5-7% may not seem huge, but consider that if you bought a 3GHz processor and added 7% that it's now running at 3.2GHz.
With the 3GHz priced at $417 and the 3.2GHz priced at $637, you are essentially saving $220 with this change, not to mention the $100 savings over the 875 board.
A lot of posters have stated that users could add PAT technology on their own as simply as they would overclock a chip. Unfortunately, this isn't quite true. The hack that Asus originally developed, and which other MotherB manufacturers are starting to copy is rather complex. ASUS realized that when the MotherB was functioning at a reduced FSB speed (e.g. not 800MHz), the PAT technology was working, however due to the reduced bus speed, the performance was lacking. So, what they had to do was first to force the MotherB into a reduced bus speed, which then turned on PAT, and then to make the MotherB actually function at 800Mhz, while still thinking it was running at a reduced FSB bus speed. This involved a number of hacks to the BIOS.
The good news it that the motherboard manufacturers aren't forcing this change onto users. Rather, an option is in BIOS so the user can choose whether or not to take the risk of adding PAT to a system that may not be designed to handle it (depending on whether the PAT was originally just turned off or the motherb was speed-binned due to failing the PAT test for the 875).
Slashdot Mirror
5-7% may not seem huge, but consider that if you bought a 3GHz processor and added 7% that it's now running at 3.2GHz.
With the 3GHz priced at $417 and the 3.2GHz priced at $637, you are essentially saving $220 with this change, not to mention the $100 savings over the 875 board.
A lot of posters have stated that users could add PAT technology on their own as simply as they would overclock a chip. Unfortunately, this isn't quite true. The hack that Asus originally developed, and which other MotherB manufacturers are starting to copy is rather complex. ASUS realized that when the MotherB was functioning at a reduced FSB speed (e.g. not 800MHz), the PAT technology was working, however due to the reduced bus speed, the performance was lacking. So, what they had to do was first to force the MotherB into a reduced bus speed, which then turned on PAT, and then to make the MotherB actually function at 800Mhz, while still thinking it was running at a reduced FSB bus speed. This involved a number of hacks to the BIOS.
The good news it that the motherboard manufacturers aren't forcing this change onto users. Rather, an option is in BIOS so the user can choose whether or not to take the risk of adding PAT to a system that may not be designed to handle it (depending on whether the PAT was originally just turned off or the motherb was speed-binned due to failing the PAT test for the 875).