Asus P4C800-E: Updating the Intel Flagship
by Wesley Fink on August 30, 2003 10:55 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Performance Test Configuration
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | Intel 3.0 800FSB Pentium 4 |
| RAM: | 2 x 256MB Corsair PC3200 TwinX LL (v1.1 or 1.2) Modules (SPD rated) |
| Hard Drive(s): | Maxtor 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer) Western Digital 120GB 7200 RPM Special Edition (8MB Buffer) |
| Bus Master Drivers: | Intel INF Update v5.00.1012 Intel IAA for 875P RAID not installed for consistency of Test Results |
| Video Card(s): | ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB (AGP 8X) |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 3.6 |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | Asus P4C800-E @ 200.5 MHz FSB |
All performance tests that were run used two 256MB Corsair LL TwinX PC3200 Version 1.2 modules set to SPD timings of 2-2-3-6. All tests were with PAT automatically enabled. This was verified using CPUZ 1.18C to make certain Performance Mode was identified as “enabled” before every benchmark run. All other settings were left at default or “auto”.
Additions to Performance Tests
Several new benchmarks have been added to our standard Test Suite:1) ZD Labs Internet Content Creation Winstone 2003 — This benchmark has just been updated by ZD Labs and includes many new features in the Benchmark Suite, such as Media Encoding. It also uses the most up-to-date versions of Multimedia Creation software, which is rapidly changing as new software tools are released.
2) ZD Labs Business Winstone 2002 — ZD Labs Business Winstone has been around for many years and is a widely quoted Benchmark for measuring system performance. It basically provides a similar benchmarking suite to Sysmark 2002 Office Productivity.
3) Gun Metal DirectX Benchmark 2 — This demo/benchmark from Yeti Labs is one of the first DX9 game-based benchmarks available. Unlike some older benchmarks, such as Quake 3, which generate FPS ratings in the 300-400FPS range, we see performance numbers in the 30 to 40FPS range with current DX9 cards.
To give AnandTech readers a feel for how some of the newer benchmarks compare to the more familiar benchmarks used in past reviews, we have posted results for both the new benchmarks and Sysmark 2002, and all the games that have been a part of our standard benchmark suite.
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0sparkie - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
I have just download the .pdf manual of the P4C800-E. The manual says that "If installing the ATi 9500 or 9700 Pro Series VGA cards, use only the card version PN xxx-xxxxx-30 or later, for optimum performance and overcloking stability (chapter 2.6.4)." As I have just bought a Gigabyte Radeon 9800Pro (GV-R98P128D) Version : PN109-A07500-00 {SN0322009623} I began to worry. Is it compatible? Will it be stable if I OC it? Shall I have the optimum perfomance of my VGA ? If anyone can answer this .... (thanks)amdecos - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
But what about the 512 vs 1 GB area? That is still expensive territory, especially if you want the higher speed DDR (>3500). Would 1 GB of 3200 DDR even out with 512K of 3500 DDR?Icewind - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
#17Only thing that justifies more then a Gig of memory would be music or video editing and or CAD/arcitechure or an absolute crap load of multitasking.
amdecos - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
The test were based on 2x256 memory yes? Did you also look at 1GB (of 2 or 4 sticks)? Is there a real benefit to gaming by going to 1 GB or is this more a multi tasking benefit?Anonymous User - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
The whole Prescott support situation is still very clouded.Some motherboards might support initial lower speed Prescotts up to 1.5 specs, but not necessarily support later Prescotts (still 478 socket though) which require 2.0 level specs.
So, be careful what you buy. Even if Abit says they will support Prescott, it doesn't mean that the board in question will support all socket 478 Prescott CPU's up to and including the 3.8GHz model.
Just so that you know...
Anonymous User - Monday, September 1, 2003 - link
#14 if you want maximum OC ability, do the Abit. If you want stability, get the ASUS. Im more for stability, so you know which one I chose and I couldn't be happier, my P4 just keeps going higher and higher the more I push the FSBAnonymous User - Monday, September 1, 2003 - link
This board seems solid but i am looking at 2 boards that i want the asus P4C800-E and the abit ic7-max3. Wesley when will you do a review on the ic7-max3 board??Anonymous User - Monday, September 1, 2003 - link
Awesome review, although I would be very interested in the PSU used in this review.Anonymous User - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
I am thrilled that you are doing reviews for Anandtech now. You test and write for the enthusiast, and the overclocker in particular. This is just the direction that Anandtech needed to go to get me reading the articles again.Thanks a lot!
Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 31, 2003 - link
The Asus P4C800-E did NOT drop out of Dual-Channel running 4DS dimms faster than 800FSB. In that configuration, PAT was disabled, which made 4DS dimms about 1 to 2% slower than 2DS dimms. We still don't know if this is true with ALL 875P boards, i.e. an Intel issue, or if is an issue unique to Asus. 4 SS dimms run fine with PAT still working over 800FSB, as does any other configuration.