ASUS P5E3 and ASUS P5E3 Deluxe - let's say no to unification. Motherboards ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution and MSI P45D3 Platinum Photos and a few words about the motherboard itself
Chipset
Chipset Intel X38 BIOS AMI with disaster recovery capability SLI/Crossfire support CrossFireMemory
Memory DDR2 DIMM, 667 - 1200 MHz Number of memory slots 4 Dual channel support there is Maximum Memory 8 GBDisk controllers
IDE number of slots: 1, UltraDMA 133, RAID: no SATA number of SATA 3Gb/s connectors: 6, RAID: 0, 1, 5, 10Expansion slots
Expansion slots 2xPCI-E x16, 3xPCI-E x1, 2xPCI PCI Express 2.0 support there isAudio Video
Sound 7.1CH, HDA, based on ADI AD1988BNetwork
ethernet 1000 Mbps, based on Marvell88E8056Connection
Availability of interfaces 12 USB, 2xFireWire (IEEE1394a), S/PDIF out, Ethernet, PS/2 (keyboard) Connectors on the rear panel 6 USB, 1xFireWire (IEEE1394a), coaxial out, optical out, Ethernet, PS/2 (keyboard) Main power connector 24-pinExtra options
Form factor ATX 1 bracket for 2x USB2.0/1x EEE1394a ports, UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable, FDD cable, 3 in 1 Q-connector, ASUS Q-shield, SupremeFX II Audio card, 6 SATA cables, power cable to SATA devices Additional Information 2 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector, 1600MHz bus frequency and DDR21200MHz are not documented for this chipsetBefore buying ask about technical specifications and a complete set by the seller
Taking into account the growing interest in gaming platforms built on several video accelerators, we suggest considering the ASUS P5E3 motherboard based on the Intel X38 chipset. If we compare all ASUS models, it turns out that ASUS P5E3 is almost the cheapest solution of this level. But support for "progressive" DDR3 memory implies that the buyer has the funds to purchase it. So, for example, if you are going to create a powerful gaming platform, you can also pay attention to the ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard we reviewed earlier, which works with DDR2 memory. Although the latter looks and is positioned as a more expensive solution, purchasing cheaper DDR2 memory will be able to offset the costs. Well, for those who are trying to keep up with all the trends in the digital world, there is a reason to appreciate the capabilities of ASUS P5E3.
Specification motherboard ASUS P5E3:
|
Manufacturer | |
|
Intel X38/Intel ICH9R |
|
|
Processor socket | |
|
Supported processors |
Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium Extreme / Pentium D / Pentium 4 |
|
System bus, MHz |
1600/ 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz |
|
Used memory |
DDR3 1800* / 1600* / 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz |
|
Memory support |
4 x 240-pin dual-channel DIMMs up to 8 GB |
|
Expansion slots |
2 x PCIe2.0 x16 (both x16) CrossFire support |
|
Disk subsystem |
Southbridge ICH9R supports: Optional Marvell 88SE6111 controller supports: |
|
Sound subsystem |
Realtek ALC 883 8-channel High-Definition Audio codec, coaxial/optical S/PDIF; |
|
Controller Agere L-FW3227 |
|
|
Gigabit Network LAN Controller Marvell88E8056 with AI NET 2 support |
|
|
24-pin ATX power connector |
|
|
Cooling |
Heat pipe system on chipset and MOSFET VRM node |
|
Fan Connectors |
1 x CPU |
|
External I/O ports |
1 x PS/2 keyboard port |
|
Internal I/O ports |
6 x USB |
|
8 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 |
|
|
Overclocking options |
Frequency change: FSB, PCI-Express, memory. |
|
Proprietary technologies |
ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) |
|
Equipment |
Instruction and user manual |
|
Form factor Dimensions, mm |
ATX 12" x 9.6" |
|
Products webpage |
http://www. asus. com/ The new BIOS version and drivers can be downloaded from the official page. |
|
average price |
View in price. ua. |
All prices for ASUS P5E3
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard came to us for testing in a simple package, without its informatively filled outer part.
ASUS P5E3 motherboard package:
- DVD with drivers and software; user manual in English, brief installation instructions, as well as instructions for AI Remote; ASUS Q-Connector adapters (system panel, USB, IEEE1394a); ASUS Q-Shield I/O panel blank; FDD cable, UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable;
- two power adapters for SATA devices; six SATA cables;
- ADDA AD4512LX-D03 turbine fan with hydrodynamic bearing;
- remote controller remote control ASUS AI Remote;
(There are twelve buttons on the remote control. With AI Remote, you can launch and control various multimedia applications, put your computer into AI Nap sleep mode, switch ASUS AI Gear 3 modes, and more.)
- an ASUS AI Remote IR receiver that connects to the USB port, and a battery.
The layout of the ASUS P5E3 motherboard is quite good. Among the shortcomings that hinder the assembly of a computer, one can note: SATA and IDE slots deployed parallel to the board, which will be very inconvenient to connect to in small cases, as well as the fact that a long video card inserted into the top PCI-E x16 slot will impair access to slot latches random access memory. In addition, the COM port is located in the upper right corner, not very well for connection.
On the ASUS P5E3 motherboard, the heat pipe cooling system deserves special attention. Heat pipes connect heatsinks on the south and north bridges, as well as on half of the phases of the power stabilizer. The remaining four phases have a separate radiator. Despite the relatively high class of the board, only a 4-pin ATX12V connector is used to power the processor.
The cooling system involves the installation of an active element - a turbine-type fan, on a radiator near the I / O panel. Apparently, this is why the whole system, although made of copper, still does not seem very massive. The small heatsink on the northbridge is adorned with a shiny metal cover with ASUS branding on top.
The cooling system is very securely and rigidly fastened due to the persistent metal plates on the back of the ASUS P5E3 motherboard.
