Disk for asus p5b deluxe motherboard. The Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard is an ideal solution for building high-performance PCs based on the LGA775 socket. Optional Onboard Controllers

Stanislav G. 5 years ago

Yandex market

Super Mom supports all processors and 4-core extreme, it’s just that for each percent on the Asus website there is its own Bios, otherwise there will be glitches as they write below and above. It swears at the rate but it works. Install the Bios that this particular processor needs and you will be happy...And it supports all the cool 2-4 core processors on 1066-1333Mz buses...look carefully on the Asus, there are about 20 bios of all sorts, if not more, and you will be happy. I wanted to buy a NAS server for the Home Cloud to use from a TV, etc. worked... and stupidly assembled it on this mother, so all the NAS servers in stores are just resting. So...if your arms are straight, everything will work out. I removed all the cooling and left it alone with no blowing noise at all and the temperature was 35 degrees. Learn...

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Advantages: Works for 9 years without shutting down

Disadvantages: No

Dmitry K. 6 years ago

Yandex market

I absolutely agree with previous speakers. The computer based on the board has been operating for the ninth year, the last two years as a home server with an 8 terabyte raid array. I later took the P5Q Turbo to my workstation - it doesn’t compare. There are always some incomprehensibility in the operation of the computer. Among the shortcomings, I can only note two points - the Q6600 works with a 4-core processor, but the BIOS constantly complains that it does not know such a processor. The processor appears in the list of supported ones, the BIOS is the latest version. Well, I still didn’t understand the raid - I tried to create a hardware REID 5, but from 4 terabyte disks an array of 2 terabytes was created, which is inadequate for REID 5. I had to do a software one.) In general, I would like to note a generally unpleasant point that Asus is quite suddenly gives up product support. It's sad.

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Pros: Reliability, performance, built-in RAID

Disadvantages: no particular ones noted

Sergey Gladunets 7 years ago

Yandex market

It has been working for seven years. Since 2007, I installed Core 2 Quad Q6600 2400Mhz (easily goes up to 3600Mhz) and Hynix 4GB 800Mhz. At the end of the summer of 2008, I installed an Nvidia GeForce GTX280 video card (which worked for 13 months, after frying for another 2 months) and with it a 730-watt Hyper power supply. Now I’m on a Radeon HD6870 and have been using an OCZ Vertex 64GB SSD as a system drive for three years. I plan to purchase a Sound Blaster ZxR, because I love good sound, the latest generation PCI-E connector (narrow) allows me to do this. Everything works like clockwork. I’m very happy with my platform, because of the SSD and good coolers everything works silently, I don’t see any point in switching to something new. Yes, by the way, I have been repairing cell phones since 2004, and therefore I have to actively use USB - it still detects everything clearly and never fails. Thanks to the guys from Asus for an impeccable product).

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Advantages: Good, reliable, all necessary interfaces are present (Sata, IDE, E-Sata, USB, COM-Port, optical audio, etc.).

Disadvantages: The problem in some online games is due to the built-in sound (it’s more likely a matter of drivers, but the manufacturer has stopped supporting this sound chip).

Guest 9 years ago

Yandex market

I’m not that picky about add-ons, but the fee is AWESOME throughout!

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Pros: Overclocking capabilities! cold north bridge (due to a well-thought-out cooling system with a standard fan on the bridge radiator)

Disadvantages: Once every six months you have to wipe off the dust and vacuum the body! :-)

It had excellent technical characteristics, supported all advanced processor solutions and made it possible to create the most productive computing systems. It also had an appropriate price ($200), and it belonged to the premium class of computer components. This is exactly what will be discussed in this material.

Equipment

Since this motherboard belonged to premium-level solutions, it had the appropriate equipment. The prudent manufacturer included everything possible in it:

• Deluxe motherboard.
• Instructions in English.
• 2 disks with drivers, specialized software and documentation in electronic form.
• Metal plug for the back cover of a personal computer case.
• 1 each for connecting a legacy hard drive and an FDD for connecting to an internal 3.5" floppy drive.
• 6 with the help of which new modifications of drives are connected to the system board.
• Sticker with the logo of the manufacturer.

