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ASUS’ P5K series motherboards deliver the best features and overclocking capability

The launch of Intel®’s Bearlake chipset
Intel has formally announced its new P35 chipset that is part of the ‘Bearlake’ family. The P35 chipset is manufactured on one of Intel’s 65nm process nodes and is designed for upcoming Core 2 processors that require a 1,333 MHz front side bus frequency. While many current P965 and 975X Express motherboards can hit FSB frequencies in this range, they do not officially support speeds above 1,066 MHz.

The P35 is manufactured at 65nm, so it should require less power, generate less heat, and be more economical to produce than current chipsets.

What’s new and what’s different?
The P35 chipset comes with a plethora of new features, functions and standards. One major feature of the P35 is the support for DDR3 memory, although it can support DDR2 in some configurations as well. The main advantage of DDR3 memory is that it will be able to scale to much higher frequencies with lower voltages and better signal integrity than is typical with DDR2.

The P35 chipset’s PCI Express lane configuration remains largely unchanged from the current P965. P35 motherboards can support multiple PCI Express x16 graphics slots, but only the primary slot will have a true x16 connection. The second PEG slot will have an x1 or x4 electrical connection depending on the type of card installed. Also arriving with the P35 is the ICH9R Southbridge. The ICH9R has an additional six lanes of PCI Express connectivity (for x1 expansion slots or peripheral connections), support for up to 12 USB ports, and 6 SATA ports (with RAID), plus all of the functionality of the current ICH8R. An ICH9 without RAID support is also available.What are these new 1,333 MHz FSB processors all about?
As with the move of the Pentium 4 and Pentium D generation to the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad 1st generation, there was a need to increase the Front Side Bus (FSB) frequency. Further advancements within the Core micro-architecture have made enhancement of the FSB is necessary. The FSB will increase from the current Core 2 Duo stock FSB of 1,066 MHz (266 MHz quad pumped) to a new stock frequency for up-coming Core 2 Duo releases of 1,333 MHz (333 MHz quad pumped). This increase in bandwidth is what many overclockers have already experienced and exceeded. The performance benefits are already well documented.The current line of Core 2 Duo’s with a stock 1,066 MHz FSB (266MHz quad pumped), have the following code names:
• Merom (4 MB and 2 MB varieties) - mobile computing solution (laptops)
•

What ASUS motherboards will feature the Bearlake-based chipsets?
ASUS has a number of P35 motherboards available on the market today. The P5K and P5K Deluxe are DDR2-based and differ mainly in their feature sets. Like previous offerings from ASUS, the Deluxe model will sport a WiFi NIC, elaborate copper cooling, and an extensive accessory bundle. The P5K3 Deluxe has the similar feature set and layout of the P5K Deluxe, but it adds support for DDR3 memory. ASUS’ three initial P35-based motherboards are pictured below. Note the P5K3 Deluxe’s orange DIMM slots that are keyed differently to support DDR3 RAM.

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ASUS adds a few more unique features of its own. A newly designed 8-phase power array will reportedly operate at much lower temperatures than previous designs and offer longer component lifespan and more stable power for overclocking. The new, pure-copper cooling apparatus also significantly reduces chipset and VRM temperatures versus last generation products. ASUS’ P35-based motherboards feature the exclusive ‘Stack Cool 2′ technology as well, in addition to updated versions of their proprietary AI Gear 2, AI Nap, Q-Connectors and the other features common to ASUS’ AI Lifestyle branded motherboards. ASUS engineers have even redesigned the I/O backplane for better placement of the USB ports to accommodate more oversized, or funky shaped connections and they’ve incorporated a new feature that tells users when an expansion card is properly inserted into a slot. When cards are fully seated, an LED lights up to indicate a proper connection.Please stay tuned as ASUS will be introducing more boards based on other Bearlake chipsets.

Source : Asus.com

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