ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi (Intel P35)

ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi
Chipset	Intel P35
CPU	LGA775 Pentium 4 FSB 1066/800/533 MHz Celeron Prescott FSB 533 MHz Dual-Core Pentium4 Yorkfield, Wolfdale FSB 1333/1066/800 MHz Quad-Core Kentsfield, Dual-Core Conroe/Allendale HyperThreading
Memory	DDR2 533/667/800/889/1066
HDD	1x UltraDMA/133 8x SerialATA(2xRAID)
Additional	2 IEEE-1394a Audio Intel HDA 10 USB 2.0 2x Gigabit Ethernet WiFi-g
Price:	$266-280 (Price.ru)

ASUS has provided a powerful support for the release of Intel P35 chipset and presented a wide assortment including as many as 11 models to the public! Among the models there is ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi which is aimed at mid-end and upper mid-end systems and offer wide expansion options on board. In particular, the board uses two PCI Express x16 slots, there is support for the Wi-Fi module, an additional SerialATA/ParallelATA RAID controller, two Gigabit LAN controllers, and support for the Firewire. Besides, board uses an efficient passive system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module.

ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi Specifications

Package

The box with the ASUS P5K motherboard is inside a dust-cover:

One page tips up, and the user can get a brief idea of all ASUS' proprietary technologies.

Package bundle

• Motherboard;
• User's Manual in English;
• User's guide on ASUS WiFi Solo;
• 1x software, drivers & third-party software DVD;
• One ATA-133 cable, one FDD cable;
• 4x SerialATA cables + a power supply adapter (2 connectors);
• A plate for 2 additional USB 2.0 ports and a Firewire port;
• Wi-Fi aerial;
• 1x ASUS corporate logo sticker;
• Kit of additional connectors;
• A cap to the rear panel of the case.

Despite the high retail price and status of the motherboard, the number of standard components is not enough to implement all the features. In particular, the package bundle includes merely 4 SerialATA cables (of 8 required), the only power adapter with two connectors (6 more, including two external, are required).

Also missing is one more plate for a couple of USB 2.0 ports; the bundle includes only one plate for two USB and one Firewire ports. On the other hand, there is a special additional connector (Quick Connection Kit) to which all the cables from the housing can be plugged in (the "Power", "Reset" buttons, a cable from the "HDD" indicator, etc.), and then plug them in to the board with a single motion.

We should note that the Wi-Fi module is installed right on the board and has a special connector to plug in an aerial (the connector is brought over to the rear panel). The aerial itself is there in package bundle.

There was nothing to complain about in the user's manual, both in the brochure on Wi-Fi installation and setup. The bundled DVD contains a complete kit of all the required drivers and ASUS' proprietary utilities (including the drivers for 32- and 64-bit Windows versions, drivers for Linux and MS Vista).

Besides, the disk contains Norton Internet Security 2006 (including a version for Vista - 2007.1), InterVideo WinDVD 8 Trial, DVDCopy5, MediaOne Gallery, Ulead PhotoImpact, CyberLink PowerBackup 2, Corel Snapfire Plus.

Next

ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi Layout and Features

The PCB design has only one thing to complain about: blocking of DIMM slots by a PCI Express video card.

There won't be other issues during assembly, in particular, the power connectors are installed over the board's edges: 24-pin - on the bottom edge, with a 8-pin on the right-hand. We note that the board has retained a backward compatibility to the "old" PSUs and allows using them with 20+4 cables. At the same time, the unused pins of the additional connector are closed with a plastic lid:

Near the processor socket, there is a 4-pin CPU_FAN connector for a respective cooler.

Besides it, there are four more 3-pin connectors: CHA_FAN1 - near the rear panel, with CHA_FAN2 to CHA_FAN4 on the bottom edge of the board.

On the north bridge, there is only a passive radiator connected to the radiator on power supply module with two heat pipes. Also, using the heat pipe the heat from the south bridge is transferred to the north bridge. Note that one of the radiators on the power supply module allows for installation of a turbine fan which is missing in the bundle, unfortunately.

Under the north bridge, there are four 240-pin DIMM slots for DDR2 memory modules. They are partitioned into two groups with two slots in each. The first two slots refer to the first controller channel, with the other two to the second controller.

The board offers support for DDR2-533/667/800/889/1066, and the maximum memory capacity makes 8GB. Once voltage is applied to the board, a large green LED in the bottom-left corner of the board lights up.

There are two PCI Express x16 slots onboard (both with latches) which are meant for video cards.

