The Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard is an ideal solution for building high-performance PCs based on the LGA775 socket. Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard is an ideal solution for building high-performance PCs based on the LGA775 socket Motherboard disk a
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P5K motherboards based on the new Intel P35 Express chipset, it may be somewhat irrelevant to describe the board as “outdated” Intel chipset P965 Express. 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 at this moment a little overpriced. In this review, we will look at the low-end model of the line of motherboards based on the Intel P965 chipset ASUS P5B.
Specification motherboard ASUS P5B:
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Manufacturer |
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North Bridge |
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South Bridge |
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CPU socket |
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Supported processors |
Intel Core 2 Quad / Intel Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium Extreme / Pentium D / Pentium 4 / Celeron D |
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System bus, MHz |
1066 / 800 / 533 MHz |
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Memory used |
DDR2 800 / 667 / 533 MHz |
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Memory support |
4 x 240-pin DIMMs, dual-channel architecture up to 8 GB |
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Expansion slots |
1 x PCI-E x16 |
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Disk subsystem |
ICH8 Southbridge supports: Optional JMicron JMB363 controller supports: |
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Sound subsystem |
SoundMAX ADI AD1988A 8-channel |
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LAN support |
Realtek PCI-E Gigabit Network Controller (RTL8111B) |
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24-pin ATX power connector 4-pin ATX12V power connector |
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Cooling |
Radiator on north and south bridge |
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Fan connectors |
1 x CPU |
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External I/O ports |
1 x Parallel Printer Port |
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Internal I/O ports |
3 x USB support 6 USB ports |
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8 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 |
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Overclocking options |
Changing FSB frequency, PCI-Express frequency, memory frequency, processor and memory voltage. |
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Proprietary technologies |
ASUS C.P.R. |
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Equipment (important) |
4 x SATA cable |
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Form factor Dimensions, mm |
ATX 12"x 9.6" |
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Products webpage |
The latest BIOS version can be downloaded from the official page. |
The motherboard is packaged in a cardboard box, which is marked with support operating system Windows Vista 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 with a simple press of a keyboard or mouse button.
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 on English language, brief instructions on installation,
- FDD cable,
- cable UltraDMA 133/100/66;
- 4 Serial ATA cables;
- two power adapters to SATA devices, with two connectors;
- company sticker;
- ASUS Q-Connector;
- plug for the rear panel of the case;
- strip 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 Southbridge 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. Work and organization of two hard drives RAID 0.1 and JBOD arrays can only be supported 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.
On rear panel The following ports are provided: 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 located throughout the board, which provides a good choice places for connecting 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 bus frequency PCI Express 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.
Conducting standard procedure testing the capabilities of the system bus, we were able to raise 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.
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CPU There is no noticeable difference in performance between motherboards based on the new Intel P35 Express chip compared to motherboards based on the Intel P965 Express chip; all indicators are virtually the same. conclusions 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 for 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:
The disadvantages include:
We would like to express our gratitude to PF Service LLC (Dnepropetrovsk) for the motherboards provided for testing. Article read 112548 times
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Today's review hero has long disappeared from store shelves and can no longer be found on the Internet. If you try, you can, of course, get this motherboard, Asus P5B Deluxe, from other users. Although that doesn't make much sense. Now this model is just an example of how the company's motherboard production has developed. The new products have long since changed their format, acquired powerful chipsets and got rid of unnecessary connectors on the interface panel.
Pay
The Asus P5B Deluxe model has received powerful characteristics. In 2006, it was practically the strongest motherboard on the market. Even when the P5K series with an updated chipset went on sale, this “motherboard” was in demand and interesting for buyers. At the time of the release of the new product, the P5B model was a reliable warrant, as it had already served faithfully for six months.
In addition, like any new product, the series was overpriced. Therefore, users were happy to support the production and the already supposedly “outdated” motherboard.
Supply
The new Asus P5B Deluxe board came in standard packaging. There was nothing special about her. The entire series was released in just such a box. It was painted blue. There was quite a lot of information up front. The board model and support for major chipsets were indicated. Also, the slogan was indicated in several languages: “Customize the speed as you want!”, which immediately hinted to buyers about the overclocking potential of the model.
