ASUS went all-out with Intel's P35 chipset and their product page currently displays a whopping thirteen P35 based boards. That is quite a selection and the differences between some of the boards may not be readily apparent at a glance. The board we're looking at today, the P5K3 Deluxe, is near the top of this very large heap. We say 'near' because it doesn't have some of the advanced gamer oriented features of ASUS' Republic Of Gamers series, which is represented on the P35 chipset by the Blitz Formula and the Blitz Extreme which we looked at recently. However, the P5K3 Deluxe is no ordinary pedestrian board for use in your grandma's word processing box (although you could, but we'd consider that a crime against silicon). The P5K3 Deluxe certainly doesn't lack in features as you'll see below.
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ASUS P5K3 Deluxe Specifications
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With ASUS Super Memspeed Technology
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CPU
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LGA775 socket for Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium Extreme/Pentium D/Pentium 4 Processors
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Support Intel next generation 45nm Mulit-Core CPU
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Intel EM64T / EIST / Hyper-Threading Technology
Chipset
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Intel
®
P35 / ICH9R with Intel® Fast Memory Access Technology
Front Side Bus
Memory
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4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR3 1333/1066 / 800 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
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Dual channel memory architecture
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The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR3 1066MHz. Tuned by ASUS Super Memspeed Technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR3 1333MHz
Expansion Slots
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2 x PCI-E x16 (blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4) supports CrossFire Technology
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2 x PCI-E x1 slot
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3 x PCI 2.2 slots
Audio
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ADI® AD1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
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Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O
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ASUS Noise Filter
Storage
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1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66/33
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6 x Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s
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Supports SATA RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 & JBOD)
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2 x External Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s (supports RAID 0 and 1)
LAN
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Dual Gigabit LAN controllers, featuring AI NET2
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Marvell88E8056® PCI-E Gigabit LAN controllers
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RealtekRTL8110SC® PCI Gigabit LAN controller
Wireless LAN
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54 Mbps IEEE 802.11g and backwards compatible with 11 Mbps IEEE 802.11b
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Software Access Point mode
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Station mode : Infrastruceure mode and Ad-Hoc mode
Special Features
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ASUS EZ DIY (Q-Connector, CrashFree BIOS2, EZ Flash2)
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ASUS Crystal Sound (ASUS Noise Filter)
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ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution (ASUS Q-Fan 2, ASUS Stack Cool 2, ASUS AI Nap, ASUS AI Gear 2)
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Intelligent Overclocking Tools (AI NOS, AI Overclocking, ASUS AI Booster Utility, O.C Profile)
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Overclocking Protection (ASUS C.P.R.)
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ASUS MyLogo3
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ASUS 8-Phase Power Design
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Uses 100% High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
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GreenASUS - RoHS compliant
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Silent Pipe Cooling
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Wireless LAN
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54 Mbps IEEE 802.11g and backwards compatible with 11 Mbps IEEE 802.11b
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Software Access Point mode
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Station mode : Infrastruceure mode and Ad-Hoc mode
Back Panel I/O Ports
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2 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial + Optical)
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1 x PS/2 Keyboard port
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2 x External SATA
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2 x LAN (RJ45) ports
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6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
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1 x IEEE1394a
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8-channel Audio I/O
Internal I/O Connecto
r
s
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2 x USB connectors support additional 4 USB ports
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1 x Floppy disk drive connector
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1 x IDE connector
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1 x COM connector
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6 x SATA connectors
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1 x CPU Fan connector
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4 x Chassis Fan connector
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1 x Power Fan connector
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1 x IEEE1394a connector
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1 x S/PDIF Out Header
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1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
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1 x CD audio in
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1 x Front panel audio connector
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System Panel(Q-Connector)
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24-pin ATX power connector
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2 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
Accessories
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UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
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FDD cable
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6 x Serial ATA cables
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1 x 2-port Serial ATA power cable
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1 x I/O Shield
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1 x 2-port USB2.0 / 1-port IEEE1394 module
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Optional Fan for Water-Cooling or Passive-Cooling only
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ASUS WiFi-AP Solo omni-directional antenna
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1 x ASUS Q-Connector Kit (USB, 1394, system panel)
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User's manual
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ASUS WiFi-AP Solo manual
Software
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Drivers
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ASUS PC Probe II
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ASUS Update
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ASUS AI Booster
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ASUS WiFi-AP Solo Wizard
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Anti-virus software (OEM version)
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Image-Editing Suite
Form Factor
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ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm)
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As the lengthy specification sheet attests, the P5K3's "Deluxe" badge is well earned as it is full of high-end features like an 8-phase power design, 100% solid capacitor, Crossfire support, integrated Wi-Fi, and ASUS' proprietary Super Memspeed Technology. These are pretty self-
explanatory
except for ASUS' Super Memspeed Technology. Super Memspeed Technology is a feature that gives users native support for DDR3-1333 memory with a 1333MHz FSB processor. ASUS did this by taking advantage of the chipset strapping to enable a DDR3-1333 divider which is available at FSB settings of 333MHz and higher.
Other notable features include the 'Stack Cool 2' which is a special PCB design that effectively transfers heat from one side to the other, through the PCB, allowing the components to breath a bit better. Another handy feature
implemented
on the P5K3 Deluxe is called 'AI Slot Detector' and it involves a series of LEDs, one for each of the
expansion
slots. When a card is correctly seated in the
expansion
slot, the LED lights up as long as power is connected to the system.
The board also
implements
two power saving features dubbed 'AI Gear 2' and 'AI Nap'. AI Gear 2 allows users to create custom profiles for CPU frequency and vCore voltage and you can switch between the profiles in real time from within windows. This is a nice feature since you can underclock and undervolt when your doing something non-CPU intensive like word processing or surfing the web. AI Nap allows your computer to take a snooze when you're
temporarily
away from the computer, but it isn't a true suspend since all of your processes keep running. It simply throttles your system to its lowest setting. This is useful for downloading files during the night while you're sleeping or during the day while you're at work. You exit out of the snooze state in the same way as a screen saver and there is virtually no recovery time so you can get right back to work, or play as the case may be.
