Asus P4PE opinions

[Ampli]

Well, time to move on and make a proper DAW machine
Was looking at the P4PE series boards and wondering if anyone had a go with them.
There are 3 models commercialized in France: P4PE, P4PE-L, P4PE-SRL. Had a look on the Asus website but didn't find the exact differences between them. I imagine it might be onboard sound, SATA and so on, but if anyone got a proper pointer to a site where I can consult each board separately that would be nice.
Had a look at the Asus forums and looks like the Raid setup in P4PE is a bit messy (thx to Promise as always )
If you were me for what model would you go?

Cheers
P.S. planning to add a 2nd 80go Seagate hdd, P4 2.4BGhz, Samsung 512Mb PC2700

 

[Ampli]

hmmmm damn!! I know we all love Asus but just found that there's a 60Euro difference with it's counterpart Gigabyte GA-8PE667 Ultra and now this is really bugging my mind

 

[flatrockrecordin]

http://www.atacom.com/program/ataco...2&USER_ID=www&Pagecode=1|MB47&ADV=MOTHERBOARD

This shows different option for 3 different p4pe's.

 

[Opus2000]

You'll find more people going with Asus board more so than any other boards for DAW systems..more reliable and most used due to this.
The differences are usually the components and PCI slots available. SATA, 1394 and LAN...
I've installed and tested the P4PE with SATA, 1394 and LAN...great board! No complaints at all. RAID is ok but it's implemented into the SATA more so than an IDE connector and really should not be used IMHO
Opus

 

[bgober]

i agree with Opus as usual. i just built a multi media pc for a friend using the P4PE w/Lan, Audio, 1394 Crucial 512 2700 ddr, seagate 40 gig for the os and wd jb 120 gig for media. this puppy kicks a**.
i do have a question though to Opus and anyone else. i put the os on ide1 as master with an dvdrw as slave. i put the wd on ide2 first as master but this did not work (could not get to dma mode 5) so i had to set it to slave which worked fine. am i missing something here? i guess i thought you could run a second drive on ide2 as master. if not what would you set up as master on ide2? i went back to my anus to see how i set that up and sure enough my media drive on ide2 is set to slave. i must be confused.

 

[Tommy P.]

i put the wd on ide2 first as master but this did not work (could not get to dma mode 5) so i had to set it to slave which worked fine. am i missing

As long as the drive is jumpered for master and it is connected to the ide connector furthest from the mobo side, it should work. Did you try cable select?

 

[bgober]

no i didn't try cable select. and the cable i was using is a single device cable. perhaps cable select would have worked as well. mabey i'll try that on my anus and see.

 

[Opus2000]

No, remove the jumper entirely. Set it as Single drive. This is the way WD drives need to work regardless. Also if you're seeing it on UDMA2 only..that means a backwards oriented IDE cable! Make sure BLUE end is attached to the mainboard!!! If it's not color oriented make sure it's an ATA100 cable and try it both ways.
Cheers
Opus

 

[bgober]

thanks O and others, this sounds like something that is specific to wd. i don't guess it would make any difference if i were to leave it as slave would it? btw i'm getting udma5 which is what it should be. i'm actually using some of those new (new to me) round ata cables. they look cool if nothing else.

 

[Ampli]

well, ok I did my homework and read a lot around about P4PE and GA-8PE667 and gues what....more I read more I got confused . I gave up dudes.. went out today and got meself an P4PE and 2.4B P4. Yeah I hear you saying "welcome to the club" lol. Waiting for a stick of memory to arrive tomorrow and going to install the beast .
Btw do you think I should definitely go for Standard PC mode? Opus what BIOS version you used with P4PE system you built and you considered it as the most stable?

 

[Opus2000]

Ampli...welcome to the Anus club! ) member! Hee hee
I used the latest BIOS which I can't remember off the top of my head.
Install as ACPI...install with just the video card than add each additional card afterwards.
Opus

 

[bgober]

1002 is the latest bios i believe. at least that's what i installed.

 

[Arranger]

Can anyone help me differentiate between these two P4PEs at NewEgg? Which is the correct model with the best features?

http://www.newegg.com/app/Viewprodu...actory=1315&description=p4pE&srchFor=firewire

Thanks!

 

[Ampli]

Hi again!
Didn't like to post the results before fully setting up the system. Boy this mobo rocks. Thx for pushing me the Asus way dudes
Just one last question. Read on the asusboards that installing IAA drivers might trouble system performance. Did you guys install the IAA when you set up the p4pe systems?

Arranger, the only difference between the two is that the cheapest version does not have onboard sound (who needs it anyway) and instead of gigabit LAN you get, with that version, 10/100mb. All the other features are the same. At least that's what I know. Save the extra 17$ to get some beer when you're done shopping computer parts

 

[Ampli]

btw what program can I use to verify the authenticity of my DDRam?

 

[Opus2000]

Yes, do NOT install the IAA...plain and simple. It only causes you to not be able to switch modes on the PIO vs UDMA or even be able to disable Write Caching!! I've seen it slow things down as well.
Hmmm...drinking while building a system. I'll have to give that one a try sometime!