ASUS P4R800-VM Motherboard
Written: May 08 '04 (Updated May 08 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 800 Mhz FSB, Intel P4 ready, HT supported and onboard ATI Graphics
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this motherboard for those who are looking for a good dependable board and would like to save a bit of money using the onboard graphics.
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| opinionated3's Full Review: ASUS P4R800-VM Motherboard |
At my current job I am responsible for all the computers and printers that are currently connected to our network. We have quite a few older work stations that are running on Intel Celeron and Intel Pentium II processors. These machines are not able to keep up with the increased workload and it was time to upgrade a bunch of them. It was my job to select and order the replacement components and do all of the upgrades.
Since my boss was partial to Intel processors I made a most of my choices based around the Intel P4 processor. The first choice I had to make is to decide which motherboard to select to form the basis for my computers. I made a call to our computer vendor and asked which motherboard that he recommended us to use with the Intel P4 processors. He immediately recommended ASUS brand motherboards and since we used them before I agreed. So which model of motherboard to chose that was the next thing I had to figure out. We didn't want to have to buy new video cards since the older ones would work with the newer motherboards, so I selected a model that included an integrated video adapter. The model that I selected was the ASUStek P4R800-VM motherboard.
The ASUS chose a unique chipset to run all the board functions instead of the typical Intel chipset that you will find most of their other boards. This unique chipset is made by ATI and it has proved to be a good choice for this motherboard. The ATI IXP200 and RADEON 9100 IGP combine to make a pretty powerful chipset. The RADEON Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP) Northbridge and IXP200 Southbridge combine to control all the onboard functions; integrated video, dual channel ATA 100 IDE controllers, 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports, Ethernet controller and PCI 2.2 interface and AC'97 2.2 interfaces(sound). The two chipsets are connected using a proprietary A-Link interface at up to 266MB/s transfer rate.
The fit :
When it came time to selecting this board it was very important that it fit inside the existing cases that we were upgrading. We didn't want to have to replace all of the cases for the computers we were upgrading. To be sure that the motherboard would fit inside my case and also work with my existing power supply, I ordered one to be sure. I found one problem right away and I turned to our vendor to solve the problem for me. My power supply didn't have all the correct connectors. It was missing the 4 pin 12VDC power connector (supplies power directly to CPU) and I needed a way to supply this 4 pin 12V power connector. My vendor gave me the answer I needed and it was a special adapter plug that uses two of the four pin power connectors to power this special 4 pin 12VDC power plug that fits into the connector on the motherboard. Fortunately our current case comes with a removable I/O (Input/Output) shield and I was able to remove the old one and install the shield that came with this motherboard. The shield allows all of the external connectors to fit in their corresponding locations. These connectors are for things like the keyboard, mouse (PS/2 connectors) and port connections for parallel, serial and USB interfaces (1x parallel, 1x VGA, 4x USB 2.0 and SPDIF). There is also a RJ-45 connector for the onboard LAN and 3 jacks for the onboard sound . The actual size of the board is 9.6"x 9.6".
The Processor:
ASUS P4R800-VM supports the Intel P4 Northwood processors. The Intel P4 processors use the Socket 478 pin connector that is onboard this motherboard. The Socket 478 is what is known as a ZIF socket or Zero Insertion Force socket. This makes installation of the processor very easy and it helps to reduce the mistakes. We chose the Intel P4 2.4 GHz processor and it came with cooling fan and fortunately ASUS includes the mounting hardware for the cooling fan already on the board and the power connector for the fan mounted right next to the CPU socket. The board also supports Intel Hyper Threading Technologies as well as the next generation Prescott CPU's.
