ASUS P5E3 Deluxe: X38 and DDR3 arrives... almost
by Gary Key on September 18, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
First Thoughts
We have thoroughly enjoyed our test sessions with the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe board. Although we still do not have final silicon boards yet, we have to say that ASUS has done an excellent job with their design implementation on this board. While the new or revised features such as Express Gate, 802.11n, and the BlackHawk audio technology might mean little to some users, we think the additions complete the overall package that ASUS is after with their Deluxe series of boards. The early package we received just showed a certain level of polish that our other X38 boards do not have at this time. Sometimes that means little, but it certainly left an impression on us in early testing. This is an impression that we hope continues with the retail package as this board is certainly worth a second look.
Overall performance has been very good at stock speeds even with the slight memory throughput penalties that running DDR3 at 1066 brings to the table compared to DDR2 at 1066. However, unlike what we witnessed with the P35 DDR3 boards at launch, the ability to have DDR3 1066 performance match or better DDR2 1066 is impressive considering the potential clocking headroom DDR3 enjoys. Unfortunately, the performance potential of DDR3 sounds great until you realize the current entry price for the high performance modules. As a buyer, looking at the prospect of spending up to four times more for DDR3 is daunting considering the minimal advantages it offers.
We are only a few days away from the official X38 launch and the ability to show a full test suite, provided the retail boards show up in time. We had actually planned on providing a lot more detail today, but last minute updates from the involved parties limited our reporting. With the launch article, we will have additional details including some impressive power consumption numbers that are now lower than the P35 chipset and improved thermal characteristics. We say "impressive" because the early boards showed just the opposite trend. While we would love to provide more information, at the behest of our contacts at Intel it will have to wait. We just hope the wait is not longer than expected.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our test sessions with the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe board. Although we still do not have final silicon boards yet, we have to say that ASUS has done an excellent job with their design implementation on this board. While the new or revised features such as Express Gate, 802.11n, and the BlackHawk audio technology might mean little to some users, we think the additions complete the overall package that ASUS is after with their Deluxe series of boards. The early package we received just showed a certain level of polish that our other X38 boards do not have at this time. Sometimes that means little, but it certainly left an impression on us in early testing. This is an impression that we hope continues with the retail package as this board is certainly worth a second look.
Overall performance has been very good at stock speeds even with the slight memory throughput penalties that running DDR3 at 1066 brings to the table compared to DDR2 at 1066. However, unlike what we witnessed with the P35 DDR3 boards at launch, the ability to have DDR3 1066 performance match or better DDR2 1066 is impressive considering the potential clocking headroom DDR3 enjoys. Unfortunately, the performance potential of DDR3 sounds great until you realize the current entry price for the high performance modules. As a buyer, looking at the prospect of spending up to four times more for DDR3 is daunting considering the minimal advantages it offers.
We are only a few days away from the official X38 launch and the ability to show a full test suite, provided the retail boards show up in time. We had actually planned on providing a lot more detail today, but last minute updates from the involved parties limited our reporting. With the launch article, we will have additional details including some impressive power consumption numbers that are now lower than the P35 chipset and improved thermal characteristics. We say "impressive" because the early boards showed just the opposite trend. While we would love to provide more information, at the behest of our contacts at Intel it will have to wait. We just hope the wait is not longer than expected.
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Gary Key - Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - link
We do not disable services as we try our best to mimic the user experience. Obviously, clearing the Prefetch folder does not allow that to happen but it is the only way to get consistent results. Over time we have seen the benchmark scores move up to 3% when leaving Prefetch enabled, does not sound like that much, but we try our best to keep the benchmark variables under 0.5% within the test suite. Also, Vista has just about doubled the time it takes to run the benchmark test suite, if you ever had an issue sleeping, just watch WorldBench 6.0 run five times in a row.FireTech - Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - link
Gary where are the promised µATX and P35 round-ups?After 6+months, you've run out of credit at the excuses bank. It's time to deliver on your promises, then you can get back to the Intel launch parties....
Gary Key - Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - link
µATX G33 will be next Wednesday and will include the NV MCP73, the first P35 series will start this Friday with the Foxconn MARS board and the abit/Gigabyte mid-range boards late next week. The AMD µATX is scheduled on 10/2 with the budget P35 boards following on 10/5.FireTech - Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - link
Sorry Gary but these similar words are still fresh in my memory:Are these new dates set in stone?
Gary Key - Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - link
Still fresh in my memory also. ;-) Yes, the dates are set, the only one that might move a day or so is the second P35 article for late next week. AMD is going to have a Phenom/RD790 preview that I might have to attend next Thursday. Otherwise, the dates are good this time. Email me and I will explain the situation.JKing76 - Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - link
New chipset, great. Are we ever going to see the fucking micro-ATX roundup? And no, I don't count that bullshit "dedicated video is faster than integrated video" part 1 fluff.Nickel020 - Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - link
Hey, thanks for throwinf us a bone Gary! ;)I was wondering what the max FSB of the exact CPU used in the tests was when using P35 boards? Thats one of the biggest hopes that people have for teh X38, that it will allow higher FSBs for quads, because as of now, most people can't get over around 450 FSB on a P35 when using a quad.
Gary Key - Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - link
The max (stable) FSB of the Q6600 on the Blitz Extreme was 468, on the DFI P35-T2R (is an absolute knock out with the 9/13 beta bios) was 470, P5K Deluxe is 464, and abit IP35-Pro was 462. The X38, once mature, will really improve overclocking of the current processor lineup (until you hit the CPU FSB wall) but is really designed to shine with Penryn.However, I believe Intel has just about reached the limits of what they can do with the memory controller based on what we are seeing now, so stock performance is not going to vary that much from a P35 or even 680i/975x in most situations. It appears the BIOS spins are going to need a month or two to really extract the best performance out of the chipset, and DDR2 performance is not that impressive at this time. We will show numbers with DDR2-800 at 3-4-3-9 as a base and a really good P35 board is going to give some of these X38 boards a run for their money until you get the DDR2 speeds up around 1100.
My personal opinion is that the DDR2 X38 boards will quickly replace the upper end P35 boards in the market since the price points will be the same after the launch hysteria is over. Expect to see the P35 drop to the $75~$150 market only by early next year.
Nickel020 - Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - link
Thanks a lot for the reply Gary!You got me thinking again though, I was just going to sell my P35 DS3 and keep the P35 DQ6 for Penryn. But maybe I should sell the DQ6 now as long as it's worth something and use the DS3 until X38 Boards are somewhat mature and then upgrade (and sell the DS3).
Do you think X38 DDR2 Boards will have a significant overclocking & performance advantage over P35 boards with Penryn?
Gary Key - Thursday, September 20, 2007 - link
They are showing around a 5%~9% improvement currently, but I have not received a P35 optimized BIOS for Penryn yet, but then again, the X38 BIOS releases are still immature. We will know more in a couple of weeks I think but right now, unless you go DDR3, not seeing any real performance improvements with DDR2 on the retail X38 boards, a couple of percent here and there but the DFI P35-TR2 board is faster than the X38 DDR2 boards I have right now for single card GPU situations. Still waiting on another BIOS release or two before publishing the final numbers. ;-)