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ASUS wanted in on the Socket-370 DDR game and thus released the TUA266 based on the Aladdin Pro 5T chipset. Stability is top notch and its SDRAM-based performance is good, keeping neck and neck i815E-based AOpen AX3S Plus. The provision of both DDR and SDRAM support gives the end-user excellent flexibility, although the performance benefits gained by using DDR-RAM are questionnable. Component layout has been well done, reducing cable clutter and leaving plenty of allowance for alternative cooling solutions. Overclockability is excellent, with the TUA266 maxing out at 160MHz. The integrated hardware-based audio is also a rather decent solution. To top it off are the software bundle which includes PC-Cillin 2000 and the ASUS iProbe monitoring utility, as well as the good documentation.
Unfortunately, the TUA266 falls short in memory bandwidth, expansion configuration and aesthetics. Although it tied with the i815E-based AOpen AX3S Plus in memory benchmarks, the lack of memory interleaving held back the TUA266's full potential. While a 1/5/0/1 (AGP/PCI/ISA/AMR) expansion configuration is enough for most users, power users would have preferred to do away with the onboard sound and the AMR slot, replacing it with an additional PCI slot or an ISA slot for legacy support. The motherboard's sheer size might also pose a problem for some end-users. Lastly, there aren't any outstanding aesthetical features on this motherboard, with its traditional green North Bridge heatsink and brown PCB. This last point would only be important to case modders, since the motherboard is practically out of sight in normal cases.
If you're currently looking toward a new Pentium III-based system, or especially a Tualatin-based system, you might as well pick the ASUS TUA266. Solid stability and great overclockability. Recomended!
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