Processor socket and chipset

Underlies the Asus P5B Deluxe. The characteristics of the chipset indicated that this motherboard was based on the 965 and South chipsets developed by Intel. The model of the first of them is 82Р965. Its main component is the RAM controller. In turn, it was designated 80281HR; its task was to ensure interaction with external controllers that were installed in expansion slots.

Optional Onboard Controllers

Asus P5B Deluxe boasted an impressive set of additional controllers. The following third-party components were included in this list:

1. 2 network controllers 88E8001 from Marvell. Due to this, this motherboard could well serve as a bridge and connect two separate sections of the local computer network.
2. Improved output sound quality was provided by the AD1988B controller from ADI. Its specifications met the requirements of CH7.1.
3. The JMB361 controller from JMicron provided dynamic control of the rotation speed of the cooling system fans of both the motherboard itself and the processor device.

Processors

The Asus P5B Deluxe boasted an impressive list of supported CPUs. The following processor models could be installed on this motherboard:

• The niche of the least productive solutions in this case was occupied by Celeron and Celeron-D. The first of them included only one core and had a low level of performance, which made it possible to solve the most simple tasks. In the second case, there were already two cores on one silicon chip, and this circumstance made it possible to use such chips in entry-level gaming systems.
• One step higher in the hierarchy were the Pentium 4 and Pentium-D series CPUs. As in the previous case, the first processor solution consisted of one computing module, and the second - of two. A higher level of performance was provided by a larger cache size and increased clock speeds.
• The premium CPUs in this case were Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad. The first family was equipped with 2 high-performance cores, and the second - with four.

Random Access Memory

As noted earlier, the RAM controller was included in the northbridge of the system logic set. It could address up to 8 GB of DDR2 RAM. Recommended module frequencies are 533, 667 and 800 MHz. It was possible to install higher speed strips with frequencies of the order of 1066 MHz, but this did not give a special increase in performance for the reason that they still worked at the maximum possible 800 MHz.

The random access memory controller was dual-channel. As a result, in combination with it, 2 modules of 1 GB each looked preferable than one of 2 GB. This organization of the RAM subsystem made it possible to obtain an additional 10-15 percent of performance.

List of expansion slots and communication capabilities

Three types of expansion slots were located on the Asus P5B Deluxe. This list included the following:

• 2 slots for installing discrete graphics in PCI-E version 16.0 format.
• 1 slot for PCI-E controller version 1.0
• 3 PCI slots for outdated controller modifications.

The list of communication connectors and ports included:

• 2 PS/2 sockets.
• 4 universal USB ports.
• One parallel LPT port.
• 2 RJ-45 network jacks.

Overclocking capabilities

Impressive performance enhancements have been implemented in the Asus P5B Deluxe. Overclocking processors could be done in the following ways:

• Increasing the system bus frequency to 650 MHz. The minimum increment step was 1 MHz.
• Increasing the CPU frequency multiplier.

In addition to this, it was possible to regulate the voltage on the processor in real time. All this made it possible to increase the speed of the computing system as quickly as possible.

Brief installation instructions

The system board of this model must be installed as follows:

1. We install the board into the case and secure it with bolts. A bolt must be installed in each mounting hole.
2. We install the remaining computer components inside the system unit.
3. We connect the front panel to the connectors in the lower right corner of the board.
4. We switch the power supply to all components of the computer system.
5. We connect the motherboard, drives and other PC components.

Results

The Deluxe motherboard became an impeccable premium solution. Its capabilities made it possible to create a personal computer of any level. But it is preferable to use it as part of high-performance computing systems.

Everyone has long been accustomed to the release pattern of motherboards from ASUS, when one basic model produces several modifications - most often Deluxe and Premium are added to the “regular” one. In this case, the PCB of the boards, as a rule, is the same, and the only difference is in the completeness of its filling and the variety of configurations. Even when the board underwent some modifications, visually it remained very similar to the rest of the series. But the ASUS P5B motherboard does not fit into the usual scheme, because... It has very little in common with the ASUS P5B Deluxe-Wi-Fi, which we visited earlier.

