Having bought the P4S800E, I can correct a couple of misimpressions.
First, the passive heatsink on the NB isn't so large as to interfere with my Zalman CNPS-7000Cu. Other mondo coolers might be problematic, of course.
And the AMI BIOS now supports multiple CPU Core settings, all the way up to 1.9V. Since I don't get paid to write such reviews, I'm not going to type in the details - but the BIOS that shipped with the MB *has* been updated in that regard, as promised.
All of the current memory reviews talk about memory that is great for the 865 875 chipsets. What memory would be good for overclocking on this motherboard with an Intel 3.0GHz 800FSB HT processor?
Asus says the P4S800D-E will appear on their web site on Friday, December 19, 2003. They expect the boards to be available for sale in the US by January 1.
We normally check FSB and report those that are out of spec. With these 3 boards all are within 0.5MHz of 200. The Asus P4S800D-E is 200.1, and both Gigabyte 8S655TX Ultra and Asus P4C800-E are at 200.5. If numbers are way off we correct them to 200 (800) before running benchmarks if possible.
Unless I missed it, did you check to make sure no one was cheating a bit with their front side bus speed? Is a 200 MHz frontside bus really a 200 MHz frontside bus for all three boards that you compared?
#14 - All our Benchmark tests on the 655TX boards were done with an ATI 9800 PRO with Fast Writes enabled, so there does not not seem to be a general problem with ATI cards.
Q? to Wesley does these mobos have control of CPU fan speed (again like MSI Neo2), so it run more slow with low CPU load (= more silent)? Another one is how it's compatible with Radeon 9700 Pro? F.e. My SIS648 even with latest SIS-AGP drivers have have a conflict with Hercules R9700Pro when Fast Write is turned on... Competition is G R E A T E thing,... but you know we also want stability :))) So far, as I know Intel chipsets before were far more stable and compatible with other hardware... The bottom line "as fast" does not always mean "as good"... :(( And since I also love competition let's hope that SIS655TX as good as 875P.
Also, as I remember VIA VT6307 support 3 (not 2) 1394a FireWire ports (as on MSI Neo boards), so why Gigabyte would cut them to 2 ??? And besides Wesley always trying to stress out color-coded panel connectors. For me it's more important that you can change RAM without taking off videocard and ASUS had such problems with some of their mobos (now it looks better... but talking about overclocking ... hmmmm. Even it's damn stable: heatsink on ASUS SiS 655TX is passive (already -) and too close to CPU (plus wrong orientation - same mistake as with original P4C800 Deluxe. So - NO oversized cooler for CPU on this board.
Realtek ALC658 codec AC '97 2.3 6-Channel with UAJ Shoud go to Gigabyte and vice versa... Oh well.., I had my SIS648 for a while and .. so now I'd rather prefer to pay eXtra for board with Intel chipset :(( Plus Gigabit LAN will work faster(=better) with CSA...
On page 3 it says its the Gigabyte MB that uses the Marvel Gigabit controller, while on page 4 it says its the asus board that uses the Marvel controller... My guess is it is Asus that uses it and its wrong on page 3.
Everybody has to remember that SiS is only marginally better than VIA in compatibility, and several degrees less than any Intel modern chipset. . This makes SiS an excellent option for AMD based motherboards, but why on Earth would you pair an Intel processor with anything other than an Intel chipset? The whole point of paying the $$ for an Intel CPU is the benefit of getting to use their chipset. Works with everything, always. . That's worth the extra $20.
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24 Comments
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WhoBeDaPlaya - Friday, April 23, 2004 - link
LOL swt - wish I got paid for the reviews I write :Pswt - Saturday, February 7, 2004 - link
Having bought the P4S800E, I can correct a couple of misimpressions.First, the passive heatsink on the NB isn't so large as to interfere with my Zalman CNPS-7000Cu. Other mondo coolers might be problematic, of course.