On back side there was even more information in the box. It indicated the chipset format, proprietary technologies, new options, etc. A diagram was also depicted on which one could find the main elements on the product, where the cooling system, processor, audio system, and power supply were located.
Technologies
Continuing to look at the box, one could find the main technologies. Let's look at them in more detail. The manufacturer mentioned AI NOS, which will surprise no one now. Back then it was quite an interesting and very necessary solution for many buyers. The technology made it possible to automatically overclock the board, taking into account the load on the system.
The next AI Gear option introduced several profiles that allowed you to configure the entire system so that the chip frequency, system bus and voltage adjustments were balanced. Thus, the motherboard did not create much noise and reduced power consumption.
AI Nap also worked on the board's noise level. The technology made it possible to reduce noise and energy consumption. Now this feature is not surprising to users. And then everyone could “put to sleep” their PC without losing data and work processes.
Set
There was an instruction manual in the box for the Asus P5B Deluxe. It was not rich in descriptions and details, but in principle it made it possible to successfully install the “motherboard” into the case. Those who did not have enough of this information could find additional help online. Also in the box was a disk with drivers and software compatible with Windows Vista.
Among other things, it was possible to find cables for FDD, which is now not used anywhere, UltraDMA, 4 pieces of Serial ATA. The package was equipped with two SATA power adapters, a panel cover, and a bracket with two USB connectors. As a bonus, a branded sticker was included in the box.
Layout
The external one was also interesting. Asus view P5B Deluxe. The design review is interesting, first of all, due to the layout of the element base. It was executed well, although over time there were practical complaints. The first thing that catches your eye is the poor placement of PCIE x1. Only a small board can be placed in this slot, since there is a heatsink for the north bridge nearby.
By the way, both “bridges” received aluminum protection, but during overclocking and other powerful loads the radiators did not cope fully. If the PC case is small, then getting to the Floppy port is very inconvenient. Therefore, it was often necessary to use a cable to install the board.
The JMicron JMB363 controller is responsible for the operation of two hard drives in the array. To form them into a heap, you can also use External SATA, but this, as practice has shown, is very inconvenient. The above controller not only correctly organizes the operation of the hard drive, but also provides an IDE port, which you will no longer see on the board.
Ports
More than 10 years ago, motherboards had a huge number of slots and connectors that you can’t find now. Some of them were already superfluous even then. Some were enough, some were not. One way or another, the board was quite loaded.
This model has three ports for PCI, the same number for PCIE x1, and a PCIE x16 connector. The latter uses a video card for Asus P5B Deluxe. Depending on the modification, this board may have 8 or 10 USB connectors. Most often, four of them are displayed on the interface panel.
The COM port was also left in stock. There is a controller for the Internet that operates at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s. An eight-channel code is responsible for sound. The power stabilizer has three channels and is formed on fairly reliable polymer capacitors. Additional cooling elements, in addition to field effect transistors, there is no.
The interface panel has two connectors - for a keyboard and a PS/2 mouse. There is a parallel LPT here. For audio ports there are six places, four USB connectors and a place for connecting a network cable. In addition, there is SATA On-the-Go, S/PDIF coaxial and optical.
Four fans are installed on the board. For the processor it is four-pin. The remaining three have three contacts each. The cooler connector was located slightly away from the chip, not far from the memory slots. The remaining fan connections are conveniently placed to ensure even distribution of cooling.
By the way, the cooler was also equipped with a special technology that automatically regulates the speed of the fan associated with the processor and other mechanisms located nearby.
Support
The new board model supported a large number of processors. This way it was possible to connect Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D / EE, Celeron-D and Core 2 Duo. The socket had an LGA775 connector, which also allowed HyperThreading technology to function. Thus, the processor core could execute more data threads.
The north bridge worked with 82P965, and the south bridge - 82801HR. For memory there were four ports that supported the DDR2 format. Its maximum volume reached 8 GB, which was quite a lot at that time. Memory frequencies could reach 1066 MHz. Access to RAM was dual-channel, and the board had an additional power indicator.
