Six to nine months prior to the launch of Intel's Core 2 Duo product line, if you polled the average HotHardware.com reader, regarding their thoughts on an Intel 975X based motherboard, you might well have gotten a luke-warm reception. Back then AMD's dual core Athlon 64 X2 and FX offerings were in full stride and NVIDIA's nForce 4 chipset found its way into many high-end Desktop systems. On the contrary, no one would argue that Intel's 975X chipset was not without its own merits for die-hard Intel customers.
Let's face it though, without a more efficient and capable CPU under the hood, Intel's market share in both processors and chipsets, was being whittled away and with good reason. The introduction of Intel's latest flagship line of dual core processors, dubbed Core 2 Duo, also know its code name of Conroe, has breathed new life into Intel's adjacent chipset business. Intel's "ecosystem" has gotten significantly healthier in the past few months to be sure.
Today we're taking a look at a new motherboard from Asus based on the same Intel 975X chipset that has been out on the market since December of last year. While typically many of you might conjure up a yawn at the thought of a 10 month old product, with Conroe driving the performance testing, we're sure you'll all sit up and take note. Asus' new P5W DH Deluxe is on the HotHardware test-track today and a Core 2 Duo E6700 is at the wheel.
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Asus P5W DH Deluxe Specifications & Features
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Geared for High-Powered Workstations
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CPU
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LGA775 socket for Intel(R) Pentium 4/Celeron CPU
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Support Intel Pentium(R) Processor Extreme Edition & Intel Pentium(R) D Processor
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Support Intel 65nm, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme
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Support Intel next generation Mulit-Core CPU
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Intel EM64T / EIST / Hyper-Threading Technology
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Intel Hyper-Threading technology ready
Chipset
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North Bridge: Intel 975X (support ATi CrossFire dual Gfx technology)
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South Bridge: Intel ICH7R
Front Side Bus
Memory
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4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 800/667/533, ECC and non-ECC un-buffered memory
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Intel MPT (Intel Memory Pipeline Technology)
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ASUS Hyper Path3
Expansion Slots
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2 x PCI-E x 16 slots
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2 x PCI-E X1
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3 x PCI 2.2
Storage/RAID Intel ICH7R controller:
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3 x SATA 150/300 (RAID 0,1,10,5) w/ Intel Matrix Storage Technology
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1 x UltraDMA 100/66/33
Jmicron JMB363 controller
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1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66
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1 x External Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s (ASUS SATA-on-the-Go)
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1 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s with RAID 0, 1, JBOD support
Silicon Image 4723 Hardware RAID controller
(ASUS EZ-Backup)
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2 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s with RAID 0, 1 support
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Support RAID 10 cross Intel(R) ICH7R and Silicon Image 4723 controller
Audio
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Realtek ALC882, 8 channels +2 Channel High Definition Audio codecs Multi-Streaming Jack Sensing and Enumeration Jack Retasking S/PDIF Out interface
LAN
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Dual Gigabit LAN controllers
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2 x Marvell 88E8053 Gigabit LAN Controller, both featuring AI NET2
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Wireless LAN: 54Mbps IEEE 802.11g (ASUS WiFi-AP SoloTM)
Asus Digital Home Features
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ASUS EZ-BackupTM
2 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s support hardware RAID 0 or RAID 1 mode
- Plug and play: Default setting in RAID 1 mode, no driver, no BIOS configuration required
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ASUS WiFi-AP Solo
54 Mbps IEEE 802.11g and backwards compatible with 11 Mbps IEEE 802.11b
- Software Access point mode
- Station mode : Infrastruceure mode and Ad-Hoc mode
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Asus DH RemoteTM
- Power
- Quick Power
- Noise Off
- EZ WiFi
- Full Screen
- AP Launch
- Media Control Zone
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ASUS MP3-InTM
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Back Panel I/O Ports
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1 x Serial Port
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1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output
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1 x PS/2 Keyboard
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1 x PS/2 Mouse
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2 x RJ45
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4 x USB 2.0/1.1
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1 x IEEE1394a
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1 x External SATA port
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1 x WiFi-AP SoloTM antenna jack
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8-Channel Audio I/O
USB
Internal I/O Connectors
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2X USB 2.0 connectors supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports
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1 x IEEE1394a connector
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CPU / 2 x Chassis(system) / 2x Power Fan connectors
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Front panel Audio connector
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ASUS EZ-Backup jumpers
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Chassis Intrusion connector
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CD audio-in connector
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MP3-In connector (Red)
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SPDIF out connector
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System panel connector
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Azalia Digital Header
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24-pin ATX Power connector
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4-pin EATX12V Power connector
BIOS
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8Mb flash ROM, AMI BIOS, Green, PnP, DMI, Wfm2.0, ACPI v2.0a, SMBIOS v 2.3, EZ flash, CrashFree BIOS2
Manageability
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WOL by PME, WOR by PME, PXE & RPL, Chassis Intrusion
Support CD
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Drivers
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Make RAID driver Disk for Intel ICH7R and JMB 363
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ASUS DH Remote Application
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ASUS WiFi-AP SoloTM Wizard
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ASUS PC Probe 2
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ASUS LiveUpdate Utility
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InterVideo(R) Media Launcher (OEM version)
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Anti-virus software (OEM version)
Accessories
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1 x ASUS Q-Connector set (USB, 1394, system panel; Retail version only)
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InterVideo(R) MEDIA LAUNCHER Suite (OEM version)
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1 x Optional Fan
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1 x IEEE1394a port module
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2 x SATA cables
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1 x SATA power cable for 2 devices
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1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
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1 x IDE cable
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1 x FDD cable
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1 x I/O Shield
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1 x 2-port USB2.0 module
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User's manual
Form Factor
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ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm)
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Outfitted with a new CPU power array around its socket and a Conroe-compatible BIOS, the P5W DH Deluxe also sports a wealth of the latest integrated motherboard technologies. An on-board HD Audio solution is provided via Realtek's ALC882 7.1+2 Channel High Definition audio codec that included five 24-bit stereo DACs and three 20-bit stereo DACs and a 100dB or better signal-to-noise ratio. Not bad for starters but the board's feature list goes on. Let's take a closer look.
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