Asus P5B Basic Opinions?

I was thinking about ordering the Asus P5B basis board without all the extras like wifi etc.. from NewEgg.

I was hoping you guys could give me some feedback on this board as compared to the deluxe model of the P5B. The plain P5B has all the features I need, but I am concerend that there may be some performance differences. Will the two boards perform the same and have the same reliability? Will the deluxe simply adds a few bells such as the wifi and the 2 pci express slots when I only need one for my 1900xt.

Basically I would like opinions on should I get the deluxe based on performance and reliability or the two boards the same as far as these measures go.

Here is a link to the board at NewEgg.

I'm planning on building this sytem around the new Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 by the way.

Ya $150 is hard to argue with. P5W DH has easyraid though so it's hard for me to recommend anything else.

Only one lan port
1 IDE port (Hope you don't have 2 IDE HDs and a cdrom...)
NO firewire (hope you aren't into video editing)
Doesn't have all the resistors the P5B Deluxe and P5W DH have (hope you're not expecting their level of stability)

All that said it looks JUST like the Gigabyte DS3 that I'm about to buy

Don't know about the states, but here I can get a Firewire card for about 7-10 bucks. It's just an unneccessary expense that's all...

Yea, I don't need all those features. I only need the one IDE for my DVD burner.

However I am concerened about the resitors that you mention and the possibility of the P5B being lesss stable than the deluxe because of it.

If you planing on running stock speeds for processor any conroe supporting motherboard will do. Even if you overclock a little that board will do but don't expect much.

I don't plan on overclocking much. Perhaps just a mild overclock.

At stock speed will there be any difference in speed between the basic and deluxe?

fernis said:

At stock speed will there be any difference in speed between the basic and deluxe?

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No.

Thanks. It's good to know the performance should be equal in a non overclocked system.

I guess I'll get the basic and maybe later on upgrade it once the prices of the deluxe models drop.

I really don't see how you could go wrong with that board if your intent is only moderate overclocking. Nice choice. However. you may want to consider the Intel Brand board, as their support is unmatched and the stability is bound to be second to none. Asus is best for OC.

Thanks for the advice Stilletto!

I actually have glanced at the Intel boards, but I'm afraid of them being too limited in options.

fernis said:

Thanks for the advice Stilletto!

I actually have glanced at the Intel boards, but I'm afraid of them being too limited in options.

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I would check out the OC options, but Intel has recently offered a pretty good OC ability in their latest 975x boards, at least 30%. As to the other features, I doubt if you will be lacking there. I have always used Intel boards and their stability is outrageous, but their overclocking leaves alot to be desired, and that is the sole reason I am with ASUS now.

Which intel board would you recommend that is using the 965 chipset and is comparable to the Asus P5B?

Currently, this is the only Intel offering that is available.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=241317

It's also at newegg. While it offers no overclocking options, it does have most of what you are looking for. However, I would wait until Conroe hits mainstream before I get an Intel board, as there are lot's of upcoming models.
If you cannot wait, remember that Abit also has a good 965 board. I would stay away from Gigabyte until they get the bios straight.

I am in the process of shaking down a basic p5b with a 6400 retail I just picked up today. So far, i am not too impressed with it for OC'ing but the bios may be at fault?

It is missing some of the things OC'er want:
- max vdimm of 2.1 V
- no mch v adjustment.

The vc reading on asus probe is way off the bios setting ... dunno if it is because of immature bios?

Also, can't get a pcmark04 score beyond default settings. But folding seems ok at 350 fsb atm.

I also have a p5b deluxe here i will be trying out next so i will probably start a thread on both of them after the weekend.

I also ran a 930 in the p5b before i picked up the e6400 today, and it did not oc too well in it ... 260 fsb vs 285 stable folding in both the p5wd2-x's and P5W DH. All testing on air so far.

I liked the idea of the p5b as a cheaper rig for just folding where i don't need all the extra features. But so far i am undecided as to how good an oc'er it is. Testing continues .....

/edit p5b deluxe is doing much better than the basic. looks like 440 fsb may be the max stable (p95) with the e6400 on air.
have noticed erratic behaviour with restarts etc at anything other than 1:1 mem ratio. I may retest a bit on the p5b basic, but i think the limited V settings will be the limiter. I will also try both with some diferent memory ... i am guessing that the basic may do well with mem that doesn't need high V to perform well.

I myslef did not order the DS3 cause people having pci and stability issues with it. Look at the reviews on newegg I guess.

Did you guys check out the new BIOS at Asus?
Version 0211 2006/07/31 update
Description P5B Release BIOS version 0211
1. Improve Conroe 2.93 cpu overclocking ability.
2. Patch CPU count not correct issue.
3. Fix ez-flash2 crashfree function may fail issue
4. Modify the VID value to max when Ai Gear enable
5. Fix VID too low under Ai Gear level1 2, and 3
6. Add New CPU Ucode to support new CPUs.
Also check this out:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20060730231633510&board_id=1&model=P5B&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
Someone posted their beta bios they got (v. 0213)
So try it out and good luck. My complete system will come August 10 w/ P5B and e6300.

on the p5b bios ... i started testing with the shipped 0170 level. i tried the 0211 early on but it seemed worse although i was still trying to figure things out with the mobo and 6400 ... so i flashed back to 0170 ... but i will need to repeat some of these tests on the basic when i get some time ... right now i am having some success with the p5b deluxe.

What i learned on the deluxe was that it is best to stick to a 1:1 mem ratio, at least with the cricial mem i am testing with atm. More experiments needed to see if this is the same on the p5b basic. Perhaps this is something with the 965 chipset, or asus' implementation/bios

CrappyLuckMan said:

Look at the reviews on newegg I guess.

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Overclockers results tell a differnt story, the DS3's bios that are included (F1) stink. The F3 and F4c bio's on the other hand are doing fine.
PCI issues I've heard of none (but reading newegg reviews isn't something I generaly waste my time doing)

greenmaji said:

(but reading newegg reviews isn't something I generaly waste my time doing)

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Not altogether a waste of time. General experiences with setup, normal day to day operation, and other general information that the average person is reporting can sometimes be more valuable than one review on one site of one board by one guy....