The Test Candidates In Detail
ASUS PP-DLW: 64 Bit PCI For The Desktop
Revision: 1.03
BIOS: 08.00.08 (10/09/03)
Asus sells just one motherboard with an E7505 chipset. The PP-DLW is designed in ATX format and aimed solely at the workstation market.
Asus' PP-DLW Workstation Motherboard
One thing that stands out is that Asus dispensed with extra components such as FireWire, IDE and an SCSI controller.
SMD voltage regulator on the Asus board
Asus uses SMD components to power its Xeon processors. Since they use a three-phase controller, additional cooling is superfluous. One highlight is that users are free to operate the motherboard with an EPS12V or an ATX power supply unit. There are enough sockets on the board for three fans.
P64H2 Southbridge for parallel PCI-X slots
Thanks to the P64H2 Southbridge, four PCI-X slots are available on the workstation motherboard. In this arrangement, the "A", "B" and "C" slots work at 100 MHz, the "D" slot at 133 MHz.
The 82540EM LAN controller from Intel
The board is equipped with an Intel 82540EM Gigabit network chip, which exchanges data with the P64H2 Southbridge.
DDR memory slots
As far as system memory goes, Asus, like many of its competitors, dispenses with the registered protocol that permits the addition of 2 GB modules. Its maximum configuration is therefore 8 GB RAM.