As you can see, motherboards differ not only in the color of the PCB and the completeness of the slots filled with microcircuits. The differences are everywhere: in the power supply schemes; in the set and number of expansion slots; in the arrangement of chips and connectors... But what can we count, with a biased approach they can generally be considered only as very distant relatives (only thanks to the use of identical chipsets as the basis). Therefore, we will not draw parallels, but will examine the ASUS P5B motherboard as an independent product, which has a budget textolite coloring and not the most affordable price.

Specification ASUS P5B

Package

The motherboard is packaged in a cardboard box, which, in addition to the board, contains IDE and SATA cables with power adapters, a plug for the rear panel of the case, a CD with drivers and additional software. All this will be discussed below.

Equipment

• Motherboard;
• CD with software and drivers;
• One ATA-133 cable, FDD cable;
• Four Serial ATA cables + two power adapters (two connectors each);
• User manual in English, brief installation instructions;
• Plug for the rear panel of the case;
• One ASUS Q-Connector Kit (USB, System panel; only in retail version);
• ASUS logo sticker.

Let us immediately draw your attention to the fact that, despite the presence of a COM port on the motherboard, the package does not include a bracket for outputting this port to the rear panel. To be fair, we note that COM ports are currently used very rarely, so we will not consider this as a big minus. By the way, the relative of the hero of today’s review, P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi, does not have the ability to output a COM port at all.

Also, despite the presence of six additional USB ports on the board, only two can be connected to the rear panel using the tools supplied in the kit. So to output a COM port and additional USB, you will have to purchase the corresponding accessories separately.

The conclusion can be drawn as follows: the equipment, considering the price on a 5-point scale, is 4. At least, an output strip for USB ports, which are constantly in short supply, would not be superfluous.

Now let's talk about the board design. In general, it can be considered quite convenient, but there are a couple of nuances that can create certain inconveniences and are worth paying attention to. So, everything in order.

There are a total of 4 cooler connectors on the board. The first connector, 4-pin CPU_FAN for the processor cooler, is located above the RAM connectors not far from the processor socket, but not too close to it (as is done, for example, on the MSI P965 NEO board), so there are no problems with connecting the power cable should not arise. The PWR_FAN connector is located next to it.

There are also two additional 3-pin connectors CHA_FAN1 and CHA_FAN2 for case coolers. They are located in such a way that it is convenient to install one fan on the front panel of the case and one on the rear. There are 2 power connectors on the board: the main 24-pin EATXPWR and the additional 4-pin EATX12V. The motherboard will require a power supply that meets the ATX 12V 2.0 specification.

Three-phase power stabilizer - modest. It consists of 9 capacitors with a capacity of 680 μF. Chipset cooling is passive, without the use of fans. The north bridge of the Intel P965 has a fairly massive heatsink. Traditionally, a radiator is also installed on the south bridge, but smaller.

To the right of the northbridge there are four 240-pin DIMM connectors for DDR2 memory modules. In fact, they are divided into two groups of two connectors. The slots of the first group belong to one controller channel, the slots of the second group – to another. It is possible to organize dual-channel memory access. To do this, install memory sticks in slots of the same color.

It is worth noting that the board supports DDR2 533/667/800 memory modules. The maximum total amount of RAM is 8 GB.

ASUS P5B is equipped with three standard PCI slots, three PCI Express x1 slots and one PCI Express x16 slot.

Note the top PCI Express x1 slot. As you can see, the north bridge cooling radiator is located next to it so that only a relatively small board can be installed in this connector. There is also a green LED indicator on the board that shows the status of the board.

Universal ports and storage support

In addition to the standard Intel ICH8 controller, which supports four SATA II ports, an additional JMicron JMB363 controller is used. It supports one additional internal SATA II port, one External SATA port located on the rear panel of the board, and one IDE port for connecting two compatible devices. Also, using the JMicron controller, you can organize RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD arrays.