Control
For Asus P5B Deluxe, the BIOS update was successful. The AMI version has a wide variety of settings and adjustments. In principle, the menu is intuitive, here you can easily figure out how to overclock the system.
Overclocking leads to the fact that the clock frequency of the chip can be increased to 400 MHz. The operating frequency of the memory is accelerated from 533 to 1067 MHz, which was a very good indicator in 2006. The PCI Express bus can also be easily accelerated to 150 MHz.
To ensure that the system operates in a balanced manner, you can change the memory supply voltage. Thus, raise it from 1.8 V to 2.45 V. If the user does not understand much about this, then there is also auto mode, which independently selects the voltage depending on the load on the system.
The same thing happens with the chip core supply voltage. It increases to 1.7 V. You can also increase the voltage for the north and south bridges, FSB and ICH Chipset.
In the BIOS menu you can see the system characteristics for Asus P5B Deluxe in progress. For example, changes in the temperature of the motherboard and processor, fan speed, supply voltage and its value. The main functions that work with the cooler are immediately turned on and off.
For high-quality overclocking, it is best to update the BIOS version. For this there is special utility from the manufacturer Update.
Modifications
It is worth noting that the Asus P5B Deluxe model is not the only one in the series. There is also a regular option, which differs only in the support of certain technologies. There is also an improved model. In general, all series of the line were popular among buyers. They liked the fact that there was a choice in different price segments. Some needed a regular motherboard, while others, on the contrary, wanted a more functional and powerful one.
This is how the Asus P5B Deluxe-WiFi appeared. The first most obvious difference from other modifications is the configuration. So, for this model, the box included not only a disk with drivers and software, but also another CD with additional software. There is an ATA-133 wire. For Serial ATA - six cables at once.
Inside there is a bracket for Firewire and two additional USB 2.0 connectors. As the name suggests, there should be an antenna inside for wireless network, here it is. They even included a separate user manual for it.
The box contains an additional fan, several connectors, a plug, a sticker and a microphone.
Several additional ports appeared on the board. One of the main advantages is the presence of two PCI Express x16, which expands the capabilities of this board and allows you to connect two video cards at once. But it is also interesting that although this is theoretically possible, it practically cannot be realized, since the chip itself does not have SLI or Crossfire technologies.
Overclocking
Before you find out how much you managed to speed up the memory for the Asus P5B Deluxe-WiFi, you need to consider the power options. It is created here according to an 8-phase circuit. It has only 15 capacitors: some of them have a capacity of 1000 μF, and some have a capacity of 821 μF.
For overclocking it is always better to use an additional fan. It's very nice that it is available. It allows you to actively cool the northbridge, and also makes the overclocking process itself stable and correct.
Since the modifications differ slightly from each other, the BIOS has been updated to version 0509 or 0701. The system bus frequency increases to 650 MHz, PCI Express can be overclocked to 150 MHz, the processor to 476 MHz. Memory, depending on options, increases the frequency to 1 GHz.
conclusions
Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard was excellent option in my time. Now it can be found on very ancient PCs, it does not have the necessary connectors to connect the latest peripheral devices, is also designed for moderate power consumption. But it would be quite strange if the user wanted to “squeeze” unprecedented performance out of this model after 10 years.
At that time, the motherboard was considered an advanced model, which had good equipment and was the leader among those who received the P965 chipset. Depending on the modification, the version had a passive cooling system with 4 or 7 fan slots.
The motherboard supported many newfangled technologies that made it possible to automatically configure the system and overclocking. It was also possible to adjust the fan speed. There was support for proprietary software.
The overclocking potential was also quite good. The chipset was the only element that limited some frequency indicators. Although even in this situation, the processor could be accelerated to 476 MHz, and this is an excellent result.
The Asus P5B Deluxe-WiFi version has become the most popular. It was stronger largely due to its good cooling system, in contrast to the simplest modification of the P5B. It was also good at organizing array formation and had Firewire, a technology that its smaller brother lacked.
Everything has been improved with the Asus P5B Deluxe-WiFi. What was missing was added, some elements, on the contrary, were removed. By the time the older version was released, the BIOS was also updated, on which the overclocking potential largely depended. The power system has been improved, temperature monitoring has become more accurate.
