FIRST LOOK: Asus P5AD2-E - 1066FSB & DDR2-711

Our Take

Take our Gold Editors Choice P5AD2 Premium, update the chipset to 925XE, and further refine the BIOS adjustments. You've just created the P5AD2-E. The latest Asus Intel board does a great job of extracting whatever performance is available from a 1066FSB 3.46EE. This will come as a surprise to no one, as Asus has a long tradition of tweaking their very best boards to make them even better.

It would be a mistake, however, to overlook the potential of the P5AD2-E to extract even more performance from an 800 CPU than you can achieve with the regular 925X version of the Asus. New to the 925XE version is the option to run memory at DDR2-711 while the CPU runs at 533. You also have really excellent adjustment ranges for squeezing the most from any quality DDR2 memory that you care to install in this 925XE board. Most of these enhanced adjustment ranges will likely find their way into the earlier P5AD2, but keep in mind that support for both 1066 and 800 will not be an option for the earlier 925X board.

Does 1066 support really matter? From a stock performance standpoint, we would say' "No, it doesn't." But the added flexibility for squeezing top performance from other components is very useful. If and when more processors show up that support 1066, we may actually find the 1066 option even more useful.

For now, we would definitely choose the 925XE Asus over the 925X if the prices are close. It is just a little bit faster and a lot more flexible; that is, if you are looking for and insist on an Intel motherboard. The Athlon 64 processor is faster than Intel in most applications and the A64 boards are a better choice if top performance is your goal. However, Intel has narrowed the gap recently with the introduction of the 3.8GHz and next year, things will likely get tighter between Intel and AMD. Our biggest concern, and it's a huge reservation, is the super premium price demanded for the Asus P5AD2/E motherboards. While the price has dropped in the past 3 months, these boards are still priced between $250 and $300 - a lot of money for a motherboard. However, if you want the best Intel motherboard that you can buy, the Asus P5AD2-E is still likely your best choice. The 1066 processor cost is also a hard pill to swallow at over $1000, especially when the 3.46EE is outperformed by many lower cost Athlon 64 processors.

It is still early in the 925XE introductions and something better might yet come along. For now the Asus P5AD2-E is the best Intel motherboard that you can buy. The Asus matches the overclocking capabilities of the Abit AA8XE, and the Asus P5AD2-E is consistently the fastest board at stock speeds.