Asus P4C800 Deluxe: Sparse Selection Of Equipment At A High Price
Intel 875P Chipset
Board Revision 1.03
BIOS 1008 Beta 004 (06/23/2003)
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The market leader amongst the motherboard manufacturers offers its top model in the form of the P4C800 Deluxe in black packaging. At first glance, the board is recognizable by its yellow color (PCB layout); the appearance might be considerably more attractive for fashion-conscious fans of case modding. Asus relies on a passive cooler in the case of the Northbridge and an AGP pro slot for high-end graphic cards.
As already noted in our last test, Asus skimps on the gigabit LAN and disappoints the user with an external PCI solution from 3COM, which is flanged on the Southbridge. In our opinion, an 875P board focusing on the high-end user deserves a CSA connection and a RAID controller (integrated into the Intel Southbridge).
The CD player (instant music) integrated in the BIOS still fails to perform properly, although confirmed Asus fans are hardly likely to take any notice of this feature.
LAN controller on a PCI basis.
Southbridge without a RAID function.
No color-coding for the pin connector.
