Asus P4C800-E: Updating the Intel Flagship
by Wesley Fink on August 30, 2003 10:55 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Asus P4C800-E: BIOS and Overclocking
Asus has not made significant changes to the layout of the AMI BIOS used on the P4C800-E and P4C800 Deluxe. The available settings have been improved significantly as we have already said.FSB Overclocking Results
The following setup was used on the Asus P4C800-E for FSB overclocking:| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Processor: | Intel 2.4C 800FSB Pentium 4 |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.525V (default) |
| Cooling: | Thermalright SK-900U with 120mm Thermaltake Fan |
| Memory: | 2 x 256MB Corsair 3200LL at SPD |
| Power Supply: | Powmax 350W |
While we could boot into Windows XP at overclocked speeds as high as 302 raw FSB at default voltage, the highest stable FSB overclocking that we could achieve at default voltage was 288 (1160 FSB). While this is the best overclocking result we have seen with an Intel motherboard at AnandTech, please keep in mind that the overclocking abilities of CPUs do vary considerably. Tests of other Intel boards have used a different 2.4C CPU. However, in my past tests of this same CPU on Abit, DFI, Aopen, Asus and Gigabyte motherboards, this is the highest overclock achieved with this CPU.
Still, these results are about the same as the highest overclock achieved with the P4C800 Deluxe with 1.010 BIOS. It would appear that the overclocking abilities of the Asus P4C800-E at least match those of the excellent P4C800 Deluxe.
Highest stable overclock achieved with the Intel 3.0 800FSB CPU at default voltage was 245 raw FSB (980FSB). This is the stable overclocking limit of this CPU.
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Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
So, then running 4 DIMMs of Corsair XMS LL Platinum 512 MB would be slower than just 2 DIMMs of that memory? Is it just PAT that is affected? I've heard that this board will slow the latency timings and drop out of dual-channel mode with 4 DIMMS. BTW, I heard this from a rich friend who bought a system from Falcon Northwest and asked them about using 4 DIMMs on this exact board. They said that it would slow the latency timings and drop out of dual-channel. Was this experienced during testing? Is it that Falcon Northwest doesn't know what they're talking about? Now I am very confused about this particular board.Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
Asus SAYS the P4C800-E is compatible with Prescott, but without a Prescott chip to test with we can not give a definitive answer.We did in fact run several benchmarks comparing the old and new when we began the memory testing for our DDR500 review, but found no real difference in performance between the old and new with both running 1.010 BIOS. That is why we did not publish performance tests comparing the two, and we stated there was no performance difference in our update. We did find memory compatibility better on the "E" and also reported that as well.
DrMrLordX - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
I second the request for information about this board's compatibility with Prescott.Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
Jesus Christ, how can Anandtech readers be so stupid. Both the old and new ASUS revision are based on the EXACT SAME CHIPSET! It would be ridiculous to compare them, they both use the 875P chipset, the only difference is a couple onboard features that make the newer revision a better overall board and value.Christ, READ the reviews for god sakes.
PrinceGaz - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
I feel #3 had a very good point. Since it is a review which begins by comparing the old revision with the new one, not including both in the benchmarks was a mistake (assuming the figures are available).@#4: Telling everyone to go and compare the results from an older review is crazy; for the time it would take for them to be included, asking everyone who reads the review to go and read another simultaneously is stupid.
Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
#4Catch a clue. Go read the old review and compare them.
Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
So, why the heck did you not bench the old against the new. That is after all what all the bloody writing ia about. That should include a lan test. Get on it, do it. What a waste, waste, waste. Oh yea....what kind of memory can you use with the old revision?Useless information is everywhere.
Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
Outstanding review! What I'm missing though is information about the support for the Intel Prescott processor. Looking on the ASUS website and in the manual, it is stated that it is compatible but such claims have been made for other motherboards only to be withdrawn later. Is it compatible with FMB 1.5 and VIN 1.5 required for the Prescott?I'm also quite surprized that PAT is disabled if you have 4 DS dimms running at FSB bus speeds higher than 200Mhz. After reading "Searching for the Memory Holy Grail: Part 1", I had planned to go for 4 256MB Cosair TwinMX dimms instead of 2 512MB ones. I'm eagerly awaiting the answer you get from ASUS.
Cheers,
Manuel
Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
Since this was an update to an earlier review, we did not cover features that would be discussed in a full review. However, I have tested AI overclocking on the P4C800-E and find it works very well.You set the desired overclock, and the boards adjusts all parameters for the most stable overclcoking performance. Overclocks up to 30% (around 1066 FSB) are possible using AI.
Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
Would Like to know if you tested the much vaunted "Artificial Intelligence" overclocking ability of this board. This is something that mere mortals are very likely to use, rather than all the tinkering with FSB speeds and memory timing.