Asus P4C800 Motherboard, yay or nay?
 

Anyone have it? I'm reading good things on the reviews etc, but I'd like to hear from someone who actually has the thing.

My other option is the Intel D875PBZ...but it doesn't have half of the features that the Asus has...I'm not really sure that it's a bad thing, though...

So, opinions...I know you got em.

how about the specs for the mobo?

Nah. Wait for the Abit IS7 instead. Cheaper and faster.

Abit and I are not on good terms.

Probably just superstition, but I'll never buy another Abit again.

P4C800 Deluxe

ASUS Intelligence Everywhere

Intel 875P Chipset
800 MHz FSB
Dual-Channel DDR400 Memory
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
ASUS Intelligence Features
AGP Pro/8X slot
3COM Gigabit LAN
CPU

-Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4/ Celeron up to 3.2 GHz+
-Intel Hyper-Threading Technology ready
-New power design supports Intel next generation Prescott CPU
Chipset

Intel 875P MCH
Intel ICH5
Front Side Bus

800/ 533 / 400 MHz
Memory

-Dual Channel Memory Architecture
-4 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 4GB PC3200/PC2700/PC2100 ECC/Non_ECC DDR SDRAM memory
-Intel Performance Acceleration Technology
Expansion Slots

1 x AGP Pro/ 8X/ 4X (0.8V, 1.5V only)
5 x PCI
1 x ASUS WIFI Connector for optional wireless LAN upgrade
Storage

South Bridge:
- 2 x UltraDMA 100
- 2 x Serial ATA
Promise 20378 RAID controller:
- 1 x UltraDMA 133 support two hard drives
- 2 x Serial ATA
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, Multiple RAID
AI Audio

ADI AD1985 SoundMAX 6-channel CODEC
Audio Sensing and Enumeration Technology
support S/PDIF out interface
AI LAN

3COM 3C940 Gigabit LAN PCI Controller supporting 10/100/1000 BASE-T Ethernet
Virtual Cable Tester™ Net-Diagnosing Utility
AI BIOS Feature

CrashFree BIOS2, Q-Fan, Post Reporter
AI Overclock

-Intelligent CPU frequency tuner
-ASUS JumperFree
-CPU, Memory, and AGP voltage adjustable
-SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) from 100MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment
-Adjustable FSB/DDR ratio. Fixed AGP/PCI frequencies
-ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
IEEE 1394

VIA 1394 Controller supports 2 x 1394 ports
USB

Max. 8 USB2.0 ports
Special Features

InterVideo WinDVD Suite
Power Loss Restart
support S/PDIF out interface
ASUS Q-Fan technology
ASUS EZ Flash
CrashFree BIOS2
ASUS POST Reporter
Multi-language BIOS
Asus Instant Music
Asus MyLogo2
Back Panel I/O Ports

1 x Parallel
1 x Serial
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x S/PDIF Output
1 x IEEE1394
1 x Audio I/O
4 x USB 2.0/1.1
1 x RJ45
Internal I/O Connectors

2 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 4 USB 2.0 ports
CPU / Power / Chassis FAN connectors
Chassis Intrusion
S/PDIF out connector
CD / AUX / Modem audio in
1 x IEEE1394 ports
Front Panel Audio connector
COM2 connector
GAME/MIDI connector
20-pin ATX Power connector
4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
BIOS Feature

4 Mb Flash ROM,AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash, MyLogo2, ASUS C.P.R.
Industrial Standard

PCI 2.2, PCI 2.3, USB 2.0
Manageability

WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME, Chassis Intrusion, SM Bus
Support CD

Drivers
ASUS PC Probe
Trend Micro™ PC-cillin 2002 anti-virus software
ASUS LiveUpdate Utility
Accessories

User's manual
InterVideo WinDVD Suite
2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
2 x Serial ATA cable
1 x IDE cable
FDD cable
I/O shield
Form Factor

ATX Form Factor 12”x 9.6”(30.5cm x 24.5cm)
Retail Box: Includes cables, manuals and drivers

Go AMD :)

Yeah...I dunno, wraith.

I've been going AMD for the past 4 years...and nothing against AMD (seriously, the blame is elsewhere...) I'm tired of the problems with the chipsets.

YAY! Go asus. I have an ASUS P4T533 (i think thats the model #) and it has always treated me good. No problems at all.

i havent used that motherboard specifically... but ive used quite a few asus boards... and have always been very pleased with them...

i voted for asus too, somehow their "asus jumperfree" thing gets me.

