P4S800D-E questions

[buzter]

I have a couple questions about the P4S800D-E if anyone here has one and can shed some light on a couple things.

First, I have read that the northbridge is prone to heat trouble. If I don't plan on overclocking will the default passive cooling be sufficient for a stable system?

Second, the onboard Marvell ethernet...would I be better off just getting a cheap pci nic or does the onboard perform well enough(cpu usage wise).

 

[Bar81]

I didn't find the northbridge cooling to be an issue in a well ventilated case. You should be able to overclock just fine with the default heatsink although you may want to stick some AS5 down there just to make sure. I didn't care for the Marvell NIC. It's a POS. If you can, pick up an Intel Pro/100 S NIC for under $20 off ebay; it makes a big difference.

 

[lenjack]

I love the board. With light overclocking, the Northbridge will get warm. For heavy oc, stick a 40mm fan on the chip. I've had no problems at all with the Marvell.