The Intel ICH9R south bridge supports six SATA II ports, with the ability to form RAID arrays 0, 1, 5, 10. And to support IDE devices and one external SATA connector, an additional Marvell 88SE6111 controller is installed. The ASUS P5E3 motherboard has six internal USB ports, four of which are located in the lower right corner of the board, and two more near the external connector panel. In the right corner of the ASUS P5E3, there is a system panel connector, a standby power indicator and a BIOS reset jumper.
ASUS P5E3 motherboard has two PCI slots, two PCIE x1 and two PCIE x16 (PCI Express 2.0) slots, which can be used to combine AMD/ATI video accelerators in CrossFire x16+x16 mode. Other features of the board include the Marvell88E8056 gigabit network controller, the Agere L-FW3227 FireWire controller supporting two ports, as well as the Realtek ALC 883 8-channel HDA audio codec, the front panel connector of which supports connections in HDA and AC`97 formats.
The layout of the ASUS P5E3 board suggests the possibility of connecting to two USB ports, near the panel of input/output connectors, the ASUS WiFi-AP Solo wireless network module, but this feature is not implemented on the tested model.
The VRM processor power regulator on the board is 8-channel and supports the energy-saving EPU (Energy Processing Unit) technology. The ASUS EPU chip takes full control of the processor load level and, depending on this, adjusts the power settings, achieving more efficient power consumption. In applications that are not demanding on processor resources, the technology saves up to 80.23% of energy by turning off four phases of the power stabilizer.
The following ports are displayed on the rear panel: One PS/2 for keyboard, six USB connectors, IEEE 1394a port, RJ45 network connector, coaxial and optical S/PDIF, one External SATA port, and six connectors for 8-channel audio output.
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard has four fan headers, one 4-pin for the CPU cooler and three 3-pin for case fans. All connectors are fairly evenly distributed over different parts of the board, which makes it more convenient to choose a place to connect the cooling.
Near all PCI slots, there are small indicators that indicate the incorrect installation of the device in the slot (AI Slot Detector technology).
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard uses a "multi-lingual" version of the AMI BIOS, with a large set of settings. The BIOS has a function to save user settings to a profile (ASUS O. C. Profile technology), and it also has a built-in EZ Flash 2 utility for flashing new versions and supports AI Net 2 technology, which helps to determine the location of a network cable break.
Overclocking settings are located in the "AI Tweaker" section:
|
Parameter |
Menu name |
Range | |
|
Processor Technology Management |
C1E, Max CPUID Value Limit, Vanderpool Technology, CPUTM, Execute Disable Bit, Intel SpeedStep | ||
|
Processor multiplier |
CPU Ratio Setting | ||
|
Strap frequency |
FSB Strap to North Bridge |
Auto/200/266/333 | |
|
System bus frequency | |||
|
PCI Express bus frequency | |||
|
Memory divider |
533/639/667/709/800/852/887/1066 | ||
|
Command execution delay |
DRAM Command Rate | ||
|
Timings |
CAS Latency, RAS to CAS, RAS Precharge, RAS Active Time, RAS to RAS, REF Cycle Time, Write Recovery Time, Read to PRE Time | ||
|
Sub-timings |
Read to Write Delay (S/D) | ||
|
Acceleration of the memory controller |
DRAM Static Read Control |
Enable - enables acceleration | |
|
DRAM Dynamic Write Control | |||
|
Memory setting |
AI Clock Twister |
Auto, Moderate, Light, Strong | |
|
AI Clock Skew for Channel A |
Advance 350ps - Delay 350ps | ||
|
AI Clock Skew for Channel B |
Advance 350ps - Delay 350ps | ||
|
Setting sub-timings |
Transaction Booster |
Boost Level 0-8 | |
|
CPU voltage | |||
|
Supply voltage of clock-setting circuits |
1.5V - 2.78V | ||
|
FSB voltage |
FSB Termination Voltage |
1.2V - 1.5V | |
|
CPU Voltage Reference |
0.63x, 0.61x, 0.59x, 0.57x | ||
|
Voltage on memory modules |
1.5V - 2.3V | ||
|
Northbridge voltage |
North Bridge Voltage |
1.25V - 1.75V | |
|
Southbridge voltage |
South Bridge Voltage | ||
|
Clock Over-Charging Voltage | |||
|
Reducing the voltage drop on the processor under load |
Loadline Calibration |
Enable - enables the function | |
|
Processor power supply mode |
CPU GTL Voltage Reference |
0.67x, 0.65x, 0.63x, 0.62x | |
|
Northbridge power supply mode |
NB GTL Voltage Reference | ||
|
Reducing the background radiation of the system bus |
CPU Spread Spectrum |
In order to more accurately adjust the memory frequency in the BIOS, there are eight dividers, which for a 266 MHz system bus will correspond to a memory frequency of 533, 639, 667, 709, 800, 852, 887, 1066 MHz.
In ASUS P5E3 motherboard BIOS, you can configure timings and sub-timings of DDR3 RAM. In addition, the current values of timings and sub-timings are shown on the screen, which is very convenient when setting up.
To carry out overclocking and improve system stability, the BIOS has a large number of settings that change the voltage on the main components in a very wide range and in small increments, which is determined by the implementation of the Precision Tweaker 2 technology. For convenience and better visibility, in the upper right corner of the screen, information is provided on the adjustment range of the setting, the step and the standard voltage of a particular component. In addition, for convenience during overclocking, voltage values of different levels are highlighted in different colors. So blue font indicates safe values, yellow indicates high, and red indicates critically high.
BIOS monitoring
In the Hardware Monitor window, you can monitor:
- the temperature of the motherboard and processor;
- speed of rotation of the processor cooler and three case fans;
- voltage on the processor and main power lines 3.3 V; 5 V; 12V.
For the CPU cooler and case fans connected to the CHA_FAN 1-2 connectors, you can use the Q-Fan automatic control function. The control range for the cooler is set by selecting a specific profile, and for case fans by determining the minimum speed and limit temperature in percentages (60% - 90%) (from 28ºС to 46ºС in 3ºС increments).
