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ASUS P5W DH Deluxe

The ASUS P5W DH Deluxe motherboard offers full support for both ATI’s CrossFire technology and the Intel Core 2 Duo line of processors through the Intel 975X chipset. With the amazing C2D overclocking reports, this could be the board to beat.

Introduction

ASUS is a well established tier one motherboard manufacturer, catering to enthusiast and non-enthusiast alike. The company has made it a personal goal to create the most stable and performance oriented products on the market.

ASUS continues to be a market leader by using hardware and software advancements to stay one step ahead of the competition. Their latest motherboard, part of their Digital Home series, continues this trend.

The P5w DH Deluxe is ASUS’ premier offering with out of the box support for the Intel’s Core 2 Duo LGA 775 CPU. The board uses the Intel 975X Northbridge and ICH7R Southbridge chipsets. The Intel 975X chipset offers support for the following technologies: LGA 775 processors, DDR2 DRAM modules operating in Dual Channel mode up to 800MHz, and dual card ATI CrossFire support in x8 mode with matching ATI graphics cards installed. The P5W DH Deluxe is feature complete out of the box, requiring a minimal number of components for full operation: an Intel LGA 775 style processor, DDR2 memory, drives, and a PSU. ASUS chose to integrate the following components in to the P5W DH Deluxe: 1 IDE ATA-100 port and 3 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 capable) on the Intel controller; 1 IDE ATA-100 port and 2 SATA II ports (RAID 0 and 1 capable) on the JMicron controller; 2 SATA II ports (RAID 0 and 1 capable) on the Silicon Image controller; 8 USB 2.0 capable ports (4 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 Marvell Yukon GigE Ethernet ports in rear panel; 1 ASUS WiFi-AP Solo 802.11g wireless Ethernet antennae port in rear panel; Realtek 8-channel audio codec featuring S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports; and serial and PS/2 port support in the rear panel.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

ASUS chose a simple art design for the outside of the P5W DH Deluxe’s box, with the board’s name and supported processor and features clearly displayed across the box front. Inside the box, ASUS packaged the included WiFi antennae and remote control unit in a clear clamshell, visible thru the box front window. ASUS includes the following accessories in with the P5W DH Deluxe board: ATA-100 and floppy ribbon cables; SATA drive and dual ended power cables; the rear panel shield, the normal complement of driver CDs and manuals; brackets with USB 2.0, IEEE1394, and external audio device port support; an external audio device cable; cooling fan for the heat pipe system; the Q-Connector modules; board remote control and USB wireless sensor; and WiFi antennae. The Q-Connector modules allow for an easy interface for connecting in to the motherboard headers. You simply plug in your front panel jumpers in to the white connector and the USB 2.0 jumpers in to the blue connector block, and then plug both blocks in to the motherboard headers. It makes for a much easier install for those typically hard to reach header areas. The included remote control unit offers remote based operation of several features including hibernation, computer sleep mode with active wireless connection, system power off and on, and audio app startup and control.

Board Layout

As expected, ASUS did a superb job with the P5W DH Deluxe's layout, with no tight or contentious areas. All components on the board seem to be top notch, with both chipset and the MOSFETS covered with good sized copper coolers. The board itself did not appear to have any revision or serial number type marking clearly spelled out anywhere on the board’s surface. ASUS chose to use capacitors from the following manufacturers: Sanyo (Japan) marked as SEPC and United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) marked as KMG, KZG, and KZE. The capacitors marked with an F type symbol come from an unknown source.

The area surrounding the CPU socket is free enough of obstructions to allow for use of larger heat sink and water block cooling devices. While the capacitors to the right and above the socket appear likely to interfere with cooler placement, the capacitors are short enough not to get in the way. For CPU cooler hold-down, ASUS uses the standard 4 hole LGA 775 design. The Intel 975X chipset is located to the lower left of the CPU socket, covered by a good sized copper heat sink, attached to the MOSFET copper cooler via a heat pipe mechanism. Both coolers are held to the board via 2 push-pins on opposite sides of the respective cooler. Just above the Northbridge are the PWR-FAN1 and PWR-FAN2 3-pin headers and the onboard Jmicron based SATA 2 port. The 4-pin ATX12V power connector is located to the upper right of the CPU socket, with the 4-pin CPU-FAN header located to the CPU socket’s lower left.

The DDR2 slots are located below the Northbridge and CPU socket, oriented in a 2-by-2 fashion. In order to activate Dual Channel mode, you must place modules in like colored slots across sets. The 24-pin ATX power connector and onboard floppy header are located to the lower left of the DIMM slots.

The ICH7R Southbridge is located just below the secondary PCI Express x16 slot, covered by a low profile copper cooler. The chipset’s SATA 2 ports, the ATA-100 port, and the chassis intrusion and Silicon Image RAID jumpers are located just below the Southbridge. The Silicon Image controller chip lies under the copper plate labeled “ASUS EZ-Backup”, with its 2 SATA 2 ports to the upper right of the controller chipset. The 3-pin CHA_FAN2 header is just under the Silicon Image controller, with the SB_PWR LED and front panel header to its lower left. The SB_PWR LED illuminates when an active power source is connected to the board. To the left of the Southbridge chipset are the CMOS reset jumper, and the 3-pin CHA_FAN1 header. The 2 onboard USB 2.0 headers are colored blue, located above the Silicon Image SATA 2 ports.

The P5W DH Deluxe comes with 2 PCI Express x16 CrossFire capable video slots, 2 PCI Express x1 slots, and 3 PCI slots. Notice that ASUS chose to leave room on both sides of the PCI Express x16 slots to accommodated video cards with larger coolers. The CMOS battery is located in between the primary PCI Express x16 slot and PCI slot 1. The CD, MP3IN. and SPDIF_OUT headers are located towards the top of PCI slot 1. Note that the MP3IN header is used to connect with the external audio device port bracket. The front panel audio header is located just above the secondary PCI Express x16 slot. The JMicron ATA-100 port and the onboard IEEE 1394 header are located to the outside of PCI slot 3.

The P5W DH Deluxe includes the following ports integrated in to its rear panel assembly: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; COM port; 4 USB 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 external SATA 2 port; 2 Marvell Yukon Gigabit LAN Ethernet port; 1 802.11g wireless antennae port; 6 analogue audio ports; and S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports. Note that for the ASUS remote control to work properly, the USB wireless receiver must be plugged in to one of the USB ports adjacent to the analogue audio ports, per the sticker on the rear panel.

AiBooster

ASUS chose to include their AiBooster Windows based overclocking utility in with the board drivers. The version of AiBooster shown is 2.02.04. The AiBooster software supports a variety of functions including real time display of system voltages, fan speeds, temperatures, CPU FSB and speed, and multiple overclocking methods to choose from. The NOS button allows you to activate the dynamic overclocking technology, which will manipulate system voltages and FSB speeds in order to push the system to the desired overclocking level when needed. The Performance Mode option allows you to pick a static overclocking level based on either percentages or a combination of memory and CPU FSBs. The Tuning menu allows for full manual control of CPU FSB and voltage.