ASUS P5WD2-E Premium
| ASUS P5WD2-E Premium Specification | |
|---|---|
| Board Feature | Implementation |
| Northbridge | Intel i975X |
| Southbridge | Intel ICH7R |
| Processor Support | All Intel LGA775 microprocessors including Extreme Edition dual-core Pentium D HyperThreading Technology 200/266 FSB |
| Memory Support | DDR2 DDR2-800 Maximum 8GiB total, 4 slots |
| Graphics Support | PCI Express 2 PEG16X slots ATI Crossfire |
| PCI Express | 1 x PCIe 2X 1 x PCIe 1X |
| PCI Conventional | 3 x PCI 2.3 slots |
| Networking | 2 x Marvell 88E8053 on PCIe; Gigabit Ethernet |
| Firewire | TI controller on PCI; 2 FW400 ports |
| Audio | Realtek ALC882M; HD Audio, 8-channel Jack sensing, optical Toslink and coax digital out |
| USB | ICH7R; 8 ports USB2.0 |
| Disks | ICH7R; 4 SATA300, 1 ATA133 IDE, RAID0,1,5,10 (SATA only) Marvell 88SE6121; 4 SATA300, 1 eSATA300 (shared), 1 ATA133 IDE |
[advert] Bar an upgrade to Firewire 800 ports and maybe another eSATA port on the backplane, I can't see what else the board could offer the power user. Dual-graphics is supported via ATI Crossfire and two PEG16X slots, there's a couple more PCIe slots for other peripherals, eSATA, lots of USB and 8 SATA2/SATA300 ports.
On top of that there's dual GigE on PCI Express, Firewire and support for any and every LGA775 processor yet shipped to retail, including any Extreme Edition you may find. Name me a feature outside of exotic disk storage or SLI support that's not already mentioned, that you'd like on a board like this, and I'll be sure and let ASUS know they missed a bit.
Christ, you even get three PCI slots for X-Fi, DVB-T TV tuner, TV capture card, physics board, wireless card or whatever combo of PCIc boards you lot still need to slide into those creaky old slots. The ALC882M does a very fine noise making job, with digital output to boot, though, should you not require Audigy, X-Fi or friends.
The board almost has the lot, with ample space for what it doesn't and you need to fit. Premium is apt. Want a peek at how it lays all that out?