So what do we have? As a result, 8 hard drives can be connected to the board: 6 Serial ATA II drives and two with Parallel ATA interface. Now let's move on to the USB ports. There are four USB 2.0 ports on the back of the board. In addition, it is possible to connect six more connectors using additional strips. There is no support for the FireWire interface on the motherboard. If we take into account the cost of the board, the lack of an IEEE 1394 controller can be considered a slight minus.

Sound subsystem

Now about the sound system. The AD1988A chip is installed as a codec, which allows you to output sound with a sampling frequency of 192 kHz and has 10 DAC and 6 ADC chips. It supports eight-channel HD Audio, includes device detection, reassignable functions, and multi-stream audio technology that allows you to send different audio streams to different channels. The signal-to-noise ratio is 105 dB. Noise Filter noise reduction technology is also used. This feature recognizes repetitive and persistent noise in the incoming audio stream and then eliminates it during recording.

Let's look at the sound card ports. The P5B motherboard supports S/PDIF audio output, which makes it easy to connect your computer to a home theater system with the ability to connect to speakers via optical or coaxial cable. We also see 6 more sound card pins. Everything is traditional here, the subwoofer is connected to the orange port, the rear speakers are connected to the black port in a 4/6/8-channel configuration, and the side speakers are connected to the gray port in an 8-channel configuration. Pink is traditionally used to connect a microphone, blue is a line input, and green is for headphones in a 2/3-channel system, or for connecting front speakers in 4/6/8-channel sound systems.

Net

To support network connections, a Realtek RTL8111B (Gigabit Ethernet) network controller is provided, which is connected via the PCI Express bus and supports operating speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s.

Proprietary technologies

To ensure fast performance with minimal noise, technology AI Gear allows you to select a profile that adjusts the system bus processor frequencies and vCore voltage. This ensures a reduction in noise and energy consumption. AI Nap also aimed at minimizing noise and more economical energy consumption. With its help, you can instantly put your computer into power saving mode without turning off applications (“standby mode”). Technology Q-Fan 2 provides regulation of the rotation speed of the processor and case cooler.

Rear panel of the board

Let's take a look at the back panel. Obviously, the manufacturer does not offer us anything original. As we have already noted, there is no COM port, which is gradually finding less and less place in modern boards. The panel has a parallel port (LPT), 4 USB ports, an RJ-45 connector for network connections, one external Serial ATA port, sound card outputs and, of course, two PS/2 ports for a mouse and keyboard.

A Clear CMOS (CLRTC) jumper is installed next to the FDD connector, with which you can reset the RTC RAM data, returning the BIOS settings to standard.

After the appearance of the new line of ASUS P5K motherboards based on the new Intel P35 Express chipset, it may be somewhat irrelevant to describe a board based on the “outdated” Intel P965 Express chipset. But in fact, the ASUS P5B series of motherboards remains a very interesting and sought-after product. The new chipset did not make a noticeable leap in performance; yes, it supports Intel processors with a 1333 MHz bus, but these processors are not yet on the market. The ASUS P5B line of boards will be in demand for at least half a year, because the price of the recently released series of boards is currently a little high. In this review, we will look at the low-end model of the line of motherboards based on the Intel P965 chipset ASUS P5B.

ASUS P5B motherboard specification:

The motherboard is packaged in a cardboard box, which is marked with support for the Windows Vista operating system and quad-core Intel processors.

The back of the package shows a photo of the board with footnotes of its best qualities and lists the proprietary technologies supported by the product. In a little more detail, let’s look at the technologies highlighted by the manufacturer:

AI NOS(Non-delay Overclocking System) – instant overclocking system that intelligently detects system load and automatically increases its performance.

AI Gear– this technology allows you to select a profile according to which the frequency of the processor, system bus and vCore voltage will be adjusted, thereby reducing noise and energy consumption.

AI Nap– technology that reduces noise and energy consumption to a minimum. It puts the computer into power saving mode without turning off applications, and wakes up the system by simply pressing a button on the keyboard or mouse.

