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ASUS P5AD2 Premium Wireless Edition Review :: Features and Layout
At first glance you can tell the board is for the most part very ergonomically designed with the exception of the main power connector that is located so that the power cable crosses over the memory slots and creates air flow restriction in addition to a cable tangle if not custom wired within the case. The way the board is laid out I do not see where else they could place it but it would be better if it was located by the 12v AGP power connector for optimal ergonomics. With that said and out of the way the board comes in a sleek black color PCB that offers good looks for custom designed systems. For options the P5AD2 Premium offers the buyer an abundance of features that will be pleasing to all different type of user groups including the elite enthusiasts and gamer crowd who want the most for their spending dollar.  Based around Intel's all new LGA775 interface and the 925X platform the P5DA2 supports the latest dual-channel 240-pin DDR2 memory in up to 4GB configurations via its 4 DIMM slots. ASUS has taken the systems memory support to the next level and not only does the P5AD2 support 4200/5300 DDR2 it supports DDR600 as well giving maximum flexibility and headroom to the overclocker. Having high memory capacity will come in handy for those users also interested in DVD encoding/decoding and for those using their system for graphic intensive projects. CPU support is limited by the fact that not many CPU's have actually been released as of yet, but Intel assures us that in the following months this factor will change and CPU's will become readily available all over the market. The board is functional with the LGA ZIF 775 Intel 04B and 04A processors and features Hyper-Threading as well P.A.T technology support. The board will fit in most mid sized or larger enclosures and sizes in at 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm) in the standard ATX Form factor and comes with its own rear I/O shield.  Memory  Silicon Image SATA  ICH6-R  ASUS Quite Cool Intel's ICH6R powers the South Bridge supporting one standard 33/66/100 PATA controller and four SATA150 controllers that offer RAID 0 (Striping) and RAID 1 (Mirroring) arrays in addition to Intel's Matrix Storage Technology. The Matrix technology adds greater control and speed options when used in conjunction with hard drives supporting this function. In normal usage I could not discern how much better the MAXTOR drives worked with the Matrix technology engaged, but when tested with software that tests the drives ability to transfer and decompress information the results were much better seen. Gamers will not notice any difference per se, but people who do a lot of video editing and other tasks that rely on fast transfer rates will be getting better performance even if it is not readily apparent. The Silicon Image 3114R chipset adds an additional four SATA150 controllers that offer RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, JBOD and also RAID 5, although only by a software patch that does not function in a WHQL configuration. Standard IDE RAID is also available by the ITE 8212F RAID controller that offers the same basic RAID features as the Silicon Image chipset. External RAID is also available and the board comes with its own external bracket. All in all this is about as overkill as anyone would ever need for disk array support and if you need more support that this it is time for a blade server instead of your home PC.  External SATA Sound via the on-board solution, has become a solution that actually functions within the standards of the gamer and enthusiast based crowd, you know the ones who demand high-quality audio for their personal PC? Well, Intel has been making strides in an effort to make this a reality through each new generation of platforms. Gone it seems are the days of ADI's SoundMax as Intel's audio chip partner, and that is sad as ADI has a usually been a rocking solution, however this time they were very late to market and C-Media beat them to the punch. Intel now moves to High Definition Audio using the C-Media CMI9880 chipset that features a 7.1 audio CODEC and Dolby Digital Live technology. Admittedly I think C-media bites, but this chipset was very bearable and was not disappointing to the ears. Although I must say that it was a bit disconcerting to see boards shipping without Intel's new IAS Audio Studio that was developed for using in conjunction with the new Azalea technology. ASUS has their own flavor of GUI for controlling the sound environments including custom EQ for moderate sound shaping and I will go into more detail on this later in the review. There are Coaxial/Optical SPDIF digital outputs on the rear I/O and an SPDIF input connector located on the board itself if you find a need for these connections.  Rear I/O LAN options are also very nicely covered as the board has more of them than most. The WiFi-g wireless solution provides the user with support for the latest IEEE 802.11 g/b standards and up to 54Mbps wireless data transmissions. The board comes with the wireless connection and the necessary antennae needed to communicate with the other computers or wireless hub. There are two Marvell PCI Express 88E8053 Gigabit LAN controllers with one RJ45 connection on the rear I/O and one on the board itself that connects via an included bracket. In the BIOS you ca enable or disable any of the various LAN options and with the Virtual Cable Tester technology you can easily find problems in your cables as it automatically tests and reports where the problem lies within the cable. It also tells you the distance in the cable where the problem is so you can replace or fix the damaged area of the cable, which can come in very handy when needed. The Texas Instruments Ti1394b controller offers two IEEE 1394b connections and a single IEEE 1394a connection; these can be used to connect peripherals that connect via the 1394 connection such as high-speed camcorders and external backup devices. The bracket itself will occupy an opening on the back of your case blocking a PCI or PCI 1X slot, but since the board is so self contained I myself cannot see this becoming an issue.  WiFi  Wifi Antennae  IEEE1394  Secondary RJ45/1394 The PCI Express or PCIX 16 x connections are one of the radical new interface changes seen on the new 915/915X platforms, and this is the arena that will see the most market competition in the near future as VGA companies gear up for our Christmas dollars. ATI and NVIDIA both have available solutions that are showing more and more market availability every day. The new PCIX slot is much thinner than its older AGP 8X counterpart and offers a very simple locking mechanism for holding your card in place. Most of the cards that are of the high-end caliber require a new six-plug cable in order to power them, but there are adapters to address this issue. They said they would be gone with the wind but the standard PCI slot is still a remaining slot on the 915 and 925X series of board with the P5AD2 sporting three PCI slots. There are also two PCIX 1X slots available although I have yet to even hear of a market ready product to fill those slots.  PCI Express Slot ASUS use a new no moving parts function called the ASUS Stack Cool technology that is used to help condition the board's power and keep the board itself running at cooler temperatures. ASUS has many inherent features that are directly related to their products and this board falls into that same category. To see what options and downloads are available for the P5AD2. Content wise the board comes with everything you need other than your other system parts to get up and going so you need not have to buy any additional cables or wires which is always a plus.  Docs  Cables Contents:
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