ASUS P5PQ Pro vs GIGABYTE P43-ES3G MB

[pcaddict2]

Hi,
I've decided to upgrade my home recording pc based on the ASUS P5P800SE & have narrowed the choice between the ASUS P5PQ Pro & the GIGABYTE P43-ES3G MB. I want to keep my UAD-1,RME HDSP9652 cards hence this choice.

I will also use the Enermax 500w PSU,which I already have.

I also plan to upgrade to Win.7 pro,but would like to run/stream at only 32bits due to these cards. Is this possible?

So, can anyone of you from your experience,please give me some advice as to which of these 2 cards are more suitable & will work with the RME,UAD cards without any conflicts.

If you have any better MB suggestions,then I am all ears & you're most welcome.

Thanks.

PS: Wow, Gigabyte is not even mentioned in the "Sub-category section??!!

 

[jaquith]

I am really "foggy" here, why are you stuck on the (2) MOBOs? I get that you want to keep the HDSP 9652 which is a PCI card; I realize it is NOT PCIe.

Also, your old MOBO {Pentium D / Pentium 4 HT / Celeron D} - is this an issue? Are you 'trying' to keep an AGP GPU or older DDR 400 style RAM?

Are you in USA or where {site} do you shop? e.g. http://www.newegg.com/

The only compatibility {Windows} - http://www.rme-audio.de/en_support_faq.php#23

Reference {HDSP 9652} - http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_9652.php#4
Reference {ASUS P5P800 SE} - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131574&cm_re=P5P800SE-_-13-131-574-_-Product

 

[pcaddict2]

Jaquith, thank you indeed for your reply & the links were immensely helpful & given me a better understanding of this subject!

I am not really stuck between these two cards,it's only that I wanted a MB with 3 or more PCI slots,hence these 2 cards! As I've mentioned I am of course open to any/better MB suggestions.

Yes, the HDSP9652 is indeed a PCI card so is my UAD-1 & so the idea is to add more of these in the future.

My current P5P800se card based pc works fine, but I've decided to upgrade to Win7 pro.Upgrading to Pentium Dxxx or Celeron xxx is out of the question due to the excessive heat issues which are well known.,but changing to a PCI-e graphic is no problem. I also want to keep my DDR2 RAM & add more.

I found this on the RME site,& quote" Although Windows allows to run 32 bit software, (as windows XP stil allows 16bit software) drivers must be 64 Bit or else they won't work"

RME have since then released 64 bit drivers for these cards... I am based in Norway, & the choice of these old cards are rather limited too.

Any better MB suggestions anyone?

 

[jaquith]

You did not post your CPU, so there's no way for me to verify if your CPU is compatible. However, also note the USA and Norway models {vary}; one of the MOBOs you posted is not available in the USA {ASUS P5PQ Pro} and the {GA-P43-ES3G} is not available. I would prefer the ASUS MOBOs and they are less problematic than that of the Gigabyte.

You 'may' want to review the following link and the (2) additional ASUS MOBOs.

ASUS P5P43TD
ASUS P5P43TD/USB3

Possibilities - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600007879&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-131-232^13-131-232-TS,13-131-639^13-131-639-TS,13-131-607^13-131-607-TS,13-128-372^13-128-372-TS,13-128-380^13-128-380-S01

Good Luck!

 

[pcaddict2]

Sorry!,my current cpu is the Intel P4 630 3GHz.The ASUS P5P800SE will run only on Celeron D3xx, P4 6xx D8xx & D9xx dual series cpus & nothing else. So my choice is limited to this board.Besides, almost everyone who had upgraded to Dxxx cpus complain(ed) about the excessive heat these generate. So I want to go the Core Duo 6xxx path.

Both P5P43TD & P5P43TD/USB3 are available in europe,so buying one of these MBs won't be any problem, but my biggest concern is the chipset compatibility of these with the RME HDSP &UAD cards!

Thanks!

 

[pcaddict2]

Oh,btw...one other thing,all my 2 DVDs, & floppy are IDE devices,so I need IDE socket/connectors as well!

 

[jaquith]

If you want all those IDE then GA-EP43-UD3L plus it support the Intel P4 630 - http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3483#sp

Good Luck!

 

[pcaddict2]

Thank you jaquith,

I am not going to use the P4 630 cpu!...as I want to upgrade to a core 2 duo CPU!

I've been doing a bit of reading & researching & have now decided to buy the Gigabyte P43ES3G mobo.This card has got quite good expert & user reviews, besides has 5 pci slots,1pci-e x1,& 1 pci-ex16 slot. 1x 40 pin IDC con.

GIGABYTE P43 ES3G main Specification

Socket- LGA 775
Chipset- Intel P43 Express/ Intel ICH10
Support RAM- DDR2 SDRAM
RAM- 4-16GB
Max Buss speed-1600MHz

* What does socket 775 T mean vs socket 775?

As Ive mentioned earlier, I want to continue using/adding more pci UAD & RME cards..& have just bought 2 more pci UADs. In all I then need at least 4 pci slots.

Now I need your advice in choosing a Core 2 duo cpu & RAM I now it's a bit vague question....but I'll give it a shot anyway!

Which CPU/RAM would you recommend for best performance/cost?
8GB ram?

It will be purely for recording music & nothing else!
Thanks.

 

[jaquith]

Use http://www.corsair.com memory configuration or Gigabyte's supported memory per your final MOBO selection.

Good Luck!