If you would like to familiarize yourself in more detail with the entire list and description of proprietary ASUS technologies that this motherboard supports, you can do this on the manufacturer’s website.

The ASUS P5B motherboard is very well equipped. Includes:

• motherboard;
• CD with software and drivers for Windows Vista;
• User manual in English, brief installation instructions,
• FDD cable,
• cable UltraDMA 133/100/66;
• 4 Serial ATA cables;
• two power adapters for SATA devices, with two connectors;
• company sticker;
• ASUS Q-Connector;
• plug for the rear panel of the case;
• bracket with two USB connectors.

Note that there is no bracket with a COM port.

The ASUS P5B motherboard is quite well laid out, but, of course, there are some small comments that we will definitely make. Firstly, only a small board can be installed in the topmost PCIE x1 slot, because the northbridge heatsink is located very close. Aluminum radiators are installed on the north and south bridges - it must be said that during long-term testing and overclocking they did not cope with their task very well.

The Floppy connector is rotated, and it will not always be convenient to connect to it in small cases, so we recommend connecting the cable before installing the board in the case. The Intel ICH8 South Bridge supports four SATA II ports, without the ability to form RAID arrays. These four SATA connectors are located on the right corner of the board. In addition to them, there are two more - one is located near the PCI connectors, and the other External SATA port is located on the rear panel. The operation and organization of two hard drives into RAID 0.1 and JBOD arrays can only be provided by the JMicron JMB363 controller. At the same time, we note that it is completely inconvenient to use an external External SATA port to form arrays. In addition, the controller provides the only IDE connector on the board, with the ability to connect two devices.

The motherboard has three PCI slots, three PCIE x1, and one for a PCIE x16 video card.

Other notable features of interfaces and controllers include:
- support for ten USB ports, four of which are located on the rear panel;
- one COM port;
- PCI-E Gigabit LAN controller (RTL8111B) with transfer speeds up to 1 Gbit/s;
- HDA eight-channel audio codec SoundMAX ADI AD1988A with S/PDIF output and Noise Filter noise reduction technology.

The power stabilizer is three-channel, assembled using reliable polymer capacitors 680 μF x 4V and N-channel field-effect transistors NIKO-SEM P0903BDG (25V, 9.5mOhm, 50A). Unfortunately, there are no additional cooling elements on the transistors.

The rear panel has the following ports: two PS/2 for mouse and keyboard, parallel (LPT), six switchable audio ports, 4 USB connectors, RJ45 connector for network connections, SATA On-the-Go, coaxial and optical S/PDIF. Note the absence of a COM port, which can sometimes be useful.

You can connect four fans to the board, one of which is a 4-pin processor fan, and the other three are three-pin. The processor cooler connector is a little distant from LGA775 and is located in the upper part, near the memory slots. The remaining three connectors are conveniently spaced throughout the board, which provides a good choice of places to connect case fans. Q-Fan Control technology allows you to automatically regulate the rotation speed of a processor cooler powered from the CPU Fan connector and two more case fans connected to CHA-FAN 1-2 connectors.

The ASUS P5B motherboard uses AMI BIOS, with a large selection of settings necessary for successful overclocking of the system.

Overclocking options:
- Changing the FSB clock frequency from 100 to 400 MHz in 1 MHz steps (manual input);
- Selecting the operating memory frequency (DDR2-533/667/800/889/1067) and changing memory timings (CL, RCD, RP, RAS, 1T/2T);
- Changing the PCI Express bus frequency from 90 to 150 MHz in 1 MHz steps;

Set the DDR2 memory supply voltage from 1.8 V to 2.45 V, in steps of 0.05 V, or enable the Auto adjustment mode;
- Changing the processor core supply voltage from 1.225 V to 1.7 V in steps of 0.0125 V;

Voltage change FSB Termination 1.2/1.3/1.4/1.45 V;

Change the north bridge supply voltage 1.25/1.4/1.55/1.7 V;
- Change the supply voltage of the south bridge core (SATA, PCIE) 1.5/1.6/1.7/1.8 V;
- Change the supply voltage ICH Chipset 1.057/1.215 V;
- Changing the processor multiplier from 6x to max.

