Asus P4PE -- Good Setup?

[KrazyIvan]

Looking at putting together a new box and wanted some opinions...

I want to use the ASUS P4PE, but which version there are 3 different ones.
I plan to get a P4 2.4B proc.

I plan to OC this machine however conservatively...

Trying to decide if I should spring for 3200 RAM or stick with 2700
then do I need to go for the high end CORSAIR or can I stick with cheap KINGSTON.
If I go high end I don't think I can take 512 right now too much $$$.

As for Cases I have no idea. What are your ideas? Would like to stay cheap if possible.

Video Card I am pretty much decided on the ATI 9500 Pro. Although my MB doesn't support 8x AGP.

For the machine I am building is the P4PE a good choice?
Tell me what you think I should change or choose.

Thanks!

 

[KrazyIvan]

Looking at the price differences what will I gain by going with the more expensive RAM.

Googlegear has the Kingston 512 PC2700 on sale for $132.

How will my performance be hurt with this ram?

 

[bmmiller]

I am in a similiar situation as yourself and have gotten some info at other message boards. The other motherboards recommeded to me were:

Abit BG7E
Aopen P4GE-V
Albatron PX845PEV Pro

There is a thread somewhere on anandtech with a bunch of people praising the Albatron board. (Oh yeah I should mention that I am looking at the 845GE chipset.) After reading several reviews it is hard to see which one is best as they all get pretty good reviews and they are all within $10 of each other. Since this is my first time building a system I may just see which company has the best documentation that comes with the motherboard and go with them. I will be very interested to see what others say about this. Also I am thinking about going with Samsung RAM, why did you choose Corsair and Kingston?

 

[KrazyIvan]

What is better about the 845GE vs 845PE?

The 845PE is the chipset I kinda like now... but there really isn't that much of a difference that I can see.

I decided on Kingston because Googlegear has it cheap.
Corsair I thought there were a lot of praises on all of the boards for its OC ablility and quality.

 

[bmmiller]

I am almost positive that the ONLY difference between the PE and GE chipsets is that the GE chipset has onboard video. I am leaning this way so that I don't have to get a video card right away. Since you already have your video card picked out I am assuming you would want the PE board.

 

[KrazyIvan]

Oh... thanks for the .nfo

Let me know what you decide on for your RAM... its a hard thing to decide...

What case seems like a good choice right now?

 

[NoVo]

Originally posted by: bmmiller
I am almost positive that the ONLY difference between the PE and GE chipsets is that the GE chipset has onboard video. I am leaning this way so that I don't have to get a video card right away. Since you already have your video card picked out I am assuming you would want the PE board.

The PE boards will run your DDR at 333mhz, the GE boards will not.

PC2700 runs at 333mhz, so would be a perfect match for the PE chipset. If it were my decision, I would buy faster DDR (3200 or 3500). Just to be ready for future upgrades.

 

[bmmiller]

I am a first time builder so I wasn't really concerned about the case. Some people really recommend the antec cases. My main goal was how it would look with my Envision 17" LCD monitor (model 7100-S.) I may be regretting this in the future if I have air flow problems or run out of room but for now it will do. I did post asking about cases and people basically said that it diesn't matter too much. My only concern is that my case came with a 300W power supply and I may have to upgrade it to a 350W.

As far as the RAM I was just reading another message thread and they were recommeding Crucial and Samsung (as well as Corsair and I am pretty sure you posted in that thread) and I have decided to go with either Samsung or Crucial. Right now I am leaning towards Crucial and going directly through their website (as someone recommeded.)

 

[bmmiller]

The PE boards will run your DDR at 333mhz, the GE boards will not.

PC2700 runs at 333mhz, so would be a perfect match for the PE chipset. If it were my decision, I would buy faster DDR (3200 or 3500). Just to be ready for future upgrades.[/quote]

Are you sure about the GE boards not running DDR at 333MHz? I just check Abit's and Aopen's websites and they claim that the BG7E and AX4GE Max will support DDR at 333MHz.

Also can you run PC3200 or PC 35000 on a PE (or GE) board when the manufacturer doesn't say the board officially supports it? I mean of course you can but what are the chances that it will be a stable system.

 

[bmmiller]

Quick question I just thought of: Can you buy PC2700 RAM and just overclock it or is it better to get PC3200?

 

[nealh]

why not consider an Abit IT7 Max2 Rev 2???

 

[KrazyIvan]

What are the benifits of the IT7 board?

I looked at the BE7 board before I decided on the P4PE.

 

[nealh]

IMHO....the reviews show a better more stable overclock...

has a 4 phase power supply to cpu

Very fully featured mobo

Serial ata with a serial ata adapter(these alone are about $25) to allow to use a parallel HDD now
RAID/ATA
Firewire
Usb 2
onboard LAN, sound(not sure how good this is)

Layout is nice....floppy connector is higher on the mobo ..keep ide cables in better position

One bad point only 4 pci slots but since you have 10 usb 2 ports, firewire and LAN already there are few pci slots needed...if you like good sound onboard may not be good enough

I just decided on this mobo after considering all the other 845PE..for me I wanted good board with firewire and usb 2, RAID for ATA connections....onboard sound is fine(I will try it but may just use my SB Live 5.1....not newest but ok..I would rather use my old Vortex 2 card but I am not sure WinXP support is), probably use onboard LAN as my connect network car dis a realtek card from Time Warner for my Cable modem
this is my opionion not dogma

 

[nealh]

One more thing..some users are having radeon 9700 pro probs with Asus 845PE and or cold boot issue...most 845PE boards are having this....not sure how much of a problem it will be with IT& Max 2 ver2....as I have not seen reports...

I should note I have a radeon 9700 pro and currently using it on a KR7A-RAID that was supposed not work with this mobo..I have an occasional cold boot problem...try to startup and no video signal to monitor hit reset button and works fine...(I ma sure the radeon 9700 and my mobo may have some issues)

I had no issue with my RAdeon 64mg VIVO card so I am guessing the radeon 9700 is sucking alot of jiuce...I have a 4980w Antec true power PS so I doubt is an issue with the PS..though some have suggested the cold boot issue is a problem with antec PS...but I have no idea....I thing it is more an issue of 845PE chipset as some individuals with 550w PS are having ot