ASUS is actually launching three motherboard based on the P35 chipset.
They are:
- P5K3 Deluxe - P35 chipset, WiFi, DDR3 support
- P5K Deluxe - P35 chipset, WiFi, DDR 2 support
- P5K - P35 chipset, DDR2 support, less elaborate heatpipe cooling
The ASUS P5K Deluxe (the DDR2 version) looks almost exactly the same as the P5K3 Deluxe (the DDR3 version); however as Asus was kind enough to send us both, we will now take a closer look at them - unfortunately we will not be able to publish a review with benchmark results until the NDA's are lifted.
The P5K Deluxe WiFi AP Edition is certainly not short of features:
- 800/1066/1333MHz FSB
- 4 DDR2 dimm sockets - official support for 667MHz and 800MHz, 1066MHz and higher may be possible
- Improved Stack Cool 2 heat pipe design - up to 20'C cooler, pure copper
- One PCIe 16x slot for a GPU
- One PCIe 16x form factor, PCIe 4x or 1x signaling slot for peripheral or second GPU
- Two PCIe 1x slots
- Two PCI slots
- Six SATA2 connectors with RAID support
- Two "SATA on the Go" connectors from JMicron PATA/SATA2 controller
- Dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers
- Asus WiFi-AP Solor IEEE 802.11b/g controller and external antenna
- Eight channel AD1988B High Definition audio controller
- Coax and optical S/PDIF outputs
- Next generation eight phase power design
- Six USB 2.0 jacks on the back
- Two external SATA2 connectors
- PS/2 keyboard jack
- Firewire connector on the back
- Six audio connectors
- Six additional USB 2.0 headers
- Additional FireWire header
We will go into much more detail in our upcoming review, but until then, here are some more shots of the board for you (to drool over):
Asus clearly indicates how memory sockets are paired; it's a pity that a few manufacturers still don't take this simple step to color code the memory sockets.
I wonder what chip is supposed to go there above, and slightly to the left, of the six SATA2 ports?
The IDE connector could be positioned better; its current placement will require extra long IDE cables in most cases.
It's nice to see the expansion capability offered by all those slots... I do have to wonder why the black PCIe "16x" (electrically 4x or 1x) slot has all the edge connector fingers; most are not used.
The heat pipes and heat sinks sure look good... and should work well.
Ahh... it does the heart good to see all those USB connectors on the back I/O panel. The S/PDIF, optical and FireWire don't exactly hurt either!
The lack of a PS/2 mouse port is basically irrelevant, most mice these days are USB mice with an optional PS/2 adapter.
Looking at the back of the board we see that ASUS has placed eight voltage regulators there; which is a good way of uncluttering the top layer a bit. I was also happy to see that there were no obstructions to heatsink mounting plates like the ones for the
Noctua NH-U 12 CPU cooler we normally use for testing.
Unfortunately, once again due to those pesky NDA's, that's pretty much all I can tell you about this good looking board for now... but don't worry, you will see all the benchmarks and performance figures in the full review coming soon.
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