Anti-crisis platform. Review of the Asus P5Q motherboard. Review, testing of the ASUS P5Q Premium motherboard Description of the test system

Not long ago, in our article about ASUS Maximus II Formula , we wrote that motherboards from ASUS based on the Intel P45 Express chipset have spread to all price segments of the market. And then it seemed to us that all he had left to do was win the hearts of gamers and enthusiasts with the help of the same ASUS Maximus II Formula .

But, as it turns out, Taiwanese engineers don’t think so, and they created a cheaper version of the ASUS P5Q board, giving it the name ASUS P5Q SE. Thus, the expansion of the most popular Intel P45 Express logic set in our time has spread to very economical users whose budget for a motherboard does not exceed $120.

Let us recall that until this moment, the price range “up to $120” was dominated by motherboards based on Intel P35 Express and P43 Express chipsets. Well, let's see how the lightest motherboard based on Intel P45 Express can compete with them. And it will help us with this ASUSP5QS.E. .

Appearance, specification, equipment

The motherboard is delivered in the already “painfully” familiar blue box, like the rest of the representatives ASUS series P5Q.

On back side The box describes the main characteristics of the board and its features. On the right top corner There is a visual representation of the board - this is very convenient.

The kit contains:

power adapter for SATA devices with two connectors; 2 SATA cables; 1 IDE cable; 1 FDD cable; branded plug on back panel housings (with dielectric soft coating); a set of proprietary Q-Connectors that facilitate the connection of internal connectors; instructions and DVD with drivers and software.

We didn’t expect rich equipment, but everything necessary is present, there’s nothing to complain about.

Specification:

All prices for ASUS P5Q SE

Well, the characteristics are quite decent, but I would like to note a couple of disadvantages: the lack of the ability to build RAID arrays, either using the south bridge or additional chips; lack of support for CrossFire technology, a very promising feature of the Intel P45 Express.

Even though this model is as lightweight as possible, it still has a number of features and special functions typical of ASUS boards.

ASUS EPU-4 Engine

The energy saving function is already well known to us. However, in this board it has the number 4 in its name, not 6. As can be seen from the diagram, 2 elements have disappeared: the chipset and RAM. We don’t know what made the engineers cut these functions, but they would be very useful in an economical version of the board, because economical users also save on electricity.

As a result of this simplification, we, like ASUS marketers, no longer undertake to claim 80% energy savings.

ASUS Express Gate

Also, a function we have reviewed more than once that allows you to download mini operating system before loading the main one. This makes it possible to access Internet browsing, sending email, listening to music, viewing photos no more than 5 seconds after turning on the computer.

100% High-quality Japan-made Conductive Polymer Capacitors!

ASUS assures us that it uses only high-quality solid-state capacitors made in Japan and provides a guarantee of 5000 hours of continuous operation of the VRM (processor power supply unit). Well, this is an interesting positive quality of an inexpensive board, although 5000 hours is only 208 days of round-the-clock operation.

ASUS Crystal Sound

Like all P5Q series boards, this board also has a special sound filter that allows you to get clearer sound.

Let's consider Board structure in more detail.

But here a surprise awaited us. Apparently, ASUS engineers still wanted to “go further into the forest, but at the same time break as little wood as possible” and, therefore, installed a more powerful set of logic in the tested motherboard. In this magical way, ASUS P5QL PRO became the heroine of our ASUS P5Q SE review. Well, we will still have time to check what new this transformation has brought us, other than an increase in price by $10.

The layout of the boards is similar with all the ensuing advantages and disadvantages. The arrangement of the main elements is done quite well, but there are two serious criticisms: first, the FDD connector is located in the lower left corner and if there is a need to connect a 3.5” drive, you will have to pull a wide and inconvenient cable through the entire body. Although today FDD is used less and less, so it may not be necessary. The second note is the location of the board's 24-pin power connector. It is located in a bad place and when installing a large cooler on a processor, the power cable can interfere with the air flow, or even completely prevent the cooler from being installed.

However, unlike ASUS P5Q, its younger sister has only a 4-phase processor power regulator, and is not covered with a radiator. Affected by kinship with ASUS board P5QL PRO on Intel P43 Express.

