ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: New ICH 10R is insanely fast with Gigabyte Irams. 4 Irams with 4 GB each tested with HDtach and HD tune at over 500 mb/s read and write with burst listed at 2,200 mb/s. The burst might not be accurate, but both tools report the same numbers.

Cons: If you ever set the sata to AHCI and are using non IHCI compliant devices (even if you change it back to raid) the bios will wait and check all 6 sata ports for the timeout duration listed in the AHCI settings (but this setting is not visible when you change the type to raid). Fix is to change to AHCI and correct the settings then go back to raid.

Overall Review: The Sil Raid controller cannot support cd/dvd drives in the current bios. This means you have 6 sata ports on the ICH10 for raid or CD/DVD, and 2 ports on the other controller that only support hard drives. Also, I believe the ICH raid is better than the Sil, especially bandwidth.

Pros: I couldn't even begin to praise this motherboard enough so all I can say is that it's an amazing board with a wealth of features most people will probably never touch the entire time they own the thing. Options are good so I absolutely love that

Cons: Zero Cons, but this is a warning for anyone who is going to get this board. There is nothing wrong with this board, but by telling everything this it will save a bit of headache when you do eventually get this mobo. First. The Orange and White SATA ports on the mobo aren't meant to be the main boot up drives for the system. They are for a super speed function where if you install 2 idential SATA hard drives to the 2 ports you'll get a very nice reward in terms of performance. Use the other 6 RED SATA ports instead. Second - Should you decide that you want to use the orange and white SATA port like any old normal sata ports then you must go to the drive xpert option in the mobo's bios and change it to mode change and then choose normal mode. That will get them acting like normal SATA ports instead ones that are meant for the superspeed function.

Overall Review: Something else of importance that most should know. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT attempt to install Windows XP on this mobo with anything over 2GB of ram inside the computer. It will cause your OS to be corrupt and it might fool you into thinking that some other aspect of your computer is messed up when it, in fact, isn't. I recommend sticking with 2GB of RAM if you are using XP 32 bit and perform the Vista Install using 2GB of ram then add more after you've finished installing Vista 64 bit.

Pros: Easily overclockable. BIOS is very much like the P5E X38. BIOS is full of options to overclock. Standard return policy-1 year. All solid capacitors for longevity, 2 PCI express 2.0, 8-phase power, 8GB DDR2 1200, 1600FSB, firewire, 6 USB 2.0, etc.

Cons: Northbridge runs a little hot.2 Jumpers have to be enabled to overvolt the CPU and the northbridge. No mosfet heatsink at the top of the board.

Overall Review: Q6600 rock-solid stable overclock of 3.6Ghz with a poor VID of 1.3125. Not a good chip but the board is still able to OC with appropiate air cooling-Xigmatec S1283 with bolt-down bracket and OCZ Freeze Extreme. Protein docking/folding 24/7 100% load temps are 51,51,54,54.

Pros: Decent overclocking abilities, solid construction, nice BIOS layout, easy-to-read manual, somehow it survived a short-circuit when I forgot to install stand-offs to insulate the mobo from my case's mobo tray.

Cons: Though it's Crossfire capable, the PCI-e 2.0 x16 lanes both revert down to x8 when two graphics cards are present, so it's not ideal for CF. If you only plan on having one video card, however, this is fine.

Overall Review: Q6600 @ 3.25ghz, 2x2gb G.Skill ddr2 800, HD 4870 @ 790/1100, WD Caviar 640gb, Xigmatek HDT-S1283, Rocketfish full tower case, 3dMark06 - 15810

Pros: - Runs cool enough - Great feature set! - Super stable - VERY well built - Comes with an awesome little plug so you can make your front panel connections outside the case, then just plug it into the mobo. Sweet! - 8-phase power makes this energy efficient. - Ran my DDR 1066 at 5-5-5-15 just fine after selecting that speed in the BIOS - Instant-On OS is pretty cool! Nice when I'm just sitting there playing Xbox with the computer on for IM/emails. - I/O shield is nice and padded. First time I've seen that. - Extensive instruction manual (if you need it) - Passive cooling == silent - Great board layout except for floppy connector - Overclock right in Windows (not that I have) - AI Nap allows you to "sleep" the computer when you still want to use it. It lowers processor speed and turns the VGA off. When I come back my fans are running very slowly, so it must be working. - Fan Xpert keeps my fan speeds low where I want them.