In the Hardware Monitor window you can monitor:
- temperature of the motherboard and processor;
- rotation speed of the processor cooler and two other fans in the case;
- processor core supply voltage;
- the voltage value of the main power lines is 3.3V, 5V, 12V.

In addition, it is possible to enable the CPU Q-Fan and Chasis Q-Fan functions, which are responsible for controlling the rotation speed of the processor cooler and case fans, respectively.

Carrying out a standard procedure for testing the capabilities of the system bus, we were able to increase its frequency to 470 MHz, but we are sure that this is not the limit. Unfortunately, we only had DDR2-800 memory at our disposal; if we had something faster, the result would probably have been better.

Testing

The following equipment was used to test the capabilities of motherboards.

CPU There is no noticeable difference in performance between motherboards on the new Intel P35 Express chip compared to motherboards on the Intel P965 Express chip; all indicators are virtually the same. Conclusions The ASUS P5B motherboard is a good basis for computer systems on modern Intel processors; the board shows excellent performance and has good overclocking capabilities. But, unfortunately, ASUS P5B has several disadvantages. The Intel ICH8 south bridge cannot organize RAID arrays, so if necessary, you will have to use the capabilities of the additional JMicron JMB363 controller, which supports only two connectors, one of which is located on the rear panel. Also a serious drawback, as it seemed to us, are the bridges that get very hot and the lack of a cooling system on the power stabilization unit. If the radiator of the south bridge was hot during testing, then the radiator of the north bridge was simply red-hot. Although the computer worked stably, there is still some concern about the safety of the chipset under prolonged loads on the system. Therefore, if you decide to do overlocking, then keep this in mind; perhaps it makes sense for you to choose a more expensive board with a better cooling system, or take care of improving the cooling yourself. The advantages include: high productivity; three connectors for connecting additional fans; a large number of settings in the BIOS required for overclocking; tested ability to operate at FSB frequency 470 MHz; external External SATA port; 8-channel High Definition Audio with coaxial and optical S/PDIF outputs. The disadvantages include: lack of a COM port on the rear panel and no additional panel included; poor capabilities for organizing RAID arrays; weak cooling system; lack of Firewire. We would like to express our gratitude to PF Service LLC (Dnepropetrovsk) for the motherboards provided for testing. Article read 112548 times Subscribe to our channels

ASUS has always been good at motherboards based on Intel chipsets. And the P5B series, which is based on the 965 series chipsets, is generally considered one of the most successful on the market. This series includes a huge number of different modifications - special overclocking versions, boards with improved equipment, boards for “advanced” office computers, etc. In our review we will look at one of the most affordable modifications, a board with the short name “P5B”. Although this board has basic functionality, it is similar to other, more expensive models, at least in the design of the printed circuit board and the options in the BIOS Setup. This means we can count on high performance and overclockability.

About the P965 chipset

ASUS P5B series motherboards, including the basic version under review, are based on one or another modification of the Intel P965 or G965 series chipset. We have already described the characteristics and functionality of Intel chipsets more than once, comparing them with their predecessors and some analogues. Now let's look at some features of the P965 chipset that will interest us in relation to the motherboard in question.

First of all, we note that Intel chipsets have no real analogues in their niche. In the area of ​​budget solutions, of course, there are some alternatives, for example, chipsets from VIA and SIS. Expensive motherboards are sometimes built on NVIDIA chipsets, which, however, are still inferior to the P965 and 975X on a number of points. And for universal mid-class boards there are no other options except Intel.

However, Intel chipsets are very expensive. Even such a functionally simple model as the ASUS P5B has a very high price for its class. Only with the release of a new series of Intel chipsets on the scene, and this event should happen this summer, will prices for previous generation motherboards begin to decline.

The Intel P965 chipset can be equipped with various modifications of the ICH8 south bridge, and this is not reflected in its name, as is the case with nForce chipsets. For example, ASUS P5B and P5B-E boards are formally based on the same P965, but differ in functionality. The first one has a basic ICH8 modification, which does not support RAID technology and contains 4 rather than 6 Serial ATA ports.