Because of the inner limitations of P35 chipset, merely 2 or 4 PCI Express bus lanes are allocated to the second PCI Express x16 slot.

Besides the above listed slots, ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi uses three more "regular" PCI slots as well as two PCI

Expansion options

On ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi, there is the ICH9R south bridge with a radiator. Therefore, the board supports 6 SerialATA II ports and allows merging disks into RAID arrays of levels 0,1,5, and 10.

Besides, two extra SerialATA II devices can be plugged in to the JMB363 controller by JMicron (the chipset is in the upper left corner of the board).

Both the ports are brought to the rear panel of the board. The same controller provides support for one ParallelATA channel. Therefore, as many as 10 hard disks (8 SATA + 2 PATA) altogether can be plugged in to ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi.

Then, there are only 10 USB 2.0 ports (of twelve USB 2.0 ports supported by ICH9R) on the board. Six ports of them are on the rear panel, with 4 more plugged in with a plate (the board comes bundled with 1 plate for 2 ports). The reduction in the number of USB ports is related to the installation of a Wi-Fi module.

Besides, ASUS P5K supports the IEEE1394 ("Firewire") bus. For that, there is an additional FX3227-100 controller made by Agere.

Therefore, the board offers support for 2 Firewire ports: one mounted on the rear panel, with the other one connected with a plate (available in the package bundle).

ASUS P5K also offers 8-channel integrated Intel High Definition Audio, with AD1988B chip used as the codec.

A few words on the network support: the board uses two high-speed LAN controllers: Marvell 88E8056 (Gigabit Ethernet) connected to the PCI Express (x1) bus,

and RTL8110SC (Gigabit Ethernet) connected to the PCI bus.

The board's rear panel is of a rather nonstandard configuration.

In particular, engineers at ASUS have completely given up support for the LPT port and COM ports (one COM port is implemented with a plate but it is missing in the bundle). Missing is also a PS/2 connector to plug in a mouse. On the other hand, USB 2.0 ports are in abundance; there are two SerialATA II and one Firewire, as well as an optical and coaxial SP-DIF output.

Traditionally, a jumpers layout diagram:

There is the only connector on ASUS P5K: CLRTC - one to clear the CMOS settings (near the battery).

Now on to the BIOS settings.

BIOS

The BIOS of ASUS P5K is based on the AMI BIOS version, and its capacity is 16 Mbit (!), although the firmware itself is 8 Mbit.

All the memory settings are gathered in the overclocking tools section:

There is also a parameter that affects the performance - setting the memory operating frequency.

The choice of available frequencies is in direct dependence of the selected Strap:

In our view, selection of memory frequencies on ASUS motherboards of the previous generation has been made more convenient: the user was offered all whatever settings as a list.

There is one more parameter that affects the memory subsystem performance - "Command Rate":

In fact, the current BIOS version imposes certain limitations upon its use. In particular, in the synchronous mode the overclocked system does not run stably (in other words, the overclocking capability degrades).

Now move on to the section to do with the system monitoring.

The board displays the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, rotational speeds of the four (of five) fans, as well as the voltage levels. Besides, the coolers plugged in to CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN1-3 can vary the rotational speeds depending on the temperature of the CPU and the system. For the processor cooler, there is a separate kit of Q-FAN 2 settings, and for the coolers plugged in to CHA_FAN1 - CHA_FAN3 there is one kit of common settings.

The monitoring parameters can be tracked with either AI Suite (for the basic set of parameters) or with PC Probe II (extended set).

The BIOS version can be updated in a number of ways. First, make use of the AFUDOS (DOS) and ASUS Update (Windows) utilities, and in the latter case the POST image can be recorded into the BIOS (for that, there is the MyLogo 3 feature). Secondly, the user can resort to the EZ Flash 2 utility integrated into the BIOS. The file with a new firmware can be located not only on a regular 3" floppy but also on a hard disk or a USB flash drive.

Finally, the board offers support for the CrashFree BIOS 3 (restoring the damaged BIOS firmware with a CD or a flash disk).

During the tests, we found a couple of flaws in the software. In particular, EZ Flash 2 did not display the list of accessible disks. We found other flaws in the ASUS Update, - namely, in the My Logo feature.

Traditionally for motherboards made by ASUS, the BIOS supports display of the settings in multiple languages (Multilanguages BIOS).

