Package and Accessories
Asus P5E mainboard we are going to review today is one of the least expensive products on Intel X38. You can see it from the simple model name that has no “Deluxe”, “Premium” or “Extreme” titles. Moreover, it is a pretty simple product from the functional standpoint, too. There are few additional controllers on Asus P5E PCB, and most interfaces are implemented through the chipset. All this is clearly visible from the mainboard photo and formal specification:
ASUS P5E |
CPUs | LGA775 processors: Celeron, Pentium 4, Pentium D,
Pentium 4 XE, Pentium XE, Core 2 Duo,
Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme |
Chipset | Intel X38 (X38 MCH + ICH9R) |
FSB frequencies | 200-800MHz (with 1MHz increment) |
Overclocking friendly
functions | Adjustable voltages: processor Vcore, Vmem, PLL,
FSB, North and South Bridge.
Independently adjustable PCI Express bus frequency. |
Memory | 4 DDR2 DIMM slots for dual-channel
DDR2-1067/800/667/533 SDRAM |
PCI Express x16 slots | 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 |
PCI Express x1 slots | 3 |
PCI expansion slots | 2 |
USB 2.0 ports | 12 (6 – on the rear panel) |
IEEE1394 ports | 2 (by VIA VT6308P controller) |
ATA-100/133 | 1 ATA-133 channel (by JMicron JMB368 controller) |
Serial ATA | 6 Serial ATA-300 channels
(in the chipset, with RAID support) |
ATA RAID support | RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 in the chipset |
Integrated sound | 8-channel HD codec: ADI AD1988B |
Integrated network | Gigabit Ethernet (by Marvell 88E8056 controller) |
Additional features | None |
BIOS | AMI BIOS v02.61 |
Form-factor | ATX, 305mm x 244mm |
The board is shipped in a traditional black Asus box. The front of the box is decorated with different logos and with a very brave statement that Asus Exclusive Energy Processing Unit allows saving up to 58.6% of CPU power.
The back of the box is more truthful and informative. There is a detailed specification of the board and a photo. We were surprised to see no traditional carry handle on this package. Looks like Asus tried to lower the end price by saving on small things.
We didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary from a box without a carry handle. However, it turned out filled with a lot of goodies: the board itself; a user’s manual; a CD disk with drivers and software; a set of FDD, PATA and SATA cables; I/O Shield for the case rear panel; an additional bracket with two USB and one IEEE1394 ports; Asus’ brand name Q-Connector set; centrifugal rotor fan for the chipset cooling system and SupremeFX II daughter card. We have already got acquainted with this card from our previous Asus mainboard reviews: it carries the analogue part of the sound tract and should be installed into PCI Express x1 slot.