Also note that the P965 chipset does not support the Parallel ATA interface. At the same time, most optical drives sold today are connected via this interface. To compensate for this annoying drawback, motherboard manufacturers, even Intel itself, install an additional controller on motherboards. Usually their choice is an inexpensive controller from JMicron.

ASUS P5B. Design, functionality

In the case of the P5B series, ASUS developers decided not to use the same design for all boards in the series. Different models partially coincide in the wiring of certain elements, design of power circuits, layout, number and position of slots, but differ in the number of additional controllers, their location, and the presence of certain internal connectors.

So, on the P5B board we will find only three additional chips - an audio codec, a network controller and the already mentioned JMicron chip. Let's start with the last one. The JMB363 controller, the most common and popular among various board manufacturers, supports both Parallel ATA and Serial ATA. There is only one IDE connector on the motherboard, which is supposed to be used to connect an optical drive. Serial ATA ports support the ability to organize RAID level 0 or 1. However, ASUS developers decided to use one of the ports to connect an external hard drive with an External SATA (SATA-on-the-go) interface - it is displayed on the ports panel. Therefore, organizing RAID on the P5B is hardly possible; this is a rather significant drawback of the board.

The sound quality of the Analog Devices audio codec differs for the better from the more common Realtek codecs; There’s also nothing special to write about the Realtek RTL8111B network controller.

The port panel contains two digital S/PDIF connectors, six analog connectors, 4 USB ports, and PS/2 ports. The COM port has been removed, but if desired, it can be returned (the “pants” with a connector are not included in the package), the LPT port has been retained.

The lack of functionality can be compensated for by expansion cards; fortunately, the P5B has enough slots. The developers managed to place three PCI and PCI Express x1 slots in such a way that the devices will not interfere with each other: the video card does not block the memory latches, PCI cards do not rest against the heatsink or IDE connector, etc. The processor area is practically free of high capacitors, and the power connectors and fan headers are very well located.

However, there are a couple of inconvenient moments in the design of the board. We didn't like the IDE connector - it is located at the very bottom (when the case is oriented vertically), and to connect an optical drive to it you will have to either lower it into the last compartment of the case or lay a cable over the video card. The jumper for clearing CMOS is also very inconveniently located; it is difficult to feel with your fingers: the video card, cables, and the wire from the fan are in the way.

The P5B model is equipped with a three-channel processor power regulator (VRM), which is not too powerful for extreme overclocking. No cooling is used for transistors. The chipset chips are individually equipped with heatsinks: the north bridge MCH is large and tall, spring-mounted, the south bridge ICH is flat, needle-shaped, with regular plastic latches.

BIOS Setup

We are pleased to note that the youngest model in the series retained all the necessary settings, so it can be used without any problems for experiments with optimization and overclocking of memory and processor:

• FSB frequency - up to 650 MHz in 1 MHz steps;
• memory multiplier - 1:1, 5:4, 3:2, 5:3 and 2:1 from the FSB frequency;
• PCI Express frequency - up to 150 MHz in 1 MHz increments;
• voltage: Vcore (up to 1.7 V in steps of 0.0125 V), Vdimm (up to 2.45 V in steps of 0.10 or 0.05 V), Vtt (1.2 - 1.45 V), voltage at MCH (up to 1.7 V) and ICH (up to 1.8 V) .

The P5B has very few settings for the memory controller in the BIOS: basic timings (tCL, tRAS, tRCD, tRP, tWR) are supplemented by tRRD, tWRD, tRWD, etc., which are less relevant for overclocking.

The entire set of settings made can be saved in CMOS memory; Only two profiles are available. Also, the contents of BIOS and CMOS can be stored on a hard drive, USB flash drive or floppy disk; The utility built into the BIOS supports devices with the FAT file system.

