faster than 150 mhz fsb, or whatever else the BX won't do, I'm totally fine with the P3B-f. Maybe they will become more valuable than the i815/820 boards? Be a first for computer parts. old is better? Not like cars or furniture these toys of ours.