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 power 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
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CPU |
Socket LGA775 (compatible with Intel PCG 05B/05A/06B); Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott (2M)/Gallatin/CedarMill) with bus frequency 533/800/1066 MHz; Support for processors with Hyper-Threading technology; |
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Intel P965 Northbridge with Intel Fast Memory Access Technology; Communication between bridges: DMI; |
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System memory |
Four 240-pin slots for DDR2 SDRAM DIMM; |
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One PCI-Express x16 slot; |
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Expansion options |
Three 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots; |
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Built-in sound SoundMAX ADI AD1988A 8-channel; |
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Realtek PCI-E Gigabit network controller (RTL8111B); |
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Overclocking options |
Change the FSB frequency from 100 to 650 MHz in 1 MHz steps; Change the PCI-Express frequency from 90 to 150 MHz in 1 MHz steps; Changing the voltage on the processor and memory; |
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Disk subsystem |
Four Serial ATA II (on Intel ICH8); Optional JMicron JMB363 controller supports: 1 internal SATA II 1 external SATA II RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD |
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8 Mbit Flash ROM; |
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External connectors: 1x LPT, 1x Coaxial S/PDIF, 1x Optical S/PDIF, 1x External SATA, 1x LAN, 4x USB2.0/1.1, 8-channel audio, 2x PS/2 for mouse and keyboard; Internal connectors: 1x FDD, 1x IDE, 5x SATA II, 3x USB 2.0 2 ports each, 1x S/PDIF, 1x COM, 1x ADH, 1x CPU fan, 2x Chassis fan, 1x Power fan, 1x Chassis intrusion, 1x Front panel audio, 1x CD audio in, 1x 24-pin ATX power, 1x 4-pin 12V power, 1x system panel. |
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Power management |
Wake from PCI devices, modem, mouse, keyboard, network, timer and USB; |
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Monitoring |
Monitoring the temperature of the processor, motherboard, input voltages and processor core, rotation speed of four fans; |
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ATX form factor, 218 mm x 305 mm (8.6" x 12"); |
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Proprietary software |
ASUS PC Probe II Anti-virus software (OEM version) |
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. About all this we'll talk 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, using the tools supplied in the kit, can only be connected to the rear panel. 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 connectors for RAM modules 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. For motherboard You will need 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 – 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 back 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. On the back panel of the board there are four USB port 2.0. In addition, it is possible to connect six more connectors using additional brackets. Support FireWire interface not 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 stop at the ports sound card. The P5B motherboard supports S/PDIF audio output function, which makes it easy to connect your computer to a home theater system with the ability to connect to acoustic systems 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 by returning BIOS settings to standard.
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The number of boards supporting Intel Core 2 Duo processors is growing steadily. Recently, ASUS motherboards based on the P965 chipset appeared in stores, among which the most powerful and interesting is the ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi model. The main features of this product are the presence of two PCI Express x16 slots, support for Wi-Fi wireless communication (however, due to the installation of the corresponding module, the number of USB ports was reduced from 10 to 8) and the presence of an effective passive cooling system for the chipset and power module (8-phase !). In addition, one interesting component has appeared in the package, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves...
