Asus Mainboard Family on Intel P35 Express Chipset

Although Intel P35 chipset was announced just recently, Asus managed to roll out the entire family of mainboards based on it. This is another piece of evidence proving how important this chipset actually is for the market. Let’s take a closer look at the entire Asus mainboard series built around Intel P35 Express chipset and single out the distinguishing features of different models.

Asus P5K WS and Asus P5K64 WS are the professional models. The first solution supports “server” PCI-X slots, while the second one is equipped with four PCI Express x16 slots, just like ASUS P5W64 WS Professional that we have reviewed earlier in our article called ASUS P5W64 WS Professional: A Mainboard with Four PCI Express x16 Slots. Of course, both mainboards will find their customers, but they are nevertheless pretty niche products, not the mass ones.

The flagship member of the family is the Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP that we all recognize thanks to the original design of the heat-pipe cooling system.

At first, you may get the impression that this is more of an image product intended for computer shows and for those who used to go for RDRAM systems even though there were much faster and better value alternatives available. Yes, this board is for the users who prefer expensive solutions, but it has another very important advantage: this board is ideal for comparative analysis. And you will compare it with none other but Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP – absolutely identical mainboard with the same features except for memory support: DDR2 instead of DDR3 by P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP.

This mainboard is not for crazy enthusiasts but for pretty sane and reasonable ones. It will deliver everything you may think of if you are ready to pay the price. We are currently working on a detailed review of the Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP and it will be posted on our site shortly.

However, I believe that the most interesting product in the family is Asus P5K-E/WiFi-AP.

Look, it has exactly the same PCB layout as the top mainboards in the family, which means that its performance will also be up to the mark. As for the features, they are mostly the same, but without some excessive things. The absence of the second network adapter that most users do not need anyway is no drawbacks, but will definitely lower the price. From this standpoint, different cooling systems and accessories bundle are an advantage as well. Namely, we don’t lose anything important and still get a flagship product at a very justified price – if this is not an ideal, then it is really close to it.

The next solution, ASUS P5K-C mainboard, stands out. It supports both memory types: DDR2 and DDR3.

As a rule, solutions like that are targeted for economical users who prefer to upgrade their systems component by component and not all at once. In my humble opinion, the benefit of this approach is pretty doubtful, considering how rapidly the situation in the contemporary computer market changes.

If you already have a system with an LGA775 processor and DDR2 memory, then you can replace your mainboard with the new Asus P5K-C, because this way you will be able to upgrade to some new 45nm processor and DDR3 memory later on. But would you really need P5K-C mainboard in this case? What special features does it have other than dual-memory support? In the future, when DDR3 memory sells at affordable prices, there will be more products to choose from already. Besides, the CPUs may shift to new type of socket by then, or there will be a better solution from AMD that you decide on. Anyway, it is totally up to you to decide whether you would like to migrate to P5K-C now or wait for something else later.

If you think that everything is so clear about the Asus mainboard family on Intel P35 Express chipset, try to get to know Asus P5K SE. I get the impression that this mainboard is designed for spies or special bureau agents. There is hardly any info about it anywhere: no picture, no description on Asus website, no user’s manual you could download. All we know about it is the name and the fact that it will feature Realtek ALC883 sound solution. “SE” index gives us to understand that it will hardly boast any remarkable outstanding features. And hopefully this will check out, if we are among the lucky ones who will ever actually see it.

So, Asus offers a broad variety of mainboards for those who would like to build a platform around Intel P35 Express chipset. Different mainboard models are targeted for different market segments and different user groups. Today we are going to introduce to you a board with a simple name of Asus P5K without any indexes, suffixes or prefixes.

This is the simplest model in the family that is why it will likely become the most mass product and will enjoy the biggest demand. Its layout is similar to that of the top models in the family that is why it would be especially interesting to figure out the differences.