By carrying out a standard procedure for testing the capabilities of the system bus, we were able to increase its frequency to 495 MHz. But there is an assumption that an incorrectly working BIOS or some features of the instance that got to the test did not allow to reveal the full potential of the board.
Testing
The following equipment was used to test the capabilities of motherboards.
Some performance gain in system tests with the ASUS P5E3 motherboard was due to the use of another faster DDR3 RAM. Compared to the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP based on the Intel P35 Express chipset, which also worked with DDR3 memory, the slight difference in the results is mainly due to the measurement error.
findings
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard can become an excellent basis for a high-performance gaming system with two AMD/ATI 3D accelerators combined in CrossFire x16+x16 mode, and differs PCI support Express 2.0. ASUS P5E3 works with DDR3 memory, so the future owner should be ready to buy a rather expensive "RAM" as well. The ASUS P5E3 motherboard has good overclocking and stability enhancement capabilities - I especially liked the implementation of settings with highlighting in different colors and indicating standard values, although system monitoring in the BIOS is completely standard.
ASUS P5E3 has an 8-phase power regulator with the much-advertised EPU power saving technology. The copper heatpipe cooling system, together with the fan, should be able to cope with the cooling of a productive and overclocked platform. The absence of an 8-pin connector for powering the processor indicates that ASUS P5E3 is positioned more as a gaming and multimedia offer, which is confirmed by the AI Remote present in the kit.
Advantages:
- high performance; excellent overclocking capabilities; support for CrossFire x16+x16; PCI Express 2.0 bus support; 8-phase power stabilizer using EPU; 6 SATA connectors supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, 10; External SATA port on the rear panel; heat pipe cooling system with fan included; remote control ASUS AI Remote; built-in FireWire controller; 8-channel High Definition Audio.
Disadvantages:
- No PS/2 mouse connector; 4-pin CPU power connector.
Taking into account the growing interest in gaming platforms built on several video accelerators, we suggest considering the ASUS P5E3 motherboard based on the Intel X38 chipset. If we compare all ASUS models, it turns out that ASUS P5E3 is almost the cheapest solution of this level. But support for "progressive" DDR3 memory implies that the buyer has the funds to purchase it. So, for example, if you are going to create a powerful gaming platform, you can pay attention to the ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard we considered earlier, which works with DDR2 memory. Although the latter looks and is positioned as a more expensive solution, purchasing cheaper DDR2 memory will be able to offset the costs. Well, for those who are trying to keep up with all the trends in the digital world, there is a reason to appreciate the capabilities of ASUS P5E3.
ASUS P5E3 motherboard specification:
|
Manufacturer |
|
|
Intel X38/Intel ICH9R |
|
|
Processor socket |
|
|
Supported processors |
Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium Extreme / Pentium D / Pentium 4 |
|
System bus, MHz |
1600/ 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz |
|
Used memory |
DDR3 1800* / 1600* / 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz |
|
Memory support |
4 x 240-pin dual-channel DIMMs up to 8 GB |
|
Expansion slots |
2 x PCIe2.0 x16 (both x16) CrossFire support |
|
Disk subsystem |
Southbridge ICH9R supports: Optional controller Marvell 88SE6111 supports: |
|
Sound subsystem |
Realtek ALC 883 8-channel High-Definition Audio codec, coaxial/optical S/PDIF; |
|
Controller Agere L-FW3227 |
|
|
Gigabit Network LAN Controller Marvell88E8056 with AI NET 2 support |
|
|
24-pin ATX power connector |
|
|
Cooling |
Heat pipe system on chipset and MOSFET VRM node |
|
Fan Connectors |
1 x CPU |
|
External I/O ports |
1 x PS/2 keyboard port |
|
Internal I/O ports |
6 x USB |
|
8 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 |
|
|
Overclocking options |
Frequency change: FSB, PCI-Express, memory. |
|
Proprietary technologies |
ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) |
|
Equipment |
Instruction and user manual |
|
Form factor Dimensions, mm |
ATX 12" x 9.6" |
|
Products webpage |
The new BIOS and drivers can be downloaded from the official page. |
|
average price |
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard came to us for testing in a simple package, without its informatively filled outer part.
ASUS P5E3 motherboard package:
- DVD with drivers and software;
- user manual in English, brief installation instructions, as well as instructions for AI Remote;
- ASUS Q-Connector adapters (system panel, USB, IEEE1394a);
- ASUS Q-Shield I/O panel blank;
- FDD loop,
- cable UltraDMA 133/100/66;
- two power adapters for SATA devices;
- six SATA cables;
- ADDA AD4512LX-D03 turbine fan with hydrodynamic bearing;
(There are twelve buttons on the remote control. With AI Remote, you can launch and control various multimedia applications, put your computer into AI Nap sleep mode, switch ASUS AI Gear 3 modes, and more.)
- an ASUS AI Remote IR receiver that connects to the USB port, and a battery.
The layout of the ASUS P5E3 motherboard is quite good. Among the shortcomings that hinder the assembly of a computer, one can note: SATA and IDE slots deployed parallel to the board, which will be very inconvenient to connect to in small cases, as well as the fact that a long video card inserted into the top PCI-E x16 slot will impair access to the latches of the RAM slots. In addition, the COM port is located in the upper right corner, not very well for connection.
On the ASUS P5E3 motherboard, the heat pipe cooling system deserves special attention. Heat pipes connect heatsinks on the south and north bridges, as well as on half of the phases of the power stabilizer. The remaining four phases have a separate radiator. Despite the relatively high class of the board, only a 4-pin ATX12V connector is used to power the processor.
The cooling system involves the installation of an active element - a turbine-type fan, on a radiator near the I / O panel. Apparently, this is why the whole system, although made of copper, still does not seem very massive. The small heatsink on the northbridge is adorned with a shiny metal cover with ASUS branding on top.