I have had a few ASUS mobo's. Customer service stinks, but, that looks like a fire breathin board my friend!

A tweak here and there, and it might be ready to challenge an AMD based MoBo.

edit, yay, but nay. It is your choice, read the online reviews, talk to your friends. Bottom line, it is not an Athlon.

But, any Asus is better than no Asus.

Did you check out SOYO?

Happily using one right now.

Ive got an Asus board right now and would buy another in a heart beat accept for the price, they are to damn expensive. The Intel board, which is what I am going to buy, is what all the alien ware computers are using, not that it makes them good, just some info.

I just built a machine using the Asus P4<b>P</b>800 Deluxe which is almost identical to the P4C800.

The P4C uses the 875P & ICH5 chipset, a Promise controller to provide SATA and RAID functionality, and includes Intel's new Performance Acceleration Technology The P4P uses the 865PE & ICH5R chipset which integrates SATA and RAID 0 on the south bridge and does not have PAT. See the report at <b> TomsHardware </b>comparing the two. They are neck and neck with regard to speed. The PAT of the P4C doesn't appear to make much of a difference.

For me, it came down to supported ram and price. According to the listing at <b>MonarchComputer </b>, the P4C800 doesn't support Corsair XMS 3200 ram without adjusting to a higher latency. Probably not that important, but the listing for the P4P800 had no such warning. As far as price, at Googlegear, the P4C800 is $187 and the P4P800 is $145. I went for the cheaper board that supported the ram I wanted.

I loaded up with a 3.06 800FSB P4 and a gig of Corsair ram. Although 400Mhz (pc3200) ram is the fastest that can be fully utilized with the 800FSB, I went with Corsair's XMS 3500. It runs at 400 Mhz, but with a slightly lower latency than the XMS 3200. Again, not a very significant difference, but WTF. I want SPEED.

BTW this board rocks. Slicker 'n owl shit and setup couldn't have been easier.

EDIT: Update on the P4P800. Asus has released a bios update that enables Intel's Performance Acceleration Technology on the 865 chip. Now the only real difference between the P4P800 and P4C800 is price.

I know a lot of people with this board and I have not seen one person yet who said anything bad about it. Me being a user of a Matrox X100 Capture card, I had to research for HOURS finding the right mobo to work with this card, and have the speed to boot. This is the only board that allows the PCI Bus to have enough resources for the X100 to run at its full capability (even compared to a Nforce 2). Not that you will be using a DV system, but its just nice to know. Also this board with a 3.00ghz P4 @ 800mhz fsb, cant be beat right now. Even the new Barton 3200+ is beaten by this, so I believe that Intel has finally found a solution to the AMD Bandwagon of Nforce 2 lovers ;)

Anyway I would recomend this board for any system. Only issue I have with them is that you could probably get the same speed from a much cheaper company like MSI or something.

Im thinking about buying that motherboard too, more advice on it would be great. :) TIA

One month later, I must say, I love it.

Not one single crash or bluescreen...zero. Zilch. It's amazing...the computer just...works.

Go for it.

mped where did u buy your comp from?

I got most of the parts from www.bzboyz.com

I give em a 9 for price, a 7 for order turn-around time, and a 6 for easy website use...just make sure you understand what you're ordering. :) Some of the options are redundant.

If you're going with I875P then get the P4C800-E instead. Fixes some of the problems/lack of features on the original.

The E has it's own set of problems, actually. I'm not 100% clear on this, really, but from the other forums I'm part of, the E has some rather catastrophic failures when using the RAID and certian programs...especially for audio programs, recording and the like. Also, issues with Nero...total existance failures, that sort of thing.

MPEDrummer

I just installed one into a friends PC...... really nice...

Asus boards tend to be a little overloaded on features (and thus expensive), but I have one and I love it to death - it's a P4PE.

Check out the new Abit IC7-G MAX3
or even the older IC7-G
They are much better boards than the Asus, they overclock better, they are more stable, and more reliable.

Abit scarred me as a child...lol.

Just geek grudges, really...I had an Abit that was a complete piece of shit, and the tech support phone number had a disclaimer under it saying that I would get better tech support if I spoke Taiwanese...I got nowhere with them. It took me weeks to discover that the RAM I was using, which was on the reccommend list, wasn't actually compatible with the motherboard, and it was on there by mistake, or something...blah.

Anyway, now I have a semi-irrational grudge against Abit. We all have em.

MPEDrummer