P5B vs. S3?

[FiveHorizons]

Can someone give me a quick rundown on why the P5B http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045 is more expensive than the S3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017#spec and why should choose one over the other.

 

[Rinaun]

Currently I have the p5b and love it. Haven't had any problems with it. I also noticed I hear of less motherboard problems with overclocking the p5b, but that just may be because im constantly looking up info about my p5b .

 

[shabby]

The s3 is more of basic feature board, although it performs very well. The p5b deluxe has 2 x16 slots(the 2nd slot runs at 4x though), heatpipes, 2 lan ports, firewire, esata and so forth.
All of these additional features raise the price, if you dont need them then get the s3. But if you do you gotta pay.

 

[Roguestar]

Budget and extra features should make the decision for you.

 

[StopSign]

P5B Deluxe = high-end board
S3 = low-end board

That's why their prices are different.

 

[Fox5]

It's amazing what's called low end these days, yet has more features and performance than a low end board ever did back in the day.
I'd consider the S3 high end and the P5B exuberant.

 

[smopoim86]

Originally posted by: Fox5
It's amazing what's called low end these days, yet has more features and performance than a low end board ever did back in the day.
I'd consider the S3 high end and the P5B exuberant.

No kidding, it's impressive how far the low end stuff has come, but i wouldn't' consider any p965 low end. Mid range is probably the worst.

the 945 stuff (or whatever the dell edition junk is) is the low end

 

[moddedcompsdotcom]

i think gigabyte is coming out w/ a ds3 that has 2 16xpcie, i was going through the same debate a while back and i found a great deal on a ds3 and have not regret a second of buying it. For me it all came down to what deal i could get at that time. Both boards are great, just depends on how much you want to spend

 

[nyker96]

I would say S3 for budget buying and P5B if you got a little more cash as it has more bells and whistles.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: Fox5
It's amazing what's called low end these days, yet has more features and performance than a low end board ever did back in the day.
I'd consider the S3 high end and the P5B exuberant.

then what would you call the Asus Striker extreme?

I'd consider the S3 budget and P5B mid-level.

680i boards and 975x I'd call high.

and something like the asus extreme i'd call ridiculous.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim

Originally posted by: Fox5
It's amazing what's called low end these days, yet has more features and performance than a low end board ever did back in the day.
I'd consider the S3 high end and the P5B exuberant.

then what would you call the Asus Striker extreme?

I'd consider the S3 budget and P5B mid-level.

680i boards and 975x I'd call high.

and something like the asus extreme i'd call ridiculous.

I really can't see the S3 justifying the budget label, it's so far beyond a budget board.
Great overclocking
Built in RAID controller
HD Audio
Support up to 1066mhz FSB
6 SATA ports
Built in optical and coaxial out
Gigabit ethernet

Granted, it's not the most feature packed board, but it's definitely a high end board. I'd consider it a bit above starting level high end.

A low end board wouldn't support overclocking, wouldn't have RAID, limited SATA ports, crappiest possible audio, and likely a 800mhz fsb limitation. And it definetely wouldn't have optical and coaxial out.
Even then, a low end board would still have so many things integrated that in the past wouldn't have been standard even on a high end board. It was less than five years ago that we really started to see boards with easy and good overclocking (the key is having both), decent multichannel audio (even the low end stuff now is better than the old soundblasters), integrated ethernet, and a bevy of USB 2.0 ports. Not to mention that old low end boards also tended to lack on stability, and sometimes even high end boards did.

Besides, the existence of $40 motherboards kind of shows that this motherboard can't be considered low end. IMO, high end motherboards seem to start around $80 (if you include the AMD side of things as well). I guess nvidia and ati have managed to create a new class of motherboards the may have jacked what the definition of high end today truly is, but in that case this board still makes midrange, and you could argue that the p5b is in the same category.

 

[Markfw]

I have an ECS P890, thats budget, or bottom end. Goes up from there.

 

[josh609]

I have an Asus P5B Deluxe and i would highly recommend it. I have my e6600 overclocked to 2.8Ghz without touching the vcore and it's as stable as rock. 2 thumbs going up for the P5B Deluxe!

