Roundup tests of motherboards aimed at Intel Core 2 Duo processors
ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe
The management of ASUS have proved far-sighted and concentrated substantial resources for the development of a series of motherboards based on the chipset i975X. Some models built on this chipset are aimed at professional workstations, and some of them - at home users. P5W-DH Deluxe is aimed just at the home users. In particular, it uses a system for PC remote control, which makes the ease of using the PC closer to the ease of controlling the household appliances. Besides, we should note the powerful expansion options which include a WiFi module. We should also mention the rich package bundle and quite interesting proprietary technologies (like Music Alarm, CrashFree BIOS 3, etc.).
We start with listing the expansion options at which ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe is among the leaders: two Gigabit LAN controllers, two Firewire ports, a WiFi module, and two Serial ATA/RAID controllers.
The remaining parameters are close to standard: 8 USB2.0 ports, 8-channel audio, two PCI Express x16 slots, two PCI Express x1, and three PCI slots.
Note that support for two PCI Express x16 slots allows using AMD/ATI Crossfire, and additional RAID controllers allow plugging in up to 11 hard disks (9 over SATA II and 2 over PATA). Besides, the WiFi module allows setting up a home-based network:
The board is specific in that it lacks LPT and one of COM ports on the rear panel. Besides, on the panel there is one SATA and a Firewire ports (as a single block).
At the functional specifications, the board also has no bottlenecks either. In particular, the board can boast excellent compatibility to memory modules (although the list of accessible latency timings is not vast). However, it should be noted that some users have come up against the problem of starting up the system in the synchronous mode.
The system monitoring is powerful enough: the board displays the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, rotational speeds of all the five fans, as well as voltage levels. Besides, all the coolers are able adjusting the rotational speed depending on the CPU and system temperatures. For the CPU cooler there is a separate pack of settings for Q-FAN 2, and for coolers connected to PWR_FAN1, PWR_FAN2, CHA_FAN1 and CHA_FAN2 there are two common packs of settings.
The overclocking tools have no shortcomings at all:
ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe allows adjusting the FSB within 200 to 450 MHz, raising voltage on the CPU to 1.7 V, on the memory - to 2.4 V, on the north bridge - to 1.65 V and on the south bridge - to 1.2 V. It should be noted here that there is a new revision of the board which allows raising voltage on the north bridge to 1.85 V. No doubt, for a serious overclocking it is just this revision which is more preferable, but with our motherboard (of the older revision) we were able to attain a stable operation at the maximum possible FSB=450 MHz!
Also, in view of the increased load (in the overclocking mode) upon the power supply module and the north bridge, the engineers at ASUS have implemented a rather powerful cooling system which allows for installation of an additional fan:
The price of the motherboard is rather high ($260-270), but the great number of the board's advantages let us safely recommend it for buying. There is one point, though: for a serious overclocking, you would have to look for a motherboard of new revision.
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- 8-phase power scheme;
- Support for SerialATA II/RAID (7 links; ICH7R + Sil4723 + JMB363);
- Support for 2 P-ATA channels (ICH7R + JMB363);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and two LAN (Gigabit Ethernet) controllers;
- Support for USB2.0 (8 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports);
- Support for Wi-Fi;
- Technology for system remote control - ASUS DH Remote;
- Support for the ATI Crossfire;
- Superb package bundle (including a remote control, additional fan, a MP3-In bracket);
- A wide selection of ASUS' proprietary technologies (PC Probe II, MusicAlarm, EZ Flash 2, EZ Backup, CrashFree BIOS 3, MyLogo2, Q-Fan 2, etc.);
- Additional set of AI Proactive features (AI Overclock, N.O.S., AI Net 2, etc.);
- Passive/active system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Excellent results of overclocking the processor and memory;
- On the rear panel, there is a SerialATA II port; missing are LPT port and one COM port.
ASUS P5W64-WS Pro
While P5W-DH Deluxe is one of the best motherboards for home-based users, the model ASUS P5W64-WS Pro is aimed at professionals. The board is also based on the i975X chipset, and its major feature is four PCI Express x16 slots. Installation of four video cards to the system allows plugging in up to 8 monitors, and PC enthusiasts can make use of the CrossFire technology, the ATI Physics technology (accelerator of physics computations), as well as one more video card for two additional monitors.
Let's list the expansion options: two Gigabit LAN controllers, two Firewire ports, an additional 4-channel Serial ATAII/RAID controller, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 8-channel audio, four PCI Express x16, and two PCI slots.
