Motherboard - Best 865/875 (P4) mobo for DAW?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tripecac
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Tripecac

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What's the "best" (most stable, compatible, well-performing) 865 or 875 based mobo for DAWs these days? (May 2004)

The most popular models seem to be from Intel and ASUS:

- Intel D865PERL
- Intel D875PBZ
- ASUS P4P800
- ASUS PCP800

Picking between these is tough. The 865s are more popular, but the 875 have better "specs". The Intel D875 also omits onboard audio (which seems more a negative than a positive for a DAW). Yet people keep talking about the D865...

So what's the deal? Is it "better" to go for a cheaper, more popular 865 or a more powerful 875?

Thanks!

Travis

p.s. Personal details:
- price is secondary to quality
- my sound card is a Delta44
- my midi card is a Frontier WaveCenter PCI
- I'll use this PC for music only (no games or browsing)
- I have a LAN
 
I have an Abit IS-7 which is based on the 865 chipset.

I think it's the most stable, easy to use motherboard I've ever had. I do use my computer for gaming as well as a DAW. I have the plain IS-7 model (the one without any letters after it) and it has a couple of firewire connections(you MAY need them in the future) as well as a couple of excellent onboard SATA connectors.

Installing this thing was a breeze and I haven't had a single crash since I started using it. It also overclocks very well (if you choose to do so).

I've had it for about two weeks now and I've recorded two songs. One of which has 10 simultaneous tracks going along with a couple of VST instruments. I use a Delta 66 (almost the same thing as yours). I have an Pentium 2.8E with 1 meg L2 cache and Hyperthreading. I use Cakewalk SX and have used Sonar with it a few time.

not ONE single malfunction or crash. Look into ABit as well dude.

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=79
 
I use the P4P800, P4 2.8c, 1GB ram, 2 x120GB SATA Barracudas.
It has never crashed and records glitch free up to 24/96.

When I bought this, I did some research on comparisons between Asus & other mobos, and between 865 & 875 chipsets. Invariably the performance of the Asus 865 boards was every bit as good as the 875 boards - they've got their own 'PAT' technology.

Bang for the buck, the P4P800 was hard to beat.

Oh yeah & I've also got the Delta 44
 
Abit IC7-G 875P, P4 3.0E, 1 gig Kingston DDR 400 dual channel, two Samsung 120 gig ATA133 drives (one for OS and proggies, other for audio data streaming) and a MOTU 828mkII .... works like a champ! Board has onboard audio, which I don't use and wouldn't recommend using as most onboard audio chips are junk. Specially the Realcrap ... I mean Realtek AC97. Sure, you can use the onboard sound for games and such, but for DAW purposes .... a good card is a must.

This setup tracks 20 tracks simultaneously with out a hitch :cool:
 
I'm using the P4C800 deluxe...with 1024 RAM, Pentium 4 3.0 GHz/800 FSB and 4 each 120 GB Western Digital hard drives. All I can say is,...plenty of machine.

I've been very happy with the MOBO. :D
 
Thanks for the responses guys!

I've read some good things about the latest Abit mobos (IC7, IS7)... *but* my current DAW's running an Abit (KT7) which has been acting up... I know it's 4 years old and a different "flavor" (AMD) but still, I have an aversion to Abit now which is hard to shake. Ditto for Via and AMD. Still, thanks for the info!

As for the P4P800 vs P4C800, there's a $60 price difference, and I'm curious what the P4C800 gives you that a P4P800 doesn't, in terms of today's DAW usage.

I don't expect to be using any where near 20 tracks of audio! 3 or 4 is more like it. Most of my stuff is MIDI, mixed down to a stereo audio track, with some vocals and maybe a couple tracks of guitar mixed in. Nothing fancy. I grew up with a 4-track and don't feel any need to record heaps of audio.

What I'm after is stability and compatibility, with speed and price secondary (or tertiary). I want a mobo I can trust to work both today and a few years from now.

That said, is it better to aim for the most powerful of today's mobos, or the most popular? Which is more likely to be purring along happily 5 years from now, when I'll probably still be doing 16 tracks of MIDI plus 3-4 tracks of audio? (No plugins, no softsynths, no samplers)...

Travis
 
punkin said:
I'm using the P4C800 deluxe...with 1024 RAM, Pentium 4 3.0 GHz/800 FSB and 4 each 120 GB Western Digital hard drives. All I can say is,...plenty of machine.

I've been very happy with the MOBO. :D
Click to expand...
I have the exact same setup, except for the hard drives, and my mobo is the P4C800-E Deluxe version, not sure of the exact differences of the "E" version, other than the northbridge heatsink is twisted to give more clearance for your AGP graphics card.

I haven't had it for very long, but so far it seems like a great motherboard, and you notice the high quality from the moment you open the packaging. The real test will come when I get my Delta 1010lt and start actually doing stuff to see if I run into any problems.

I will give you a link to a forum that has a specific forum for Asus motherboards, and you will find lots of people with problems. If I knew of this forum before, I would have been much more skeptical of buying an Asus board, but keep in mind more people with problems will visit tech forums, while the people with no problems are less likely to post messages on a forum...so by nature an Asus tech forum will be mostly filled with people having problems. That link I mention is below:
TechSupportForum.com
 
Well...it just so happens I'm also using the Delta1010lt...still...an excellent combo. :)
 
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