Asus P5Q Premium - Need input on it's Pros and Cons

[TheVanman]

Hi all. I am going to be putting together a new system for video capture, editing, and rendering.

I am highly considering the Asus P5Q Premium and having either a Q6600 or any of the lower end Q9XXX processors installed. Also premium Corsair or Crucial matched RAM sticks.

I will not be overclocking much if at all, considering I am upgrading from an "OLD" P4 3200g HT 800mhz FSB circa 2004 and ANY speed increase is a good increase, and this combo would cut my render times to 1/4th the current time. I mostly want reliability.

I am also concerned about heat production. My old 3200 runs hot, and the computer case is in an entertainment center which doesnt help. I still run the stock CPU heat sink and fan that the processor shipped with, which also doesnt help. I am willing to go with a good water cooling setup to get the heat out of the computer case and out of the entertainment center also.

I like the idea of the SATA RAID 5 or 10 to have a fast RAID drive to help speed up rendering of several hour long videos.

So far, I havent found much in the way of a real review, only people talking about that it is an option to consider. I would like some real life input if possible regarding good or bad personal experiences with this board.

Keep in mind, this will be rendering multi hour long HDV videos frequently and reliability is paramount. A board that blue screens and freezes all the time does me no good.

If there is anyone that owns this board and likes or dislikes it, please feel free to speak out.

Thanks all!
The Vanman

 

[MaDMagik]

Hi there,

Look at customer reviews at newegg.com for example - theres not too many of them but pretty much everyone there has praise for that board. My general opinion towards motherboards is: every board from top manufacturer should work fine, if it doesnt than you RMA it and get a working one. No such thing as "crappy board" for $200 or so, especially p45 based board, as its a matured and reliable chipset.People who write bad reviews are usualy unexperienced/too cocky and probably messed something up themselves, then shout on forums how bad a certain board is. Ive never used other brand than asus, and apart from those very few that arrived dead(which happens, but thats life) Im yet to encounter a problem which will push me towards other brand, and unless asus goes totally tits up, its not gonna happen soon. Im sure other people can say the same thing about boards from any other respectable manufacturer(but for me Asus and Gigabyte are the only major players)

I cant say anything about this board myself, but do you really need all those features? Quad-fire, 4 lan ports etc? I mean you can get a very good, proved, reliable board for 1/3 less, saved money can be pumped in faster cpu. Im also of an opinion that the more complex something is, the bigger is the possibility of something failing.

Yo got a quite decent review here http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/p5q_prem/

Its a quite expensive board, you may not get much first-hand feedback, but google "p5q premium problem" and you dont get too many hits either.

I know i didnt help you much with your dillemma, but decided to post it anyway

 

[TheVanman]

Thanks for your reply. I havent read any real bad reviews of this board either yet. I am asking here as I have built my last 2 systems with advice from this site, and have been absolutely pleased each time.

I only really asked because I saw a number of posts here in the Toms Hardware forum about the P5QL Pro where freezing was a problem. The same complaint from several different people made me leary about that particular less expensive board. I would like to stay with Asus, as I have had good results with them the last 2 builds. I cannot express enough that Reliability is paramount for me.

I am not going to use the features such as crossfire(quadfire) or the multiple LAN ports, and may not even overclock.

I am going to use the onboard RAID though. I also like that it has a 16 phase voltage regulator, but not sure how that will play into overall reliability.

Originally I was considering the Deluxe version, but after a vendor search, I found an online vendor that has a sale on the premium board for about $150, putting it less expensive than the deluxe. At that price, it isnt that much more than the Pro at about $85.00.

The only thing I dont like about this board is that it only has 2 regular PCI slots. I am using 3 right now on the current system. Wireless LAN, Video Capture card, and a Soundblaster card to aid in keeping video/audio in sync over long recordings/captures. If the new system doesnt have a sync problem I can ditch the SoundBlaster, or even go to a USB wireless dongle, so this can be worked around. I can even upgrade the capture card to a PCI-e or Firewire capture such as the Canopus.

So far I think it is the board of choice for me.


Vanman

 

[MaDMagik]

Youre welcome,

Well, P5QL Pro is somewhat lower-end of the series and bound to have problems of some sort. Im using the "full-fat" P5Q Pro at the moment with quite high overclock on my cpu - been rock solid for over 6 months and counting. If you decide to get the Premium and you care a little bit than come back at some point and leave some info regarding how the board works, as youve been looking for it yourself you know how useful it may be to others.

All the best,

 

[blackpanther26]

Why go for the Q6600. Go with the Q9550 senice it's around $270. And look at Core i7. you say your not into overclocking.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $280 i7 920

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500024 $190 for Zotac LGA 1366 Motherboard

and ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161302 3GB triple channel $45.00 DDR3 1333 from wintec

But the p5q series are solid boards.

 

[TheVanman]

I will come back and give a post build report. I remember when this site didnt have a forum and all the great info that was gleaned was from the shootouts and reviews only.

The last board that I built, and I am typing this post from, is an Asus P5P800 socket 775 3200 P4 800 FSB, and I got all the reviews from here. This is and has been an absolute workhorse and has edited and rendered well into the thousands of hours of WMV, DivX, MPEG2, and DV-AVI videos since 2004 when I put it together. If I get the reliability and stability in the new setup as this one has, I could not ask for any more except speed, which it will have.

As far as going i7, the extra money I would spend there can buy me a drive or two for the 4 disk RAID setup that I plan on using for the rendering drive. Since I also have to consider a new video card, I may even have to compromise and go with a Q8200 or Q8300 because they are at least $100 cheaper than the Q9550 and will still drop my render times to 1/4 of what they are now. I can easily see this heading towards a $1000 build if I dont control myself.....

Great talking to you all.

Have a good weekend!

Vanman

 

[pat mcgroin]

What sort of case are you thinking of using?
Airflow is going to be key in a entertainment center.
There are several variable speed fans.
Here is a link to one I have and really like. Air flow up to 100 CFM. It also has a model that the control fits in a empty pci slot.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220013

This one fits under the video card (If used) and helps alot to keep it cool.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150006

 

[gbomd]

I bought 2 ASUS P5Q premium boards in the last few weeks and both died after several hours of working normally. They died suddenly as though someone had pulled out the plug and the system refused to turn on subsequently. Same accessories worked and continue to work on other motherboards.

 

[michael775]

I have an Asus P5QL Pro and the Asus probe on mine said the Motherboard runs at 45c in Idle under load goes up to about 54c to 55c no sensor for the Northbridge but it feels hot to touch. I have added Fan cooling to the chip set and Bought an Antec 200 mid tower and now it runs at 26c and can go up 2 42c under load Much better and all that's is at Stock speed with a Intel Q9650 so in my opinion it runs a little hot but with some adequate cooling it is a very good stable board hope this helps & not everyone my have the heat experience I had with it. The antec case did help with the heating the board was in a cramped small generic PC case originally that ended up being an inefficient space heater.