Roundup tests of motherboards aimed at Intel Core 2 Duo processors
ASUS Commando
On the moment of initial tests, this motherboard left some dubious impressions. On the one hand, we had no claims to the technical part: engineers at ASUS have created a very good motherboard based on P965. On the other hand, positioning of this motherboard seemed somehow strange to us: it falls within the "Republic of Gamers" series which is aimed solely at overclockers and computer enthusiasts. But the number of bonus items is too small, unfortunately. On the board there is an amusing highlight, three buttons, a LED screen, and that is all to boast. In the end, it loses to ASUS P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi at a number of parameters: there are fewer SerialATA links, no support for Wi-Fi, with no SoundMAX microphone in the box. At the same time, the Commando board costs about $40 as expensive. In any case, we already talked about that in a detailed review of this motherboard, but now we concentrate on only the technical aspects.
First, the motherboard uses a massive cooling system based on heat pipes:
It offers support for two high-speed LAN controllers, has an additional Serial ATA II/Parallel ATA RAID controller JMB363 (only one Parallel ATA link is implemented), two Firewire ports, 10 USB 2.0 ports, and 8-channel integrated audio.
The board also uses two PCI Express x16, four PCI, and one PCI Express x1 slots.
The trait of the rear panel is in the complete lack of LPT and COM ports. Instead of them, there is a diagnostic LCD screen, optical and coaxial SP-DIF outputs, as well as a Firewire port.
The board demonstrated a perfect compatibility to various memory modules and quite a wide selection of available memory latency timings.
The system monitoring settings are superb:
The board displays the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, rotational speeds of all the eight fans, as well as voltage levels. The board also determines three temperatures from additional thermal sensors (unfortunately, missing in the package bundle). Depending on their readings, the board is able controlling the rotational speed of the fans plugged in to the OPT_FAN1-3 connectors.
Implemented is also the OC Profile technology which allows saving all the BIOS settings into memory and loading them on demand. ASUS Commando supports two independent profiles:
Nor there are any claims to the overclocking tools.
In particular, the board allows adjusting the FSB speed within 100 to 650 MHz, raising the CPU voltage to 1.85 V , on the memory - to 3.375 V, as well as raising voltage on the north bridge to 2.025 V, on the south bridge - to 1.215 V, and on the FSB - to 1.55 V. In real overclocking, the motherboard showed the best results - a stable operation at FSB=520 MHz.
Interim conclusion: although ASUS Commando costs more, it loses to its brethren at some specifications, but it offers a very important advantage - the overclocking tools are the most powerful among ASUS motherboards based on the P965 chipsets.
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- 8-phase power scheme;
- Two PCI Express x16 slots;
- Support for SerialATA II/RAID ( 6 lines; ICH8R);
- 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);
- Superb package bundle (including a SoundMAX microphone, additional fan);
- 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/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 are no LPT and COM ports.
ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition
If you need the most "wired" motherboard and if you are not planning to use the SLI, then look at ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition.
One of the major advantages of this product is the package bundle which includes:
- Motherboard;
- User's Manual in English + Quick Setup Manual;
- Software & drivers DVD;
- One ATA-133 cable, one FDD cable;
- Six SerialATA cables + three power adapters (six connectors);
- 1x cap for the rear panel of the housing;
- 1x plate for an additional Firewire port;
- A plate for 2 additional USB 2.0 ports;
- Additional fan;
- SoundMAX microphone;
- Kit of additional Q-Connectors;
- USB-receiver AI Remote + a remote control;
- ASUS ScreenDUO + connection cable;
- CD with ScreenDUO software + user's manual;
- 1x ASUS corporate logo sticker.
We spent a lot of time exploring additional devices, and on the whole we liked them (see the review New technologies in ASUS motherboards).
So, as in the case with Commando, we concentrate on the technical aspects only. First, we should note that in developing the motherboard there was used the PCB design of P5B Deluxe, which in many ways determined the similarity of specifications.
In particular, it offers support for two high-speed LAN controllers onboard, has an additional Serial ATA II/Parallel ATA RAID controller JMB363, two Firewire ports, 8 USB 2.0 ports, and 8-channel integrated audio.
Like on P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi, this motherboard supports only 8 USB 2.0 ports (whereas the south bridge ICH8R supports 10 ports). But on the Deluxe Wi-Fi version two ports have been sacrificed for the sake of installation of a Wi-Fi module, and on the Premium version - for installation of a flash memory module (ASAP technology).
The board also uses two PCI Express x16, three PCI, and one PCI Express x1 slots.
The trait of the rear panel is in the optical and coaxial SP-DIF outputs, one COM port, as well as a Firewire and SerialATA ports.
The board demonstrated a perfect compatibility to various memory modules and quite a wide selection of available memory latency timings.
The system monitoring settings are superb:
The board displays the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, rotational speeds of all the eight fans, as well as voltage levels.
Both the motherboards display the current temperatures of the CPU and the system, and both offer the feature for adjusting the rotational speed of the CPU cooler depending on the CPU temperature. At other parameters, the ASUS boards takes a lead. The motherboard also monitors the rotational speed of 5 fans and is able dynamically adjusting the speed of three additional fans (using the Q-Fan 2 feature).
Besides, the board offers the OC Profile technology which allows saving all the BIOS settings into memory and loading them on demand (supports 2 profiles).
The overclocking tools have been implemented at a high level.
In particular, the board allows adjusting the FSB speed within 100 to 650 MHz, raising the CPU voltage to 1.7 V , on the memory - to 2.45 V, as well as raising voltage on the north bridge to 1.65 V, on the south bridge - to 1.8 V, and on the FSB - to 1.45 V. In real overclocking, the motherboard showed quite decent results (with the latest BIOS version) - a stable operation at FSB=500 MHz.
Interim conclusion: due to the rich package bundle, this board will certainly appeal to many PC enthusiasts.
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- 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 (8 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports);
- Support for the ASAP technology;
- Rich package bundle (includes SoundMAX, ScreenDUO, AI Remote, an additional fan);
- 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/active system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Good results of overclocking the processor and memory.
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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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