best single processor motherboard for P4C

[PI]

hi, can somebody tell me which motherboard to buy. im choosing between an asus p4c800-e, asus p4p800 deluxe and a p4s800d-e.i already read the reviews but im still confused which board to buy

[Greg Hess]

What exactly are you looking for in a mainboard? Haha that sounds corny as all hell.

 

Firewire? USB 2? Ethernet? Onboard sound? Speed? Stability? Cool colors? Chipset fans? Bling bling?

[PI]

im looking for speed and reliability

 

tnx greg for the reply

[Greg Hess]

PI,

 

I built one not too long ago. I'll check and see how the uptime is.

[William Alexander]

PI,

 

 

Here is my take on these mainboards. This is after about 3 months of study on & off, little here-little there. Trying to get an educated Idea of which one to purchase.

The one key thing to grasp is the memory. Make sure it is 400mhz, although you could run more, from my understanding. If its less than 400 or 3200 you decrease it's performance. Good thread currently in hardware discussions. If it's more you may not get increased performance with a greater price. PC DDR400 3200 is recommended for the P4C800-e D. Corsair has improved ram that is comaptible with this chipset they say. Very pricey.

 

Here corsairs recomendations

http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/guides/Asus-Jul2003.pdf

 

Here is Asus'

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4c800-e_d/P4C800_DDR400_QVL.pdf

 

 

The specs on the mboards

 

 

P4P800

 

Intel 865PE Chipset, 3.2 ghz +

800mhz FSB

Dual Channel DDR400*

Gigabit Lan (3com) line testing

AGP8X/Pro Video Card up to 8X

ICH5R integration with this chip spec.

AI Audio (inteligent codec tells you wrong connections)

*Asus Q fan technology

8- USB 2.0 480mb/s transfer speeds

 

 

P4P800D

 

Intel 865PE Chipset, 3.2 ghz +

800/533/400 MHz FSB

Dual Channel DDR400*

Gigabit Lan (3com) line testing

AI Audio (inteligent codec tells you wrong connections)

*AI Bios Crash Free Bios2, Q-fan, Asus Post

*Via(manuf.) IDE Raid

AGP8X/Pro Video Card up to 8X

ICH5R integration with this chip spec.

*IEEE 1394 interface High speed interface with portable

8- USB 2.0 480mb/s transfer speeds

***Multi-Language Bios

 

 

P4C800-E Deluxe

 

Intel 875P Chipset, 3.2 ghz +

800mhz FSB

Dual Channel DDR400* supports up to 4gb

**Intel PAT (Triiger for 3-5% perfromance increase)

**Multi-Raid (Most complete solution)

**Gigabit LAN (Intel) Higher rate lower latency times Bi-directional advantages

AI Audio (inteligent codec tells you wrong connections)

*AI Bios Crash Free Bios2, Q-fan, Asus Post

AGP8X/Pro Video Card up to 8X

ICH5R integration with this chip spec.

*IEEE 1394 interface High speed interface with portable devices

8- USB 2.0 480mb/s transfer speeds

 

*_Is different from the P4P800

**_is different from the P4P800 & P4P800D

***_Is unique to it's self.

 

 

The AI Crash Free Bios2, is improved over the already stable Bios(1). I have an Asus board now and not a problem unless I create it.

 

The Via Raid Controller is good and once again I have that on my asus board & I beleive on a AOPEN board also, not a problem with any drives.

 

The IEEE 1394 interface is pretty much self explainatory for the most part. I did'nt really research it.

 

The intel PAT anything that will sqeeze performance should be a good thing

 

Multi-Raid allows for arrays of drives and additional beyond what is standard, I believe.

 

The Gigabit Lan controller from intel is apparently better than 3com's. I'm not a big 3com fan in particular OEM. Even if it has line testing up to 10 meters or whatever away. I can test impedance, voltage drop, resistance with a meter...

 

The multi-language bios- probably not an issue.

 

 

All other seems to be equal. I am opting for the P4C800-E Deluxe. This is for a re-build, and re-use of the exisitng main board. For about 975.00 usd; board, cpu 3.2ghz and 2 gig ram (corsair), it seems to be the best solution for aproaching a top end single cpu system. With some potential for upgrading the cpu and maybe some day ram. When and if 1gb single sticks are avialable / affordable.

 

Hope it helps you see some of the differences and allows you to, at least, start on making a confident choice.

 

Still have not purchased, but explaining the differences, has brought me very close.

 

brgds

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