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The P4P800-E Deluxe boasts the new AC’97 codec from Realtek, the ALC850 chip. This is one of the first solutions to support output to eight speakers.
It’s no wonder then that we have six audio jacks at the mainboard’s back panel as well as optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs.
Fortunately, the novelty of the codec means it supports version 2.3 of the AC’97 specification, i.e. supports Jack Sensing technology for easy connection of speaker systems. As for the quality of the analog part, we used the RightMark Audio Analyzer to check it out:
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: | +0.18, -1.12 | Average |
Noise level, dB (A): | -66.9 | Average |
Dynamic range, dB (A): | 67.0 | Average |
THD, %: | 0.021 | Good |
IMD, %: | 0.125 | Average |
Stereo crosstalk, dB: | -65.5 | Good |
General performance: Average
So, the analog part of the audio section is average, as usual for ASUS mainboards. Probably, the codec itself is also to blame, and the situation may improve with new drivers. Then, we ran the Sound Test of the Futuremark 3DMark03 suite to check out the load the codec puts on the CPU. This benchmark allows comparing the speeds of the Game 1 –Wings of Fury test without sound and with 24 sounds.
No Sounds, fps | 24 Sounds, fps | Performance drop, % | |
ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe / Realtek ALC850 | 73.8 | 62.9 | 14.8 |
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe / ADI AD1985 | 75.9 | 63.5 | 16.3 |
As you see, the new Realtek ALC850 codec puts a smaller load on the processor than the ADI AD1985 chip employed in more expensive mainboards from ASUS.
Summing up this section of the review, I’d say that the functionality of the ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe can satisfy every user. Now let’s see how well the engineers put all the chips and stuff on the PCB.