And the AMI BIOS now supports multiple CPU Core settings, all the way up to 1.9V. Since I don't get paid to write such reviews, I'm not going to type in the details - but the BIOS that shipped with the MB *has* been updated in that regard, as promised.
buzzby311 - Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - link
buzzby311 - Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - link
All of the current memory reviews talk about memory that is great for the 865 875 chipsets. What memory would be good for overclocking on this motherboard with an Intel 3.0GHz 800FSB HT processor?Wesley Fink - Monday, December 15, 2003 - link
Asus says the P4S800D-E will appear on their web site on Friday, December 19, 2003. They expect the boards to be available for sale in the US by January 1.ColdRolledSteel - Thursday, December 11, 2003 - link
I also would like to know when the P4S800D-E is coming out. It isn't listed anywhere, including on the usa.asus.com website....Wesley Fink - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
Spacecomber -We normally check FSB and report those that are out of spec. With these 3 boards all are within 0.5MHz of 200. The Asus P4S800D-E is 200.1, and both Gigabyte 8S655TX Ultra and Asus P4C800-E are at 200.5. If numbers are way off we correct them to 200 (800) before running benchmarks if possible.
Spacecomber - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
Unless I missed it, did you check to make sure no one was cheating a bit with their front side bus speed? Is a 200 MHz frontside bus really a 200 MHz frontside bus for all three boards that you compared?Thx
Space
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
#14 - All our Benchmark tests on the 655TX boards were done with an ATI 9800 PRO with Fast Writes enabled, so there does not not seem to be a general problem with ATI cards.valnar - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
#3Why would I want to give up that?
FFS - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
Q? to Wesley does these mobos have control of CPU fan speed (again like MSI Neo2), so it run more slow with low CPU load (= more silent)?Another one is how it's compatible with Radeon 9700 Pro? F.e. My SIS648 even with latest SIS-AGP drivers have have a conflict with Hercules R9700Pro when Fast Write is turned on...
Competition is G R E A T E thing,... but you know we also want stability :))) So far, as I know Intel chipsets before were far more stable and compatible with other hardware...
The bottom line "as fast" does not always mean "as good"... :(( And since I also love competition let's hope that SIS655TX as good as 875P.
ripdude - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
A good article on a serie of good boards, I'm very happy you took the P4C800-E dlx in the test.I'm more then happy with the increased competition these boards bring, the P4C800-e dlx is still about 199 in euro land.
SmoiL - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
When is the Asus P4S800D-E coming out? Nada on pricewatchWesley Fink - Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - link
Several of the cells in the Feature Table on page 3 were reversed and have now been corrected.Dual Channel (2x64 bit) is called 128 bit mode on the SiS. The BIOS has the option to run 128-bit (Dual-Channel) mode or to force Dual 64-bit.
FFS - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Also, as I remember VIA VT6307 support 3 (not 2) 1394a FireWire ports (as on MSI Neo boards), so why Gigabyte would cut them to 2 ???And besides Wesley always trying to stress out color-coded panel connectors.
For me it's more important that you can change RAM without taking off videocard and ASUS had such problems with some of their mobos (now it looks better... but talking about overclocking ... hmmmm.
Even it's damn stable: heatsink on ASUS SiS 655TX is passive (already -) and too close to CPU (plus wrong orientation - same mistake as with original
P4C800 Deluxe. So - NO oversized cooler for CPU on this board.
FFS - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Realtek ALC658 codec AC '97 2.36-Channel with UAJ Shoud go to Gigabyte and vice versa...
Oh well.., I had my SIS648 for a while and .. so now I'd rather prefer to pay eXtra for board with Intel chipset :((
Plus Gigabit LAN will work faster(=better) with CSA...
FFS - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Hey guys... In the features table on-board audio codecs are mixed up :)Shalmanese - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Er, I don't think Sis supports 33Mhz Memory speeds... (pg 5) ;).What happened to the tech support turnaround time bit? That was always the favourite part of your reviews.
Tokelil - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
On page 3 it says its the Gigabyte MB that uses the Marvel Gigabit controller, while on page 4 it says its the asus board that uses the Marvel controller... My guess is it is Asus that uses it and its wrong on page 3.FishTankX - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
What on earth is the difference?There is no commercially avaliable 128 bit DDRSDRAM. All DDRSDRAM is 64 bit.
bigtoe33 - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
#1The board actually supports 128bit or dual 64bit mode from what i remember looking at the bios.
dvinnen - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
errrr, #2, lay off the weed.valnar - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Everybody has to remember that SiS is only marginally better than VIA in compatibility, and several degrees less than any Intel modern chipset..
This makes SiS an excellent option for AMD based motherboards, but why on Earth would you pair an Intel processor with anything other than an Intel chipset? The whole point of paying the $$ for an Intel CPU is the benefit of getting to use their chipset. Works with everything, always.
.
That's worth the extra $20.
FishTankX - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Did I miss something? IN the conclusion it said it packs dual channel 128 bit DDR?