The cooling system is very securely and rigidly fastened due to the persistent metal plates on the back of the ASUS P5E3 motherboard.
The Intel ICH9R south bridge supports six SATA II ports, with the ability to form RAID arrays 0, 1, 5, 10. And to support IDE devices and one external SATA connector, an additional Marvell 88SE6111 controller is installed. The ASUS P5E3 motherboard has six internal USB ports, four of which are located in the lower right corner of the board, and two more near the external connector panel. In the right corner of the ASUS P5E3, there is a system panel connector, a standby power indicator and a BIOS reset jumper.
ASUS P5E3 motherboard has two PCI slots, two PCIE x1 and two PCIE x16 (PCI Express 2.0) slots, which can be used to combine AMD/ATI video accelerators in CrossFire x16+x16 mode. Other features of the board include the Marvell88E8056 gigabit network controller, the Agere L-FW3227 FireWire controller supporting two ports, as well as the Realtek ALC 883 8-channel HDA audio codec, the front panel connector of which supports connections in HDA and AC`97 formats.
The layout of the ASUS P5E3 board suggests the possibility of connecting to two USB ports, near the I / O connector panel, the ASUS WiFi-AP Solo wireless network module, but this feature was not implemented on the tested model.
The VRM processor power regulator on the board is 8-channel and supports the energy-saving EPU (Energy Processing Unit) technology. The ASUS EPU chip takes full control of the processor load level and, depending on this, adjusts the power settings, achieving more efficient power consumption. In applications that are not demanding on processor resources, the technology saves up to 80.23% of energy by turning off four phases of the power stabilizer.
The following ports are displayed on the rear panel: one PS/2 for keyboard, six USB connectors, IEEE 1394a port, RJ45 network connector, coaxial and optical S/PDIF, one External SATA port, and six connectors for 8-channel audio output.
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard has four fan headers, one 4-pin for the CPU cooler and three 3-pin for case fans. All connectors are fairly evenly distributed over different parts of the board, which makes it more convenient to choose a place to connect the cooling.
Near all PCI slots, there are small indicators that indicate the incorrect installation of the device in the slot (AI Slot Detector technology).
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard uses a "multi-lingual" version of the AMI BIOS, with a large set of settings. The BIOS has a function to save user settings to a profile (ASUS O.C. Profile technology), and it also has a built-in EZ Flash 2 utility for flashing new versions and supports AI Net 2 technology, which helps to determine the location of a network cable break.
Overclocking settings are located in the "AI Tweaker" section:
|
Parameter |
Menu name |
Range |
|
|
Processor Technology Management |
C1E, Max CPUID Value Limit, Vanderpool Technology, CPUTM, Execute Disable Bit, Intel SpeedStep |
||
|
Processor multiplier |
CPU Ratio Setting |
||
|
Strap frequency |
FSB Strap to North Bridge |
Auto/200/266/333 |
|
|
System bus frequency |
|||
|
PCI Express bus frequency |
|||
|
Memory divider |
533/639/667/709/800/852/887/1066 |
||
|
Command execution delay |
DRAM Command Rate |
||
|
Timings |
CAS Latency, RAS to CAS, RAS Precharge, RAS Active Time, RAS to RAS, REF Cycle Time, Write Recovery Time, Read to PRE Time |
||
|
Sub-timings |
Read to Write Delay (S/D) |
||
|
Acceleration of the memory controller |
DRAM Static Read Control |
Enable - enables acceleration |
|
|
DRAM Dynamic Write Control |
|||
|
Memory setting |
AI Clock Twister |
Auto, Moderate, Light, Strong |
|
|
AI Clock Skew for Channel A |
Advance 350ps - Delay 350ps |
||
|
AI Clock Skew for Channel B |
Advance 350ps - Delay 350ps |
||
|
Setting sub-timings |
Transaction Booster |
Boost Level 0-8 |
|
|
CPU voltage |
|||
|
Supply voltage of clock-setting circuits |
1.5V - 2.78V |
||
|
FSB voltage |
FSB Termination Voltage |
1.2V - 1.5V |
|
|
CPU Voltage Reference |
0.63x, 0.61x, 0.59x, 0.57x |
||
|
Voltage on memory modules |
1.5V - 2.3V |
||
|
Northbridge voltage |
North Bridge Voltage |
1.25V - 1.75V |
|
|
Southbridge voltage |
South Bridge Voltage |
||
|
Clock Over-Charging Voltage |
|||
|
Reducing the voltage drop on the processor under load |
Loadline Calibration |
Enable - enables the function |
|
|
Processor power supply mode |
CPU GTL Voltage Reference |
0.67x, 0.65x, 0.63x, 0.62x |
|
|
Northbridge power supply mode |
NB GTL Voltage Reference |
||
|
Reducing the background radiation of the system bus |
CPU Spread Spectrum |
In order to more accurately adjust the memory frequency in the BIOS, there are eight dividers, which for a 266 MHz system bus will correspond to a memory frequency of 533, 639, 667, 709, 800, 852, 887, 1066 MHz.
In ASUS P5E3 motherboard BIOS, you can configure timings and sub-timings of DDR3 RAM. In addition, the current values of timings and sub-timings are shown on the screen, which is very convenient when setting up.
To carry out overclocking and improve system stability, the BIOS has a large number of settings that change the voltage on the main components in a very wide range and in small increments, which is determined by the implementation of the Precision Tweaker 2 technology. For convenience and better visibility, in the upper right corner of the screen, information is provided on the adjustment range of the setting, the step and the standard voltage of a particular component. In addition, for convenience during overclocking, voltage values of different levels are highlighted in different colors. So blue font indicates safe values, yellow indicates high, and red indicates critically high.