The proprietary anti-freeze system, called C.P.R. (CPU Parameters Recall), allows you to do without the CMOS clearing procedure when it freezes. It is enough to turn off the power and then apply it again, and the BIOS will boot the system with safe settings and offer to correct incorrect settings without clearing them. Since C.P.R. works correctly in 95% of cases (except for some memory settings, the system cannot detect the fact of freezing), the savings in time and nerves during overclocking are colossal.

We also mention the proprietary BIOS firmware utility, which supports USB flash drives and hard drives. It can be launched directly from the BIOS or by pressing a key combination during initial boot (POST).

Testing

Most users consider the main advantage of the modern Intel platform (Core 2 Duo processor plus 965 series chipset) to be an incredible overclocking headroom. Many motherboards are capable of operating at FSB frequencies of more than 500 MHz (at a nominal 266 MHz), and Core 2 Duo processors at 3.5 GHz and higher. At the same time, power consumption and heating of components remain within normal limits; liquid cooling or powerful (and at the same time noisy) coolers are not at all necessary. Therefore, we will start with overclocking.

Overclocking We were unable to achieve stable operation from the board at an FSB frequency of 500 MHz. The board booted reliably at both 480 and 490 MHz, but problems were occasionally observed: freezes, including during boot, inability to reboot, etc. Stable operation was observed up to approximately FSB frequency 475 MHz. We suspect that the problem lies in insufficient cooling of the chipset when its supply voltage is significantly increased (1.55 V and higher); We plan to return to this issue later.

Our test configuration included:

• processor Core 2 Duo E6400 revision B2: nominal frequency 2.13 GHz (bus 266 MHz), 2 MB L2 cache;
• ASUS P5B board revision 1.04G, BIOS version 1102;
• two Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 1 GB memory sticks;
• Foxconn GeForce 7900GS video card;
• hard drive WD Caviar SE 250 GB, Serial ATA/300;
• GlacialPower 550 W power supply;
• operating system Windows XP SP2 32bit.

Without lowering the multiplier, the processor worked stably at 3.4 GHz (425 x 8) with a Vcore voltage of 1.45 V, which is about a 60% increase; further overclocking required the use of a more powerful cooler than the GlacialTech 5050. We decided to stop at this point and not take additional measures to improve cooling. The memory operated at a frequency of 850 (425) MHz with timings of 5-5-5-15-2. We also tested the board at nominal frequencies to determine the amount of performance gain from overclocking.

We ran a series of tests and got the following results:

• in the complex test SYSMark 2004 SE, the increase ranged from 14% (mail and Internet) to 53% (3D Studio Max 8); graphics and video processing programs won at least 40%;
• when compressing video, the increase is about 50%, regardless of the codec (DivX, Xvid, WMV);
• archivers won no more than 15% - memory access speed is more important for them;
• in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Premiere Pro 2, again, there is an increase of about 50%;
• 3D design programs received about 40% of the winnings;
• compilation speed in Visual Studio .NET has increased by a third.

Thus, we get quite tangible and significant benefits from overclocking the processor, without spending on special expensive memory (many DDR2-800 modules can operate at 425 MHz), power supply, or cooler.

Conclusions

The ASUS P5B motherboard can be described as a well-designed, balanced and reliable (according to service centers) product that fits well into its niche. Having limited functionality, this board offers ample expansion and connection of external devices, and has a well-developed BIOS with a sufficient number of options. Convenient to assemble, convenient to configure, allows you to decently overclock the processor. Unfortunately, the cost of the board for its class is very high, which does not allow us to recommend it to a wide audience of users.

• good layout;
• presence of an eSATA port;
• fan control support;
• thoughtful BIOS Setup;
• effective freeze protection system;
• simple and convenient BIOS flashing utility;
• possibility of overclocking the processor by bus (up to 470-478 MHz).

• overpriced;
• inconvenient location of the IDE connector;
• not designed for extreme overclocking;
• "oddities" of the BIOS.

Max KURMAZ,
[email protected]
Project GIGAMARK

We thank CDL Systems for providing the ASUS motherboard

Thank you online storeEvent-pc.com for the provided Intel Core 2 Duo processor

Thank you online storeUltraprice.by for the provided Corsair memory