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Review: ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi Edition - Bearlake with all the trimmings

by HEXUS Staff on 25 May 2007, 08:45

Tags: ASUS P5K PRO motherboard ATX iP35, ASUSTeK (TPE:2357)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qair4

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BIOS

As with all ASUS Deluxe motherboards, the P5K promises a high degree of flexibility in its BIOS settings - and doesn't disappoint.

ASUS P5K Deluxe
Item Specification
CPU FSB 200-800MHz (1MHz increments)
CPU Multiplier CPU Min. (6x) – 13x (1x increments)
PCI-E Clock 100-150MHz (1MHz increments)
Memory Clock 667/800/889/1067 MHz (266/1066FSB)
667/800/833/1000/1067/1111/1333 MHz (333/1333FSB)
CPU Core voltage 1.1000-1.7000v (0.0125v increments)
CPU Voltage Reference 0.57/0.59/0.61/0.63x
CPU Voltage Damper Enabled/Disabled
CPU PLL Voltage 1.50/1.60/1.70/1.80V
Memory VDIMM 1.80-2.55v (0.05v increments)
NB Voltage 1.25/1.40/1.55/1.70v
NB Voltage Reference 0.61/0.67x
SB Voltage 1.05/1.20v
FSB Termination Voltage 1.20/1.30/1.40/1.50v
Clock Over-charging mode +700/800/900/1000mV

BIOS Images

Summary

The more advanced sections of the P5K Deluxe's BIOS manage to fall just on the right side of bewildering, providing all the controls you want to tweak your system for that extra bit of performance without piling on hundreds of options with no real explanation for what they achieve.

Enabling AHCI on the ICH9R produces an option for Intel Robson Technology, the codename for Intel Turbo Memory, but it is unclear how a Turbo Memory module would be fitted to the board.

As with other ASUS boards, an AI Overclocking Automatic mode is included for those less familiar with the art of overclocking but the comprehensive manual options should be what interests most owners.

Overclocking headroom appears to be absolutely massive as well.

Most P965 or 680i boards struggle to remain stable with Kentsfield processors if the FSB is running at over 400MHz but in our testing with a Core 2 Quad Q6600, the ASUS reached a heady 430MHz (1720MHz once the QDR is taken into account) without increasing any of the voltages on the northbridge or front-side bus itself.

In fact our very own forum users are already reporting hitting 480MHz FSB using a Core 2 Quad, a speed that you'd only hope to achieve with other boards if using a Core 2 Duo.

Clearly, the P35 gives the P5K Deluxe a lot of headroom for overclocking the front-side bus. In fact, for many, the CPU or memory they use could end up becoming the limiting factor.