 

[StopSign]

Originally posted by: josh609
I have an Asus P5B Deluxe and i would highly recommend it. I have my e6600 overclocked to 2.8Ghz without touching the vcore and it's as stable as rock. 2 thumbs going up for the P5B Deluxe!

That doesn't say much about the board... An E6600 should be able to reach 2.8 GHz while undervolted.

I know the P5B Deluxe is a very good board but an E6600 @ 2.8 GHz is nothing to write home about.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: Fox5

Originally posted by: Shimmishim

Originally posted by: Fox5
It's amazing what's called low end these days, yet has more features and performance than a low end board ever did back in the day.
I'd consider the S3 high end and the P5B exuberant.

then what would you call the Asus Striker extreme?

I'd consider the S3 budget and P5B mid-level.

680i boards and 975x I'd call high.

and something like the asus extreme i'd call ridiculous.

I really can't see the S3 justifying the budget label, it's so far beyond a budget board.
Great overclocking
Built in RAID controller
HD Audio
Support up to 1066mhz FSB
6 SATA ports
Built in optical and coaxial out
Gigabit ethernet

Granted, it's not the most feature packed board, but it's definitely a high end board. I'd consider it a bit above starting level high end.

A low end board wouldn't support overclocking, wouldn't have RAID, limited SATA ports, crappiest possible audio, and likely a 800mhz fsb limitation. And it definetely wouldn't have optical and coaxial out.
Even then, a low end board would still have so many things integrated that in the past wouldn't have been standard even on a high end board. It was less than five years ago that we really started to see boards with easy and good overclocking (the key is having both), decent multichannel audio (even the low end stuff now is better than the old soundblasters), integrated ethernet, and a bevy of USB 2.0 ports. Not to mention that old low end boards also tended to lack on stability, and sometimes even high end boards did.

Besides, the existence of $40 motherboards kind of shows that this motherboard can't be considered low end. IMO, high end motherboards seem to start around $80 (if you include the AMD side of things as well). I guess nvidia and ati have managed to create a new class of motherboards the may have jacked what the definition of high end today truly is, but in that case this board still makes midrange, and you could argue that the p5b is in the same category.

my categorizing is by price, not by features.

usually when someone says "budget" price comes to mind, not necessarily features.

its a shame though that budget and not having nice features are used synonymously.

i'm sure in this case it's not true... but again i will reiterate i was referring to price

 

[josh609]

Originally posted by: StopSign

Originally posted by: josh609
I have an Asus P5B Deluxe and i would highly recommend it. I have my e6600 overclocked to 2.8Ghz without touching the vcore and it's as stable as rock. 2 thumbs going up for the P5B Deluxe!

That doesn't say much about the board... An E6600 should be able to reach 2.8 GHz while undervolted.

I know the P5B Deluxe is a very good board but an E6600 @ 2.8 GHz is nothing to write home about.

Thank you Captain.

 

[smopoim86]

Originally posted by: josh609

Originally posted by: StopSign

Originally posted by: josh609
I have an Asus P5B Deluxe and i would highly recommend it. I have my e6600 overclocked to 2.8Ghz without touching the vcore and it's as stable as rock. 2 thumbs going up for the P5B Deluxe!

That doesn't say much about the board... An E6600 should be able to reach 2.8 GHz while undervolted.

I know the P5B Deluxe is a very good board but an E6600 @ 2.8 GHz is nothing to write home about.

Thank you Captain.

