Related Articles

Reviewing the P5LD2 Deluxe and leaving out bundle discussion would be equivalent to writing about major events in world history and leaving out all mention of religion - in other words, the P5LD2 thrives precisely because of its bundle. Let's take a look.

On the hardware side of things, you can expect to find the following:

• ASUS WiFi-TV PCI card
• 5x SATA cables
• 3x SATA power adapter cables
• 3x rear chassis brackets, containing one serial port, one Firewire port, and one game port + two USB ports
• Flexible SLI cable for SLI operation with NVIDIA video cards
• WiFi antenna (approx. 8" long)
• FM radio antenna (wire)
• Two IDE cables (40-conductor, 80-conductor)
• Floppy cable
• S-Video/audio break-out cable for WiFi-TV card
• Media Center remote control + USB IR receiver (batteries included)

That's definitely a complete hardware bundle. You can make use of all of the P5LD2 Deluxe's features right out of the box - and that Wifi-TV card is an awesome addition. Let's now see where ASUS has gone with the software/documentation side of things.

Included are the following items:

• P5LD2 Deluxe user's manual
• WiFi-TV user's manual
• InterVideo WinDVD Suite, including PhotoAlbum 1.0, DVD Copy 2.5, WinDVD Creator 2, and Disc Master 2.5
• ASUS' driver and motherboard utility CD

While the pickings are a little slimmer than what we've seen with some other motherboards, the full InterVideo suite is a nice addition that is well-suited to the target HTPC/multimedia audience of the P5LD2 Deluxe.

The Board

The ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe follows a very typical nForce 4-like layout, with a few differences here and there. Before I get picky, I'd like to point out a number of features that I like about the P5LD2.

Firstly, the all-passive cooling design of this workhorse-motherboard is a most-welcome feature. I can not tolerate any form of constant noise coming from my computers, and the ultra-quiet Mac Mini being the only computer in my room should be proof of that statement. I've spent years working on noisy computers, and it has come to the point that I get irritable and "headachey" when I have to work in a noisy room. Enough said - a point for the P5LD2.

Another aspect of which I am most fond is the completely packed rear I/O panel. Featuring four USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, 6 analog audio connectors, optical and coaxial digital audio connectors, and an external SATA port, the rear I/O panel covers almost all ground for expansion. While it's true that most higher-end boards would feature a similar collection of ports on the rear, I have yet to see another board actually provide SATA on this same panel.

Lastly, the dual PCI-Express x16 slots are a most unexpected feature for an Intel chipset-based motherboard. While ASUS has supplied a flexible SLI bridge connector, the official word on these two slots is that they allow the user to connect two PCIe x16 video cards to the motherboard, allowing for quad-head display. SLI will be a viable option once NVIDIA decides to release ForceWare drivers which support SLI on non-nForce 4 chipsets.

So what is there not to like about the ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe's physical incarnation? In reality, that's left up to the user, but there are two things that I would like to shine the spotlight on.

• What's with the placement of the fifth internal SATA connector? Are we back in the nForce 3 days of SATA-beside-the-CPU-socket? I understand that traces need to be kept to a minimum length, but I'm sure this connector could have been placed in a more convenient spot.
• The awkward placement of the first two PCI slots will lead to one of them becoming unusable in the case of a dual-slot video card being installed in the blue PCI-Express x16 slot. This will not be an issue for most users, but it's something to keep an eye out for.

That's really it. I can't find anything else to complain about, and that's a testament to ASUS' experience in motherboard design. The area around the LGA775 socket is free of occlusions, and even the DDR2 memory slots have been placed in such a way that there is just enough room to work the latches with a long video card installed.

So far things are looking pretty optimistic for the P5LD2 Deluxe. Continuing on, let's investigate the motherboard's BIOS.