Asus’ premium motherboard is named in such a way as to make it convenient to call it by its name and  mean several different things, all of them positive in nature. The Asus  P5E3 Premium motherboard is a member of the AI Lifestyle product grouping devised by Asus to differentiate it from, say, the Republic of Gamer’s motherboards. As such, this motherboard competes with its peers in a different way when compared to the RoG series. We explore just how “premium” this motherboard is and how it achieves this naming distinction.

                                             CPU area is as usual surrounded by the Asus heatpipe system.

The Asus P5E3 Premium uses Intel’s shiny new X48 uber-chipset slated to replace the X38 as the top-of-the-line chipset from Intel. In some ways, it is similar to Asus’ previous X38-based motherboard effort, the P5E3 Deluxe. Layout and on-PCB components hardly differ, except for a few key areas. The Premium looks like a twin to the older Deluxe from some distance away, but when viewed closer, we can see that some components have been removed – most noticeably an additional x1 PCI-E connector nearest the northbridge. In its place there are some capacitors and power VRMs. Another noticeable change from the Deluxe is the blue-anodized heatsinks covering portions of the heatpipe system, and less noticeable, a goodly number of additional VRM components making up the very helpful power phase system on the memory and the northbridge sub-components of the motherboard.

                                             Now it's even harder to fumble for the right slot for the right device.

What’s so significant about this is the relative rarity of voltage control components for these two subsystems – aside from 4 to 8-phase power delivery systems gracing most of the mid to high end motherboards currently on the market, only a select few can boast similar control schemes dedicated to memory and the northbridge, much less a 3-phase (memory) and 2-phase (northbridge) power delivery system. This should help immensely with this motherboard’s primary purpose as a premium motherboard – excellent overclocking potential and the technical chops to remain stable after said overclock, with the help of the steady and very clean supply of power to the three key components of CPU, memory, and northbridge. Overclockability isn’t after all simply maximum attainable overclocks – a fact hard-learned by various high-end motherboard manufacturers, including Asus.

                                             Express Gate gives near instant access to the internet and essential connectivity options.

Some revolutionary features present in Asus’ previous Deluxe also makes the transition to the Premium, primary among these the Express Gate daughtercard that enables quick (5-second) boot-times into an Asus-developed front-end for general internet connectivity, including browser, mail, chat functionality, as well as the ability to access some of the more popular online utilities like Youtube and Skype. The wireless draft-N card also makes an appearance, taking form as a two-antennae piece of silicon nestled in between the northbridge heatpipe assembly and the first PCI expansion slot. Considering how much a wireless-N standard router or AP costs at the moment, this feature makes the Asus’ premium price tag quite a bit more reasonable.

                                             WiFi-N is integrated and uses two physical USB headers for connectivity.

No talk of features on a high-end Asus board is complete without mention of the pointy end of Asus’ green campaign: the EPU or Energy Processing Unit. Claims of up to 80% power saving on the CPU is supported by the board’s ability to shift to a 4-phase power solution when there is only light demand for processor power. This coincides with the major manufacturer’s increasingly sensitive take on “green” computing – especially evident in the case of Intel and their upcoming power-sipping 45nm process CPUs. Fully integrated into Asus’ AI Gear 3+ front-end utility, this system takes into account current usage profiles and adjusts power delivery to key components as required. Thus when the system is set to act automatically, Gaming will prompt an automatic (conservative) overclock to maximize performance, while general browsing and productivity tasks will cause the system to throttle down general performance levels and thus power consumption.

                                             Even with all of the features and connectivity options, there's still a bit of breathing space, especially around the graphics area.

Notice thus far that there has been no mention of Asus’ gaming ability – since this board is targeted at the overclocker and the multimedia enthusiast, some of the whiz-bang features that can be found in an RoG series board is absent, and there is less emphasis on its gaming capabilities. Which is not to say of course that this is unsuitable for the gamer. With basically the same infrastructure as the RoG series, the Premium boasts of two x16 PCI-E slots capable of Crossfire, while a third physical x16 PCI-E slot (4x lanes actual) leave room for a future full-length game-related piece of hardware (Ageia descendant, anyone?) Overclocking is also a gamer-related activity, with the primary goal of increasing performance in games. This board has this ability in spades.

                                             Memory power flow is regulated by these VRMs - a first for a consumer motherboard.

Going into the motherboard’s layout, we find features stuffed left and right into a regular ATX sized piece of silicon, yet somehow the board does not feel (too) cramped. With the exception of the memory slots nearly intruding into the videocard space (a problem when trying to remove RAM while the videocard is installed), the rest of the board displays a well thought-out arrangement, with angled SATA connectors where videocard length may be a problem, good spacing between primary graphics slots, and most essential connection headers found lined up along the motherboard edge for easy access. The CPU area has low-height VRM components and has adequate separation distances between socket and heatpipe system, so just a bit of planning will help prevent clearance issues. Another small complaint is the fact that the solitary x1 PCI-E connector will definitely become unavailable when a double-slot videocard is used – a shame since the original, X38 design had another such slot – which was removed from the premium.

                                             VRM modules can also be found near the Northbridge, completing the power delivery system of this overclocking maestro.

Speaking of features, the sheer number of connectors leaves nothing to chance, with either a header or a rear panel connector on hand for whatever kind of device you may want to connect. 6x SATA RAID capable SATA connectors, a single floppy and IDE channel, 2x USB headers (with two USB slots each), Firewire, 6x total fan headers, even a COM heaer for those who still need one. The rear panel is just as comprehensive – an additional 6 USB slots, 2x E-SATA connectors, 1x PS/2, 1x Optical Out, 1x Coaxial Out, 1x IEEE-1394a, 2x RJ-45 (LAN),  8-channel Audio I/O, and 2x WiFi-AP@n antenna jacks for the integrated WiFi adapter. This is not even considering the technologies and innovations Asus has included, from the big and significant like the aforementioned EPU, to the simple but useful Q-Connectors that ease indicator light connection when building up the PC.

                                             Angled connectors ease installation.

“Premium” is a well-chosen name. It describes this motherboard in so many ways. Components, features and capability all fit the name like hands in a tight-fitting glove. Yet there is one description that does not jive – the price. In other words, this motherboard, considering all of its capabilities, cannot be described as having a “premium” price – even at $370 or roughly P15000. Sure we cannot call it affordable or budget-priced, yet there is no other motherboard out in the market right now that offers features like on-board WiFi N and Express Gate, giving us a premium motherboard with immense value.

Watch out for  our print review in an upcoming issue of HWM! More pictures to  follow.

                                             Too many features! Just one that was not covered is the Stack Cool for passive PCB cooling.

                                            Blue for Crossfire. another PCI-E x16 hides in the background.

                                             Like a well laid-out road system, the P5E3 is crowded, but efficient.