The BIOS also gives access to tuning all the features of modern processors:

In conclusion, we note the OC Profile technology which allows saving all the BIOS settings into memory and loading them on demand. ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi supports two independent profiles:

Overclocking and stability

Prior to moving to overclocking, let's look into the power converter. It uses a 8-phase(!) power scheme, in which there is one 271 mkF and eleven 561 mkF capacitors.

Now on to the overclocking features.

First off, ASUS P5K allows adjusting the system bus speed within 200 to 800 MHz in 1 MHz increments.

Of convenience is that you can enter the desired FSB value from the keyboard.

Secondly, a features for adjusting the multiplier, which was always there on previous ASUS motherboards in the parameters section, has been added.

Thirdly, ASUS P5K allows adjusting the Vcore voltage within very wide ranges: within 1.1 V to 1.7 V in 0.0125 V increments.

Besides, the user get the features adjusting the "CPU Voltage Reference" and "CPU PLL Voltage".

as well as the "CPU Voltage Damper".

The advanced user can raise the Vmem from the nominal 1.8V to 2.55V (in 0.05V increments).

Besides, we get a useful feature for raising the chipset voltage on both the north bridge (from 1.25 V to 1.7V in 0.15V increments),

and on the south bridge.

The available values are 1.057 V and 1.215 V. Besides, it is possible to raise voltage on the FSB within 1.2 V to 1.5 V in 0.1 V increments:

There is another parameter that allows adjusting the supply voltage of the north bridge. This is the "North Bridge Voltage Reference":

It is also possible to adjust the PCI Express bus speed within 100 MHz to 150 MHz.

Now let's try the overclocking features in practice. To start with, ASUS P5K showed fantastic results: a stable operation at FSB=516 MHz with a Conroe processor.

Apart from the listed parameters, the BIOS offers two undocumented features like "Transaction Booster":

and "Clock Over-Charging Mode":

The maximum what we were able to find out: the "Transaction Booster" changes some secondary latency timings.

A few words on the NOS (Non-Delay Overclocking System) mode in which overclocking is done on-demand. Simply put, the raise of FSB speed occurs at the time a resource-hungry application (e.g., a game) starts up. On closing the application, the system reverts to the rated frequency.

The selection of overclocking extent is adjustable with the "Turbo NOS" feature:

It allows overclocking the system with AI Suite which includes tools for overclocking, monitoring, AI Gear, and AI Nap:

Performance

When determining the starting FSB speed, it turned out that the board overstated it by as much as 1.3 MHz.

In our test setup, we used the following hardware:

Let's first take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks.

Now on to the gaming benchmarks.

Final Words

ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi is the most recent analog of ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi but based on the Intel P35 chipset. In fact, the board is of overstated price because of the chipset's novelty. However, once the prices break even, the board P5K Deluxe WiFi will take the place of its predecessor. Actually, the most impatient may purchase the product right now and leverage the powerful expansion options: two PCI Express x16 slots, 8 SerialATA II links (2 - on the rear panel), one ParallelATA link, two Gigabit LAN controllers, support for the Firewire, as well as a Wi-Fi module, and 10 USB 2.0 ports.

Besides, this motherboard stands out with its advanced functionality (CrashFree BIOS 3, EZ Flash 2, OC Profiles, support for the proprietary utilities PC Probe II, AI Booster, and ASUS UpdateMyLogo2), as well as very powerful overclocking tools (the practical result: - a stable FSB speed = 516 MHz).

Among the other pros, we note the passive system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module, and of the cons are the flaws of software (hopefully, they will be fixed in the forthcoming versions). Also, we believe the board's package bundle does not meet the price.

Conclusion

• High stability and performance;
• 8-phase power scheme;
• Two PCI Express x16 slots;
• Support for SerialATA II RAID ( 8 channels; ICH8R + JMB363);
• Support for one P-ATA link (JMB363);
• Integrated 8-channel audio and two LAN (Gigabit Ethernet) controllers;
• Support for USB2.0 (10 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports);
• Support for Wi-Fi;
• A wide selection of ASUS' proprietary technologies (PC Probe II, EZ Flash 2, CrashFree BIOS 3, MyLogo2, Q-Fan 2, etc.);
• Additional set of AI Proactive features (AI Overclock, N.O.S., AI Net 2, etc.);
• Passive system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module.

• Flaws in the software part;
• Overstated price (as of July 2007).

• Excellent results of overclocking the processor and memory;
• On the rear panel, there are two SerialATA II and 6 USB 2.0 ports; no LPT and COM ports, no PS/2 for the mouse.