March 15, 2009

Motherboard-On-the-Go
By Billy Joe I. Allardo
Published in the November 2008 print edition of PC World Philippines

Asus P5Q3 Deluxe wi-Fi-AP @n
www.lenovo.com/ph

Nope, the image is not a misprint. The Asus P5Q3 Deluxe initially looks like the Asus P5Q Premium we had last September due to its same copper heatsink design and the layout of the expansion slots. Based on Intel’s P45 Northbridge chipset, the Asus P5Q3 Deluxe is actually beefier than the other aforementioned Asus motherboard. It offers the same support for dual- and quad-core Intel LGA775 processors with bus speeds of 1600MHz, but this board can support up to 16GB of 1600/1333/1066/800MHz DDR3 memory.

1600/1333/1066/800MHz DDR3 memory. The Southbridge Intel ICH10R chip can oversee up to six Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s devices with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 configurations. On the other hand, a Marvell 88SE6121 manages the Parallel ATA header and the lone external Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s port. A Silicon Image SIL5723 supports two more Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s, but enhances it with a unique technology that allows immediate backups and boosted file transfers.

What makes Asus P5Q3 Deluxe a little bit more special is its wireless capability, as it comes with an embedded WiFi card. All you need to do is to screw in the pair of the bundled antennas, and upload the needed driver from the utility CD. The built-in WiFi card is compatible with the draft 802.11n standard, making it capable of connecting up to 300Mbps, yet it is backwards compatible with earlier 802.11g/b standards. The setup is straightforward, and it also allows for switching between client and access point modes.

It has a dual Gigabit Ethernet port for network purposes. As for connectivity, the rear I/O ports features six USB hubs with Firewire and external Serial ATA ports.

Like most Asus motherboards lately, the board comes equipped with Express Gate, a Linux-based operating system (OS) that allows immediate use without having to wait for the main OS to boot up. After filling up the necessary network parameters, you can browse the Internet using a Mozilla Firefox-based browser, view stored images, and create or answer e-mails or instant messages. I find Express Gate useful for doing quick tasks.

Perhaps the most overlooked feature of the Asus P5Q3 Deluxe is its layout, designed to maximize power distribution by lessening heat emission at the same time, thus stabilizing the system while prolonging the integrity of each attached component. The heatsink zigzags in between the parts that radiate the most heat, coupled by choice capacitors and transistors that aim to provide a stable performance under intense heat generated from long PC uptimes.

I find the Asus P5Q3 Deluxe as a full-featured motherboard that can figure in a number of specific themes. The performance chipset can serve as the backbone of a high-end PC, armed with a top-end processor, a set of brawny graphics cards, with a lot of memory. It can also serve as the central computer of a network hub. Its embedded Wi-Fi card enables it to be the main access point to which other wireless devices will hook up to.

In addition, the Express Gate utility provides on-the-go ability, giving you the opportunity to pour over e-mails, instant messages, and the latest news before heading out.