ASUS P5E3 Deluxe

Motherboard Layout:

At the start of the month we reviewed the ASUS Blitz Extreme motherboard, which boasted DDR3-1333 support, 45nm Core 2 Quad support, and used Intel's P35 with ICH9R Chipset. While the Blitz Extreme is part of the ASUS Republic of Gamers lineup and is P35-based, the P5E3 Deluxe motherboard shares a number of similar traits. This layout is also similar to the P5K3 Deluxe, which is another P35 motherboard.

Along the upper right side of the motherboard are four DDR3 system memory slots. These memory slots support DDR3-1333/1066/800MHz memory and DDR3-1800/1600 when overclocking. The maximum memory capacity supported by the Intel X38 Chipset is 8GB in dual channel mode. To the right of the memory slots are the FDD and 24-pin power connectors.

The Blitz Extreme motherboard had its Serial ATA connectors rotated 90 degrees along the edge of the motherboard's PCB and the P5E3 Deluxe continues with this design. However, the P5E3 Deluxe has two of the six Serial ATA connectors in their conventional upright position. The position of these two connectors may be of value in smaller computer cases where room directly next to ATX motherboard may be limited. Also in this corner of the motherboard are the ATA-100 IDE connector, three 3-pin fan headers, CMOS battery, and the southbridge. The ICH9R Southbridge supports Intel HD Audio, Quiet System Technology, six Serial ATA ports, eSATA (External SATA), Matrix Storage Technology, Turbo Memory, Gigabit LAN, 6 PCI Express x1, and 12 USB 2.0 ports.