The Memory :
The ASUS P4R800-VM motherboard supports bus speeds of 800/533/400 MHz and this allows for a wide range of memory options. Since memory chips are classified by their memory capacity as well as their speed at which they store and transfer data. The common capacities for memory chips are 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024 MB capacities. The other way is the bus speed that they will work with; PC1600 (200 MHz), PC2100 (266 MHz) PC2700 (333 MHz) and PC3200 (400 MHz). But as you can imagine the prices also very amongst the different memory chips and the many different manufacturers. This is where you need to be very careful when you are choosing the brand of memory chips you chose. There are four memory slots on board and it support 128bit dual channel DIMM (Double In-line Memory Module)and they are color coded to help you follow the table in the manual. This board has a slight limitation and it involves the upper end of the memory range. If you chose to put PC3200 DIMM sticks you can only one stick in each channel and only up to a maximum of 2 GB. I usually chose one or two stick of 512 MB DDR PC2700 memory (Double Data Rate) from Kingston depending on what type of work the user will be doing with the computer. Kingston brand has alway been a top flight memory stick us and I doubt we will be changing.
Note: The PC3200 DIMM limitation is due to the Dual Channel configuration, you can only have one PC3200 DIMM in each channel slot.
IDE Support
ASUS has included two IDE UltraATA 100/66 controllers and one floppy drive controller and all three are conveniently located by the edge of the motherboard closer to the drive bays. The two 40 pin IDE connectors are labeled PRI_IDE1 and SEC_1 and the primary connector is further distinguished by its blue color. The 34 pin floppy controller connector is identified by the floppy1 identifier on the motherboard. All three of these connectors have a special feature that makes it easy to install the drive ribbon cables correctly; they have a notch in the connector casing and it matches a little tab on the cable. This makes it difficult to install the cables wrong. We attach a single 8-20 GB Western Digital or Seagate hard drive and 52x CD-rom drives to the IDE controller and a single 1.44 MB floppy drive to the floppy drive controller. The reason we use such small drives on most of our workstations is because the majority of our work is done across a LAN or Local Area Network and files are stored either on one of our many servers or our IBM AS400.
Video Support
As I stated earlier ASUS included a unique chipset on the motherboard and part of it was onboard video processor. This onboard video processor is made by a well known video processor manufacturer that most people are familiar with and that company is ATI. Most people are most familiar with their Radeon lines of video processors and graphics adapters. The P4R800-VM mother board has included the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP processor chip and part of that chip is the ATI Radeon 9200 graphics processor. One of the reasons we chose this motherboard is because we didn't want to have to purchase a separate video card when we were doing upgrades on our existing computer.
For those of you that might not be interested in the onboard or integrated video feature, ASUS also included an AGP (Acellerated Graphics Processor) slot so you can install a graphics adapter of your choice. This slot is a combination 4x/8x type slot and this allows you to use some of the older 4x video cards that you might have on hand. A word of caution, this AGP slot is designed to work only with AGP 4x/8X ( 1.5V) video cards. The AGP slot is specially keyed for these cards and it will not allow you to put an incorrect card.
Sound Support
The ASUS P4R800-VM motherboard comes with onboard or integrated audio and this is handle by an ADI AD 1888 6-channel audio CODEC. This audio processor is built into the ATI chipset and with included driver software that you will need to load after your installation completed will take care of your audio needs. ASUS also included one SPDIF (Sony & Philips Digital Interface) digital audio connectors used to connect external audio output devices. Along with the three standard audio connector (Line in, Line out and microphone) jacks the SPDIF handle all of the audio functions of the motherboard. One last feature of the board is a connector for the audio CD cable the plugs into the back of your CD-rom drive and usually connects to a soundcard.
