Asus P4C800-E: Updating the Intel Flagship

Final Words

The original P4C800 Deluxe was and still is an outstanding performer. However, the missing ICH5R south bridge with Intel SATA RAID support and no Intel Gigabit LAN utilizing the CSA bus made the P4C800 Deluxe a tough sell for many end users. Asus has done an excellent job revamping their flagship Intel board with the P4C800-E. Not only are ICH5R and Intel CSA LAN now a part of the revised board, Asus added the new features without removing any of the features and performance of the P4C800 Deluxe.

The overclocking performance of the P4C800-E is every bit as good as late revisions of the P4C800 D, and Asus seems to have totally reworked memory compatibility on the “E”. It handled our 4 Corsair modules, and every high-speed memory module we could find without an issue. Even more remarkable, Asus did this memory rework without losing memory performance. If fact, it appears the P4C800-E may even be faster than the earlier Asus board.

The more we are learning about the quirks of some of the leading 875 and 865 boards, the more attractive the P4C800-E becomes. It is one of the very few 875/865 boards that can handle 300FSB if your processor is willing. It keeps going with 1:1 memory to the highest performance levels that memory can reach. It doesn’t give up at 255 on 1:1 memory like some other boards that are still waiting for a BIOS fix. Overheating with the passive heatsink was not a problem in our tests here, or our extensive high-speed testing in our DDR500 memory roundup. Some, however, may be more comfortable with an active north bridge cooling solution.

The Asus P4C800-E does all these things very well, but it doesn’t apologize to any other 875/865 for performance, because it is one of the fastest Intel motherboards that we have tested with “normal” performance. There are boards with schemes to overclock selectively or boards with aggressive timings that may work at 800FSB and no where else, which can momentarily out-perform the P4C800-E. But in the end, the P4C800-E overclocks further with greater stability under the greatest variety of test conditions than most any 875 or 865 board you can find.

As stated earlier, the older P4C800 Deluxe is an excellent motherboard. If the missing features are not important to you, then it is now available at a lower price than the new P4C800-E. Most of the early problems with the P4C800 Deluxe have now been resolved with BIOS updates and it is a mature product.

The P4C800-E is an even better motherboard, with all the 875 “trademark” features, like ICH5R SATA RAID and CSA LAN. There is nothing “missing” from the P4C800-E that will create concern for anyone looking for an 875/865 motherboard. Perhaps even more important, the memory compatibility of the P4C800-E is a significant improvement over the P4C800 Deluxe without compromising performance or overclocking ability. The P4C800-E is an outstanding motherboard no matter how you view it. If you can afford the ticket, you won’t be disappointed in the ride.