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As it turns out, using the P4B266 paired with an overclocked Northwood, we managed to pull off one of the fastest systems in the world and that is using standard components, regular air cooling at room temperature and nothing else but a few minor mods of the FIC OEM RADEON 8500 LE, some of which have been posted already here, the rest will follow shortly as soon as I have time to write them up.

The main problem with overclocking beyond 125 MHz is that the memory at that speed is already running at 166 MHz, at 133 MHz, we are looking at 180 MHz and there is no way of changing it since the only possible configuration in Jumper Enabled mode is by SPD. This means that the memory bus will run in 4:3 mode if the SPD indicates PC2100 memory and further will use the timing settings specified for 133 MHz operation. This is somewhat unusual for ASUS who normally manage to change the latencies to comply with the electronic datasheet in the SPD on the fly with increasing bus speed. Again, this could be caused by the way of how the JumperLess mode vs. Jumpered mode is implemented. We tested this theory by reprogramming the SPD of one DIMM from 2.5:3:3 to 2:2:2 compliant settings and the same DIMM that would run 3DMark 2001 at 166 MHz flawlessly, would not even post. In other words, for overclockers interested in using the dip switches, the recommendation is to stay away from PC2100 CL2 memory.

Despite these shortcomings, ASUS has done it again and come out with a screamer. Paired with the right CPU to allow overclocking or even running at specs, the P4B266 is capable of a remarkable performance. An abundance of features packed on the board, some of them useful, some others falling into the category of eye-candy accessories make the P4B266 a very rounded board fit to suit almost everyone's needs.

The main problems from a user standpoint are in the layout and in the BIOS configuration. In terms of layout, the proximity of the DIMM slots to the AGP interface precludes the use of memory cooling on graphics adapters with frame buffers on both sides. At present, this only concerns the ATI RADEON which is not amongst the cards manufactured by ASUS and for the record, we see the same layout on all i845D boards. It will become somewhat more complicated as soon as the GF4 is available since this card also uses memory chips on both sides and while the 275 MHz of the standard GF4 memory may get away without cooling, the memory clock speed of 300 MHz in the Ultra version may require cooling of the chips as well. In other words, this could become a real issue in the future.

The other complaint is directed against the selection of settings that are inaccessible in jumper mode. It is nice to have the hard settings available that, as shown, unlock the overall overclockability, however, it is difficult to understand why memory timing settings as well as Vre adjustments have to fall victim to the disabling of Soft-BIOS settings when they would be all that is needed to run the board up to its full potential.

It is really not that the P4B266 falls short of overclocking capabilities and the associated performance, the SiSoft Sandra memory scores as well as the Quake3 Arena scores are probably amongst the highest ever shown. Still, the bitter tear is that they could be even higher, as pathetic as this might sound. Breaking the 400 fps barrier in Quake3 Arena would be possible with just the Vre adjustments available. We'll get there anyway but it would have been nice.

Other minor points like the skimping or incorrect description of BIOS settings are minor flaws that pale in view of what we have been able to accomplish with the P4B266 and ASUS is certainly on the right track with this board. Concluding, the only thing we can wish for is that the responsible engineers will read this review and iron out the last reservations that we have, most likely, it could be done with a BIOS revision. If that were to happen, the P4B266 could become the prototype of the next generation of Überboard.

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