Note: The ASUS P4R800-VM motherboard doesn't have extra audio connectors to allow you to use separate connectors to setup 4 and 6 channel speaker system. The following is a description of how you would connect 2,4 or 6 channel speaker systems;
2-Speaker Line in - L. Blue Line out - Lime Mic in - Pink
4-Speaker Line in - L. Blue Front Spk out - Lime Rear Spk out - Pink
6-Speaker Bass/Center L. Blue Front Spk - Lime Rear Spk out - Pink
I/O Ports
1x Parallel Port
6x USB 2.0 Port (4 rear and 2 front)
1x PS/2 Keyboard
1x PS/2 Mouse
1x 15pin VGA
1x Line In jack (Light Blue)
1x Line Out jack (Lime)
1x Mic In (Pink)
1x S/PDIF
LAN port 10/100 Ethernet
1x Serial port is on a expansion port and plugs onto the board
What comes in the box
ASUS P4R800-VM Motherboard
The Users Manual
FDD cable (Special Black colored ribbon cable w/ASUS imprinted on it)
HDD cable (Special Black colored ribbon cable w/ASUS imprinted on it)
I/O shield
CD (drivers, bundled software)
Special Feature
All of the following features are included on the CD that contains all the drivers for the onboard features of the motherboard.
ASUS MyLogo2:This feature is pretty neat for those people that build and setup computers for other people, it helps you to make customized boot up logos.
ASUS EZ Flash:This allows you to easily update the BIOS even before you load the OS and not have to boot from a floppy disk to update the BIOS.
ASUS Q-fan Technology: This technology uses temperature sensors to monitor the CPU temperature and controls the speed of the fan to keep the processor cool. It will monitor the speed of all fans that are connected to the motherboard and display the speed.
ASUS CrashFree Bios2: With this feature you can restore the BIOS from the CD that is included with the board. So in case the BIOS files get corrupted you don't have to boot from a bootable floppy to restore the BIOS.
Note: As of yet I haven't tried any of the features listed above so I can't speak to how easy they are to use.
Installation
The motherboard comes packed in an antistatic bag so to ensure the protection of your board during shipping. It is always a good idea that you touch the inside of the metal casing before you handle this or any circuit board to discharge any static charge you may have built up on your hand. If you have an antistatic wrist strap it is a good idea to use it to avoid accidental static discharge. This board has six mounting holes and you want to make sure that the holes line up with the standoff's that are mounted inside of your case. Before you can mount the board you need to install the I/O shield that is included with this motherboard. This I/O shield is designed to fit over all of the connectors that are sticking out of the end of your motherboard to allow you to connect all of your external devices; keyboard, mouse, monitor and ... etc. Once you mount the motherboard inside the case you are ready to start connecting the power plugs. This motherboard has two power plugs, the 20 pin ATX power plug and a 4 pin 12V power plug. All the other wires and cables plugged in fairly easy by following the manual. The processor fits easily into the ZIF socket and the processor fan fits right on top and attaches to the fan mounting hardware that is built onto the board. The fan has a 3 pin connector and it connects to the power connector on the board located right next to the processor.
After securing the CPU and fan in place I install the one Kingston PC 2700 DDR 512 MB memory stick into one of memory slots and that left three for future upgrading. Then I installed and connected the hard drive, CD-RW and floppy drives cables to the IDE controllers. Once that was done it was time to connect all the front panel connectors to run the front panel USB connectors and the power button, reset button, power light and hard drive activity light. Once all that was done it was time to check all the connections one last time and then power the computer up.
Now that I finished checking all the connectors and hardware it was time to power up the system and load the MS Windows 2000 Professional. This of course was a long drawn out process and when that was finished it was time to load all of the motherboard drivers. These drivers are for all the onboard features like the LAN, sound card features, Video and USB 2.0. The CD also contains all of the special software programs that I described earlier. Once all of the installation was completed it was time to started loading all of our software and connect it to our network to finish the network setup.
Likes and Dislikes
I have been using these motherboards for our computer upgrades for the past three or four months without any failures. The motherboard was very easy to install and setup. Even though our cases don't have the front mounted USB connectors to take advantage of the additional USB ports, I know that it is available if we ever need them.
The only dislike would be that it only has three PCI expansion slots and that is a limitation if you have a need to add extras cards. It wont be a problem for us since we don't have any use for the extra expansion ports.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 95.00
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