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Asus P5B-E Review - PAGE 1
William Henning - Monday, December 18th, 2006


Today we take a look at the latest P965 based motherboard from Asus.

The P5B-E follows up the extremely successful Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi, which was known to be an excellent overclocker. Will this board live up to the high expectations set by its close relative?

Will it allow us to reach new heights in overclocking?

I for one can't wait to find out.

By this time the P965 chipset is well known - it is a solid chipset for Core 2 Duo (and now Core 2 Quad) systems, and while it does not quite match the memory performance of its bigger brother - the 975X - it does quite well; and it is known to be easy to overclock - basically the P965 chipset is a very good match for the Core 2 Duo.

The P5B-E is a middle-end motherboard; not quite a high end multi-GPU monster, but definitely above the cut of the average white box motherboard.

Let's take a look at the P5B-E's specifications:

CPU
Intel® Quad-core CPU Ready
LGA775 socket for Intel® Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Duo / Pentium® Extreme / Pentium® D / Pentium® 4 / Celeron® D Processors
Compatible with Intel® 05B/05A/06 processors
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ready
* Refer to usa.asus.com for Intel CPU support list
* Please update the latest BIOS to support Intel Quad-core CPU
Chipset
Intel® P965 / ICH8R with Intel® Fast Memory Access Technology
Front Side Bus
1066 / 800 / 533 MHz
Memory
4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 800 / 667 / 533 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Dual channel memory architecture
* Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL (Qualify Vendor List)
Expansion Slots
1 x PCI-E x16
3 x PCI-E x1
3 x PCI 2.2
Storage
Southbridge
 - 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
 - Intel Matrix Storage Technology supports  RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10.
JMicron® JMB363 PATA and SATA controller
 - 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
 - 1 x Internal SATA 3.0 Gb/s port
 - 1 x External SATA 3.0 Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)
 - Support SATA RAID 0, 1 and JBOD (by 1x External SATA & 1x Internal SATA)
LAN
Attansic® L1 PCI-E Gigabit LAN controller
Audio
ADI® 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
 - Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking
 - Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O
 - ASUS Noise Filter
IEEE 1394
VIA® VT6307 1394a controller suppotys 2xIEEE1394a ports (one at midboard; one at back panel)
USB
10 x USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 4 ports at back panel)
ASUS AI Lifestyle Features
ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution:
 - ASUS AI Gear
 - ASUS AI Nap
 - ASUS Q-Fan 2
ASUS Crystal Sound:
 - ASUS Noise Filter
ASUS EZ DIY:
 - ASUS Q-Connector
 - ASUS O.C. Profile
 - ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
 - ASUS EZ Flash 2
Overclocking Features
Intelligent overclocking tools:
 - AI NOS™ (Non-delay Overclocking System)
 - AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner)
 - ASUS AI Booster utility
Precision Tweaker:
 - vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.00625V increment
 - vDIMM: 4-step DRAM voltage control
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
 - FSB tuning from 100MHz up to 650MHz at 1MHz increment
 - Memory tuning from 400MHz up to 1066MHz
 - PCI Express frequency tuning from 90MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection:
 - ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x Parallel port
1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial + Optical)
1 x External SATA 
1 x IEEE1394a
1 x RJ45 port
4 x USB 2.0/1.1
8-Channel Audio I/O
Internal I/O Connectors
3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
1 x Floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
1 x COM connector
7 x SATA connectors
1 x CPU Fan connector
2 x Chassis Fan connector
1 x Power Fan connector
1 x IEEE1394a connector
Front panel audio connector
1 x Azalia Digital Header
1 x S/PDIF Out Header
Chassis Intrusion connector
CD audio in
24-pin ATX Power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
System Panel
BIOS
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
Accessories
UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
FDD cable
SATA cables
SATA power cables
I/O Shield
User's manual
USB2.0 port module
3 in 1 Q-connector
Support CD
Drivers
ASUS PC Probe II
ASUS Update
ASUS AI Suite
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
Form Factor
ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6" (30.5cm x 24.5cm)

next: The Board »

Article Index

1.Introduction
2.The Board
3.The BIOS
4.Test Setup & Benchmarks Used
5.PC Magazine Business / Multimedia Winstone
6.RightMark Memory Benchmark
7.Sandra 2007
8.HDTach Disk Bandwidth
9.LAME, MPEG2 & XviD - Audio & Video Encoding
10.Call of Duty, Comanche 4, Doom 3 & Quake 4
11.Halo, Jedi Knight & UT 2004
12.Overclocked Business & RightMark Results
13.Overclocked Sandra Results
14.Overclocked Encoding Results
15.Overclocked Gaming Results & Conclusion

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