14 DAY TRIAL // Apart from the top of the line mainboards that are designed for extreme computing performance and which are aimed at power users and computer enthusiasts, Asus has some line of products that are more budget-oriented too and which are best suited for all-in-one desktop computer systems, like those that can now be found in most homes and offices. In order to cater for the needs of budget minded users that are not willing to spend too much for a desktop computer system, Asus just announced the launch of two brand new mainboards that are Intel compatible and which offer a complete multimedia experience.
The two new Asus motherboards, the P5E-V HDMI and P5E-VM HDMI are both HDMI enabled and they are also centered around the hugely popular Intel G35 desktop chipset. Thanks to the embedded on-board HDMI connector, the two new Asus motherboards are capable of interacting with all new display devices in order to provide advanced multi-display output modes and high definition multi-channel audio and video streaming.
As they are built around the Intel G35 desktop chipset, the P5E-V HDMI and P5E-VM HDMI mainboards are also outfitted with the LGA 775 socket that is able to accommodate a large selection of Intel made central processing units, CPUs for short, like the high end Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme as well as lower end processors from the Pentium, Pentium D and Pentium Extreme lines. Like all new Asus mainboards, these two are also offering integrated support for the upcoming Intel processing units that will be built using the 45-nanometer fabrication process.
Due to the integrated Intel G35 desktop chipset, the P5E-V HDMI and P5E-VM HDMI mainboards are capable of supporting a native frontside bus that is scalable between 800 and 1333Mhz, according to the type of processing unit that is used. The G35 chipset that takes the role of the northbridge is also paired with the ICH9R southbridge chipset and the patented Intel Fast Memory Access technology is also present which makes these Asus mainboards capable of fully reaping the benefits of the dual channel memory architecture. On the random access memory side, the Asus mainboards are able to house up to 8GB of fast DDR2 memory modules that can operate at clock speeds between 667MHz and 800Mhz.
Most important, these two new Asus motherboards are factory equipped with integrated graphics processing units, so they are well suited for office and home use as they are letting users deploy a fully functional desktop computer system easier and at a lower cost, while at the same time providing a high graphics performance thanks to the embedded Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3500 chip that can share a maximum amount of 348MB of memory and which is 100 percent compliant with the latest specifications of the Microsoft DirectX 10 API, as well as with the specifications of the open source graphics library, OpenGL 2.0.
A number of innovative Asus technologies are integrated into the P5E-V HDMI and P5E-VM HDMI mainboards and they are including the Quad-Display output which allows users to use at the same time up to four different computer monitors in order to achieve a higher productivity while the Splendid Video Intelligence Technology is used to deliver an exceptional image quality in video and picture viewing as this technology is able to optimize on-the-fly the contrast, saturation, hue and brightness of all video streams. What makes the Splendid Video Intelligence Technology different from all other software optimizing technologies out there is that it is fully supported by the integrated graphics processing unit of the new Asus mainboards, so it takes no processor power, leaving the central processing unit free to perform other tasks.
Apart from a solid multimedia experience the two new Asus mainboards are also offering rich BIOS level overclocking options and they are backed up by the presence of the innovative Asus Precision Tweaker 2, a dedicated technology that can adjust the voltage of core components in order to provide a stable and responsive computer system even under heavy workloads and high operating frequencies. The Precision Tweaker 2 can automatically increase or decrease the voltage of the northbridge, frontside bus, CPU PLL and random access memory in order to optimize overclocking performance according to the operating frequency and workload.
The P5E-V HDMI and P5E-VM HDMI Asus motherboards are coming with all the needed accessories for building a desktop computer system and ''do it yourself'' users will find included in the packages, apart from the mainboards themselves, two ATA legacy cables, two floppy disk drive cables as well as three cables compatible with storage drives that are using the Serial ATA standard. As most power supply units still do not offer integrated support for the SATA standard, three Serial ATA power cables are also included as well as one HDMI-to-DVI conversion adapter, while on the software side, the two new Asus motherboards are coming with a CD medium that contains a drivers suite as well as a number of valuable software applications.