Specification ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi
| CPU | - Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott (2M)/Gallatin/CedarMill) with bus frequency 1066/800/533 MHz;
- Dual-core Intel Pentium D / EE (Smithfield/Presler) with bus frequency 800/1066 MHz; - Intel Celeron-D (Prescott) with a bus frequency of 533 MHz; - Support for Intel Core 2 Duo; - Socket LGA775 connector; - Supports processors with technology HyperThreading ; |
| Chipset | - Northbridge Intel® 82P965 Memory Controller Hub (MCH);
- Southbridge Intel® 82801HR Enhanced I/O Controller Hub (ICH8R); - Communication between bridges: DMI; |
| System memory | - Four 240-pin slots for DDR2 SDRAM DIMM;
- Maximum memory capacity 8GB; - Memory type DDR2 533/667/800/889/1066 is supported; - Dual-channel memory access is possible; - Power indicator; |
| Graphic arts | - Two PCI Express x16 slots; |
| Expansion options | - Three 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots;
- One PCI Express x1 slot; - Eight USB 2.0 ports (4 built-in + 4 additional); - Two IEEE1394 ports (Firewire; one built-in + 1 additional); - Built-in High Defenition Audio 7.1 sound; - Two Gigabit Ethernet network controllers; - Wi-Fi controller (802.11g); |
| Overclocking options | - Change the FSB frequency from 100 to 650 MHz in 1 MHz steps;
- Change the voltage on the processor, memory, FSB, SATA, PCI-E and chipset (MCH+ICH); - ASUS NOS technology (Non-Delay Overclocking System); - ASUS AiBooster utility; |
| Disk subsystem |
- 1 channel UltraDMA133/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE (JMB363; supporting up to 2 ATAPI devices); - Support for SerialATA II protocol (6 channels - ICH8R, with RAID support); - Support for SerialATA II protocol (2 channels - JMB363, with support for RAID 0.1, JBOD); - Support LS-120 / ZIP / ATAPI CD-ROM; |
| BIOS | - 8 Mbit Flash ROM; - AMI BIOS with support for Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features; - ASUS EZ Flash 2 technology; - ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 technology; - ASUS MyLogo2 technology; - Multi-languages BIOS; |
| Miscellaneous | - One port for FDD, one serial port, ports for PS/2 mouse and keyboard;
- Power indicator on the board; - STR (Suspend to RAM); - SPDIF Out; |
| Power management | - Wake up from modem, mouse, keyboard, network, timer and USB;
- Main 24-pin ATX power connector; - Additional 8-pin power connector; |
| Monitoring | - Monitoring processor temperature, system temperature, voltage, rotation speed of five fans;
- ASUS Q-Fan 2 technology; - ASUS AI Gear, AI Nap technology; - ASUS PC Probe II utility; |
| Size | - ATX form factor, 245mm x 305mm (9.63" x 12"); |
Box
Box with ASUS board P5B is inside the dust jacket:
One page flips out, and the user can briefly get acquainted with all ASUS proprietary technologies.
Equipment
- Motherboard;
- CD with software and drivers;
- CD with additional software (InterVideo software package) + description;
- One ATA-133 cable, FDD cable;
- Six SerialATA cables + three power adapters (six connectors);
- User manual in English;
- Bracket with additional Firewire port;
- Bracket with 2 additional USB ports 2.0;
- Wi-Fi antenna;
- ASUS WiFi Solo User Guide;
- Additional fan;
- A set of additional connectors;
- Plug for the rear panel of the case;
- ASUS logo sticker;
- SoundMAX microphone.
Standard components are almost enough. In particular, the package includes 6 SerialATA cables, 3 power adapters with 6 connectors, a ParallelATA cable and a cable for the drive.
In addition, there is one bracket with two USB2.0 ports and a bracket with a Firewire port.
However, to fully realize the full potential of the board, you need another bracket with two USB ports, one SerialATA cable and an appropriate power adapter.
There were no complaints about the user manual. Also note that the CD contains a complete set of necessary drivers (including drivers for 32 and 64 bit Windows versions, drivers for Linux, as well as proprietary utilities, and Norton InternetSecurity 2006 antivirus).
Additional software(InterVideo software package (MediaOne Gallery, WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum, PhotoAlbum, Disk Master 2.5 Platinum, DVD Copy 2.5 Platinum) is located on another CD and is equipped with brief description. There is also a brochure for installation and configuration wireless communication Wi-Fi standard.
The Wi-Fi module is installed directly on the board and has a special connector for connecting an antenna (the connector is located on the rear panel). The antenna itself is included in the kit:
Let us separately note the “bonus” elements of the package. Firstly, this is an additional “turbine” fan, which is installed on the power module radiator.
Secondly, this is a special additional connector ( Q uick Connection Kit), to which you can connect all the cables from the case (the “Power”, “Reset” buttons, the cable from the “HDD” indicator, etc.), and then connect them to the board with one movement of the hand.
Finally, a dedicated SoundMAX microphone is included in the package.
