need advise on my new rig

[drajin]

I'm planning to buy a new rig in a few weeks

ASUS PQ5 Deluxe
Quad Core Q9550
HD4870

I'll only state these 3, as this is probably the only components that needs discussing.

The reason I took PQ5 deluxe
- Can Crossfire. Though I may not CF now, but in future time.
- Express Gate
- 6 Sata + 2 Raid. I have like 5 hard disc to install

Let say I do everything from gaming to movie editing. So, I decide Q9550

I heard people say many bad things about ASUS motherboards. Some say I should go for Gigabyte but I want those Express Gate. I want someone to clarify me. Can someone point out the pros and cons of my hardware?

Issues like; Intel chipset, ASUS motherboards, Crossfire on P45 chipset, Quad core processors, etc

But the main issue is the motherboard. That is why I post this in the motherboard section.
I also heard that Express Gate slows down boot time for windows. Can someone explain this? Or maybe there's some misunderstood?

TQ

 

[sonnygdude]

I have a P5Q Deluxe, and I love it. Great board so far, I like the Expressgate too.

If I had to do it all over again though, I think I might look at a P5Q Pro and save some money. Lot of bells and whistles on the Deluxe I don't use

 

[drajin]

Bells and whistles? Sorry I'm pretty noob here. What does it do? Anyway can someone stress what advantages does the deluxe have ove the Pro version?

 

[sonnygdude]

Well, it's questionable whether the 16-phase power on the Deluxe is really all that necessary over 8-phase on some other versions of the P5Q. The Deluxe has a second ethernet port, albeit on a slower controller, and an eSATA port, neither of which I use at the moment. I think the Deluxe also has one additonal PCEe x16 slot over the Pro, so if you're looking at crossfire down the road that may be a factor for you. But otherwise I think that the Pro and the Deluxe are pretty similar

 

[drajin]

I heard rumours that boot time for windows is increased when express gate is enable. Is this true? A seller told me that he disable for users who don't use express gate. Since you are using PQ5 series, how was the boot time?

 

[disports]

yes having express gate on increases the boot time for windows, which is why i disabled it. i don't remember how much longer though. it wasn't exceptionally longer though.

 

[drajin]

so you can disable or enable express gate as you please? how? through BIOS or what? If increase in boot time not really that significant (let say, took 5 sec more), I probably don't mind.

 

[disports]

yes you can disable express gate through bios. you enter bios and i think it's the second to last tab. i just don't have a need for it so i took it off.

 

[drajin]

great. I don't use linux very often though. The main reason I use linux is to do some virus-free operation, such as transfer data from a suspected infected external hard disc or something. sometime I use linux to manage my partition, but I don't know splashtop provides that or not. nonetheless I use linux. the main reason I wanted to buy PQ5 series. About boot time for windows, I probably won't disable it, as I very seldom turn off my pc, except when switching to express gate.

 

[sonnygdude]

I've never disabled Expressgate, so I don't know how it affects boot time into windows. Unless you're talking about the delay time during which the intro screen is up giving you a choice of whether to start Expressgate or go into windows. You can change the time that screen is up, right now I have it for 10 seconds, and if I'm not going to use Expressgate i can click directly on "Enter OS". Even with the 10 second delay on the splash page, I can be in Windows in just over one minute, that includes typing my password and logging in.

 

[drajin]

Hmm, so there's nothing particularly wrong with express gate, and I'll be using it too. Like I said, I use it more to virus-free operation rather than browsing and stuff. So, my money is on P5Q deluxe, or I probably go Pro if features in deluxe is kinda too much.

Anyway, since there's 3 PCI-E slot, is it possible to crossfire 2 GPUs, and 1 slot for physics? Probably game in the future will rely on physics more.