P5AD2-E Premium

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ASUS's P5AD2-E Premium, an Intel 925XE-based board, produced scattershot performance results during our tests. Though it was a very fast Pentium 4 board in our WorldBench 5 tests, it didn't distinguish itself in the gaming tests. Go figure. Nevertheless, its features are consistently excellent for a Pentium 4 board. Along with integrated 802.11g wireless, it offers two SATA RAID controllers as well as ATA-133 RAID.

Pros

  • First-rate documentation, large software bundle, excellent Windows utilities

Cons

  • IDE controller facing front of case

Bottom Line

The P5AD2-E's overclocking controls aren't as precise as those on some other boards, but it's well-designed and has a fine manual.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 399.00 (AUD)

The P5AD2-E Premium has one layout quirk we aren't sure we like--an IDE connector that faces towards the front of the PC case, instead of straight up out of the board. That type of connector can allow for easier cable routing in some PC cases, but it can be hard to reach in others.

ASUS's first-rate documentation, a large software bundle, and excellent Windows utilities put the finishing touches on a very nice package.

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