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ASUS P5E3 Deluxe vs. ASUS Maximus Extreme

Author: Date: 17.01.2008

Performance tests

While determining the starting FSB speed, it turned out that both the boards overstated it (the P5E3 Deluxe - by 1.3 MHz).

In our test setup, we used the following hardware:

First, let's look as the results of synthetic tests (all the boards are based on Intel X38, except the Blitz version which is based on P35).

Now on to the gaming benchmarks.

Final Words

From the technical viewpoint, we found nothing to complain about both the motherboards. At their specifications, both are outstandingly fantastic products based on the X38 chipset. The expansion options, implementation of proprietary technologies, the workup of the overclocking tools, as well as the design of the integrated cooling system - absolutely all the parts are made at the highest standards. Moreover, both the boards showed record values at overclocking and provided 100% stable clock speed at FSB = 568 MHz. In view of the fact that the Maximus board uses a water block on its north bridge, we can assume that its overclocking capability is even much higher.

However, let's not forget that a motherboard is merely one of the mandatory components for a computer. From this viewpoint as well, the attraction of both the products is not so definite. First, both the boards are rather expensive. In particular, as of the late December 2007, there were a few offerings priced at ~$320. The ASUS Maximus Extreme was priced even higher: its price varies within $320 to $380. But that applies to the exclusive Republic of Gamers series, which explains the so overstated price.

Certainly, we can choose other motherboards based on X38 of similar specifications albeit at a much lower price. We can give up using the Crossfire technology and then choose a motherboard based on P35, which would be much cheaper. But the problem is not about that! The bottleneck of both the boards is in that they operate with DDR3 memory which costs 8-10 times as much compared to the regular DDR2. Therefore, for the home-based use we don't recommend either ASUS Maximus Extreme or ASUS P5E3 Deluxe. However, we repeat it again, we found nothing to complain about the boards themselves.

Conclusion

Title

	Content:
	Стр.1 - Specifications, package bundle Стр.2 - Layout and Features; Expansion options Стр.3 - BIOS, monitoring, overclocking tools Стр.4 - Performance and conclusions Top Stories: MoBo: ECS X58B-A (Intel X58) ASUS Rampage II Extreme (Intel X58) MSI DKA790GX and ECS A780GM-A Ultra MSI P7NGM (NVIDIA GeForce 9300) Intel X58 and ASUS P6T Deluxe MSI P45 Neo2 (Intel P45) Foxconn A7GMX-K (AMD 780G) VGA Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 – a new leader in 3D graphics! ECS HYDRA GeForce 9800GTX+. Water-cooled and SLI "all-in-one" Radeon HD 4830 CrossFire - better than Radeon HD 4870! XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition in the SLI mode Leadtek WinFast PX9500 GT DDR2 – better than GeForce 9500GT DDR-3 Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic: exclusive, with unusual features Palit HD 4850 Sonic: almost Radeon HD 4870, priced as HD 4850 CPU & Memory: GSkill high-capacity memory modules CPU Intel Core i7-920 (Bloomfield) DDR3 memory: late 2008 CPU AMD Phenom X3 8750 (Toliman) AMD Phenom X4 9850 – a top-end CPU at affordable price CPU Intel Atom 230 (Diamondville) Chaintech Apogee GT DDR3 1600