ASUS P5E3 Premium: One to Rule them All…

ASUS P5E3 Premium Specifications

ASUS tells us they plan to introduce the board at a price point higher than the X38 motherboards available now, but lower than their R.O.G. series targeted at the serious gamer crowd. Aside from a couple of voltage and temperature monitoring features and the absence of some of the more "extreme" voltage options, the P5E3 Premium is very comparable to the Rampage Formula, which we reviewed in late January. For example, the MCH Read Delay (tRD) adjustments, first seen in the Rampage Formula BIOS, are also available with the P5E3 Premium.

At present, the only characteristic that we feel truly differentiates these two boards is the use of DDR3 with the P5E3 Premium, in place of DDR2 for the Rampage Formula. That being said, we think the P5E3 Premium - despite the need for more expensive memory - displays superior engineering; the 3-phase memory and 2-phase Northbridge power, along with Express Gate, draft-N wireless capabilities, and an attractive (and effective) cooling solution make it the motherboard to have… provided you can stomach the cost of DDR3. All that is left to be seen at this point is where exactly the Rampage Extreme, the DDR3 version of the Rampage Formula, will be priced with respect to other offerings if it is brought to market. If the P5E3 Premium is any indication, we expect more great things to come from ASUS.

With all the features packed into such a small package, the P5E3 Premium is positioned well to simultaneously capture the interests of the overclocking crowd as well as those looking for an all-in-one multimedia solution. The onboard ADI1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC (previously codenamed Azalia) produces excellent 24-bit/192kHz full surround sound that should please even the most discerning audiophile. The optical out or digital coaxial connections make interfacing with a DTS Connect (DTS Interactive and DTS NEO:PC) enabled system easy as well.

In addition, we found the external eSATA RAID capabilities very interesting. Although RAID 0 may not be the best choice when dealing with external SATA drives, the option of running either RAID 1 for data protection or JBOD - which gives to user the ability to combine two less expensive drives into a single, large logical drive - is an extra some will appreciate. Network Access Storage (NAS) drives are a wonderful way of storing information so that it can be access from anywhere on the network, but for those running a single system the ability to retain all your important files in one safeguarded location is a plus.