Onboard video or not

  • Thread starter Thread starter J
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J

J

Hi, I'm considering P5GDC vs. P5GDC-V, the only difference appearing to
be the that the V has onboard video. (I can't tell forsure since the bad
Asus website doesn't even list it). At my store, it's only like $5
more, so is there any reason not to get it over the standard version? The
video can be disabled anyway I assume. Any other boards I should consider
at this price? (US$150 or so)
 
At my store, it's only like $5
more, so is there any reason not to get it over the standard version?
Click to expand...

I tell customers that it depends on what you intend to do with it. If
the intended use is an office-like environment, then go with the
onboard video. If you think you'll need lots of graphic processing,
especially for games, then don't.

As for disabling onboard video, you're right -- it's as simple as
plugging in a card.


--
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------
"One World; One Web; One Program." -- Microsoft | OS/2 Warp
| Solid like Linux
"Ein Volk; Ein Reich; Ein Führer." -- Hitler | Easy like Windows
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------

Use your bandwidth. If you don't, it'll go stale.

If Bill Gates had a dime for every time a Windows box
crashed... oh, wait. He does.

I Am Not A Number... Um...except for my TCP/IP address.

If you can read this .sig, you're too damn close.

Save a cow. Eat a vegetarian!

Remember, EVIL spelled backwards is LIVE -- and we all want to do that!

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Proud member of the Signature is Longer Than The Post Association

--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
"J" said:
Hi, I'm considering P5GDC vs. P5GDC-V, the only difference appearing to
be the that the V has onboard video. (I can't tell forsure since the bad
Asus website doesn't even list it). At my store, it's only like $5
more, so is there any reason not to get it over the standard version? The
video can be disabled anyway I assume. Any other boards I should consider
at this price? (US$150 or so)
Click to expand...

P5GDC-V Deluxe
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=25&model=164&modelmenu=1
P5GDC Deluxe
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=24&model=162&modelmenu=1

If you select the enlarged picture on each of those pages, it
looks like they just stuck a label over the word P5GDC-V,
to take the picture for the non-V board :-)

Review:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=117&type=expert&pid=5

Apparently you can run the GMA900 at the same time as your
video card, so that might be good for multiple monitor
setups.

Having the GMA900 logic block present in the Northbridge
might add a slight bit more power dissipation to that
chip (maybe 2-3 watts or so). Sounds like a non-issue.

I notice the "HyperPath 2" option is missing in the
P5GDC-V BIOS. I cannot tell you if that is significant
or not, as I cannot find any Intel docs that differentiate
the chipsets of that era. At most, a function like this
would make a couple percent difference to memory bandwidth
if it really exists.

On the 875/865 chipsets, the 875 had PAT and the 865 did
not. Asus and other manufacturers found a way to enable
PAT on the 865, by fooling the clock encoding signals
fed to the chip. The 865 BIOS refer to this as "memory
acceleration mode' or MAM. HyperPath 2 could be a similar
trick for the 915 chipset, but I cannot find any docs.

There is a conceptual picture on this page, and presumably
there is a graphic like this for the 915/925 chipset
somewhere...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p4p800_7.html

I think I'd buy the P5GDC and pick up a cheeseburger on
the way home :-)

Paul
 
I think I'd buy the P5GDC and pick up a cheeseburger on
the way home :-)
Click to expand...

Nah... fish tacos. Can't go wrong with fish tacos. (grin)


--
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------
"One World; One Web; One Program." -- Microsoft | OS/2 Warp
| Solid like Linux
"Ein Volk; Ein Reich; Ein Führer." -- Hitler | Easy like Windows
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------

Use your bandwidth. If you don't, it'll go stale.

If Bill Gates had a dime for every time a Windows box
crashed... oh, wait. He does.

I Am Not A Number... Um...except for my TCP/IP address.

If you can read this .sig, you're too damn close.

Save a cow. Eat a vegetarian!