Coming back to the PCI Express slots, we note that the first and third slots are served by the i975X chipset, and in the Crossfire mode 8 PCI Express bus lines are allocated per each. Support for the second and fourth slots is provided by the additional IDT89HA0324 chip (PCI-Express hub). This chip is fitted between the north and south bridges of the chipset and is closed by a copper radiator with the "Quartet: logo.
The design of the rear panel is more or less traditional, except the missing COM ports (only one is supported - via a bracket).
ASUS P5W64-WS Pro uses a great number of proprietary functions and technologies, such as Q-Fan 2, MyLogo 2, EZ-Flash, CrashFree BIOS 3, MultiLanguages BIOS, C.P.R, AI Net, and AI Audio. We have already covered them in detail - it makes sense dwelling only on the CrashFree BIOS 3. The third version of the feature allows restoring the damaged BIOS not only from a diskette and a CD, but also from a flash disk.
Besides, we note the OC Profile technology which allows saving all the BIOS settings into memory and loading them on demand. ASUS P5W64-WS Pro supports two independent profiles:
As for the board's BIOS, it is based on the AMI BIOS version.
The selection of memory settings is a bit wider than that for the P5W-DH Deluxe. But the system monitoring section is a bit weaker:
The board displays the current CPU temperatures (which are evidently overstated) and that of the system, rotational speeds of all the four fans, as well as voltage levels. Besides, the coolers plugged in to CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN1 can vary the rotational speeds depending on the CPU temperature with the Q-Fan 2 feature.
The powerful overclocking tools will certainly appeal to overclockers:
The board allows adjusting the FSB speed within 200 to 550 MHz, raising voltage on the CPU to 1.7 V, on the memory - to 2.4 V, on the north bridge - to 1.8 V, on the south bridge - to 1.2 V, and on the FSB bus - to 1.5 V. Through practical overclocking we were able to attain stable operation at FSB = 470 MHz.
Let me bring in a photo of noiseless system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module:
Heat from the chipset is sent to the main radiator (on the power supply module) using a heat pipe. Note that the system is noiseless only because an additional fan is missing in the package bundle.
Therefore, ASUS P5W64-WS Pro is mainly aimed at professionals and users having 4 video cards in their systems. The overall set of expansion options, proprietary technologies and overclocking tools allows using it also for regular computers. But anyway this motherboard is a niche product, so the price >=$300 is quite adequate.
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- 8-phase power scheme ;
- 4 slots of the PCI Express x16;
- Support for SerialATA II /RAID ( 8 links; ICH7R + JMB361);
- Support for 1 P-ATA channel (ICH7R);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and two LAN (Gigabit Ethernet) controllers;
- Support for USB2.0 (8 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports);
- Support for the ATI Crossfire;
- A wide selection of ASUS' proprietary technologies (PC Probe II, EZ Flash 2, EZ Backup, CrashFree BIOS 3, MyLogo2, Q-Fan 2, etc.);
- Additional set of AI Proactive features AI Proactive (AI Overclock, N.O.S., AI Net 2, OC Profile, etc.);
- Passive system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Excellent results of overclocking the processor and memory;
- SerialATA II port on the rear panel.
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Content: |
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Page 1 - Chipsets
Page 2 - Roundup table of motherboards
Page 3 - abit AW9D-MAX, abit AB9 Pro
Page 4 - ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe, ASUS P5W64-WS Pro
Page 5 - ASUS Commando, ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition
Page - ASUS P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi, ASUS P5B-E
Page 7 - P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe, Striker, P5N32-E SLI, and P5N32-E SLI PLUS
Page 8 - ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium, ASUS P5N-E SLI
Page 9 - Gigabyte 965P-DQ6, Gigabyte 965P-DS4
Page 10 - Gigabyte 965P-DS3, Gigabyte 965G-DS3
Page 11 - Foxconn 975X7AB, Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H
Page 12 - MSI P6N SLI Platinum, MSI P965 Platinum
Page 13 - MSI P965 Neo, MSI P965 Neo2
Page 14 - Intel D975XBX2 (i975X), Intel DG965RYCK
Page 15 - ECS NF650SLIT-A, ECS nForce 570 SLIT-A
Page 16 - ECS PN2 SLI2+, ECS P965T-A
Page 17 - Performance, conclusions
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