P5Q Deluxe vs Radeon HD 4870

[blacklisted]

Battle royal! Or at least that's what it feels like is currently going on in my rig!

System: (Windows Vista Home Premium [64-Bit])
ASUS P5Q DELUXE
INTEL Q8200
ATI 4870 1GB DDR5
2X: CORSAIR 4GB (2X 2GB) DDR2 800
SAMSUNG SPINPOINT SATAII 1TB 32MB CACHE 7200RPM
NETGEAR WG311 WIRELESS PCI
Hi-Power Black 800W Modular 13.5cm Fan PSU
And some bog-standard DVD/CD reader/witer (Same old one)

So, basically I just stripped out my old MSI / AMD / NVIDIA build and sold the components to a friend, and installed them for him. I only kept my DVD / CD drive and then ordered the above components, thinking I was about to have one hell of a machine. . .

WRONG!

The P5Q Deluxe is in NO WAY 'Deluxe', I would sooner describe it as a polished and overpriced steming lump of feces. This mobo has been released with serious compatability issues with multiple DIMM modules on the market, and SERIOUS issues with the ATI 4800 series of cards. The suggested BIOS update has done NOTHING! The v1700(ish) bios is as crap as before. . .

ASUSTEK are sneaky, underhanded, uncaring people who refuse to publish the errors their products have and allow their customers to fall into these wonderful situations, then refuse to refund and return the product. I will NEVER, EVER buy ASUS AGAIN!

But anyhow [/rant] can anyone help? Other than a BIOS update can I actually fix this machine as it stands, or do I need a new mobo?

If I do need a new mainboard, what do I buy? Do I go back to MSI, as they've always been stable for me, or are there other mobo's out there with issues with vista 64 or the HD 4870?

Thanks is advance,
- Blacklisted

 

[GhislainG]

I have a P5Q Deluxe and I consider it's an excellent motherboard, but I don't have your exact configuration. I use G.Skill PI Black DDR2 800Mhz memory at 4-4-4-12 timings and I never had issues. What's the problem with yours and the 4870?

 

[blacklisted]

I know it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be, but with my configuration the board is wasted money, so I had a bit of a childish rant, which did actually make me feel much better

I wish I knew the answer buddy. With the 4870 installed I can only install 2 DIMM modules (yes I do know what the second M stands for) or else it fails to POST, and I can use any of my 4 2GB Corsair sticks in any configuration - just not more than 2 for some reason.

I can install 4 DIMM modules with the NVIDIA GTX 260 but even then the system is so unstable it refuses to run a single .exe file other than firefox and the OS, which I find odd. . .

I'm actually rather confused by all this, even after having flashed the BIOS i've got nothing but grief. What's the problem? The mobo, the RAM or the card? Or any combination / variation thereof?

 

[GhislainG]

Are those DIMM on the QVL? I initially went with G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK because it was on the QVL for 4 modules and I wanted to install 8GB. That memory is now used with another motherboard (Gigabyte EP45-UD3P). I use 8GB of G.Skill PI Black (4GBx2) at 4-4-4-12 and 1.9V on my P5Q Deluxe.

Can you provide the part number of your DIMM (I also know what the second M stands for)?

 

[yong]

I have a very similar setup and i think my p5q deluxe works great.

My system
p5q deluxe
intel q9550
4gb (2gbx2) of corsair ddr2-800 at 4-4-4-12
asus hd 4850 oc


I have my system oc to 3.4 and very stable. Also, I have increased my ram to 8 gb and it worked fine