BIOS monitoring
In the Hardware Monitor window, you can monitor:
- the temperature of the motherboard and processor;
- speed of rotation of the processor cooler and three case fans;
- voltage on the processor and main power lines 3.3 V; 5 V; 12V.
For the CPU cooler and case fans connected to the CHA_FAN 1-2 connectors, you can use the Q-Fan automatic control function. The control range for the cooler is set by selecting a specific profile, and for case fans by determining the minimum speed and limit temperature in percentages (60% - 90%) (from 28ºС to 46ºС in 3ºС increments).
By carrying out a standard procedure for testing the capabilities of the system bus, we were able to increase its frequency to 495 MHz. But there is an assumption that an incorrectly working BIOS or some features of the instance that got to the test did not allow to reveal the full potential of the board.
Testing
The following equipment was used to test the capabilities of motherboards.
|
CPU |
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (LGA775, 1.86 GHz, L2 2 MB) |
|
Thermaltake Sonic Tower (CL-P0071) + Akasa AK-183-L2B 120mm |
|
|
RAM |
2x DDR2-800 1024MB PQI PC6400 |
|
video card |
EVGA GeForce 8600GTS 256MB DDR3 PCI-E |
|
HDD |
Samsung HD080HJ, 80 GB, SATA-300 |
|
optical drive |
ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA |
|
Power Supply |
Chieftec CFT-500-A12S 500W, 120mm fan |
|
CODEGEN M603 MidiTower, 2 x 120mm fans for intake / exhaust |
Some performance gain in system tests with the ASUS P5E3 motherboard was due to the use of another faster DDR3 RAM. Compared to the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP based on the Intel P35 Express chipset, which also worked with DDR3 memory, the slight difference in the results is mainly due to the measurement error.
findings
The ASUS P5E3 motherboard can become an excellent basis for a high-performance gaming system with two AMD/ATI 3D accelerators combined in CrossFire x16+x16 mode and featuring PCI Express 2.0 support. ASUS P5E3 works with DDR3 memory, so the future owner should be ready to buy a rather expensive "RAM" as well. The ASUS P5E3 motherboard has good overclocking and stability enhancement capabilities - I especially liked the implementation of settings with highlighting in different colors and indicating standard values, although system monitoring in the BIOS is completely standard.
ASUS P5E3 has an 8-phase power regulator with the much-advertised EPU power saving technology. The copper heatpipe cooling system, together with the fan, should be able to cope with the cooling of a productive and overclocked platform. The absence of an 8-pin connector for powering the processor indicates that ASUS P5E3 is positioned more as a gaming and multimedia offer, which is confirmed by the AI Remote present in the kit.
Advantages:
- high performance;
- excellent overclocking capabilities;
- support for CrossFire x16+x16;
- PCI Express 2.0 bus support;
- 8-phase power stabilizer using EPU;
- 6 SATA connectors supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, 10;
- External SATA port on the rear panel;
- heat pipe cooling system with fan included;
- remote control ASUS AI Remote;
- built-in FireWire controller;
- 8-channel High Definition Audio.
Disadvantages:
- no PS/2 mouse connector;
- 4-pin CPU power connector.
We express our gratitude to the company PF Service LLC (Dnepropetrovsk) for the motherboards provided for testing.
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The lack of reviews of motherboards based on the latest top-end Intel X38 chipset on our site is a rather serious omission. Our laboratory has been unsuccessfully trying to start testing such products for at least a month. However, until now, we have not been able to provide materials about these products for a number of objective and subjective reasons. For example, in place of this article, which opens a series of publications about boards on Intel-based X38 should have been a review of the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe motherboard, which has been tested in our lab for several weeks now. But, despite the fact that this board was successfully used by us in Penryn tests, we still do not have the opportunity to provide a full and substantiated report on its capabilities. The point is that our sample ASUS P5E3 has a number of problems that manifest themselves when overclocking the FSB and memory. In addition, the widely advertised ASUS Express Gate function turned out to be inoperable on our board. By now, we have already tried almost a dozen different beta versions of the BIOS, but we still haven't been able to achieve the trouble-free operation of all the declared features typical of ASUS boards. In the near future, we expect to receive a new P5E3 sample, on which we will try to confirm or refute the unflattering opinion that has developed so far about this motherboard.
In order not to further delay the already excessively long pause in motherboard reviews, we decided to look at other products based on Intel X38. Another ASUS product, the P5E motherboard, immediately came into view. It compares favorably with other offerings based on the Intel X38 in two ways. First of all, this is a relatively inexpensive product with a retail price of about $220, which is not much for a motherboard based on the X38 chipset. Secondly, this motherboard does not work with the new expensive DDR3 SDRAM, but with the much more common DDR2 memory, although officially Intel is extremely reluctant to talk about the universality of the chipset memory controller. Thanks to these features, ASUS P5E may well become a very common product, very popular among enthusiasts. Actually, to turn the P5E into a widely popular board, only one thing is missing: the confidence that it can offer better performance and overclocking capabilities than the products based on the Intel P35 chipset that have already won an impeccable reputation. Actually, this article will be devoted primarily to finding the advantages of ASUS P5E, which will allow us to talk about the superiority of this platform over cheaper alternatives based on mid-range chipsets.
It would be logical to begin acquaintance with the motherboard based on Intel X38 by considering the features of the logic set itself.
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Details about the Intel X38
The Intel X38 chipset was conceived by the developer as a new chipset designed for creating motherboards in the upper price range. In fact, this means that the X38 replaces the rather outdated i975X, which does not have official support for the promising 45 nm Penryn processors, and is equipped with a far from the most modern south bridge. At least that's what Intel thinks.