This device is not developed by ASUS, but manufactured by Andrea. Using two spaced apart microphones, the developers achieved partial reduction of interference and sound reflections, and also eliminated background noise using the Noise Filter function.
Final conclusion: thanks to various additional components, as well as a fairly decent standard set of cables, cables, etc., the board package looks very good. And even without accurate information about the price, we can easily give it a “5” rating.
ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi board
The design of the board is quite convenient from the builder's point of view: the power connectors are installed at the edges of the board, and the latches of the DIMM slots are not blocked by the PCI Express video card. In addition, the connector of the built-in IDE controller is located parallel to the plane of the board (which makes it easier to connect the cable).
The only difficulty can be created by the inconvenient location of the additional SerialATA port, which is located near the rear panel. Although if you use it to connect external devices, then the convenience of the location is obvious!
I would like to draw your attention once again to the board's power connectors. An 8-pin connector is installed on the left edge. Moreover, the board is capable of working with 20+4 power supplies, and the contacts not used in this case are covered with a plastic cover.
Near processor socket a 4-pin CPU_FAN connector is installed for the corresponding cooler.
In addition to this, there are six more (!) 3-pin connectors installed on the board: PWR_FAN - near the DIMM slots, CHA_FAN1 and CHA_FAN3 - on the left edge of the board, CHA_FAN2 and CHA_FAN4 near the north bridge, and CHA_FAN5 - near the south bridge. Note that ASUS produces several models using this PCB design, but the CHA_FAN4 and CHA_FAN5 connectors are only available on the P5B Deluxe-WiFi version.
Only a passive radiator is installed on the northbridge, which is connected to the radiator on the power module using a heat pipe. Accordingly, heat is transferred from the chipset to this heatsink, from which it is dissipated. This circuit works especially effectively if an additional fan is installed on the power module heatsink (included in the kit).
Under the northbridge there are four 240-pin DIMM slots for DDR2 memory modules. They are divided into two groups of two slots. The first two slots belong to the first controller channel, the last two – to the second channel.
Note that the board supports DDR2-533/667/800/889/1066 memory, and the total memory capacity is 8 GB. As soon as voltage is applied to the board, a pair of green LEDs installed on the back of the board lights up. And as soon as the system starts, a pair of red lights located in the same place light up. On the front side of the board there is a transparent ASUS logo, which is effectively illuminated by the mentioned LEDs.
The board has two PCI Express x16 slots (both with latches), which are intended for video cards.
However, due to the internal limitations of the P965 chipset, the board does not support working with two video cards using NVIDIA SLI or ATI Crossfire technologies. By the way, only 2 or 4 PCI Express bus lanes are actually allocated to the second PCI Express x16 slot.
In addition to the listed slots, the ASUS P5B board has three more “regular” PCI slots, as well as one PCI Express x1 slot.
Expansion options
The ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi board has an ICH8R south bridge with a heatsink. As a result, the board supports 6 SerialATA II ports, and allows you to combine disks into RAID arrays of levels 0, 1, 5 and 10 (MatrixRAID).
In addition, 2 more SerialATA II devices can be connected to the JMB363 controller, manufactured by JMicron (the chip is located near the rear panel).
One port is located on the rear panel of the board, and the other is located near the rear panel. The same controller provides support for one ParallelATA channel.
In total, you can connect 10 hard drives (8 SATA + 2 PATA) to the ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi board.
Next, the board has only 8 USB2.0 ports (out of 10 supported by ICH8R). Of these, 4 ports are installed on the rear panel, and another 4 are connected using a bracket (one bracket with two ports is included in the kit). Most likely, the decrease in the number of USB ports is due to installation on Wi-Fi board module.
In addition, the ASUS P5B board supports another type serial bus- IEEE1394 ("Firewire"). For this purpose, a TSB43AB22A controller manufactured by Texas Instruments is installed on the board.
As a result, the board supports 2 Firewire ports: one is located on the rear panel, the other is connected using a bracket (included in the kit).
Now a few words about the network: the board has two high-speed network controllers: Marvell 88E8056 (Gigabit Ethernet),
and Marvell 88E8001 (Gigabit Ethernet).
The rear panel of the board has a rather non-standard configuration.