Cons: - Took forever to POST the first time. - Can't seem to get the thing to stay asleep! Will have to check and make sure nothing is waking it up, may be a software/BIOS configuration issue. - Comes with a ton of cables but no eSATA cable. Bummer. - Did not include any motherboard standoffs, but I can't remember if my last mobo came with them or if they came with the case - Would be nice if the EPU6 power-saving was built into the hardware instead of using software, but it doesn't seem to affect performance. - AI Nap doesn't work properly when using a machine that has more than 1 user. For instance, my user account has AI Nap enabled. When my girlfriend logs onto her account, the screen flashes black every few seconds. This is because when you wake from AI Nap, it asks you "are you sure you want to.." and you have to click yes. It's asking that question on my user account but not on hers, so she needs to log onto mine, then back to hers. Works fine when only I'm using it though

Overall Review: My motherboard in my old machine died so I decided it was time to upgrade the mobo/cpu/ram. Now I have a Q6600, Asus P5Q Pro, eVGA 8600GTS Superclocked (my old card), along with a couple of hard drives, DVDRW DL, and an X-Fi Platinum. Running Vista x64. This PC blows COOL air out the exhaust! I had no problems with the mobo not POSTing with the sound card installed like another review mentioned. When I first turned the machine on it just sat there with a black screen. I ended up waiting around 30 seconds and finally the machine POSTed for the first time. It ended up rebooting itself after "configuring" or something. In the many builds that I have done I have never seen something like this, but it wasn't a problem. I just thought it should be mentioned. I was getting worried the first time I powered it on! Also, it hung for a long time while installing Vista (minutes at a time). Again, I have never seen this, but after getting the OS installed all my problems have gone a

Pros: Like others have said, this is one of the best "bang for your buck" boards out. The best thing about this board is that its an Asus; nothing I have found compares to it. Going from a MSI board that's almost identical in price and features to an Asus is amazing in the difference in the quality and performance of the board. This is not the highest end board, but it works very well with high end processors. I really can't write this review only saying how one or two things are good about this board. Overclockings big and it does that well; the people that have complained about it not working at all in overclocking need to pay attention to either how they're cooling their system and what other parts they're using. Overall, a great board with a BIOS full of options.

Cons: Again, like others have said, crossfire with the P45 north bridge isn't full x16, only x8, but for single video cards there seems to be no problem. Also, if you're power supply is on the bottom of your case, connecting the 12V 8 pin plug into your motherboard will be a stretch if you dont have long enough wires or an extension; its at the very top by the CPU.

Overall Review: Do yourself a favor and only buy Asus, skip the rest.

Pros: This is a followup review to my original.having had time to explore boards limits.Using an E6400 i found 3.5g to be as high as i wanted to go.I usually run at 3.35 to 3.4g with 1.235-1.24v,cpu temps 38-45 with a STOCK cooler.Fav settings are 417x8=3.34g,425x8=3.4g,486x7=3.4g,and 535x6=3.2 @2140fsb.Ive had it up to 2200fsb with 550x6=3.3g using only1.248v as shown Everest CPUID..Using 4g ddr800,at 1:1.This is Over a 100% fsb overclock and 60% OC for CPU..the max ive gotten ddr800 to is 1130ddr.This is what stopped me going beyond 550fsb cuz ram at 1:1 was almost maxed out.High cpu and NB volts are Not nessary! I use NB 1.2,PLL 1.5,FSB Termin 1.2. The AI twister affects ram+ NB latency med to stronger may require raising NB above default to 1.2v,but will improve ram speed alot.AI Transaction is the Most Critical tweak Any P45 board.This is what makes one board seem sluggish while another is rocket fast.This p5q series is handicapped in reviews by a very poor default setting for this.

Cons: The cons would have to be the poor memory throughput performance with board in its defaults.Asus set this AI Transaction level-Aslo know as the Common Performance Level or PL for short-- very conservatively indeed.BUT it can be set manually to match or Exceed the other p45 boards.There is rumor that one cannot use a PL of under 10 for 1:1 ram ratio. I found through LOTS trials that to get under 10 requires dropping the rams CAS level to 4 as oppossed to the 5-5-5-15 settings which are default or most ddr800-ddr1066.Also the NB volts affect what PL u can achieve.1.2v is min to allow for a better PL setting.Ive found ddr800 @ 1:1 with fsb at 400-425 can be run @ PL 8,and even PL 7 if fsb is dropped to exccatly 398, any higher and PL 8 is required .Ive gotten up to 9400 read and write,,with 54 latency from ddr800. the 16:12 ram divider allows the lowest pl setting.

Overall Review: im using the 1406 modded ket bios, but ive used the asus orig 1406 and really found zero difference in overclocking potiential or ram throughput.One more note: If you are clocking beyond 500fsb, its importsant to choose Optimized, or compatible under CPU margin enhancement. this seems to have no effect when clocking under 500fsb, but will open doors to higher clocks once beyond that point.Vvery nice board for those who like me,LOVE to constantly tweak things!The bios looked alittle advanced at 1st glance, but after a month of owning, It seems like old hat now and not even complex anymore.The ability to Not have to pull a reset jumper Ever for bios failed clocks is awesome.Id say board runs alittle hot, aaand temp sensors are crazy ,reporting 117cpu and 240mb temps from time to time.I use a small fan place right on top of NB and this keeps it ample cool.Overall a great board for those who love constantly trying new and varied settings.This board has NO bottlenecks at all .

Pros: This is the second one of these I've bought for gaming machines. It runs great, the layout is awesome, has all of the ports I could possibly need.

Cons: Doesn't cook breakfast in the morning :(