From our point of view, the situation is seen in a slightly different way. Due to its venerable age, the i975X has long been unattractive for enthusiasts, who today opt for motherboards based on the Intel P35. The only strong point of the i975X chipset, support for the PCI Express x8 + PCI Express x8 Crossfire mode, is actually not such a strong trump card. Firstly, the Intel P35 chipset is also capable of supporting Crossfire (albeit, according to the PCI Express x16 + PCI Express x4 scheme). Secondly, AMD today is not in a position to offer graphics cards as fast as NVIDIA. Therefore, the number of users interested in Crossfire is quite small. Based on the above arguments, we will also not compare the Intel X38 with the i975X, but will focus on comparing the new chipset for high-performance systems with the recently released
Once again, analyzing today's motherboard market, we come to the conclusion that today, when a personal computer becomes as necessary in every home as a TV, the most demanded market segment is its budgetary sector. It is understandable. For people who are buying home for the first time a thing that is not entirely clear to them, perhaps just an interesting toy, the desire to save money is quite reasonable. Moreover, the development of the PC has reached such a level that even the most inexpensive machine allows you to play and process both video and music, surf the Internet, work with text, tables, photographs, drawings, in general, do almost anything you want, for with just one exception. Since a budget PC is usually based on a motherboard with an integrated graphics core, you can’t play modern games on it. The maximum that such a machine can handle is with toys 2-3 years old. Meanwhile, for many users, even the most cutting-edge games are of little or no interest. But everyone wants to have a large and high-quality monitor. After all, the monitor is a window to the electronic world. And who wants to look at the world through a cloudy and crooked glass? Therefore, for a home, even a bunch of "the most inexpensive and simple computer + a large and high-quality (read expensive) monitor" will look quite logical and reasonable. However, even the best monitor will not reveal its full potential without the use of digital interfaces. To date, the most advanced is HDMI, and the most common is DVI. Until recently, only external video cards provided support. With the advent of AMD 6xx chipsets and NVIDIA GeForce 7xx the situation has changed dramatically for the better. The integrated video cores of these chipsets offered simultaneous support for both analog D-SUB and digital DVI and HDMI interfaces. However, both series of chipsets were designed for the AMD platform. Later, NVIDIA nevertheless introduced a modification of the GeForce 7100 chipset for Intel processors. However, all solutions with integrated video by Intel itself, which is so actively promoting the idea of a digital home, worked only with the outdated D-SUB analog output.
The situation changed somewhat only with the release of chipsets with integrated graphics Intel G33/35 Express. The differences in the functionality of these chipsets look somewhat ambiguous. Both support the new processors running at 1333 MHz bus speeds, and both have received much-needed support for DVI and HDMI digital outputs. G35 as an older solution is equipped with a more powerful graphics core GMA3500, which has hardware compatibility with API DirectX 10, support for Shader Model 4.0 and OpenGL 2.0. The GMA3100 graphics core included in the G33 chipset is only compatible with Microsoft DirectX 9.0c, Shader Model 2.0 and OpenGL 1.5. At the same time, the G33 supports the new DDR3 RAM standard, while the G35 does not. However, for now, DDR3 memory is too expensive, and its use is advisable only in the most expensive and productive systems. In the budget and mass market sectors, the DDR2 standard still reigns. Therefore, for the time being, the G35 chipset, which has a more productive and functional graphics processor, is still more attractive to the consumer.
Well, let's take a closer look at this chipset. The ASUS P5E-VM SE motherboard will represent it to us.
Specifications ASUS P5E-VM SE
Initially, to get acquainted with the G35 chipset, it was planned to take the ASUS P5E-V HDMI motherboard for tests, as it most fully represents the functionality of this chipset. However, by coincidence, we ended up with an ASUS P5E-VM SE board in the lab, a simplified modification of the above model. For the end consumer, cheaper modifications may be even more interesting than those that are equipped to the maximum. Let's take a look at the comparison table of technical ASUS specifications P5E-V HDMI and ASUS P5E-VM SE.
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pay |
ASUS P5E-V HDMI |
ASUS P5E-VM SE |
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Supported processors |
Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Intel Core 2 Extreme, Pentium 4, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, Pentium D, Celeron D |
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QPB frequencies |
1333/1066/800MHz |
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Chipset |
Intel G35+ICH9R |
Intel G35+ICH9 |
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Memory slots |
4 DIMM slots (two channels) for unbuffered non-ECC DDR2-800/667/533 MHz modules. Maximum total volume - 8 GB |
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Expansion slots |
2 PCI Express x16, 1 x PCI Express x1, 3 x PCI 2.3 |
1 x PCI Express x16, 2 x PCI Express x1, 1 x PCI 2.3 |
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Parallel ATA |
1 channel UltraDMA 133 implemented on JMicron JMB368 controller |
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Serial ATA |
6 ports implemented on a 3 Gb/s controller integrated into the chipset |
4 ports implemented on a 3 Gb/s controller integrated into the chipset |
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RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, JBOD |
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ethernet |
Atheros L1 PCIe Gigabit LAN controller |
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Integrated sound |
Realtek ALC883 8-channel (7.1) HDA codec |
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12 ports (6 routed to I/O panel) |
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IEEE 1394 |
2 ports implemented on VIA VT6308P controller |
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System monitoring |
Tracking voltages on components, fan speeds, processor temperatures (by built-in thermal sensor) |
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Overclocking options |
Increasing the frequency of the system bus, processor, RAM (synchronously with FSB), voltage values on the components |
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AMI BIOS on 8 Mb chip |
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Form factor |
ATX, 244x305 mm |
MicroATX, 244x244mm |
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Estimated retail price, USD |
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As you can see, there are enough differences. Firstly, ASUS P5E-V HDMI is made in the ATX form factor, while ASUS P5E-VM SE has a Micro ATX format more familiar to solutions with integrated video. The older modification, due to its larger dimensions, offers a slightly different configuration and more slots for expanding functionality, as well as more Serial ATA ports. However, the main differences that you should pay attention to in the first place are in the video outputs. While the ASUS P5E-V HDMI offers a full suite of analog D-SUB (RGB) and digital HDMI and DVI, the back of the ASUS P5E-VM SE has the old D-SUB and nothing more. However, the difference in the cost of these products is also quite noticeable and amounts to about $30. If a person is building an inexpensive PC with a CRT-based monitor or an inexpensive LCD panel equipped with only a VGA input, the ASUS P5E-VM SE will be the preferred option for him. On the other hand, if such a system is assembled with the expectation of being able to connect to a TV with HDMI, ASUS offers a compromise solution - a modification of the P5E-VM HDMI with digital DVI and HDMI. True, for a compromise, the user will have to pay about $10. But back to the ASUS P5E-VM SE that came to us.
