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Overclocking

The Motherboard:

The best stable overclock we were able to achieve on the P5K3 Deluxe WiFi was 485MHz FSB with a 7x multiplier.

We were able to post, and even run some programs with a 500MHz FSB, but it was simply not up to our standards of stability; however you should not be dissapointed, a 485MHz FSB is still 45.6% faster than the officially supported 1333MHz FSB, and even 21.2% faster than the next touted FSB speed - 1600MHz.

What I found interesting is that there was little need to increase Vcore to get major FSB speed increases - perhaps it has something to do with all those solid state capacitors, the eight voltage regulators on the back - or perhaps the BIOS is setting higher than reported voltages. Whatever the reason, we got some very high overclocks at relatively low Vcore settings.

The DDR3 Memory:

The Corsair 1333MHz DDR3 memory performed above my expectations. DDR3 is causing the same type of transition that DDR2 did - increasing latencies and bandwidth. What most people don't realize is that the increased latencies work out to be about the same as DDR2 latencies when the increases in data transfer clock rate are worked into the equation.

As you can see from the table below, a higher FSB, processor speed, and lower latency lets the same memory running at a lower data transfer rate handily beat itself at 1600MHz.

Basically, as a simple example, if you had DDR2-667 memory with 5-5-5-15 timing, that would have exactly the same latency as DDR3-1333 memory with 10-10-10-30 timing, as the latency clock cycles had to go up to compensate for the higher transfer rates because there is no magic.

DDR3 is basically DDR2 with an extra level of interleaving on the memory modules, and just because it can clock out the data faster, it does not mean that they managed to increase the basic RAS, CAS and other latencies... and since they are now specified relative to a higher speed clock, the number of cycles for specifying latencies get larger.

The results of our tests show that DDR3 can hold its own against good DDR2 memory - low latency PC2-8500 - at PC3-10667 speeds. The results also show that once DDR3-1600 memories are released, they will eclipse the speed of all but the highest rated specialty low latency DDR2 modules.

The problem with DDR3 is that currently it is difficult to justify spending far more on DDR3-1333 modules than on low latency DDR2-1066 which will give you better overall performance. There is no question in my mind that DDR3 will surpass DDR2 in performance once DDR3-1600 and DDR3-2000 hit the market, but that time has not yet arrived.

Mind you, the Corsair modules performed extremely well, and if you purchase motherboards requiring DDR3 modules you most certainly cannot go wrong with getting some of these modules - as you saw, they performed far beyond their rated specifications, and when overclocked, turned in very impressive numbers.

Conclusion

The Motherboard:

The Asus P5K3 Deluxe WiFi is a solid P35 implementation with quite good overclocking abilities. I liked the plethora of I/O available, and the heat pipe system seemed to work very well. Frankly, I was a bit surprised that I could not get the system stable at a 500MHz FSB, but a future BIOS update may fix that, and 485MHz FSB is nothing to sneeze at. I liked how stable the board was with low Vcore and Vram settings.

The DDR3 Memory:

The Corsair TWIN3X-1333C9DHX memory turned out to be a better performer than I thought it would be based on some of the DDR3 naysayers opinions; and Corsair is being very conservative with its 9-9-9-24 SPD timings as the memory ran fine at 9-7-7-18 at up to 1552MHz - as a matter of fact, I was able to reach 1600MHz at 9-9-9-24. Given how well it performed, I am sure it won't be that long before Corsair starts making even faster, lower latency, DDR3 modules.

The Battle:

DDR3 has arrived, and it is here to stay - and the first DDR3 motherboard we have examined performs well.

Currently, the battle rages all around... and DDR2 is winning more battles than it is losing... but the writing is on the wall. I believe that for the next six months or so, DDR2 will still dominate, but its reign is over.

Once the memory module manufacturers start working their magic, and compete on high speed lower latency DDR3, it will come into its own, and it will dominate the landscape until it is unseated itself by a future contender.

DDR3-1333 is a decent buy; DDR3-1600+ will start to take the performance crown away from DDR2.

Regardless, some things are obvious... both the DDR2 and DDR3 versions of the Asus P5K/P5K3 Deluxe WiFi are excellent boards; and you can't go wrong with high end memory - regardless of it being high end DDR2 or high end DDR3.

Look at your application mix, the benchmark results, and your budget, and make the choice that is right for you.