BIOS version: 1016

As usual with Asus, the deluxe versions of the motherboards are lavishly equipped. With the P4C800-E Deluxe this means CSA Gigabit Ethernet, sound system with coaxial digital output, additional RAID controller by Promise for UltraATA/133 and serial ATA (two ports), FireWire controller (two ports) along with no less than eight usable USB 2.0 ports. Thanks to ICH5R, RAID modes 0 and 1 are also available for the two on-board SATA ports.

The layout is quite well designed considering the multitude of components. At least the majority of ports are placed so that they are not in the way of the PCI cards. No such luck with the additional USB ports though - as soon as the adapter cable is hooked up to the connectors in front of the PCI slots, things get difficult.

We liked the color coding of the connector sockets in the front panel and all the useful functions that Asus has assembled under the concept of AI. AI Audio recognizes improperly connected audio devices by their resistance and reports them.

AI BIOS contains a restoration routine for the BIOS, Q-Fan intelligent fan controls, and speech notification of hardware problems in the BIOS POST.

AI Overclocking provides the necessary options for successfully overclocking the system, including a restoration system that allows the computer to start without CMOS deletion when overclocking has gotten out of hand.

The wide black socket located at the bottom edge of the motherboard can receive an Asus WLAN module available separately.