Re: P5Q what do different versions mean

Jim wrote:
> I'm looking at this board but a bit confused what all the versions mean, I'm
> not into gaming or O/C just need a sound solid board, would rather spend
> less on mainboard (that does what i need) and get a better cpu as i do a lot
> of video encoding mpg to avi and dvd9 to dvd5
>
> TIA
>

Asus has a product comparison page. This is an example of the output.

http://www.asus.com/products_compare...2269,2273&l1=3

The product page would be here. The page doesn't always work properly
in all browsers, so you can edit the URL above, and change the models
in the display that way, if you run out of things to try. I managed
to run this page in Firefox, but the process did not go smoothly
at all.

You'll notice, that "firefox" now appears in the URL for this page.
That means they did browser detection, and that is how I ended up here.
Even so, this page didn't work as well as it should.

http://www.asus.com/products_compare...spx?l1=3&l2=-1

The main product page is here, and that is where you can find
the "Products Comparison" link on the top left.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=-1

The basis of product differentiation, is adding little bits of
stuff, and offering boards over a broad price range. A lot of the
added bits are not worth a lot to most people, so you should
consider their value carefully. An 8 phase regulator should be
plenty, and doesn't need any fancy power saving features. One
PCI Express x16 video card slot is plenty for most people (you
can stick a dual GPU card in the slot, if you want lots of
graphics power). Having extra LAN interfaces is nice, but most
people just plug into their wired router and go. There may be other
items, like Firewire jacks, ESATA connectors, which again are nice,
depending on how much you're paying to get them.

You should also look carefully at the complement of storage interfaces
and how they are wired up.

The P5Q has 88SE6111 and SIL5723.

http://www.laptop.org/teamwiki/image...s_88SE6111.pdf
http://www.siliconimage.com/products...ct.aspx?id=103

The storage interfaces look like this. At least the Intel
ports are unencumbered. There really shouldn't be a lot of
motivation to use SATA_E1 and SATA_E2 (that would require
reading the manual...). I expect some kind of driver is
needed for the 88SE6111 SATA port, in order to be able to
use the 5723 ports.

ICH10R (PCI-Express)
| | | | | | |
<-- Six SATA --> 88SE6111
| \
PATA \ (Sata bus)
| \
(two IDE \
disks) SIL5723
| |
SATA_E1 SATA_E2

HTH,
Paul