At the same time, the small radiators on the north and south bridges leave much to be desired. Therefore, we will have to make a verdict - cooling is weak side motherboard ASUS P5Q SE.

But there are no complaints about the location of the SATA connectors and the PCI-e X16 slot for the video card. Everything is organized very competently and conveniently. Installing a video card with big system nothing will interfere with cooling and it will not block access to anything.

There is nothing unusual on the back panel:

1 x PS/2 port keyboard 1 x PS/2 port mouse 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF output 1 x LAN (RJ45) port 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 8-channel audio port.

We're done with the hardware review, let's take a look at the settings BIOS.

Upon pressing the treasured Del button, a typical BIOS from Amerecan Megatrends Inc. awaited us.

The menu for overclocking Ai Tweaker is quite standard, we note only limited voltage control - only for the main elements.

BIOS settings were discussed in ASUS review P5QL PRO, and we will not dwell on them again, since nothing special was noticed. But, nevertheless, let us recall all the BIOS settings intended for overclocking and fine tuning ASUS P5Q SE:

Despite the fact that the board provides for the installation of only one case fan, the ability to regulate its speed is retained.

Testing

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

We tested the board in various popular test packages. Take a look at the results.

As you can see from the diagrams, there are no performance dips in all tests. The board holds up confidently and demonstrates stable high results. This indicates a well-debugged BIOS firmware.

TestingsoundcodecRealtek ALC1200

Overall results (RightMark Audio Analyzer)

And here are the test results sound path We were not pleased - all previous P5Q series boards received an overall rating of “very good”.

Overclocking potential

Yes, we still decided to test such a budget motherboard for overclocking potential. And, as the results show, it’s not in vain. Take a look for yourself.

The test dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 successfully worked at a system bus frequency of 525 MHz. Intel P45 Express, you know, is no joke - it makes itself felt, even in difficult (or rather, lighter) conditions. As for the quad-core processor, the results are as follows:

System bus frequency 500 MHz – bravo! Even more “advanced” boards could not always reach the 500 MHz mark. So, as mentioned above, it was not in vain that we tested the board for overclocking - it showed truly outstanding results for its price category.

But we hasten to disappoint you, since along with excellent overclocking potential, the board also has excellent “cooking” potential. During tests, you could safely fry eggs or boil a kettle on the northbridge radiator. And this is with additional blowing by a fan.

Conclusions

The release of ASUS P5Q SE marked the emergence of a popular Intel chipset P45 Express in the budget sector. However, how justified is such an action? Yes, we got a board with excellent overclocking potential, but that’s where its advantages end. After all, the price reduction (we apologize for the pun) turned out to be almost everything - from RAID and CrossFire support to radiators for the cooling system. In this context, the ASUS P5QL-E board based on the Intel P43 Express chipset is more preferable to purchase. At the same cost, it supports the creation of RAID arrays, energy saving EPU-6 and has a more efficient cooling system. Therefore, it becomes obvious that ASUS has made a mess of itself, trying to offer the cheapest motherboard based on the Intel P45 Express.

Advantages:

excellent overclocking potential; affordable price; support for PCI-e 2.0 and the latest 45 nm processors.

Flaws:

not very ergonomic design; lack of CrossFire and RAID support; Lack of FireWire controller; Lack of eSATA port; the need to replace the standard cooling during overclocking.

CrossFire technology has proven its worth, showing that by combining two AMD video accelerators it is possible not only to achieve an increase in performance, but also to save money by buying two inexpensive video cards instead of one “top-end”. The ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard, which we will test this time, is today the cheapest model based on Intel P45 Express system logic with two PCIE x16 slots, and therefore supports ATI CrossFireX technology in one of the most powerful x8+x8 configurations on the PCI Express 2.0 bus. . We have already tested many solutions from the P5Q series - ASUS P5Q-E, ASUS P5Q Deluxe, ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP @n, going into detail about all the proprietary technologies in this line, so now we just need to understand what the more affordable ASUS P5Q is missing PRO, and also determine its overclocking capabilities.

ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard specification:

All prices for ASUS P5Q PRO

The ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard is packaged in a blue cardboard box with high-quality printing. On the front of the box it is noted that the board implements an 8-phase processor power regulator using only polymer capacitors, and also has support for ASUS EPU-6 Engine technology and the Drive Xpert function.

