Asus P4C800-E vs. Gigabyte GA-8KNXP Ultra64

azhummer wrote on 5/21/2004, 3:39 AM

Well after days of researching all my computer parts for my first build... I'm debating between these 2 mobos.. I was going to get the P4C800-E until I heard about the on-board SCSI adapter in the Gigabyte. Also influencing me was the Texas Instruments 1394 chip that someone in the forums here mentioned was a plus in Vegas (and other NLE's) for a well-compliant 1394 interface..

So now I'm thinking of a U160 or U320 36.7 gb SCSI Maxtor or Seagate HD for my OS and future Vegas5.. Then use IDE drives for data/capture.

Here's my questions:

Would both firewire ports on the Asus and Gigabyte mobos above work as a substitute for getting like a ADS pyro 1394 PCI card? Can I safely use the mobo's forever without needing to spend $50 more? Last I heard the TI one in the Gigabyte is "vegas certified", just wondered if both are an option..


Any other opinions on the debate between these? I won't be overclocking anything..

And ram: I'm gonna go with Crucial 512x2 for $106 each chip. sound ok with both mobos?

TIA!

Comments

FuTz wrote on 5/21/2004, 4:57 AM

So *both* mobos have this TI chip? OHCI compliant? If that's what you're saying, it's a good thing; you probably can save on the ADS card. I'd call/e-mail both TI and mobos campanies to be sure... or try to compare, if possible, the TI chips (numbers on the chips) on both mobos and ADS card (which has proven to be ok).

SCSI: at what price? I don't know (BUT certainly would like to) if the difference in speed will be that much significant for the investment.
I hope somebody here can answer that one...
newbie123 wrote on 5/21/2004, 5:28 AM
didn't notice this in your original post, but i am quite sure the asus mobo utilizes a via firewire chip whereas the giga uses a TI chip. this was the reason i stayed away from the p4p as i swore a long time ago never to use via again (i guess that makes me an anti fan boy) and i have never heard bad things about the TI firwire chips.

i would have loved to have been able to get that giga board but couldn't swing the price so i ended up going with the 1000 pro 3 it has no pata raid or scsi but works great.

GmElliott wrote on 5/21/2004, 6:12 AM
...everything works great accept when I tried to catpure footage to my drive connected via the Promise controler using the onboard firewire. Dropped frames gallore. I had to resort to using the Audigy Platinum's Firewire.

It's gotta be some sort of conflict between the promise controller and the onboard firewire chipset because if I capture to my Intel drives they are fine (no dropped frames).
Former user wrote on 5/21/2004, 7:03 AM
GM,

General rule of thunb is to disable any onboard firewire and go to a dedicated card. I haven;t seen any onboard FW get any kind of decent transfer. In my P4C800-E Deluxe...I disabled the FW port straight away and popped in a 40 dollar ADS Pyro...works excellent everytime.

Your dropped frames issue with the onboard FW and the Promise controller is most likely a direct result of too much traffic on the PCI bus.

Q: Are you running SATA drives off the Promise? If so - ditch the Promise controller ASAP and move your drives into a RAID 0 array using the Intel Southbridge Controller. This Intel controller has it's own dedicated path and does not use the PCI bus.....excellent speed especially when a pair of Western Digital Raptors are used for the array.

Cuzin B
FrankieP wrote on 5/21/2004, 7:18 AM
I'm using a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP mobo (non SCSI version) with the onboard texas instrument firewire enabled. I chose TI because of compatibility to my Protools Digi 002. Captures fine without a hitch and recognizes my camcorder with no problems. The Gigabyte mobo's I highly recommend. Best bang for the buck imo.
monteolsen1 wrote on 5/21/2004, 7:24 AM
I have the ASUS P4C800 Deluxe and use the firewire port. I have not experienced any problems whatsoever.
RBartlett wrote on 5/21/2004, 8:11 AM
Supermicro P4SCT (not the plus) seems like a very eligible non-Xeon power motherboard. Especially from the storage and memory bandwidth perspective. Nice onboard peripherals too.

Best thing before PCI Express based mobos take a firm hold.
azhummer wrote on 5/21/2004, 8:46 AM

Do you know if the Audigy 2 ZS card has the same firewire specs as the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum? I was going to order this sound card anyway, if I went P4C800E route..

Quite a big price difference between the two but I think the platinum just gives the external audio adjustment capabilities.

Thanx
Hunter wrote on 5/21/2004, 11:33 AM
Two comments:
1 why SCSI - SATA will be the new standard and better.
2 I have Audigy 1 plat. int. can only connect one device at a time and the creative drivers suck - check out the kx project drivers Very good card just bad software bundle.

Hunter
jwall wrote on 5/21/2004, 12:59 PM
I know this is unsolicited advice, but don't order the Soundblaster. This is quite a bit better...inquire at the Vegas-Audio forum, and I'm sure they'd reccommend the M-Audio Firewire 410 over ANY creative product.

Just my $0.02

Jon

PS--I use the firewire port on that to capture all my video, and hook my scanner to it, as well. Never dropped ONE frame. Ever.


--EDIT--
Creative's drivers are notorious for causing problems...My brother installed the Audigy Platinum on his Win2000Pro machine, and it took him 2 reformats and a bunch of updated drivers to get it to work. I doubt the drivers for the ZS would be that bad, but there really isn't any reason to buy Creative equipment when you can get much better stuff for around the same price.




pike_bishop wrote on 5/22/2004, 12:25 AM
I also chose this mobo (non SCSI) because of the TI chipset onboard firewire + you can put up to 12 drives on it. I have had no problems using the onbord firewire with Vegas 4
JohnnyRoy wrote on 5/22/2004, 7:22 AM
I'm using a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP mobo too and the TI firewire works just fine. I did not get the Ultra because I have no need for SCSI. The SATA hard drives on this thing are just fine. I also have an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum and I would NOT recommend this card. As others have mentioned the drivers are horrible and you can get better pro gear for the same price. (a lesson learned)

~jr
GmElliott wrote on 5/22/2004, 10:19 PM
Yes I'm running 3 SATA drives. I don't quite understand your logic- you say to disable the onboard firewire and use a dedicated firewire card because of it's slow performance due to PCI traffic. However connecting a dedicated firewire card would access the PCI bus also?!

I think your right though- it's something to do with the promise controller and the firewire's buses.
bitrate wrote on 6/22/2004, 1:02 PM
ATA Raid 0 is good, it will be A standard, but scsi can still toast ata in multitasking enviroments because of its command queing.
(scsi is still the preferred subsystem in server farms... for a reason.)

ATA raid off of the ICH5R is hard to beat for speed/cost. but I sitll like scsi and use both.

cheers
bitrate wrote on 6/22/2004, 1:06 PM
note: the ultra and ultra 64 do not have firewire onboard, as does the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (which is a great mobo)

all are solid mobos, cost more but you get lots of extras.

if you use scsi, go w/ ultra 64 and drop in pyro fw card.
if you don't the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP is a loaded workstation-class mobo.

cheers