Welcome to the Nest of Review!
Today, I’m to review another Motherboard from ASUS. The Code name is ASUS P5B. To let you know, ASUS P5B have a wide range of series. Stretching from:

1. ASUS P5B Deluxe : $179.99
2. ASUS P5B : $116.99
3. ASUS P5B-E : $144.99
4. ASUS P5B-Plus : $136.99
5. ASUS P5B-VM : $125.99
6. ASUS P5B Premium : $219.99
7. ASUS P5B-MX : $78.99
8. ASUS P5B-VM SE : $99.99
9. ASUS P5B-VM : S114.99
10. ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP : $192.99
11. ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition : $178.99

The price is only an estimation.

There is no need for you to confuse on the series. ASUS P5B Premium Vista is the Greatest one with the Highest Price from the series. The Cheap and Best one is located on the P5B with no suffix (the point 2).

Although this motherboard have less feature than the other, It still have the same quality with the Premium version. It’s the rule, anyway. To get things cheaper, you need to sacrifice the overwhelming features that you will never use it properly.

ASUS P5B have a sufficient features for you to enjoy the next computing experience. The e-SATA or SATA-on-the-go has been provided at the back panel to supported next generation transfer rate which promise to be faster than the current USB 2.0.

ASUS P5B have a great BIOS functions :AI - NOS™, AI-Gear, AI-NAP. Which is a good BIOS features to overclocking your computer and lowering your computer power consumption.

Although ASUS P5B couldn’t compatible with The latest Intel Quad Core Processor, P5B have supported all older series of Intel Processor, From Intel Celeron to Core 2 Duo.

With the provided 4 DDRII Memory Slots, P5B is capable to working with a maximum memory of 4 Gigabytes. There is no need for you to upgrade to the maximum. You will probably just wasting your money.

Some other cool feature that P5B provided for you is the HD audio (Azalia). You can hear a very clear sound effect. Very suitable for playing meditation songs and Slow musics!

The add-on feature that interest me is the Q-connector. The ASUS Q-Connector allows single-step connection and disconnection of chassis front panel cables with one complete module. See this picture:

This unique adapter ensures quick and accurate connections without giving you the trouble of plugging cables in separately. Nice and Helpful!

Ok… To balance this post, I will state out some “bad” factor that “may be” will make you cancel your mind in buying this board. First, I found out that this board have a poor design.

The IDE Header Connector is in a wrong place. If you are using a standard ATX Case for this motherboard, You can’t/difficult to put your DVDRom Drive at the top level of your casing. Either the IDE cable in too short, or the cable placement will annoy you.

Second, it seems to have some driver problem with vista. Which make it unable to hibernate properly.

Third, ASUS P5B have some faulty in the JwMicron RAID. You should avoid installing the RAID Driver if you don’t use RAID. So, Make sure you have research well before putting your money on the table! Below is some place for buying ASUS P5B: U.S. Only:

• TigerDirect.com : $129.99
• NewEgg.com : $116.99
• Geeks.com : $129.99
• Computer4Sure : $137.95

Outside U.S. (International Delivery):

• eWiz.com : $118.6

Interested to find out more pro and cons of ASUS P5B? Sure! You can find out the pro and cons in NewEgg Customer’s Review on ASUS P5B with this link.

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Detail Specs:

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Processor Intel LGA 775

• Pentium 4
• Celeron D
• Pentium D
• Pentium EE
• Core 2 Duo
• Core 2 Extreme

Front Side Bus

• 533 Mhz | 800 Mhz | 1066 Mhz

Additional Technology

• Hyper-Threading Supported
• EIST / EM64T
• Precision Tweaker
• PEG Link
• Q-Connector

Chipset

• NorthBridge : Intel P965 Express
• SouthBridge : Intel ICH8

Memory Type

• 533Mhz DDR2
• 667Mhz DDR2
• 800Mhz DDR2
  Dual Channel Ready!

Expansion Slot

• PCI Express x 16 - 1 Slot
• PCI Express x 1 - 3 slots
• PCI 2.2 - 3 slot

IDE Connector Type

• P-ATA 100 x 1
• S-ATA 3Gb/s x 4
  • 1 Internal (RAID)
  • 1 External (RAID)

Onboard LAN

• RJ45 LAN
• Chipset Realtek 8111B
• Gigabit LAN (1000Mbps)

Onboard Audio

• Chipset AC97 Codec (Azalia)
• 8 Channel Audio

Audio Jacks

• Audio Out
• Line In
• Microphone
• Center Subwoofer
• Rear Speaker

Physical Spec

• Form Factor : ATX
• Dimension : 12″ x 9.6″
• Power Pin : 24 Pins

Rear Panel Ports

• Mouse & Keyboard PS/2
• 4 USB 2.0 Port (480Mbps)
• Gigabit LAN
• e-SATA x 1
• S/PDIF x 1
• Parallel x 1
• 6 Audio Ports

What’s-In-The-Box

• The board itself
• User Manual
• Driver Disk
• Rear I/O Panel Shield
• IDE/PATA Cable
• FDD Cable
• 4 x SATA Cable
• 2 x Power Cable
• ASUS Q-Connector Kit
• USB Bracket

Thanks for your Visit!