MSI P45 Platinum and ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45)
Author:
Date: 30.07.2008 |
|
Performance tests
While determining the starting FSB speed, it turned out that MSI P45 Platinum overstated it by ~1.4 MHz, and ASUS P5Q Deluxe - by 1 MHz (and in the overclocking mode it sets the speed at a high precision).
In our test setup, we used the following hardware:
Let's first take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks.
Now on to the gaming benchmarks.
Tests of application software.
Final Words
From the functional viewpoint, ASUS P5Q Deluxe is superior over MSI P45 Platinum. In particular, it offers one PCI Express x16 slot more (to which merely 4 bus lanes are allocated), more LAN controllers (2 versus 1), and also the ASUS board offers a better package bundle and support for the Express Gate technology. The only thing at which the ASUS board loses is the number of USB2.0 ports: 10 versus 12 in the MSI board.
So, is that a victory of the ASUS board? A week ago, we were not quite sure of that because the first ASUS boards sold at 290$ and the price difference versus the MSI board was almost 90$. But on the moment of publishing the review the difference in price went down to almost ~45$. And we believe this amount is justified by the better package bundle offered by the ASUS board as well as due to the third PCI Express x16 slot, the second Gigabit LAN controller, and the Express Gate technology.
At the same time, the ASUS board offers a really high overclocking capability: we were able to attain FSB=562 MHz and came up against the FSB Wall which was at about 560-570 MHz for the CPU test specimen. But the MSI board lost at 550 MHz. Indeed, this frequency is a really high result, and the capability of MSI P45 Platinum is enough for the vast majority of users. However, we would recommend serious overclockers to pay some more and buy the ASUS board.
 
ASUS P5Q Deluxe and MSI P45 Platinum
Conclusion
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- Three PCI Express x16 slots;
- Support for SerialATA II/RAID ( 9 links; ICH10R + 88SE6121 + Sil 5723);
- Support for one P-ATA link (Marvell 88SE6121);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and two LAN (Gigabit Ethernet) controllers;
- Support of USB2.0 (10 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire, 2 ports);
- Passive/active system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module;
- A wide selection of ASUS' proprietary technologies (PC Probe II, EZ Flash 2, DieHard BIOS, MyLogo 3, Fan Xpert, etc.);
- Additional set of AI Proactive technologies (AI Overclock, OC Profile, AI Net 2, Drive Xpert, etc.);
- ASUS Express Gate (SSD version);
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Excellent CPU/memory overclocking results;
- power-on and reset buttons;
- Two BIOS chips;
|
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- Two PCI Express x16 slots;
- Support for SerialATA II/RAID ( 9 links; ICH10R + JMB 363 + JMB 362);
- Support for one P-ATA link (JMB363);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller;
- Support of USB2.0 (12 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire, 2 ports);
- Passive system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module;
- Wide selection of MSI's proprietary utilities (POST diagnostics, D.O.T., Memory-Z, BIOS profiles, etc.);
- Reasonable price;
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Fantastic overclocking results for the CPU;
- Power-on, Reset, and Clear CMOS buttons;
|
- Discuss the material in the conference
 |
Content: |
 |
|
|
Top Stories: |
|
 |
|
MoBo:
|
|
|
|
VGA Card:
|
|
|
|
CPU & Memory:
|
|
|