The back of the package also notes support for ASUS Express Gate technology and major functionality motherboard, or rather, support for processors with a 1600 MHz system bus and DDR2-1200 memory, AI Nap technology, FireWire interfaces and eSATA, support for the new PCI Express 2.0 bus standard, 8-channel audio codec, etc.

In our review of the ASUS P5Q3 PRO/WiFi-AP @n motherboard, we talked about proprietary technologies ASUS Express Gate, ASUS EPU-6 Engine, ASUS Fan Xpert, Drive Xpert and conducted detailed testing of the controller hard drives Silicon Image Sil5723 in RAID 0, 1 modes, so we won’t dwell on them this time.

ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard contents:

user manual and instructions for the motherboard; DVD with drivers; UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable; FDD cable; ASUS Q-Shield plug; module with External SATA and IEEE1394a ports; ASUS Q-Connector (USB, system panel, IEEE1394a); four SATA cables; SATA power adapter.

The layout of the ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard is well made, almost all ports and power connectors are located along the edge of the board, which makes them easy to connect to. Although the layout also has one most common drawback - access to the latches of the RAM slots can be blocked by a long video card inserted into the top PCIE x16 slot.

It is important to note that the ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard uses only polymer-type capacitors, which are reliable and durable, and also uses chokes with a ferromagnetic core.

The cooling system on the ASUS P5Q PRO is a little simpler than on the ASUS P5Q Deluxe and P5Q-E models. Small aluminum radiators painted to resemble copper are installed on the north and south bridges, and on half of the semiconductor elements of the power stabilizer there is a copper radiator consisting of thin plates, and it is connected by a heat pipe to the radiator of the north bridge. During testing, the radiators of the south and north bridges became noticeably hot, so owners of ASUS P5Q PRO should definitely take care of ventilation inside the computer case, especially if they are overclocking.

Organizational capabilities disk subsystem on ASUS P5Q PRO are quite large. In addition to six SATA ports on which you can organize SATA RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, a Silicon Image Sil5723 controller is also installed, which is responsible for the Drive Xpert Technology function, designed for reliable storage of important data (Backup) or acceleration of the disk subsystem (optional Super Speed). An additional Marvell 88SE611 controller provides support for the UltraDMA 133/100/66 interface.

Also on the ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard there are 12 USB ports, half of which are internal, one COM port, an FDD connector and two FireWire ports, powered by the LSI L-F3227 controller.

One of key features system logic Intel P45 is the ability to combine a pair of video cards in ATI CrossFireX mode, allocating 8 PCI Express 2.0 lanes to each. The ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard supports this technology, so it is equipped with two PCIE x16 slots, but the bottom one can only work with a maximum of 8 lines. The ATI CrossFire x8+x8 configuration on the PCI Express 2.0 bus is one of the most productive modes and is practically not inferior to ATI CrossFire x16+x16. In addition, the expansion slots on the ASUS P5Q PRO include two PCI and three PCIE x1.

The ASUS P5Q PRO sound subsystem is based on a fairly high-quality HDA codec for 8-channel audio Realtek ALC1200, and to support network connections The Atheros L1E gigabit LAN controller is used.

ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard is equipped with an 8-phase processor power regulator, which supports EPU power saving technology, switching the number of phases from 8 to 4 when the system load is low, and new standard VRD11.1, which allows for even lower power consumption in computer sleep mode when using 45 nm processors of new revisions. In fact, the same VRM node with an 8-pin power connector is implemented on ASUS P5Q models and a little more dear ASUS P5Q-E, but, unlike them, on the ASUS P5Q PRO the upper half of the semiconductor stabilizer elements does not have a heatsink.

Since ASUS P5Q PRO has the ability to set very high supply voltage values ​​on the processor and north bridge, there are two jumpers to limit the maximum level (away from the hands of inexperienced overclockers). Using them, you can provide a maximum processor supply voltage in the range from 1.7 V to 2.1 V, and a north bridge - 1.9 V - 2.26 V.

The rear panel of the ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard has the following ports: two PS/2 for keyboard or mouse, six USB connectors, IEEE 1394a port, RJ45 connector for network connections, coaxial S/PDIF and analog connectors for 8-channel audio. In addition, using a separate module included in the package, you can connect External SATA and another IEEE 1394a port to the rear panel of the case.

