Went with P4P800 DELUXE

[Intelman07]

Both good boards they seem but I had a few issues. I really dont want to spend extra money for the Asus if it doesn't really give me more. But as noted in the anandtech article about the oddly placed IDE connectors is that a real problem and is that fan noise particularly loud as well. I will be using these boards with a P4 1.6 and two sticks of DDR 2100 at first. (just wanna replace my intel board) Then plan to upgrade to a 2.4C. I just wanted to hear from you guys....i tried the stickys but they were mostly about memory compatbility and OC's.

 

[Fallengod]

Some people say the IDE places on IS7 are actually better and disagree with anandtech so....The board choice just depends on what you want really. The P4P800 has some better things than Is7 does. but also costs about $30 more. That isnt really that much though. P4P800 is pretty much top performer in benchmarks. Its always in first place in all the webpages ive looked at. It also has IDE raid which IS7 does not, and a better Audio codec, and better onboard lan card. IS7 only has a 10/100 card. Although I heard it was reported they actually have gigabit cards but since it says 10/100 theres no way to tell.......Id get P4P800 deluxe myself. Also if you check forum, there seems to be alot of problems people have with the IS7 board. I think all the boards have some type of ram issues though.

 

[Slammy1]

Pretty soon, instead of "No AMD vs Intel threads" they'll sticky "No IS7 vs P4P800". You see my choice in my sig, but I think in general the people with the P4P800's think they're the best, and those with the IS7's think they're the best. It's worth the extra money if you think you MIGHT use the other features like IDE RAID (which would be more than the difference in cost for the card alone). I'd say, if you plan to run a bunch of drives get the Asus, if not still get the Asus but at least consider the IS7 before you do so .

Come over to the dark side, the Asus side.

 

[Intelman07]

LoL I do have a Asus P4PE with my other machine and like it much....now for the dad convinceing hehe. I think Asus is starting to sound better. Traditional IDE plugs and no fan on chipset. 30 isn't that much but is money. Well you gave me more to think about thanks.

 

[RaymondY]

Just got my Abit IS7 with P4 2.6C processer system up and running. Really only changed the mobo, processer from my AMD 1900+ and Epox 8KHA+ mobo.

The Abit IS7 (got it used from Pastorjay) can with gigLan and is fast. The northbridge fan is not loud, I think that some people may have gotten a bad batch but I hear the NB fan. In terms of the IDE placement and orientation, I find then excellent and by turning the connectors on their side it is easier to connect the cable and it helps my airflow. Placement or orientation does not present a problem with my Chenbro Genie case. A++

Yeah the IS7 doesn't have IDE Raid but it does have SATA Raid and I don't care about the sound because I never use on-board sound. Using my Audigy instead.

My memory benchmarks are:

1gb Corsair PC3200LL (2-3-2-5T) with BIOS version 13 (non-beta)
Memory running at: 200FSB

GAT=Off
Aida32 Memory Read: 4178
Aida32 Memory Write: 1647

GAT=Turbo
Aida32 Memory Read: 4995
Aida32 Memory Write: 2275

GAT=Street Racer
Aida32 Memory Read: 4971
Aida32 Memory Write: 2304

Hope this helps.

 

[Fallengod]

The northbridge fan is not loud, I think that some people may have gotten a bad batch but I hear the NB fan.

That is not the IS7, IS7 fan is fine. Its the IC7/IC7-G that have loud fans...

 

[Intelman07]

With the last few post this makes it even harder to choose......but I'm glad the fan isn't loud. I only have two more concerns about the Abit which weren't discussed in the sticky (so no one can get me on that). Can you reach the top bay on a mid size tower with those IDE connectors that way and do the boards say from newegg come with the latest bios or am I going to have to flash it?

 

[Fallengod]

Im sure you will have to flash it. Drives dont come with latest bios.

 

[wicktron]

Flip a coin.

 

[Intelman07]

Bah i broke down and got the Asus....these scary problems ppl are having better not happen to me. I always get nervous when buying a new part like this.

 

[klc314]

I think you'll be pretty happy with it, it's certainly been a good experience for me.

 

[Intelman07]

I sure hope i will too hehe...and i'm glad it looks like the bios is easy to flash

 

[Fallengod]

The only problems people are having with boards is the ram. They dont seem to like this low 2-2-2-5 latency stuff. That is probably at least 50% of all the problems people are having.

 

[Intelman07]

Since i have two sticks of 256 2100 DDR ram i can use the double channel thing right? There is one problem...one stick is micron the other is kingston.....will this make a difference.

 

[stardust]

PC2100 doesn't work well with P4P800 but since u are using a 400mhz fsb i guess u won't see any performance hits. AND u can't put 2 different memory sticks into the motherboard hoping to run Dual Channel..whats going to happen is either your system will not boot, it will be unstable, or IF your lucky, the sticks will cooperate and run at the speed of the worse stick of ram.

you better be thinking of upgrading your CPU and ram if u even want to consider the P4P800 or IS7..because there are alot better motherboards out there that will run 400fsb more efficiently.

 

[Intelman07]

I do plan to upgrade....just not quite yet.....currently I have an intel board i am sure this would perform better than that i hope.