Packaging and equipment
ASUS adheres to the principle, which can be voiced as "each product has its own packaging." On the front side of the box, there are markings, logos of the chipset model and supported processors in large print. The back contains a general photo of the board and a description of the main features and functionality. That is, everything is clear and understandable. Taking such a box in hand, it immediately becomes clear that it is ASUS P5E-VM SE in front of you, and not some other product from countless modifications.
Scope of delivery a little fuller than that, which we are used to seeing in the boxes of budget products.
In addition to standard accessories such as:
- 80-wire IDE cable;
- cable for FDD
- Serial ATA cable;
- an adapter from a Molex power plug to two SATA;
- plug for the I/O panel on the rear wall of the case;
- CD with drivers and proprietary software;
- manual,
added a set of branded connectors Q-Connector, designed to facilitate the connection of elements to the board system block, a CD with third-party software and a multilingual quick start guide, which also includes Russian. The latter can be very important for many.
Design and layout
The ASUS P5E-VM SE format is a full size Micro ATX. That is, the textolite base of the board is a square with a side of 244 mm.
So in terms of dimensions, ASUS developers were not constrained. Therefore, here we see the total number of DIMM slots, there are four of them, and the headers for connecting cables for IDE devices and floppy drives are located where they should be - on the right edge of the board in the center.
By the way, support IDE interface appeared thanks to the use of a discrete controller JMicron JMB368. Recall that Intel refused to support IDE even at the release stage of the eighth version of the ICH south bridge. In the upper right part of the textolite surface, we also see a block for connecting a COM port. Quite recently, we have already encountered such an absurd solution, but from a different manufacturer and on a board based on a different chipset. That is, in such an arrangement "for show" we observe a certain trend. However, despite the outdated interface, it is still in demand. And thanks to such a formal implementation, the wire to the COM port bracket will stretch through the entire board.
The switching voltage regulator of the processor is made according to a four-channel scheme, which is a standard for products for Intel processors.
However, some simplifications in the form of missing elements are noticeable in the scheme. Instead of four field-effect transistors per channel, the manufacturer soldered three. But this circumstance should not cause any concern. This should be enough to power modern dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo and quad-core Core 2 Quad processors. And for "not hardcore" overclocking, this should be enough. By the way, with the bench processor Core 2 Duo E6400 overclocked by 50%, the MOSFET temperature regime remained practically unchanged and was 45 "C in the busiest modes.
Obviously, the northbridge of the Intel G35 chipset, which includes the RAM controller and the GMA3500 graphics core, turned out to be quite "hot". Despite the fact that ASUS developers have equipped this chip with a gigantic heatsink by the standards of Micro ATX format products, its operating temperature, when blown by a processor cooler, was 47°C.
The southbridge is cooled by a small heat sink whose operating temperature fluctuates around 38"C.
All measurements were made using a high-precision digital thermometer MASTECH MS650.
The room temperature at the time of measurement was 25.2 "C. Despite the fact that the radiators look like copper, they are actually made of aluminum alloy, and the copper effect creates a high-quality coating. You can easily verify this - just scratch the radiator a little with a needle.
For discrete slots, there is little soldering on the surface of the board. In addition to the obligatory PCI Express x16 for an external graphics card, there are 2 PCIe x1 and one good old PCI slot. Pretty poor, right? At least one socket was replaced by a massive northbridge heatsink, which the developers prudently removed from the processor socket. In turn, in order to avoid problems with video cards equipped with massive cooling systems, PCI Express x16 is also prudently removed from the radiator.
The back panel of the ASUS P5E-VM SE does not look quite normal.
Here, in addition to standard set, consisting of two PS / 2 ports for mouse and keyboard, six two-pin inputs / outputs sound card and network RJ-45, we see six instead of the usual four USB 2.0, a coaxial digital audio output S / PDIF, one IEEE1394a port and an analog D-SUB video output. Under the latter there is a place, and even mounting holes were drilled, where the DVI digital output should have been, if it had not been abolished in this modification.
On the whole, the design of the ASUS P5E-VM SE is thought out quite well, and only the block for connecting the COM port "exiled" to the opposite edge of the board causes criticism.
test stand configuration,BIOSSetupand overclocking
The motherboard in question was tested with the following set of equipment:
- processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, 2133 GHz (8x266), 2 MB L2;
- cooler: Scythe Ninja Plus with 120 mm fan at 1500 rpm;
- RAM: 2 modules of 1024 MB, Apacer DDR2-800, 4-4-4-15 400 MHz;
- hard drive: Seagate ST3160811AS, 160 GB, 3 Gb/s SATA, 8 MB Cache, 7200 rpm;
- power supply: FLOSTON 560 W (LXPW560W).
The look and structure of the configuration utility for the ASUS P5E-VM SE basic I/O system based on the AMI BIOS v2.58 microcode are standard for ASUS products, but rather unusual for those who have not dealt with motherboards from this manufacturer before.
However, the interface is intuitive, and even a trained beginner can easily figure it out. Omitting a number of standard items for configuring various aspects of the board's functioning, let's turn to the JumperFree Configuration submenu, located on the Advanced tab.
Here are a number of settings used when overclocking the system. I must say that for a Micro ATX board based on a chipset with integrated video, the set of settings is quite wide. In addition to the standard ability to change the frequency of the processor bus, it offers the ability to change the clocking of the PCI Express bus and a wide range of coefficients for calculating the frequency of RAM.