There are only four power connectors for fans on the ASUS P5Q PRO: one 4-pin for the processor cooler, two 3-pin for case ventilation and one for the power supply fan. Moreover, three of these four connectors support the technology automatic control speed ASUS rotation Q-Fan 2.

The ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard uses an AMI BIOS with a fairly large set of settings, all of which related to overclocking are in the “AI Tweaker” section:

Kit BIOS settings quite a bit different from other ASUS P5Q series motherboards. Of course, some settings that are found in higher-end models may not be found here, but, in general, even for fairly serious overclocking, most users can do without them.

The settings for primary and secondary RAM delays, as on other models of the ASUS P5Q series, are presented in large numbers.

Also in the BIOS it is possible, using the Transaction Booster option, to change the PL (Performance Level) timing of the north bridge.

For convenience of setting the power supply mode of the components, information on the standard, maximum and minimum voltage levels on them is provided on the side. Moreover, high and critical levels are marked in yellow and red, respectively.

Monitoring Board BIOS ASUS P5Q PRO has a completely standard appearance, you can follow:

voltage on the main lines of the power supply 3.3 V, 5 V, 12 V and on the processor; temperature of the motherboard and processor; rotation speed of all fans.

Especially for overclocking fans, in the “Tools” section there is a function for saving user settings to a profile (ASUS O.C. Profile technology) and there is an EZ Flash 2 utility for flashing new BIOS versions from her. In addition, this section allows you to enable Drive Xpert Control and set the length of time the Express Gate prompt is displayed before loading the main operating system.

Testing

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

The ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard does not stand out among solutions in the same class in terms of performance.

Overclocking options

On a dual-core processor, the system bus was overclocked to 537 MHz. But as we know, this is far from the limit for the Intel P45 chipset. In our case, you can blame the RAM used, for which it is rarely possible to achieve stability at a frequency of more than 533 MHz.

With a quad-core processor, we managed to overclock the bus to 490 MHz, which can be considered an excellent result.

Testing the audio path based on the Realtek ALC1200 codec

Overall results (RightMark Audio Analyzer)

16-bit, 44.1 kHz

The Realtek ALC1200 audio codec shows one of the best test results among embedded solutions.

Conclusions

The ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard can be considered one of the most acceptable solutions designed for building a gaming system. In addition, it has support for CrossFireX technology in the x8+x8 configuration on the PCI Express 2.0 bus and good opportunities acceleration

The closest competitor in model range The same ASUS P5Q PRO will have a P5Q-E board. In general, they have a lot in common. The main power supply unit of the VRM processor is the same 8-phase, but, alas, the cooling system on the P5Q PRO is slightly worse implemented, and the printed circuit board itself is made without the use of ASUS Stack Cool 2 technology. Otherwise, the changes are not so sad - except that there are no buttons switching on and rebooting on the board, but they are often rarely used by the majority of gamers. The number of BIOS settings reassigned for overclocking is slightly less, but in general the overclocking potential should remain at approximately the same level. Therefore, if someone does not have an extra ≈20 dollars and does not intend to overclock a quad-core processor, then it is quite possible to opt for the compromise ASUS P5Q PRO.

Advantages:

high performance; reasonable cost; excellent overclocking capabilities; use of only high-quality elements in all components; support for ATI CrossFireX technology; PCI Express 2.0 bus support; 8-phase power stabilizer using EPU; Express Gate technology; 6 SATA connectors supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, 10; high-quality sound codec; coaxial S/PDIF output.

Flaws:

noticeably simplified cooling system.

All gaming tests eloquently indicate that the greatest increase is achieved by increasing the system bus frequency from 333 to 400 MHz. According to personal feelings, such overclocking is noticeable in everyday work, for example, by opening documents more quickly or launching programs with a large number plugins ( music editors, Photoshop). The example is given for the test processor E8400, but younger models can be overclocked even more, from 266 to 333, or even up to 400 MHz (with a reduced multiplier) - the Asus P5Q allows this.

