Since the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe and P5K Deluxe share the same design, we won't note all the features of the P5K Deluxe. We will simply highlight the differences between the boards and what do we think of it. First and foremost is of course, the cooling solution. Unlike the P5K3 Deluxe, not all the heatsinks on the P5K Deluxe are connected by heatpipes. The far heatsink is isolated from the rest of the heatsink. We generally think this is better because that means the heatsink only have to dissipate heat from the mosfet rather than the chipset (which is much hotter). Of course, that also mean you have less heat dissipation area for the chipset. Because of this, the StackCool on the ASUS P5K Deluxe can be hotter than the P5K3 Deluxe version. So, like the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe, making sure your PC case has good airflow or directly blowing air to cool the heatsink is a very good idea. You simply can not rely solely on the exhaust air from the processor fan / heatsink.
Both radiator fins uses the same thermal tape / pad like the ones on the P5K3 Deluxe. ASUS also used the same arrangement for the P35 chipset (thermal paste) and ICH9R southbridge (thermal adhesive), so the same gripe we had with the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe also applies here.
Now, that's just odd. The ASUS P5K Deluxe is the only board in this round up that produces erronous results with CPU-Z 1.40.5 memory tab. RAS to CAS delay, RAS precharge and TRAS seems inline with SPD settings at PC6400 timings, but the CAS latency is just way off to be right. Thankfully, that's not the CAS latency value used by the board. A CPU-Z problem? Doubtful since CPU-Z correctly displayed information about the memory modules and works just fine with other boards (including the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe).
Everything seems to be OK here. FSB is right where we set it on the BIOS - 400 MHz - and the P5K Deluxe applied about the same amount of core voltage as the P5K3 Deluxe - 1.24 volt.
Hmmm, looks like the ASUS P5K Deluxe tends to fluctuate the processor clock much more often and just a tad lower than its sibling. Of course, upping the voltage may help, but honestly you won't see the difference in real world usage scenarios. Those who overclock like crazy might be more concerned about this. We are using the same setup for both motherboards, so the only thing that's different is the motherboard.
Expansions and Add-Ons
Much like ASUS P5K3 Deluxe, the ASUS
P5K Deluxe comes with lots of bundle. They are mostly the same, with
just a few exceptions. Instead of six SATA cables, you'll only get four
cables - the non 90 degree cables. You still get a four pin
ATX to 2
SATA
power cable and two additional USB ports
and one Firewire ports in one bracket. The same complements of
ports are located on the
backpanel - the standard six jack analog ports, coaxial and optical
SPDIF
output port, six USB ports, the two Gigabit
Ethernet ports, a Firewire port and two eSATA ports. The PS/2 mouse
port
is also not present here.Needless to say, ASUS WiFi adapter
is also
included along with the appropriate drivers and access point software.
The ASUS P5K Deluxe also shares the same complementary of expansion
slots three PCI slots, two PCI-E x16 slots and two PCI-E
x1 slot, arranged in the same fashion.Tweaking and Overclocking Friendly
The ASUS P5K
Deluxe BIOS is identical to the P5K3 Deluxe, so we saw just as much
settings and features with this board. Processor, PCI-Express slot,
chipset, memory settings including clock, voltage and other setting
are configurable. You can set them automatically or manually if you
want. After you set all of them, you can save them as profile - up to
four
profile are configurable. BIOS flashing is also much easier due to the
built in Q-Flash utility - you don't need to prepare a DOS boot disk
just to flash the BIOS.The gripes we have with the P5K Deluxe are basically the same. Here they are:
- Stack Cool definitely needs an improvement - and much more so on the P5K Deluxe. Get a fan. With the high temperatures after long hours of operation, we think the fan should've been a standard accessory, more so with the price ASUS is asking for the board. StackCool also unnecessarily complicates heatsink installation and removal - though its more of a nuisance than a serious problem.
- SATA ports arrangement (6 internal SATA and 2 eSATA) - we think ASUS should consider 'mimicking' Gigabyte's approach of using eSATA brackets with internal SATA headers. That means users who do not want to use eSATA can still use the headers for internal hard drives.
- DIMM placement - there's simply not enough room for your finger to unlock the DIMM module locks (on the end near the PCI-E x16 slot) if there's a graphics card present
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