Latest 845PE Motherboards

[P4spooky]

I have read reviews from Evan (what are excellent BTW) on the latest series of boards from Asus, Epox, Gigabyte, Albatron and Aopen. Each of them seem to have some restriction in the BIOS, for example:



1. EPOX does not have 3:4 multiplier
2. Aopen - No multiplier and highly restricted memory overclock
3. Gigabyte - Restricted voltage options
4. Albatron - No 3:4 multiplier for 'B' northwood, only one channel for RAID when their 845E boards have 2 channels for RAID
5. Asus - Raid unusable IMHO

My question is Why do manufacturers release boards with such restrictions (multiplier) when the chipset allows it? Are they just rushing to market with their products with inadequate testing? IF I don't want to overclock then I would buy an Intel board. But for us overclockers we have to live with boards that are not missing some critical functionality.

Any thoughts? I am tired of trying to overclock my 1.6A to 150FSB and run a gig of RAM at DDR400 and have a RAID-0 array.

 

[Wingit]

Re; ASUS board (P4PE)... you mean raid unuseable due to board configuration of 1 ide and 2 serial ports necessitating use of at least 1 serial (unavailable yet!) drive? If so, I am trying a pair of 3WARE parallel to serial coverters (model# CBL-P-SATA) with my WD800JB drives and new P4PE as soon as they arrive in 1-2 days (in a raid0 array). They are a little pricey, but if they work I really like these HDDs and want to keep them. Will advise as to success of converters if you are interested.

 

[P4spooky]

Wingit:

Thanks for your response. Yes I am interested in knowing how it goes with the convertor. I have two WD120JB drives on a RAID-0 array on Epox 4G4A+ and they scream. Also would like your opinion the Asus.

Thanks, Sri

 

[LouPoir]

Me too - would like to know where you got the converters.

Lou

 

[Wingit]

Hi Lou,
I don't know if they are going to work yet....so caveat emptor until they have been tested, I found them in stock at cdw.com, a 3WARE "preferred distributor". Their tel. is 877-352=2882 (direct line to Pradeep Anbudaiyan, excellent sales rep.) $42.00+ per unit,
so feel the pain! LOL.
regards...Michael

Sri...will post results and comments on P4PE this weekend after it jumps through a few hoops!