Conclusions

The final result pleased the skeptic's soul. It turns out that budget-class motherboards are also capable of overclocking processors, and overclocking them extremely. There are, of course, some disadvantages, such as poor placement of the power connector or an insufficient cooling system, but these disadvantages are not so critical, because with any savings you have to make compromises. Of course, the prices of today's motherboards cannot be called low. For example, five years ago a top Pentium board cost about $100-150, today the price level is top boards for Intel it reaches $500. Therefore, the Asus P5Q motherboard with its cost of 110-115 dollars ends up in the niche of budget products and that says it all.

2 years ago

High-quality power subsystem, solid-state capacitors, mosfets cooling, thick PCB, P45 chipset, has been steadily overclocking for almost two years now.

3 years ago

a developed processor power system - this can be seen from the number of chokes, there are 8 of them versus the usual three... great for installing 4-core xeons of the E54xx series 4 memory slots - this is also important

5 years ago

has all the necessary minimum functions

5 years ago

Assembled for myself home computer on this motherboard back in 2009, Core processor 2 Quad Q9550, video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275, 3GB of RAM, and I didn’t regret it, it still works flawlessly, any games, any programs, everything works!

6 years ago

high-quality components, stable operation, good overclocking potential.

7 years ago

good quality, stability, maintains acceleration

7 years ago

Famous company. External appearance. Branded gadgets from ASUS (by and large unnecessary). Stable operation in normal mode. She worked for quite a long time.

8 years ago

ASUS build quality

8 years ago

The device is good, fast, handles everything

8 years ago

Drivers are stable. Everything is there and everything works. Accelerates well.

2 years ago

No EFI, DDR2 memory

3 years ago

Unfortunately, DDR2 memory... if it were DDR3, there would be no price for it at all

5 years ago

no thunderbolt, efi, etc.

5 years ago

6 years ago

The radiators get very hot, although this does not affect the operation in any way

7 years ago

not noted

7 years ago

The price does not correspond to the quality. Problematic Marvel IDE controller. When I try to change the BIOS settings in the direction of overclocking the processor, I immediately get a beautiful blue screen. Sound noise when moving the mouse in desktop mode and in games while loading levels.

8 years ago

Strange spontaneous reboots. I looked for reasons but never found them. There is no overheating, but it reboots on some games, even not resource-demanding ones.

8 years ago

worked for 6 months, the power connector began to act up, the device was not dropped, handled with care (even very carefully), went to the store where I bought it (Eldorado) without picking it up or even touching it, the busty manager said, you kicked him, and at the end of the conversation she said, we We will send it for service 500 km away, but in what condition and what you will get from there, we do not guarantee, in general, she tried her best to push me out. I spat and went to a familiar master. They dismantled it like a jeweler without scratching it anywhere. The defect was the center pin of the power connector burst. Carefully restored without leaving any traces of opening. In addition, two racks were overtightened and fell apart, although nothing was shortened. I worked for another 2 months, again the same defect, I started calling workshops, everyone spits on this connector, it turns out that 90 percent of refusals are because of it. I started calling Asus ,for a long time

8 years ago

1. Overheats north bridge, I had to install a good radiator for 1000 rubles. 2. RAID is not stable and sometimes freezes the system. 3. Poor placement of PCI-E 1x 4. Lack of EFI

All gaming tests eloquently indicate that the greatest increase is achieved by increasing the system bus frequency from 333 to 400 MHz. According to personal feelings, such an overclocking is noticeable in everyday work, for example, by opening documents more quickly or launching programs with a large number of plug-ins (music editors, Photoshop). The example is given for the test processor E8400, but younger models can be overclocked even more, from 266 to 333, or even up to 400 MHz (with a reduced multiplier) - the Asus P5Q allows this.

Conclusions

The final result pleased the skeptic's soul. It turns out that budget-class motherboards are also capable of overclocking processors, and overclocking them extremely. There are, of course, some disadvantages, such as poor placement of the power connector or an insufficient cooling system, but these disadvantages are not so critical, because with any savings you have to make compromises. Of course, the prices of today's motherboards cannot be called low. For example, five years ago a top-end board for Pentium cost about $100-150; today the price level for top-end boards for Intel reaches $500. Therefore, the Asus P5Q motherboard with its cost of 110-115 dollars ends up in the niche of budget products and that says it all.