Fabulously reliable workhorse
Written: Jul 27 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quality, support, documentation, reliability.
Cons: Not the least expensive.
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| cdwilli1's Full Review: Asus P2B-L |
I have always built my own computers - the fact that I used to save a lot of money was the major reason, but I like to do it for the education and the complete control it offers me of system configuration.
The Asus P2B-L is a GREAT board. Simple to install, as are most ATX boards, but easy to work on. These folks realized that the power supply and disk drive area can cover up the RAM area and they designed the board to ensure sure the RAM was easy to get to (major kudos as so many board vendors make it a requirement to remove the drives and/or power supply to work on the RAM). The board tends to benchmark as the fastest design of its type on the market - somehow Asus seem to squeeze out better performance than other folks who use the same chip set.
The BIOS has undergone 4 revisions since I got the board - first for larger drive support, then for Windows 98, then for Y2K and lastly for Windows 2000. Each time the process of upgrade was 100% painless and easy. Well done, Asus.
A little while ago, unbeknownst to me, the power supply fan died. My machine runs 24X7 so it was incredibly hot inside the case - even the case top was too hot to touch (that is how I found it had failed). Both the Asus board and CPU had not hiccuped once during this time - although the temperature did kill my writable CD. I replaced the machines power supply and the system (with a new CD) has run perfectly since this day.
The Asus board is more expensive than most, but the documentation and after market support make it worth the money. Their reputation of quality is why I bought one in the first place and I can see their reputation is well earned.
This is my second Asus board in 4 years - from PI to PII, and I will soon own another, when I upgrade again.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
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Epinions.com ID:
cdwilli1
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Location: San Diego, California
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 26 members
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