![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, January 30, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS P5E3 Premium
The newest member in ASUS’ Intel lineup seems to finally deliver the performance that DDR3 has been promising. Paired up with the newly introduced Intel X48 chipset, this board packs a performance punch that few others boards can compete.
Subsystem Testing
NOTE: For all Subsystem Testing, an Intel LGA 775 E6300 Core2 Duo CPU with a 1066MHz FSB and 2 x 1GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3-1800 memory modules running at 1066MHz were used in testing.
Audio – Subjective Listening
One of the easiest ways to determine the quality of the audio subsystem is via a subjective sound test. Ideally, a sound test requires audio covering the entire spectrum, from subtle to intense. For this test, I chose to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins album Zeitgeist.
During the audio playback, there was no detectable distortion detected.
Audio – Microphone Port Testing
The MIC-IN input was tested using both our standard Labtec Desk Mic 524 testing microphone. Spoken words were recorded and played back using Microsoft Sound Recorder, with the Microphone Boost option disabled and enabled. The Microphone Boost option is found within the Advanced menu under the Microphone section within the Volume Control menu.
While the microphone audio pickup was usable, there was a minimal amount of distortion detected with or without Microphone Boost enabled. You would be better off finding another microphone based solution for long term or gaming use.
Drive Performance
To adequately test the capabilities of the on board USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 connections, we chose to use an ACOMDATA HD060U2FE-72-USB 2.0/FireWire HDD connected to both ports. SATA and IDE drive tests were performed using Maxtor 40Gb ATA 133 model 6E040L0 hard drives on the IDE headers and Samsung 40GB SATA II hard drives on the SATA headers. The SATA drives were used for testing in a RAID 0 16k block size configuration and in standalone mode on the Intel ICH9R controller. Testing was also conducted using an IDE drive in a primary slave configuration with the JMicron controller only. All drive benchmarks were done using the open source Iometer program
The SATA RAID 0 array’s based performance was best overall, with that of the standalone SATA drive and IDE drives coming in as expected. The IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0 devices performed on par with one another. In all cases, the CPU utilization seen during testing remained below 1%.
Network Utilization Tests
Hagel Technologies’ DU Meter software was used in conjunction with Windows Task Manager to measure the performance of the Marvell Yukon GigE NIC, the Realtek GigE NIC, and the ASUS 802.11n wireless NIC. DU meter was used to measure bandwidth, with Windows Task Manager to monitor the CPU utilization on the test system. For the test itself, a 750MB archive file containing various sized .WMA audio files for the large file transfer test and a 750MB worth of various sized .WMA audio files for the small files transfer test were used in conjunction with an integrated Gigabit NIC on the host system and a crossover cable to connect the host system to the test system. A crossover cable was used to rule out any possible bandwidth losses due to hub or switch passage. The wireless testing was done by connecting to the host system though a configured 802.11g capable router due to the lack of availability of a faster 802.11n capable router. Due to the bandwidth limitations of wireless, there was no concern of bandwidth loss due to router interference.
Marvell Yukon GigE controller
The large file transfer results were ok, but not the highest numbers I’ve seen. The download speed bested that of upload by 9MB/s, coming in at just under 31MB/s. The CPU utilization remained below 20% during all upload tests.
The small file transfer results were more within expectations than those seen during the large file transfer tests. The upload bested download by 7 MB/s, with the average CPU utilization not passing the 20% mark.
Realtek GigE controller
The large file transfer results were marginally better than those seen on the Marvell controller, with download speed beating the upload speed by 11 MB/s. The CPU utilization stayed below 30% on average during both tests.
The small file transfer results came in as expected, with average upload speed besting those of download by 9 MB/s. Average CPU utilization remained at or under 20% for the duration of the small transfer tests.
ASUS 802.11n wireless controller
The large file transfer tests were identical for both download and upload, coming in at 1.5 MB/s. The CPU utilization remains below 20% during the tests.
The small file results mimicked those of the large file transfer, with the download and upload speed coming in just under 1.5 MB/s. The CPU utilization remained under 20% as well.