Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP Edition

anyone else find this statement a little odd? it's hardly the AM2 motherboards fault...

 

lovely mobo makes me wnat to go on conroe even more

 

No it's not undecided... There is no multi-gpu support on P965

 

Just stating a fact. That is the results, not saying its the fault of anyone, not taking the piss in anyway.

Yea, this board is not multi gpu compatible in the sense that they talk to each other. No CrossFire, no SLI. You can use more than one graphics card for 4 monitor output, but Asus is indescript about what actually worked. We tried plugging in an X1900 into the black x16 slot, not connected through CrossFire, and it wouldnt post.

Maximum PC is a publication, and probably went to press before NVIDIA changed the SLI 590 Intel launch date to later this month. There will be SLI on intel, eventually. MaxPC probably used a reference board.

 

Good review... but I was disappointed earing that you couldn't boot with two video cards. I thought to buy this mobo to use it with two video cards: one for rendering and one for a future ATI Physics. Do you think Asus will release a bios that allows to boot with two cards? Or you suggest to wait for RD600 boards? When will it be avaliable? Does asus planned a mobo with that chipset?

Thanks and sorry for the OT.

 

Welcome!

The manual states you CAN boot with two cards but doesn't provide a description of which cards they are. We tried an X1900 on a whim and it was a no go. We didn't have time to make an exhaustive test of what does and doesn't work in it because we feel this is something Asus should address (and we are very time limited!).

Forget ATI physics. Seriously, don't bother with it. It's a flawed concept that holds even less weight than PhysX.

RD600 is a few months away yet Im afraid, the closed you have is nForce 590 SLI boards at the end of this month or i975X.

 

dang thats too bad for me. if only i had 200-300 bucks to spend on another graphics card. physx gpus i think are just a waste on money unless you like to waste money.

hmm maybe i should put in my sig "everything is a few months away"

 

Hi guys, panic question ( since i have this board already shipped to me ) the "no multi GPU support" , is this just no dual cards in crossfire or SLi format , or does this extend to not supporting the FX7950 twin gpu cards ( also in the process of being shipped ) fingers crossed it supports the 7950. Anyone care to put me out of my misery either way ?

 

It supports a single PCIe x16 7950 as that's classed as a single card. But you can't buy two 7950s for both x16 slots and expect them to work together (or at all!?).

 

Appreciated, my blood pressure has gone down a bit now , was getting worried there hahah.

 

Hi,

I'm planning to buy this board and would like to use it with 4GB of RAM on Windows XP Pro SP2 (32bit). Now I've heard that WinXP has trouble with more than 2/3GB RAM and that it might depend on the Mainboard whether if WinXP can use all of the RAM or not.
I'm going to use an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 on it. Would be cool to hear somebody else's experiences for this board in this matter as I don't want to buy 4GB RAM just to find out that half it it is in vain.

 

The 32bit limit s 4GB, and I use 2GB and WinXP has never used it all. You know you'll require four gig? Cause I'll just recommend you buy two and then see if you need more. It should use it, but XP isn't wonderful and will probably insist you have a massive pagefile too.

Cant say Ive ever tested more than 2gig though, never ever needed anymore, but then I dont do 3D renderings or server stuff.

 

I'm doing 3D modelling and rendering with my current PC which has 2GB and yesterday I ran out of memory 2 or 3 times. So yes, 4GB are quite in demand for such applications.

I'm not sure how others solved this but I can't imagine that everyone with 4 gigs of RAM is running WinXP 64bit.

Either way thanks for the hint!

 

Hey guys!
Just a few noob questions from me to clarify a few things.

*This board doesnt support sli? everyone says it only supports one gpu, do you mean you can only connect one graphics card on this board? No sli then?
*Also whats the wifi it has? What exactly is that used for? Connecting to a wireless router without the need for a card?

Sorry for my noobness, im currently considering this board as a purchase!

Thanks in advance!

-Solidus

 

The board doesn't support SLI, and the WiFi card is capable of being an access point (thus no need for a separate Wireless network hub).

There's more here: http://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1179&modelmenu=1

 

I got all my stuff and man is it ever fast ! Never had a hgih end system before (always been at teh cheaper end of the market).

The 7950 card is working but only in part. Its a 2x512mb board but on boot it says there is only 512 of video ram not 1024mb. Upon closer inspection it would seem that only half the card is actually working (the fan on the second card isnt spinning) though in my device manager it does show two cards in the display adapters section. I have found a couple of other instances of this on google but it appears i need to wait for an update bios to make it work properly. v0402 i think it is at the moment on the asus site.

anyway, that aside this machine totally kicks ass 8) e6700+2gb Corsair 8500 for the wein !!

 

Yeah I am thinking of this board and a 7950GX2, but I see that Asus has released a BIOS 0507 that states:

P5B Deluxe Release BIOS version 0507

1. Support Conroe CPU ratio adjustment
2. Fix some DDR 800 frequency will show DDR 533
3. Enhance performance when using NVDIA 7950GX2 VGA card
4. Fix fail to read files from some ODDs
5. Fix "Hit ''DEL'' message display" item function fail
6. Support Max FSB from 500 MHz to 650 MHz

Maybe you just need to update the BIOS to 0507 and report back here your findings.

Also, to previous post, if you want to use 4GB of memory I dont see why anyone want to purposely chose the inferior WinXP 32 over the FAR Superior WinXP x64. It is common knowledge that x64 uses more memory and uses it MUCH more efficiently. WinXP x64 is built on Server 2003 64bit and WinXP 32 is built on Windows 2000, lol, need I say more? So, I suggest you eXPerience x64 with your 4GB of memory so you can see how much better x64 runs for yourself.

SkOrPn

 

Just to add to the post above, I've had a brief look into upgrading to 4Gig, as sometimes I run out of RAM when doing photograph work and so on.

The limit on 32bit XP is indeed 4Gig, but the problem lies in that it's a combination of both your pagefile and your RAM (i.e. 2Gig RAM, 2Gig Pagefile max).

Further to this, some programs don't like to run without a pagefile, which means you'll always lose some of your 4Gig.

Have a google, I can't remember the exact sizes people have managed. Ended up just sticking with 2Gig here, although you might find overcoming the driver problems and going XP64 is a better solution for you.

 

Thanks for the reply on my memory question! Basically I would go WinXP 64bit if there wasn't the problem that several drivers are not available as 64bit. The most important hardware on my system has 64bit drivers but for some pheripherials are only 32bit drivers available. Also I'm not sure how good the compability to some more exotic 32bit applications is.

 

Another quick question about this board: How does the Raid-Driver situation look with it? For my last board 2 years ago I had to put the RAID drivers onto a floppy disk and install them at the start of a WinXP installation. Is it still the same or is this process easier by now? I'm not sure if WinXP also accepts drivers from CDROM or memory stick at the start of the installation.

Thanks for any hints!