ASUS P5E vs Maximus Formula

[mbf]

Topic (summary) nearly says it all. I'm currently considering both motherboards with Maximus having an approx. $20 premium (when applying the usual $ to DKK exchange rate of 1:10) over the P5E at my local dealer. I'm also back to considering the P5W DH Deluxe (approx. $20 cheaper than the P5E) after learning that it now officially supports dual-core Penryns.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[ElectroM]

I have the Maximus. If the difference is $20, the answer is yes. You get 2 lan ports instead of one. The Maximus comes with a very handy LED POST device, it has more fan connectors and a bios with more options. It also includes more goodies such as a full copy of the game Company of Heroes. I also have a P5WDH Deluxe. It has been a great board, and I am using it to post this. But it should be a lot cheaper than a P5E. The P5E is about $230 at NewEgg and the P5WDh Deluxe is about $140 at Frys the last time I looked, about 3 weeks ago when I bought the maximus. I like the P5WDH Deluxe so much, if it had supported the new Penryns at the time, I might very well have bought it instead of the maximus considering the price.

 

[mbf]

Thanks a lot for the reply!

I live in Denmark, which makes comparing local to US prices a bit harder (we usually get to pay more for less over here ).

As of right now the local prices for the abovementioned motherboards are:

ASUS Maximus Formula: DKK 1588

ASUS P5E: DKK 1371

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe: DKK 1129

The current exchange rate between Danish Kroners (DKK) and the US Dollar is 506, meaning that I have to pay DKK 506 for $100. In reality the ratio is more like 1:10, meaning that stuff that costs $10 costs DKK 100 here.

In lieu of that, what would be the prudent (motherboard) choice? Right now I'm leaning mostly towards the Maximus since the price premium over the P5E is reasonably small. Also an X38-based board will probably save me from a lot of the hassle of getting Penryn-class processors to work in a i975X-based board. I hear there are some issues after all, which actually is less surprising than having a Penryn-class processor work at all in a i975X board.

By the way, I'm specifically targetting the abovementioned boards since I want/need ECC support.

 

[ElectroM]

Considering the price of the boards, the X38 would be the better choice. It is newer technology, will be easier to upgrade later on. As to which board you should get, you will need to decide that yourself, based on your needs. Have you considered a different brand, such as Gigabyte or Intel? Maybe the Gigabytes are cheaper there. If you are looking to run ECC memory, I assume you are interested in stability and reliability, more than gaming and overclocking. If so, Intel boards have a great reputation.

 

[mbf]

Thanks again for your reply! Much appreciated!

I guess I'll set my sights on the Maximus Formula. I have this idea or notion or whatever you want to call it, that since the Maximus is targeted at games and/or overclockers ASUS has made extra effort to make the board rock solid. It's bound to be even more so when run at stock settings. And it seems to do all the things I need it to do.

I have looked at Gigabyte previously, but they usually do not offer ECC support (although it seems their new X38 boards do). There are also some component choices I haven't been so happy with. Intel would be a great choice. Alas the BadAxe doesn't support Penryn-class processors (and not even the older FSB1333 Conroes AFAIK). On the other hand Intel's only X38 effort to date is the BoneTrail motherboard, which only supports DDR3. For some reason X38 doesn't support ECC DDR3 (according to Intel), but ECC DDR3 doesn't even seem to exist (and if it did, I'd rather not see the price tag ).

So I guess the Maximus Formula it is...

 

[idiotekniQues]

the gigabyte ex38-ds4 is only $204 at newegg which is about $50 less than the maximus, and i bet it is probably just as good

 

[mbf]

Thanks for your input!

I went to the trouble of decompiling the latest BIOS for all Gigabyte X38-based boards. According to the Gigabyte website they should support ECC memory. Alas, the word "ECC" doesn't occur anywhere in any of the decompiled BIOS versions. Seems I'm still set and sold on the Maximus (or the P5E).

 

[Hauk]

Both the P5E and Maximus are excellent boards. If I could get a Maximus (which in the US we can) for under $40.00 more, I'd go for it. The box alone it comes in is worth an extra $10.00! You should see that box. It's sweet.

Okay, seriously, the Maximus has some extra goodies, well worth twenty or thirty bucks IMO.

 

[yzedsled]

I couldn't decide between the P5E, Maximus Formula or the EVGA 780i. I went for the Maximus and have been very happy with it. I don't know if it's the board or I got a good chip but 4ghz was soooo easy

 

[mbf]

Thanks for the encouraging replies, guys!

Seems I can't really do anything wrong by going with this board. Especially considering how small the price premium is over the P5E (or the P5W DH Deluxe).

I just hope I won't end up with some of the POST problems some guys have with both the Maximus and the P5E. Then again, there will always be faulty products when massproducing, so long as it is the exception and not the rule.

I'll probably pair the board with either an E8200 or an E8400. Had previously contemplated a quad-core, but I believe that to be overkill. Especially since that nifty feature on AMD's Phenoms where you can shut down cores dynamically is yet to appear on Intel processors (it probably will at some point).