Remember, EVIL spelled backwards is LIVE -- and we all want to do that!

Dark Days in Human History: Hiroshima'45 Chernobyl'86 Windows'95

Proud member of the Signature is Longer Than The Post Association

--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Paul said:
P5GDC-V Deluxe
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=25&model=164&modelmenu=1
P5GDC Deluxe
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=24&model=162&modelmenu=1

If you select the enlarged picture on each of those pages, it
looks like they just stuck a label over the word P5GDC-V,
to take the picture for the non-V board :-)

Review:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=117&type=expert&pid=5

Apparently you can run the GMA900 at the same time as your
video card, so that might be good for multiple monitor
setups.

Having the GMA900 logic block present in the Northbridge
might add a slight bit more power dissipation to that
chip (maybe 2-3 watts or so). Sounds like a non-issue.

I notice the "HyperPath 2" option is missing in the
P5GDC-V BIOS. I cannot tell you if that is significant
or not, as I cannot find any Intel docs that differentiate
the chipsets of that era. At most, a function like this
would make a couple percent difference to memory bandwidth
if it really exists.

On the 875/865 chipsets, the 875 had PAT and the 865 did
not. Asus and other manufacturers found a way to enable
PAT on the 865, by fooling the clock encoding signals
fed to the chip. The 865 BIOS refer to this as "memory
acceleration mode' or MAM. HyperPath 2 could be a similar
trick for the 915 chipset, but I cannot find any docs.

There is a conceptual picture on this page, and presumably
there is a graphic like this for the 915/925 chipset
somewhere...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p4p800_7.html

I think I'd buy the P5GDC and pick up a cheeseburger on
the way home :-)

Paul
Click to expand...

Thank you for the extensive reply. I like the idea of integrated video
since I find the idea of mulitple monitors (later) intriguing. Plus I can
also delay the purchase of that $250 pcie video card. :) Though maybe only
until the countown is over on the ATI site--whatever the hell that's about!

Speaking of the FSB though, the pricier boards support higher speed memory.
Assuming a P4-640 (3.2) CPU, how do I know whether the memory, cpu or board
are matched and none creating significant bottleneck?
 
"J" said:
Thank you for the extensive reply. I like the idea of integrated video
since I find the idea of mulitple monitors (later) intriguing. Plus I can
also delay the purchase of that $250 pcie video card. :) Though maybe only
until the countown is over on the ATI site--whatever the hell that's about!

Speaking of the FSB though, the pricier boards support higher speed memory.
Assuming a P4-640 (3.2) CPU, how do I know whether the memory, cpu or board
are matched and none creating significant bottleneck?
Click to expand...

LOL on that ati.com site :-) Those marketing types are so
delusional. Having a countdown when you are late with product :-)

Both web pages indicated DDR2-600 setting is an option.
(Presumably a different option is available for DDR DIMMs.)

There is a review here:
http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/cpu_mobo/asus/intel/lga775/p5gdc/

Looking at the manuals, it looks like the basic ratio between
CPU clock and memory clock is the same on both boards. I think
you can have FSB800 and DDR2-600. Then, if the FSB is raised
further, the DDR speed would rise at the same time. There is
an overclocking section in the downloadable manuals where this is
spelled out. (If you bought DDR2-800 memory, you could select
the DDR2-600 setting, which sets the ratio, and then the FSB
could be raised by up to 33% before the memory clock limit would
be approached. The main benefit here, would be the increase in
CPU core clock, with any memory improvement giving a smaller
benefit.)

You may want to review test results with a variety of
memory products on Anandtech, before purchasing memory.
Just to decide whether a "low CAS" or a "high clock"
approach is really gives significant cost/benefit. I would
agree that DDR2-533 is the minimum, to give you equivalent
performance to the old DDR400 memory. (Your 640 has a large
cache, so that should be helping performance in any case.)

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL7Z8

Paul
 
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