Test Board: Asus P4P800S-E Deluxe
Click to enlarge the picture.
Asus was the first manufacturer to send us a board with the 848P chipset; we therefore used it for our tests. Apart from the usual comfort features, a great deal is included in delivery of the P4P800S-E Deluxe. It has a wireless LAN controller, for example, enabling this board to operate without cables just about anywhere in the building.
It has the usual features: five PCI slots, three DIMM sockets, a sound system, two FireWire ports and a Gigabit Ethernet interface - should the WLAN controller turn out to be wanting after all. Asus uses the up-to-date ICH5 with two Serial ATA ports. We did not use it for the tests, however, favoring instead the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 16 - with a sensational 250 GB - and UltraATA.
What makes the P4P800S-E special is the wireless LAN adapter included in delivery. Although it "only" manages 802.11b, that's more than enough for light office work and Internet use.