X-bit labs

Asus P5E Mainboard Review (page 12)

Category: Mainboards

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 11/18/2007 | 10:55 AM ]

Conclusion

All in all, Asus P5E proved a very good product. Being closely related to top Asus product aka Maximus Formula turned out an advantage for P5E. The mainboard inherited a lot of good features from its elder sister. Namely, the smart PCB design and high-quality integrated sound solution. As a result, Asus P5E can be characterized as a relatively inexpensive, high-performance, reliable platform. It also performs well during overclocking. It hits high FSB frequencies without much effort and runs stably with overclocker memory, which allows easy processors overclocking to the maximum of their potential without any problems.

At the same time, you should remember that P5E is still an inexpensive product on Intel X38 chipset. It certainly has its effect on the solution. As a result, some of its features have been significantly limited. For example, the biggest disappointment for most users is the absence of eSATA interface support.

The price tag of Asus P5E also leaves us a little upset. Since Intel X38 is pretty pricy, this mainboard with pretty basic features overall falls into the same high-price category with the top Intel P35 based mainboards. The side by side comparison reveals that the new Asus solution is not as attractive from many standpoints. Its only indisputable advantage is the support of PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus and Crossfire (PCI Express x16 + PCI Express x16) technology. However, these features are not essential at this time.

Therefore, our final verdict about the new Asus P5E mainboard will be pretty reserved. Yes, the board is very nice, but in most cases it would be much more reasonable to got for an Intel P35 based solution priced identically.

Highs:

• Compatibility with future Penryn processors
• High performance;
• Good options for successful processor and memory overclocking;
• Options for memory controller fine tuning;
• Supports PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus with double the bandwidth;
• Supports Crossfire as x16 + x16.

Lows:

• Problems with massive CPU coolers installation;
• Lowering of CPU Vcore and significant Vcore drop under high workload;
• No eSATA interface support.