865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003 - Part 1: 20-way Shootout
by Evan Lieb on June 12, 2003 10:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
|
Motherboard Specifications |
|
|
CPU
Interface
|
Socket-478
|
|
Chipset
|
Intel
82865PE MCH (North Bridge)
Intel 82801ER ICH5R (South Bridge) |
|
Bus
Speeds
|
up
to 400MHz (in 1MHz increments)
|
|
Core
Voltages Supported
|
up
to 1.950V (in 0.0125V increments up to 1.60V, and 0.0250V after that)
|
|
I/O
Voltages Supported
|
N/A
|
|
DRAM
Voltages Supported
|
up
to 2.85V (in 0.05V increments)
|
|
Memory Slots
|
4 184-pin
DDR DIMM Slots
|
|
Expansion Slots
|
1 AGP
8X Slot
5 PCI Slots |
|
Onboard IDE RAID
|
VIA
VT6410 controller
|
|
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
|
Eight
USB 2.0 ports supported through South Bridge
VIA VT6307 IEEE-1394 FireWire (2 ports available) |
|
Onboard LAN
|
3COM
3C940 Gigabit LAN (no CSA)
|
|
Onboard Audio
|
Analog
Devices AD1985 codec
|
|
Onboard Serial ATA
|
Two
SATA connectors via ICH5R (RAID 0 & RAID 1 only)
|
|
BIOS
Revision
|
Rev.
1007
|
Though the P4P800 Deluxe is not as feature-rich as the high-end 865PE and 875P motherboards there are still lots of positive things to say about its features, especially for the price it's going for online.
First and foremost is the IDE RAID controller onboard the P4P800 Deluxe. VIA is certainly not known for their IDE RAID solutions, and so the VT6410 RAID controller is quite unique, in fact the first of its kind that we've ever come across. In combination with the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors (which support a total of four drives), the two VT6410-controlled IDE RAID connectors, and the two ICH5R-powered Serial ATA connectors, the P4P800 Deluxe is capable of supporting a total of 10 drives. That's an excellent amount of drive support for the middle-range asking price of the P4P800 Deluxe in the U.S.
Not surprisingly the P4P800 Deluxe contains excellent BIOS options, exactly the kind you would expect from ASUS. Some notable performance tweaking options include FSB adjustments available up to 400MHz, VDIMM adjustable up to 2.85V, AGP/PCI adjustments up to 80MHz/40MHz (about as high as is doable) and Vcore values available up to 1.950V in fine 0.0125V and 0.0250V increments. The FSB ceiling of 400MHz isn't in the least surprising as ASUS has always left lots of room for FSB overclockers in the past. What really stands out is the tremendous Vcore support available up to 1.950V. This ceiling is even higher when you take into account the average overvolt of 0.040V, meaning you could reach as high as 2.00V with your P4 processor on the P4P800 Deluxe (something we highly recommend against). Don't be alarmed though, ASUS has a history of producing motherboards that naturally overvolt. We should note that our FSB overclocking results were performed at a Vcore of just over 1.565V instead of the usual 1.525V because of the P4P800 Deluxe's default overvolting.
Quite obviously the most notable aspect of the P4P800 Deluxe is its ability to mimic PAT (Performance Acceleration Technology) found only on Intel's 875P series of chipsets. While the 865PE chipsets ASUS uses for the P4P800 Deluxe are not truly PAT enabled, ASUS has found a way to "crack" PAT microcode, enabling their P4P800 Deluxe motherboards to perform just as well as 875P motherboards for a significantly lower price. If you have a P4P800 Deluxe and want to make sure you're reaping 875P-like performance, make sure you enable MAM (Memory Acceleration Mode) and set the Performance Mode option to "Turbo" in the BIOS. We recommend that you use BIOS revision 1007 or higher (when available) for the best possible performance and reliability.
There are a few negative things we have to say about the P4P800 Deluxe. Firstly, we would have preferred it if ASUS had left some space between the AGP slot and DIMM connectors, as it's exceedingly inconvenient for users to have to uninstall their video card if they simply want to add or remove their memory modules. This feature is easy to implement, especially since there is an unusually large amount of space between the AGP slot and the first PCI slot.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
18 Comments
View All Comments
Zak - Sunday, January 18, 2004 - link
I bought IS7 after reading this article and I've been having problems. Random resets, then BSOD after changing XP recovery settings. Over the past few months it worsened. In the begining it like once a week maybe. I wasn't concerned, bad driver I thought. Now it won't run more than an hour without BSOD. I have Corsair XMS DDR400 in it. I've played with memory settings for weeks, timings and voltages as well, reinstalled XPPro several times, updated BIOS, got all newest drivers and run out of ideas... I've put a stick of DDR333 because that's all have to test and I still get the same random BSOD, even durnig XP installation. I have no PCI cards in this box. Mushkin calls this board problematic and attributes the memory problems to forced implementation of PAT that is not normally present in 865. I may try getting it replaced by NewEgg but I don't suppose it'll help. I'm thinking about getting a 875 board instead. Zak.Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
I would like to see part II of the roundup of the 865 chipset. I wonder what is the delay?Anonymous User - Monday, October 13, 2003 - link
I thought Part 2 would be out by now at least... There are good new boards out there I'd like to see... Shuttle AB60R (cheap and full featured) and Abit IC7-MAX3 (OTES for mobo power area). I am still looking forward to seeing this, eventually, right guys?Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
Any comments on newer motherboards? Why hasn't supermicro been tested since 2000?Looking to compare supermicro
Intel s875wp1-e and Super P4SCE (SuperServer 5013C-I (SYS-5013-CI)) for a $50k cluster
Thanks
syzygyus@yahoo.com
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
Evan, how in the world is #4 going to research your statement when the articles/review comments forum gets purged/is gone now ?Anonymous User - Saturday, August 23, 2003 - link
Any word on Revision 2 of the Gigabyte 8knxp ultra board yet?Anonymous User - Sunday, August 10, 2003 - link
I bought the is7 after I read this article. It had many problems. I ended up having to ram this board twice. If you read the abit forum boards you will see alot of problems I am fairly surprised after all the tests this board was put through nothing ever went wrong. I will not buy another abit product period. I will stick to gigabye i've built 6 systems with Gigabyte and yet to have any problems with them. Save for the chipset fans having a low life.Anonymous User - Friday, August 8, 2003 - link
I bought the Abit IS7 and am completely pleased. One note is that many of the IS7's appear to be getting shipped with the gigabit lan as opposed to the sales brochure stated 10/100. (mine has the gigabit)Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
How could it be that the Asus p4c 800 de luxe is more expensive then the asus p4p deluxe but in the testresults it is slower?I would think i am misinformed by the computershop?
And the p4c deluxe got a gigabit lan on board, despite mentioning in the summary of this Mb it has not.
PixelDoc - Sunday, July 27, 2003 - link
Error Re: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP MoBoThis MoBo has 4, not 2 SATA connectors, 2 controlled by ICH5R and 2 more contolled by the SIL3112 chip.