In particular, ASUS engineers completely abandoned support for the LPT port and one COM port. In their places are optical and coaxial SP-DIF outputs, as well as one SerialATA II port and a Firewire port. However, the second COM port is provided by the PCB design, but is not available on the ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi model.
Traditional circuit of jumpers on the board:
There is only one jumper installed on the ASUS P5B board: CLRTC - a jumper for clearing CMOS (located near the battery).
Now let's talk about BIOS settings.
BIOS
The BIOS of the ASUS P5B board is based on the AMI BIOS version.
In the memory settings section there is the following set of timings:
An important parameter that affects performance is setting the memory frequency. It is located in the overclocking settings section.
Now let's look at the section on system monitoring.
The board displays the current values of processor and system temperatures, rotation speeds of five (out of seven!) fans, as well as voltage levels. In addition, coolers connected to CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN1-3 can change the rotation speed depending on the temperature of the processor and system. Moreover, for a processor cooler there is a separate set of settings Q-FAN 2, and for coolers connected to CHA_FAN1 - CHA_FAN3 there is one set of general settings.
In addition, you can monitor system monitoring readings in Windows. The ASUS PCProbe 2 system monitoring utility is designed for this purpose.
The board also works with the ASUS Update utility, which is designed to update drivers, flash BIOS firmware and change the POST screen (MyLogo2 function). And finally, the board supports the CrashFree BIOS 3 function (recovering damaged firmware using a floppy disk, CD or Flash disk).
Traditionally for motherboards manufactured by ASUS, the BIOS supports displaying parameters in several languages (Multilanguages BIOS).
The BIOS also gives the user access to setting up all functions of modern processors:
There are several ways to update the BIOS version. First, use the AFUDOS (DOS) and ASUS Update (Windows) utilities, and in the latter case you can record a POST image in the BIOS (the MyLogo 2 function is intended for this). Secondly, the user can use the EZ Flash 2 utility, which is built into the BIOS. Moreover, the file with new firmware can be located not only on the usual 3" floppy disk, but also on a hard drive or USB flash drive.
But probably due to BIOS flaws, the EZ Flash 2 utility froze immediately after launch.
In conclusion, we note the OC Profile technology, which allows you to save all BIOS settings in memory and, if necessary, load them. ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi board supports two independent profiles:
By the way, the usual crib with a BIOS chip is not on the board.
Apparently, the BIOS functions are performed by this chip.
It is this that allows you to implement additional functions and technologies (such as OC Profile). That is, it looks like ASUS engineers are trying to combine BIOS functions and additional functions in one chip. And the traditional approach is to have a BIOS + install an additional chip on the board, such as abit mGuru, MSI CoreCell and Foxconn FoxOne/TigerOne.
Overclocking and stability
Before moving on to overclocking, let's take a look at the power converter. It has an 8-phase circuit (!), in which four capacitors with a capacity of 1000 μF and 11 capacitors with a capacity of 821 μF are installed.
To ease the thermal conditions of the power module, as well as for active cooling of the northbridge (important during overclocking), the user can install an additional fan (included).
Now let's move on to considering the overclocking functions.
Firstly, the ASUS P5B board allows you to change the system bus frequency in the range from 100 to 650 MHz in 1 MHz steps.
Conveniently, the required FSB frequency value can be entered from the keyboard.
Secondly, the ASUS P5B board allows you to change the voltage on the processor (Vcore) in a very wide range: from 1.1 V to 1.7 V in steps of 0.0125 V.
In addition, we have at our disposal a function to increase the voltage on the chipset, both on the northbridge (from 1.5 V to 1.65 V in steps of 0.05 V),
and in the south.
The available values are 1.057 V and 1.215 V. In addition, it is possible to increase the voltage on the FSB from 1.2 V to 1.45 V in steps of 0.05-0.1 V.
The user also has a function that increases the voltage on the PCI Express bus and on SATA in the range from 1.5 V to 1.8 V in steps of 0.1 V:
It is also possible to change the frequency of the PCI Express bus, in the range from 90 MHz to 150 MHz,
and fix the PCI bus (this is important for the correct operation of PATA hard drives):
Now let's try the overclocking functions in practice. So, the ASUS P5B board showed excellent results: stable operation at FSB = 476 MHz with a processor based on the Conroe core.
