The Board – In More Detail
At first glance the Asus P4G8X Deluxe looks very much like any other motherboard until you notice that there are four Ram slots split into groups of two. This signifies that the board has the capability of dual band DDR. Looking more closely we also see some other interesting features like a serial ATA raid controller, a Broadcom Gigabit on board network chip and a Molex power connector on the motherboard?
One feature which could prove very useful is the addition of the Asus EZ-Plug. This is a Molex socket attached to the motherboard just below the ATX power connector. The plug is designed to supply additional power to the CPU in the same way as the four pin 12vATX connector supplied with modern P4 compatible PSU’s. This means that any ATX PSU can be used to power the P4G8X motherboard. We tested performance and voltage stability using the 12vATX, Molex and both connectors at the same time, finding no difference in performance. So the EZ-Plug really is a true alternative, nice one ASUS.
Asus have added Serial ATA support to the P4G8X in the guise of a Silicon Image SATA raid controller. This means that up to two SATA hard drives can be used. The SATA data headers are located at the very bottom of the motherboard providing very good access. SATA hard drives also need a specialist power connector which is not supplied with the motherboard. Serial ATA provides access to data transfer rates at ATA150 standard. As we have seen in our Seagate SATA hard drive review this can lead to excellent data write performance.