In addition, the overclocker is provided with the widest options for adjusting the processor supply voltage,
DIMMs,
northbridge and southbridge chips.
Moreover, the limits of settings are so high that it would be appropriate to look at the board for hardcore overclockers.
RAM timings are configured in automatic or manual modes. Moreover, after selecting the manual mode, the four main delays will need to be set explicitly, the "Auto" value is not provided for them. But five additional ones can be configured separately and at will.
During testing, the board easily reached the limits of overclocking bench equipment. The RAM modules were overclocked from 800 to 1000 MHz DDR2, and core processor 2 Duo with stock values clock frequency 2166 MHz and 1066 MHz buses were overclocked to 1600 MHz via the bus without any increase in the supply voltage, which allowed the CPU to reach the 3200 MHz milestone.
Thus, we can say that ASUS P5E-VM SE has outstanding overclocking capabilities, which are not typical for such products. However, given the cost of this product, there is nothing phenomenal here.
Testing
Compare set performance Intel chips G35 we will be with a competing NVIDIA GeForce 7100 chipset, which will be presented by the previously reviewed FOXCONN M7PMX-S motherboard.
Memory subsystem
Let's start by checking the bandwidth of the memory subsystem, measured using the Cache and Memory Benchmark module of the Lavalys Everest v4.5 diagnostic utility.
With DDR2 RAM modules, the Intel G35 chipset controller works noticeably faster.
Complex tests
The most serious and "advanced" package for complex system testing today is the updated SYSMark 2007 package from BAPCO. The main feature of SYSMark 2007 is the fact that it uses only real-life and widespread applications to test the system. Those that run on their PCs every day and are used by millions of people around the world to work. The package consists of four scenarios, each of which includes a number of operations performed by a specific set of applications specific to a specific area of PC use.
In the overall standings, according to the results of the SYSMark 2007 package, the Intel G35 chipset is significantly faster than its competitor,
which is also clearly visible in each individual scenario.
This is followed by the popular PCMark 2005 test suite. Unlike SYSMark, it only simulates the work of real applications, but, nevertheless, at the moment it is able to give a quite adequate and comprehensive assessment of system performance.
Here again, the Intel G35 chipset is ahead, and in all respects.
In the following CINEBENCH 9.5 test suite, based on the professional software for creating 3D scenes - CINEMA 4D, Intel G35 with its GMA3500 graphics core is again ahead.
Mathematical and scientific calculations
ScienceMark 2.0 emulates computer-based scientific calculations such as determining the kinetic and potential energy of metal crystal lattice molecules at different temperatures, calculating nuclear and electron charges, and other complex mathematical calculations.
The only task performed by the Super Pi program is to determine the value of Pi (3.14) with high accuracy. That is, it is a mathematical problem in its purest form. In our case, the calculation was performed with an accuracy of 1 and 8 million decimal places.
Again, the Intel G35 chipset copes with mathematical calculations much faster.
Video, audio data encoding
For the next set of applications, which includes the tasks of encoding DVD video with the most popular codecs - DivX and XviD, as well as converting it into a format understandable by the vast majority mobile phones 3gp format, the Intel G35 chipset fits much better.
The same applies to the task of compressing an audio stream with the Lame 3.97 codec into MP3 format. The size of the original WAV file was 750 MB.
Image processing
Adobe Photoshop is the most popular and functional raster editor. To measure the performance of systems in this task, using the script, we processed five-megapixel photos in uncompressed TIF format (about 15 MB each) with more than 30 filters.
The Panorama Factory program is designed for stitching panoramic images from separately taken frames. The application is distinguished by a very high accuracy of stitching, but, as a result, a high resource intensity. Eight five-megapixel photos were processed.
Once again, the Intel G35 is noticeably faster.
Data archiving
WinRAR archiver is one of the most popular and effective data compression software.
Semi-synthetic gaming benchmarks
With 3D gaming graphics processing, part of the Intel G35 chipset GPU The GMA3500 performs noticeably better than its competitor.
In gaming applications, the GMA3500 is faster again.
Interface Bandwidth and Power Consumption
The speed characteristics of the USB and SATA controllers of the tested chipsets are almost identical.
The level of power consumption of systems based on the compared chipsets was measured using the power indicator of the FLOSTON LXPW560W power supply.
Interestingly enough, despite the dual-chip architecture, the more powerful graphics core and dual-channel memory controller, the Intel G35 chipset consumes power more economically.
Audio path quality
The sound path of the ASUS P5E-VM SE motherboard based on the Realtek ALC883 HDA codec was tested using the RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.5 program in 16-bit, 44 kHz mode using a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 SE sound card.
The final rating "very good" for the sound implemented on the ALC883 codec is standard.
findings
The ASUS P5E-VM SE motherboard is an excellent quality product with a lot of advantages. This is a good bundle, thoughtful design, adequate chipset cooling, outstanding overclocking abilities and much more. However, there is one serious drawback, which was laid down at the product development stage - the lack of DVI and HDMI digital outputs. And if HDMI is not useful for everyone today, then every more or less decent modern LCD monitor is equipped with a DVI interface, and there is no doubt that the image will be better with a digital connection. Thus, one of the main advantages of the Intel G35 chipset in the P5E-VM SE modification was cut. Therefore, this board can be recommended for purchase only to those who are going to use it in conjunction with a CRT or the cheapest LCD monitor. Otherwise, the buyer should pay attention to the P5E-VM HDMI modification. Having paid about $30 for it, in addition to DVI and HDMI, the user will also receive additional functionality modifications of the south bridge ICH9 with index "R".
We thank FLOSTON for providing the Floston LXPW 560 W power supply.
We thank UltraPrice for providing the motherboard for testing.
The photos were taken in the TECHLABS studio, photographer Artem Kondratenko.
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