There are several worth noting important points. Firstly, the P965 chipset is somewhat inferior to the i975X in terms of overclocking capabilities. This primarily concerns setting the memory frequency. The i975X has the ability to lower the memory clock, but the P965 does not. In other words, on a motherboard with a P965 chipset, the memory operates either synchronously or at a higher frequency than the FSB. It is clear that to achieve better overclocking results, it is necessary to set the synchronous mode (for P965), since at high FSB frequencies (400 MHz and above) the memory operates at the limit of its capabilities, and requires increased voltage and improved cooling.
Secondly, at high FSB frequencies (again from 400 MHz and above), stability of operation is achieved by increasing the voltage on the northbridge of the chipset. Accordingly, there is a need to improve the cooling of the chipset.
Thirdly, a lot depends on the processor model. Of course, the E6300 is the cheapest, and allows for an impressive percentage increase in clock speed. But due to the very small multiplier, it cannot be an “overclocker's choice”. And this role is claimed by the E6400 model, which costs ~$40 more, but has a multiplier = 7. This means that to achieve the technological limit (3.5 GHz) of this processor it is necessary to increase the FSB frequency from 266 MHz to 500 MHz, which quite achievable. However, the new stepping (B2) can increase the overclocking potential, and thereby force the user to more carefully select system components and improve the cooling system. It should be noted here that some enthusiasts reached FSB frequencies >=550 MHz using the ASUS P5B Deluxe board. True, for this, a physical modification of the board was used to increase the voltage on the north bridge. It is clear that in this case the warranty on the board is lost, but if ASUS programmers release new version BIOS with an expanded range of Vdd changes, then there will be no need for a soldering iron, and this board will be able to compete for the title of the best overclocking platform (we will make the corresponding conclusion in a comparative review of motherboards on the P965 chipset at the end of the year).
conclusions
The ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi board is a very interesting and attractive product. An excellent combination of good equipment, powerful expansion capabilities and advanced functionality makes this motherboard one of the leaders among motherboards based on the P965 chipset. The only point that may affect the conclusions is some uncertainty with the retail price. And if the latter is at the level of competitors, then we definitely recommend this board for purchase.
We would like to emphasize following features boards: passive cooling system for the chipset and power module with the ability to install an additional fan; the presence on board of seven(!) connectors for connecting fans; quite a decent package, which includes a SoundMAX microphone (costing $35); the presence of a Wi-Fi wireless communication module, the presence of two PCI Express x16 slots, as well as support for 8 SerialATA II channels and one ParallelATA channel.
In addition, we note support for such proprietary technologies as CrashFree BIOS 3, EZ Flash 2, OC Profiles, as well as support for proprietary utilities PC Probe II, AI Booster and ASUS UpdateMyLogo2.
And finally, let's say a few words about the excellent results in the field of overclocking. Even despite some limitations of the P965 chipset that do not allow lowering the memory frequency, the ASUS P5B Deluxe-WiFi board showed excellent stability at a very high FSB frequency = 476 MHz!
As for the board's shortcomings, despite all the thorough testing we did not find any.
Conclusion
Pros:- High stability and good level of performance;
- 8-phase power supply;
- Availability of two PCI Express x16 slots;
- SerialATA II/RAID support (8 channels; ICH8R + JMB363);
- Supports one P-ATA channel (JMB363);
- Built-in 8-channel audio and two network controllers (Gigabit Ethernet);
- USB2.0 (8 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports) interface support;
- Wi-Fi support;
- Excellent equipment (including SoundMAX microphone, additional fan);
- A wide range of proprietary ASUS technologies (PC Probe II, EZ Flash 2, CrashFree BIOS 3, MyLogo2, Q-Fan 2, etc.);
- Additional set of AI Proactive technologies (AI Overclock, N.O.S., AI Net 2, etc.);
- Passive/active cooling system for the chipset and power module.
- Not detected.
- Excellent results in overclocking the processor and memory;
- There is a SerialATA II port on the rear panel; no LPT and one COM port.
