AD1885 sound chip based on the AC97 codec

The 1885 sound chip from Analog Devices only supports stereo sound.

4x The I/O panel on the PP-DLW

Four USB 2.0 ports, two serial COM ports, a parallel port, PS2 for mouse and keyboard, LAN and audio can all be connected to the I/O panel. Two further USB 2.0 connections and a game port are available through a slot shield.

A familiar messenger: the Asus Probe tool, pictured here with two CPU temperatures

Asus Probe provides information on the motherboard's temperatures, voltages and fan speed. A piezo loudspeaker warns of any breakdowns.

Forcibly slowed: just 1.06 GHz

The tests were conducted on two Xeon CPUs and involved engineering samples (ES) accessing a free multiplier.

The Asus board was the only one in the test that was not able to identify the processors correctly and insisted each time on booting the system with a multiplier of eight. This results in a CPU speed of 1066 MHz. Repeated queries to Asus brought no remedy. This prevented us from running the benchmark test with this board. Instead we measured stability at a reduced speed.

Remarkable addition: two Xeon CPU coolers

Asus furnishes its board with Xeon coolers made entirely of aluminum. BIOS updates can easily be run from Windows or the DOS command line. The Asus PP-DLW goes for around $340 in stores.