How bout my p5b deluxe pushing an e6400 at 4ghz. that should say something for it. 500mhz fsb.

although, that took 1.55 volts

 

[Fox5]

I currently have the p965-s3, and I'm actually struggling to get stability on my overclock.
Right now I'm at a 366mhz fsb, and around 2.5ghz, but it doesn't matter. I could go substantially lower, or possibly substantially higher (this is the highest I've gone) and the same issues exist. I'm not sure what they're from either. The comp completes 24 hours of prime 95 just fine, but start up a game and I face a severe chance of graphical corruption, and I'm almost guaranteed it if I exit and then restart a game or alt tab out and then back in. The display driver freezes up shortly afterwards, and frequently the whole computer does as well. I'm thinking it might be an issue that relates back to the pci-express slot, but nothing seems to completely eliminate the issue. Overvolting the pci express slot seems like it makes the problem worse, and underclocking the pci express slot makes it better, and setting the pci express slot to its stock speed (100mhz) rather than the Auto setting makes it worse.

Could anyone tell me what bios/voltage settings you used to overclock an e6300? Preferably on a p965 s3, but any board would be fine. I don't think my memory is the problem, it's rated for pc6400 and it's not even running at that right now.

its a shame though that budget and not having nice features are used synonymously.

i'm sure in this case it's not true... but again i will reiterate i was referring to price

If you call a $120 board budget, then what would you call a $40 board?

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: Fox5
I currently have the p965-s3, and I'm actually struggling to get stability on my overclock.
Right now I'm at a 366mhz fsb, and around 2.5ghz, but it doesn't matter. I could go substantially lower, or possibly substantially higher (this is the highest I've gone) and the same issues exist. I'm not sure what they're from either. The comp completes 24 hours of prime 95 just fine, but start up a game and I face a severe chance of graphical corruption, and I'm almost guaranteed it if I exit and then restart a game or alt tab out and then back in. The display driver freezes up shortly afterwards, and frequently the whole computer does as well. I'm thinking it might be an issue that relates back to the pci-express slot, but nothing seems to completely eliminate the issue. Overvolting the pci express slot seems like it makes the problem worse, and underclocking the pci express slot makes it better, and setting the pci express slot to its stock speed (100mhz) rather than the Auto setting makes it worse.

Could anyone tell me what bios/voltage settings you used to overclock an e6300? Preferably on a p965 s3, but any board would be fine. I don't think my memory is the problem, it's rated for pc6400 and it's not even running at that right now.

its a shame though that budget and not having nice features are used synonymously.

i'm sure in this case it's not true... but again i will reiterate i was referring to price

If you call a $120 board budget, then what would you call a $40 board?

A STEAL!!!

in all honesty though... how many $40 C2D boards have you seen and for that matter that can also o/c well?

in other words, they just don't exist. Actually, I've NEVER seen a $40 c2d board.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Fox5
I currently have the p965-s3, and I'm actually struggling to get stability on my overclock.
Right now I'm at a 366mhz fsb, and around 2.5ghz, but it doesn't matter. I could go substantially lower, or possibly substantially higher (this is the highest I've gone) and the same issues exist. I'm not sure what they're from either. The comp completes 24 hours of prime 95 just fine, but start up a game and I face a severe chance of graphical corruption, and I'm almost guaranteed it if I exit and then restart a game or alt tab out and then back in. The display driver freezes up shortly afterwards, and frequently the whole computer does as well. I'm thinking it might be an issue that relates back to the pci-express slot, but nothing seems to completely eliminate the issue. Overvolting the pci express slot seems like it makes the problem worse, and underclocking the pci express slot makes it better, and setting the pci express slot to its stock speed (100mhz) rather than the Auto setting makes it worse.

Could anyone tell me what bios/voltage settings you used to overclock an e6300? Preferably on a p965 s3, but any board would be fine. I don't think my memory is the problem, it's rated for pc6400 and it's not even running at that right now.

its a shame though that budget and not having nice features are used synonymously.

i'm sure in this case it's not true... but again i will reiterate i was referring to price

If you call a $120 board budget, then what would you call a $40 board?

Read this: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1947261

And my advice would be to go straight to 401Mhz. I didn't bother with anything in between 266 and 401 at all, and I've had no problems so far.

 

[Markfw]

I have a $52 board... It OC';s very badly though.

 

[Roguestar]

You get what you pay for .

 

[Markfw]

I know, I only bought it to verify this was the case. Even with PC 4000 memory, I could only get my 6300 to 2.1 ghz !