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Hi Guys

Is there anyone out there using an Asus P5P800 motherboard with Matrox RT 2500 systems. This board uses the 865pe chipset which Matrox recomends on other boards. I'm asking as I would like to put together a new system for editing. If so I would like to know if you are having any problems etc.

Thanks for any reply
Phil

If you can you should go with an 875 chipset. The big 3 (matrox, canopus, pinnacle) are a JOKE when it comes to keeping up with the pace of progress. Some of the links that lead you to compatibility charts for these companys only show mobos from 3 years ago. If you talk to the video guys (www.videoguys.com) or contact matrox directly I'll bet that they fully endorse and recommend an 875 chipset over an 865.

I built my last video computer based on current recommendations (at the time I built it) and I didn't save a dime by following compatibility charts rather then building it better (by other performance benchmarks)... well 6 months later they finally got around to updating the compatibility charts and all the (way better) hardware I was going to use was finally on the list... of course by then it was too late.

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Thanks Matt

Yes Matrox are a bit behind the times when it comes to motherboards. Its an ongoing argument on the Matrox forum pages. You would think that an 875 chipset would be better but I thought that I had read somewhere that 865 chipsets were better for video editing because of the way the norh & south bridge chips transfer information. Im not a computer expert so I'm not sure about how that works. Unfortunately the only P5 motherboard with 865 chipset is P5P800 all the others seem to be 915 or 925 chipsets. The P5P800 also uses the new LGA775 CPU. It's a bit of a problem if you want to upgrade as some boards recomended are not available. There is only P4 boards which as you say some are around 3 years old.

Thanks
Phil

Phil, the thing that sucks about doing online research is that you gotta' stay on top of the DATES that you see on these boards. You'll google some topic and come up with a page that seems to perfectly address the issue... then you read the whole page and draw a safe conclusion... and if you aren't careful a lot of times that page is 2 or more years old! At this point the 875 chipset is nothing new... the 9xx chipsets are the new kids. Well the last time any of the big 3 updated their pages they brought 'em up to 865 recommendations... that was a year or two ago. Really I'd be surprised if the 9xx boards aren't compatible too! (I wanted to go with a pci-express board, but I was afraid to get too far past the recommended mobos! Should I have been? I don't know.)

You may have noticed that a lot of turnkey video computers are built with really conservative components... so at first I thought it was scary to push my gear too close to the edge... but when you're building NEW it sucks building a second or third rate system for the same price... only 'cause you think you HAVE too!

I tried to find the best compromise in an 875 chipset and so far things have been okay. You may find this article interesting:

CLICK HERE for Video Guys take on DIY with 875 chipset.

The 865 chipset is much better bang/buck as the 875 has extra features you don't need (Performance Acceleration Technology... which does nothing for video; supports ECC RAM; supports CSA LAN, which is gigE LAN which uses slightly less CPU).

2- Just ask someone for a working motherboard + hardware card combination. I would just copy them.

I agree with the 875.... and I'd take it a step further for rock solid performance go with an intel board... the intel 875 board has a version that doesn't have any onboard audio or video.... I build a system on it when it first came out and it is wonderfully stable.

Yes, the ASUS board is great and very reliable. The improvements to the LAN and other on-board services means that one can run a LAN and not have to shut it off during video editing sessions. All in all, a great motherboard for a single processor.

Did I mention it is very reliable with my Canopus products?

The way to find out about proven motherboards and other components is via the specific forums for those editing products. Canopus didn't list the ASUS, but the forum members certainly recommended it.

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Hi guys

Thanks for your replys. I 'am reading them and taking in the info. It appears that people are using motherboards like the P4C800E with an 875 chipset. This was one board that I was looking at but thought it was getting a bit out dated.

Thanks