Eight P35-DDR2 Motherboards Compared

Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP

The P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP is the first of several boards in this review to feature an identical layout to its DDR3 counterpart reviewed on Page 3 of our previous comparison. A complete layout description is therefore superfluous, so the following description will recap a few highlights while focusing on differences in packaging and BIOS.

Features Overview

The P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP features the same 7-slot layout and WiFi Access Point card previously praised on its DDR3 counterpart. The most noticeable layout differences are the use of four DDR2-compatible memory slots and a different heat pipe.

The simplified heat-pipe chipset and VRM cooler design improves access to CPU cooler mounting hardware when used with an oversized air cooler. It doesn't include Asus' add-on cooling fan, though, which is meant to supplement chipset cooling when CPU liquid cooling is used.

Like the DDR3-equiped P5K3 version, the P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP's has two layout weaknesses. The first is that two of its Serial ATA connectors could potentially be blocked by longer graphics cards; the second is that its Ultra ATA connector is placed at the bottom edge of the board. This will force users of said optical drives to stretch their wide cables past the entire length of the board to reach an upper case bay, a distance that may exceed the length of standard cables (depending on case design).

The P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP offers the exact feature set previously found in its DDR3 sibling, highlighted by its 8+2 channel multi-streaming audio codec, and a triple network controller set of dual Gigabit plus 802.11g wireless connections.

Like the P5K3 version, the P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP does away with the PS/2 mouse port in the assumption that "everyone" who buys such leading-edge technology will be using a USB mouse.