Benifit from upgrading P4P800DLX to P4P800-E DLX?

[Cold War Relic]

I currently have the P4P800 Deluxe motherboard. Is there any point in
swapping it with the P4P800-E Deluxe? Would there be any performance gain
or is it basically a waste unless I plan on using all of the SATA and EIDE
channels?

Thanks,

CWR

 

[Paul]

I currently have the P4P800 Deluxe motherboard. Is there any point in
swapping it with the P4P800-E Deluxe? Would there be any performance gain
or is it basically a waste unless I plan on using all of the SATA and EIDE
channels?

Thanks,

CWR

P4P800 Deluxe
865PE/ICH5R
Via6410 4 IDE drives via 2xUDMA133 IDE interfaces Raid0,1,0+1,JBOD
AD1985 AC97 sound
3C940 Gbit Lan (PCI)
Via 1394 2 ports (VT6307)

P4P800-E Deluxe
865PE/ICH5R
PDC20378 2 IDE drives via 1xUDMA133 IDE plus 2 SATA Raid0,1,0+1,multiple?
Realtek ALC850 AC97 sound (8 channel ?)
Marvell 88E8001 (same as 3C940, made by Marvell for 3COM as 3C940?)
Via 1394 2 ports (VT6307)

These boards are very similar. They differ in the onboard sound
solution and the provided RAID controller. Both RAID controllers
sit on the PCI bus. One uses two IDE interfaces, and the other
uses one IDE plus two SATA interfaces. You would need to see some
benchmarks of the RAID controllers, to see any differences.

The Ethernet chip is, as far as I know, the same chip on both boards.
Marvell made the 3C940 for 3COM, and now sells the same chip with
a Marvell brand on it, as 88E8001. Notice that both have the
Virtual Cable tester feature.

I would say, unless there is something compelling about having
8 channel sound, to stick with the P4P800 Deluxe. There is a
note in the manual that says:

"Under 8-channel audio configuration, the AUX-in cannot function
due to system resource allocation."

That means the 1x4 Aux header use conflicts with operating in 8
channel mode (because the Aux header, normally an input, becomes
an output in 8 channel mode). The ALC850 info is here:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/products1-2.aspx?modelid=2003101
ftp://210.51.181.211/pc/ac97/alc850/alc850_data3.zip

So, the RAID controllers are the thing you have to research. If
you already own one of these boards, there isn't much point in
switching. Maybe the money would be better spent on a PCI RAID
controller that better matches what you want to do. The PCI card
could be moved from motherboard to motherboard.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Cold War Relic]

(e-mail address removed) (Paul) wrote in

P4P800 Deluxe
865PE/ICH5R
Via6410 4 IDE drives via 2xUDMA133 IDE interfaces Raid0,1,0+1,JBOD
AD1985 AC97 sound
3C940 Gbit Lan (PCI)
Via 1394 2 ports (VT6307)

P4P800-E Deluxe
865PE/ICH5R
PDC20378 2 IDE drives via 1xUDMA133 IDE plus 2 SATA
Raid0,1,0+1,multiple? Realtek ALC850 AC97 sound (8 channel ?)
Marvell 88E8001 (same as 3C940, made by Marvell for 3COM as 3C940?)
Via 1394 2 ports (VT6307)

These boards are very similar. They differ in the onboard sound
solution and the provided RAID controller. Both RAID controllers
sit on the PCI bus. One uses two IDE interfaces, and the other
uses one IDE plus two SATA interfaces. You would need to see some
benchmarks of the RAID controllers, to see any differences.

The Ethernet chip is, as far as I know, the same chip on both boards.
Marvell made the 3C940 for 3COM, and now sells the same chip with
a Marvell brand on it, as 88E8001. Notice that both have the
Virtual Cable tester feature.

I would say, unless there is something compelling about having
8 channel sound, to stick with the P4P800 Deluxe. There is a
note in the manual that says:

"Under 8-channel audio configuration, the AUX-in cannot function
due to system resource allocation."

That means the 1x4 Aux header use conflicts with operating in 8
channel mode (because the Aux header, normally an input, becomes
an output in 8 channel mode). The ALC850 info is here:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/products1-2.aspx?modelid=2003101
ftp://210.51.181.211/pc/ac97/alc850/alc850_data3.zip

So, the RAID controllers are the thing you have to research. If
you already own one of these boards, there isn't much point in
switching. Maybe the money would be better spent on a PCI RAID
controller that better matches what you want to do. The PCI card
could be moved from motherboard to motherboard.

HTH,
Paul

Paul,

Thank you very much for your expertise in this. I truly appreciate it.

Dean