With Intel’s recent release of the new “Eaglelake” P45 chipset, Asus has also released a new family of motherboards intended for the mainstream to high-end market. Ranging from the P5Q3-Deluxe/WiFi-AP at the top, to the P5Q-E mainstream motherboard, the P5Q series brings on technologies, catch-phrases, and features galore that mocks the term “mainstream” and catapults this series into the enthusiast’s limelight.

As with any review for an Asus product, there is a distinct danger of being overwhelmed with marketing terms and the true wealth of features that even the “lower” model has. To illustrate, we have on hand the P5Q-E motherboard that supposedly is the lowest end in the P45-based motherboard series. From its outside appearance, nothing could give a further impression. A shiny, metallic blue that any enthusiast can love greets the buyer, and multiple Asus-exclusive features are emblazoned across the box – namely Asus “Drive Xpert”, Asus Express Gate, 8-phase power design, EPU-6 Engine, and a host of other tags and neat logos – all of which we will delve into later in the article.

Opening the package reveals the standard bundle, meaning it has three SATA cables boasting angled connectors, a molex to SATA power converter, Asus’ foam-backed rear plate, Q-tips for connecting all of those finicky front-panel connectors in one swoop, and a rear USB/FireWire-B bracket to be connected to internal headers. CD driver and manual are also present of course. The motherboard itself is a full-ATX board and looks smartly designed and can hold its own when viewed from behind a clear side panel – blue accents and a funky-looking heatpipe system looks swank and decidedly non-mainstream.

Delving into the board itself, we are greeted with a crowded but efficient layout with good separation between major components -  even for the memory banks and the 1^st PCI-E slot – longer videocard won't hinder removal or replacement of memory sticks when fiddling with the computer. Smart maneuvering and some angled connectors make it an easy task to tinker around the motherboard area - an especially important consideration for enthusiasts. The two CrossFireX – capable PCI-E slots are suitably separated, while all VRM and EPU components around the CPU are low profile to accommodate after-market heatsinks and large cooling solutions.

The motherboard supports up to 45nm – process chips, including the Intel Extreme series and quad cores. Up to 16GB of DDR3 is supported, although this is only implemented in the higher-end P5Q-Deluxe and up motherboards. DDR2 supports up to 1200MHz speeds, while DDR3 modules can potentially go up to 1600MHZ. The board has 3 x PCI-E x16 (physical), 2 x PCI-E x1, and 2 x legacy PCI for expansion. A total of 8 SATA connectors are on-board, four of which are angled parallel to the board, along with the single IDE connector. Other connectors such as the 24-pin power, floppy, plus USB and FireWire headers all line the edge of the board to facilitate easy assembly.

Rear panel connections are as comprehensive as ever; a total of 6 USB sockets add to the internal header’s 4 for a total of 10. A PS2 connector for either mouse or keyboard is joined by SPDIF and optical connectors, 2 Gigabit LAN connectors, single FireWire A and e-SATA connectors, and the standard 6-jack 8-channel on-board sound. The P5Q-E is peppered with VRM (voltage Regulating Modules) components, notably near the northbridge and the memory slots. These are important components for Asus’ “6-Engine” EPU system, which detects power consumption of 6 main components, namely the CPU, Memory, Videocard, Chipset, Hardisk, and Fans, and automatically adjusts system power draw to achieve the best balance of performance and power consumption. This feature was the center of a recent allegation by a competing motherboard maker of “wrongful claims” and “false marketing”. Now for all intents and purposes, the actual VRM components are on the motherboard, and it would be wasteful and non-sensical to put in non-functioning components to clutter up space on a motherboard. Tests using a plug-in power-draw meter also indicate a clear difference in power consumption between the EPU system being turned on and off, and for most users, that is the gist of the matter – the system works, and no false advertising was done. After all, any more specific allegation on the internal workings of the system tastes of bickering, which is detrimental to both companies and to the consumer.

After that little detour, let us get back to the matter at hand: other notable features of the P5Q-E. Most exciting for the reviewer is the Asus Express Gate system, which uses an on-board Linux-based operating system to get the user powered-up and on-line in as little as 5 seconds from the time one pushes the power button. This is achieved by incorporating a little piece of flash ROM onto the motherboard, loaded with essential applications like Skype, internet browser, mail, instant messenger, and even a picture viewer. Drive Xpert touts easy setup for RAID for the purpose of backup (mirroring) or better performance (striping). In both instances, plugging in a minimum of 2 hard drives will make it possible to set up a RAID array, without delving into the nitty-gritty required of older systems.

Other small details serve as the sauce to the P5Q-E’s main dish, such as Intel’s Flex Memory technology that enables population of the memory banks with different-sized memory and still remain in dual-channel mode, a very capable BIOS with a comprehensive overclock utility, power and reset buttons hard-wired onto the motherboard, and the snazzy-looking heatpipe system surrounding the CPU area. More pictures to follow.

The P5Q-E is intended for the mainstream market, but for anyone wanting to take advantage of the enthusiast-level features offered by the Eaglelake chipset, and also have cutting-edge features from Asus, the P5Q-E offers a lot of flexibility and potential in its overclocking capability and Asus exclusive features that makes this motherboard a shoo-in purchase for the increasingly knowledgeable near-enthusiast level buyer looking for a great foundation for their next PC build.