[18th Anniversary] Asus Black Pearl - P5k-Premium Testing Report

[sesdave]

sesdave,

Of course you're absolutely right... I should RMA this board. I've tried everything I can think of (other than using another CPU - which likely wouldn't change anything), and nadda has worked.
Now the question is, if I RMA the Premium, I'll need another board... Should I get the same thing or maybe see if I can find a Maximus Formula locally?

I still have my Striker Extreme handy, but It's never played all that well with my Mushkin RAM (upper limit of 900MHz @ 5-5-5-15) whereas with the Premium I'm easily getting 1066MHz @ 5-4-4-12. I'd also like to just swap boards without having to re-do the OS et-all. Keeping to an Intel chipset would likely afford that, but installing the Striker would almost for sure mean a format.


Ahh, decisions, decisions...

Personally I would get another Premium - overall it a nice board and o/c nicely. It was just bad luck getting a duff one. Make sure you get the rev 2.0 if you do get one. The BIOS will continue to be developed and it will support the penryn. The maximus cost more and this living reviews show the BIOS seems a bit flakey. http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=124 Deja VU perhaps-lol! From what I have read x38 boards with DDR2 dont seem to offer much performance gain either unless you want to run crossfire with 2900xt's. That said ChaosminionX has offered to do a comparision of P5K Premium and the Maximus over here http://www.driverheaven.net/motherbo...aximus-se.html That should be good reading and may make your mind up for you.
If you have to fall back on your striker whilst you RMA the MB get a copy of Acronis True image and Universal restore software. This will let you backup the operating system and then restore to any new platform. If you cant get a copy of that software at least take a ghost image whuch may save you a reinstall if you decide on the premium.

[jamiee]

Interestingly enough my current Premium is rev.2.00g made in China - Must just be a flaky board that's all.

Reading around the net, it looks like several users of the P5K series are having similar boot problems to mine. Wonder what's going on?

Yeah I've heard about some flakiness with the Maximus Formula.... but then it is a new board so That's to be expected. The Striker Extreme was touchy at times until Asus finally got most of the kink's worked out of their BIOS. Funny enough it was one of their earlier BIOSes (1102 I think?) that actually worked really well with my Mushkin ram, too bad it doesn't support the G0 core CPU's.

Anyway, I don't think the Striker will be going back in... its been in and out of my PC a couple of times and makes for a good standby if needed, but I think I'd rather just get another premium or try something else.

[sesdave]

Interestingly enough my current Premium is rev.2.00g made in China - Must just be a flaky board that's all.

Reading around the net, it looks like several users of the P5K series are having similar boot problems to mine. Wonder what's going on?

Yeah I've heard about some flakiness with the Maximus Formula.... but then it is a new board so That's to be expected. The Striker Extreme was touchy at times until Asus finally got most of the kink's worked out of their BIOS. Funny enough it was one of their earlier BIOSes (1102 I think?) that actually worked really well with my Mushkin ram, too bad it doesn't support the G0 core CPU's.

Anyway, I don't think the Striker will be going back in... its been in and out of my PC a couple of times and makes for a good standby if needed, but I think I'd rather just get another premium or try something else.

Read what you have said and apply it to the premium-lol!. Its not exactly an old MB is it.
But back to more important things - it half time in the rugby world cup and France are leading England 6-5!

update -21:40-GMT - England with the worst playing record as Cup holders since the tournament began have just allowed France to play all the rugby in the second half but beat them 14-9 to go into the final. Wilkinsons boot saves them again. - I am Scottish but it was the French after all - lol!. wish I had put money on the so called no hopers!

[jamiee]

Read what you have said and apply it to the premium-lol!. Its not exactly an old MB is it. But back to more important things - it half time in the rugby world cup and France are leading England 6-5!

Is that real world time or technology time?

Real world time = Brand spanking new (Almost born yesterday)
Technology time = Somewhat new-ish (certainly not the latest and greatest, but more than acceptable) Will be completely outdated in another 6 months!





GO ENGLAND!!!!!

[sesdave]

Is that real world time or technology time?

Real world time = Brand spanking new (Almost born yesterday)
Technology time = Somewhat new-ish (certainly not the latest and greatest, but more than acceptable) Will be completely outdated in another 6 months!





GO ENGLAND!!!!!

Both could be applicable depending on how you look at it- but thats the name of the game, lol! If your not after crossfire with 2900xt's just how much a performance gain will x38 with DDR3 give????? benching - yes cos any improvement is leapt upon but real world applications I cant see that much of a gain. So the P5k will have legs for some time to come and its cheaper with ddr2.
P.s good game tomorrow at 20:00 GMT - Argentina vs South Africa. That will be a battle of the packs! I must put the light on cos I keep having to edit my spelling.

[jamiee]

Both could be applicable depending on how you look at it- but thats the name of the game, lol! If your not after crossfire with 2900xt's just how much a performance gain will x38 with DDR3 give????? benching - yes cos any improvement is leapt upon but real world applications I cant see that much of a gain. So the P5k will have legs for some time to come and its cheaper with ddr2.
P.s good game tomorrow at 20:00 GMT - Argentina vs South Africa. That will be a battle of the packs! I must put the light on cos I keep having to edit my spelling.

Oh I have no interest in going the DDR3 route yet. Its too expensive for only a bit of increase in performance. The Maximus Formula is DDR2 based and does have the advantage of alot more settings being available in the BIOS than the Premium.
The more simplistic nature of the P5K-P's BIOS is kind of nice, but limiting from an overclocking perspective.


All this motherboard talk reminds me that I need to get building my buddies machine. He's getting my "old" components: P5WDH, E6700, 2Gb DDR800, etc...
Hmmmm... wonder how the P5W would run with my E6850 in it??? -NM-



Argentina vs. South Africa eh? That should be a very good match.

P.S. didn't your mother ever teach you to watch the tv with the lights on?

[lowdog]

I have a P5K-Premium made in China rev 2.00g and had a flaky boot problem....it was because the vid card wasn't seated properly, i'd bumped it when doing stuff in the case!

Aside from that one session where it caused me grief it's been running fine with 8gb of ram and my Q6600 @ 3.6GHz with 1.4v real and 4 x WD Raptors in raid 0. Overclocks set and stick fine in bios, no problems at all, great board so far after a few months use.