All I can say is my P5b Premium Wifi/AP is the best Board I have ever used, and the board I had before last A p5gd1 was the most rock solid board I had ever used.

I emailed Asus, and will post all responses... here is my email, so that anyone can read the results of my enquiry... I plan on beign as transparent as possible

Dear Asus Employee;

I am writting to you because I am A) Tired of filling out that 50 questionar every time I have a problem, and that B) your product has become such a pain in the butt, that It has become useless.

I need you to get in touch with people who may fix my problems... an RMA of a NEW P5B Basic is unacceptable since the board is so basically inadequate, and flawed, and that the Defective issue is that the product design and/or bios is flawed... I have never had such a bad experiance with a Motherboard company.

I need a new motherboard. I am willing to upgrade to the Deluxe for a nominal charge, but I WILL NOT go without a motherboard for a single day. If you need me to pay for the new motherboard upfront and then refund me when you get my POS, I would be more then welcome to do so... This is the most insaine situation I have been apart of... and I will not let my experiances go un-noticed.

I have found no notice on the website of current known flaws with this system. This makes it impossible for me to single out issues... and after RMAing your Mobo, My Videocard, My Hard Drive, and My DVD-RW's I have found out that the same problems exist no matter how many times I replace parts. Like I said, and I will repeat this, I have ALREADY RMAed your MOBO!

Tomshardware has strongly supported Asus Products. There forum members talked a great deal about the P5B Deluxe. I found that I DIDNT need the physical features of the P5B Deluxe, and would rather have just the plain P5B... I was thinking that they would be the same MoBo, just different features... I was wrong...

I am about to go to every known site that deals with hardware and tell everyone my exact experiance... I do beleive that Asus, the company you work for, has the right to correct things and make em right. I am not threatening you, or your company... I am using my powers as a consumer to warn people of all products created by a company that has so completely left the consumer behind.

I am so angry at your company and the problems and time you have taken from me. I bought one of the FIRST commercially available X6800's, and only now do I have a machine that runs for more then a day without crashing. I am not ignorant to creating systems. I help many people on many different websites. I have been building IBM machines since the first 286 came out. I have NEVER had such a bad experiance... you have wasted my time, my money, and many other companies money. Shame on you and your company.

God Bless You, And I hope you (the person's reading this email) are blessed in Life. I wish no harm to anyone, and only like to help. I work on forums to help people with their computer problems. I do not get paid, nor do I want to get paid. I am giving Asus every oportunity to make things right. Please help me, and take care of my problems.

Peace be with you,
Mike

I have included a rewriten version of my problems based on a forum thread that I have writen... You may read my complete report at Toms Hardware Forumz: http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 01614.html

I have created a shorter and more presentable list of all problems associated with my purchase.
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When the new version of the Asus Bios... 509 came out... and I finally had a chance to finish testing it out...

I found out that the 2 Lite-On SATA DVD-Readers that I received, and then had to RMA back to NewEgg cause they didnt work... I have the drives cause NewEgg doesnt ask you to ship back items under $25... Upgraded to 509... and then a week later thought... maybe I should try this drive again... YEP IT WORKS... Well that was Asus 309 Bios's fault...

I found out that the x6800 has an unlocked multiplier now... All the way up to a wopping 13x... (15 for the Deluxe). I am VERY upset at this difference.

I found out that the Memory voltage is still maxed at 2.1v... Making me undervolt my corsair 8500c5... Which is still (maybe) reliable at 1066 (though it requires 2.2). In addition the default settings for the corsair memory are incorrect.

I found out that if I change the FSB +/- 1 at any memory multiplier, the machine will almost immediately fail the prime95 stress test...

I found out that the only change I CAN make is to change the multiplier from 11 to 12 and ONLY if I set everything manually ... Though I can run it at 3.5volts and Prime for over 1 hour, and I dont need to increase the FSB voltage anymore then I think 1.3, which I assume is default... and If not I could try 1.2!


Asus has left the p5b Basic in the dust... and it SUCKS! How can a company produce a range of MoBos then leave one of the mobo's so unstable that it barely runs the current technologies...

If it didnt advertise itself as a overclocking motherboard, and as a motherboard that supports the x6800, then things would be different... But the Asus P5B basic is not reliable for normal usage or overclocking .



No $160 Mobo should have so many problems... If only Asus could feel a portion of my anger, they would quickly change their product support...

Yesterday the machine crashed when I plugged into a USB device. The Logitech Momo Steering Wheel is self powered through a power supply of its own. The drivers I am using, and the Momo Wheel have been used for months in another machine without a single failure...

This leads us to a defective product/bios that results due to certain USB support on P5B...

I know that the Asus P5B has other defects... and I havent seen a single acknowledgement of any defects. This makes it impossible for individuals like me to sort out problems, and ultimately leads me to RMA perfectly functional products. Which has happened, over and over again.

I expect Asus might get the DAMN hint and decide that if they screw people, that they will turn around and screw them back... I am on a personal crusade to lower overall sales on ALL Asus products... and will continue this crusade until the DAY I die, or until Asus does something to solve my problems.

I love how on the side of my Motherboard box, it says "Speed on Demand" or some bullshit... Pisses me off...

Wow, new version of the Asus Bios... 509 came out... and I finally had a chance to finish testing it out...

I found out that the 2 Lite-On SATA DVD-Readers that I received, and then had to RMA back to NewEgg cause they didnt work... I have the drives cause NewEgg doesnt ask you to ship back items under $25... Upgraded to 509... and then a week later thought... maybe I should try this drive again... YEP IT WORKS... Well that was Asus 309 Bios's fault...

I found out that the x6800 has an unlocked multiplier now... All the way up to a wopping 13x... (15 for the Deluxe)

I found out that the Memory voltage is still maxed at 2.1v... Making me undervolt my corsair 8500c5... Which is still reliable

I found out that if I change the FSB +/- 1 at any memory multiplier, the machine will almost immediately fail the prime95 stress test...

I found out that the only change I CAN make is to change the multiplier from 11 to 12, if I set everything manually and make the changes Wusy suggests... Though I can run it at 3.5volts and Prime for over 1 hour, and I dont need to increase the FSB voltage anymore then I think 1.3, which I assume is default... and If not I could try 1.2

I love how on the side of my Motherboard box, it says "Speed on Demand" or some bullshit... Pisses me off... Asus is a bunch of F@(K@^S!

I just DONT have any money to buy a new MoBo... I spent my limit...

Asus SUCKS...
Mike

All I can say is my P5b Premium Wifi/AP is the best Board I have ever used, and the board I had before last A p5gd1 was the most rock solid board I had ever used.