Best Alternative to a ASUS P5K?

[daveasp]

Afternoon. This is my first post because I would like a little advice from someone please. If I miss anything please bare with me.

I bought the following board from SCAN last week, scan part LN18699.

Asus P5K, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800/1066*, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

Unfortunatley I have had no end of problems with it from day 1. Processor, memory, drives and case are new. I have done a lot of searches online and noticed that a lot of other people using the same board get the same problems. Have tried everything including BIOS flash, clear CMOS , memory, PSU and even processor so I am convinced this is a board problem. Lots of people on the ASUS forum discuss this. A brief description follows:

When powering on the system it takes at least 4 or 5 attempts for the system to succesfully boot into the O/S. I get a variety of different issues each time it fails. These are:

1 - System powers on, but no video output occurs, no error beeps and it needs to be powered off via the mains switch

2 - System powers on, Video output is fine, but hangs halfway through BIOS post - system needs to be switched off via mains switch

3 - System powers on, video output is ok , POST fails with corrupt or missing CMOS settings. It asks me to press F1 , or F2 to reset settings. I do this but it can happen again the next time i power it on.

4 - System powers on, video is ok , POST fails with "Overclock failed" error message - note , I have not overclocked the system.

5 - Systems POSTS ok but blue screens on loading windows

I have updated the Bios to the latest version (0603) , and also cleared the CMOS as per the instructions manual. I have tried all other components excpet the processor in another machine and all appear to be fine. I have seen a number of other posts similar to this with people who have bought the P5K so am hoping you can help!

By the way - After the initial 4 or 5 failures the system will eventually boot into Windows and everything runs fine but it will happen again after I have powered it off and back on.



Anyway I sent the board back to SCAN under RMA and was informed that no fault was found after extensive testing. They would not swap the board and wanted to return at my cost. After much haggling they eventually agreed to give me a full refund minus the shipping cost.

Obviously I do not want to get a P5k replacement as I know there is a fundemental problem with the board. Can anyone suggest what the best alternative to ASUS might be? I am looking to spend anything upto £75-85.

Cheers

[Salazaar]

I can't really help you with an alternative motherboard but I would like to know what PSU you were using?

[BUFF]

abit IP35-E/Gigabyte P35-S3 if you don't need Firewire
abit IP35 if you need Firewire & Intel RAID.
Gigabyte GA P35-DS3P adds a 2nd x16 (physical, x4 electrical) slot

[daveasp]

I have a Atrix 9001C4 Black Gaming case 520W mesh side window 12cm neon fan Prescott ready Firewire USB2.0 LCD. Have tried swapping out the PSU too but with no change.

[Salazaar]

What brand was the other PSU you tried? I'm wondering whether you might have PSU issues... It may just have been a duff mobo but Asus are generally top quality. On the other hand a lower quality PSU could cause you no end of problems.

[Choo Choo]

Did you really need to post the exact same post here too?

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=121265

Anyway, it looks like the PSU that you were using initially came with the case, and those are almost always rubbish. As Salazaar asked, what was the brand of the other PSU?

In fact what are the components of your computer?

[finlay666]

I Use the DFI Blood Iron P35 from Ebuyer now, really nice working board, only downside is the compatibility with the HSF for the CPU due to the size of the chipset heatsink and removing it voids the warranty apparently

[daveasp]

Sorry Choo, didnt really know where the best place to post it was.

My current Spec is:


E4400 C2D 2.0Ghz
4GB GeIL DDR2 ULTRA PC6400 DDR2 800MHz (4x1GB)
8800 GTS OC2
4 x 250GB SATA2

[Choo Choo]

I hope you weren't trying to power those components with a PSU that came with a case!

You still haven't answered the question of what was the other PSU you tried.

It could be that the motherboard was fine, and it was the PSU that was letting you down. It wouldn't matter what motherboard you got as a replacement if the PSU can't power it.

[Agent]

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=87969
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=110884

Thanks

[twicksisted]

yeah man... that PSU that came with that case will probably not even power up that graphics card...
Nvidia top end cards use less power than the ATI top end, but they still need a lot of amps to work. if you can boot up but the screen is in standby mode then im almost certain its your PSU.

I speak from experience with exactely the same issue.

[RichieLee]

interesting thread guys. I'm currently speccing up a £1k rig which includes everything i.e monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc and I was going to get an Asus P5K motherboard but after hearing all this I've decided to re evaluate my shopping list.

I'm very new to all this pc building malark so I could do with a good reccommendation. I'll be running it with the following..

8800GTS 320mb graphics card not specified which one yet but would like to go for the BFG OC or OC2

OCZ platinum RAM 2gbkit

dual core E6750 CPU

corsair 620w PSU

Samsung dvd drive

Samsung 320gb hard drive

that's basically it atm, anything you could help with would be appreciated.

Oh yeh I'll be using windows XP btw not vista.

Regards,

Richie

[staffsMike]

RichieLee change your PSU to the 520w and save the £30ish quid you don't need the 620w.

get the OC not OC2 it's just hotter and you can overclock it yourself if you must.

what motherboard?

[chis]

If firewire is important to you, consider the Abit IP35. Its firewire chipset is by Texas Instruments, which - trust me - is what you want.

[daveasp]

Just like to thank everyone for there assistance on this. I went with the Abit IP35 board. Works a dream. Also got a new PSU so upto 600w rather than 520w.
Now running perfect.

Cheers

[Blitzen]

Which PSU did you end up with out of curiosity