ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Hi quality solid board, great value. Was afraid that a 8800GTS would block some of the SATA connectors, but it doesn't. One of the supplied SATA cables has a right-angle connector, but it wasn't needed. (Would it have broken the bank for Asus to make both supplied cables be right-angle ones?)

Cons: IDE connector is inconvenient for my DVD drive, which is in the very top of my case. Heat pipe plumbing is dorky overkill IMHO, but it apparently impresses the kiddies. At least it doesn't get in the way of anything.

Overall Review: Upgraded existing PC - retained only the case, PS and hard drives from the old one. Had to find and download Intel's Matrix Storage Manager 7.0 User's Manual to understand RAID setup limitations for the P35. To do RAID, ALL SATA drives must be configured as RAID; Apparently even non-RAID drives are managed by the RAID controller. I wanted to use an existing Windows boot install on a non-RAID drive, along with a pair of WD Raptors in RAID 0 for performance. Configured my 2 Raptors for RAID 0, but then couldn't boot WinXP from the single drive. Found I had to reinstall WinXP on that drive. Also, needed to do the F6 thing during WinXP install to load RAID driver from floppy. (Win Install said it couldn't find ANY hard drives - which is obvious once you think for a minute - or even read the manual! You need to install the RAID drivers before Windows installer will see them - doh). Just be sure to make the floppy before trashing your existing Windows installation.

Pros: Fast delivery by Newegg. Board worked upon arrival.

Cons: This is about my 6th ASUS motherboard, first with problems. Layout is restrictive. Using high end video cards, which are long, cover some of the onboard SATA ports, making them useless. The board advertized compatible with DDR2 1066 mhz. BIOS is not set up for auto detection of 1066 and recommends manual setting. With the Bios version installed, the computer locked up and the battery had to be removed and jumper reset to get the system to work. ASUS tech support blamed the problem on Kingston (listed as compatable) with no help. I did upgrade the BIOS and that has seemed to solve the problem, with manual setup. Soundmax software has limited flexability. Realtech is better.

Overall Review: Based on the tech support help or lack there of, layout, next time I will consider another manufacturer.

Pros: Good quality, well laid out (for the most part) and gives great performance for the money. The Built-in wireless is awesome. Asus did a good job with this board.

Cons: VERY VERY VERY picky about memory. I tried Geil and OCZ memory in it, and it did not post with either brand, I ultimately got some high end Corsair memory and it finally posted. Be sure to read the Qualified Vendors List in the manual online before buying memory for this board. Also, when you have a large (think 8800GTX) video card in, it blocks the first two SATA ports on the board. NOt really a big problem since there's 6 of them, but I thought I'd let you know.

Overall Review: The wireless card is a nice touch, but get rid of all the AP software and unneeded wireless stuff, just run the drivers and it'll be fine. The software that comes with it is annoying.

Pros: Loved the heat pipe and all the options: esata,sata,firewire,wireless etc...

Cons: Would not work with crucial DDR21066. I couldn't find the crucial kit that asus said that works with this board.

Overall Review: Would have been a super great board if it had worked with DDR21066

Pros: Great board when it worked

Cons: instantly I had a keyboard interface error, but I decided it wasn't the end of the world and just used a USB keyboard. I didn't think it was too big of an issue till I woke one morning to the smell of ozone and found that I couldn't power on my machine. When I finally got it to POST I got an over-clock failed error, which was odd since I hadn't felt the need to OC since I could play everything at top settings as it was. Turns out that something burnt up on the board right next to the keyboard input.

Overall Review: Newegg accepted my RMA without any fuss and I should be recieving a replacement. I wouldn't let my experience put you off of this board, I recommended this Mother board to a friend of mine who has had no problems with it.

Pros: Appears to be high quality fabrication. When it runns it runs good.

Cons: I've had this board since November. It has gotten progressivly harder to deal with on a daily basis. Upon power up it takes on average 6 attempts to get it to even begin POST. Fans spin, LED's light - nothing else. THEN, when it finally does start it almost always displays 'AI Overclocking Failed'. I am not overclocking anything. I have tried 4 different BIOS version, all with the same result. I've removed all the peripherals (all but 1 drive) and it makes no difference. ASUS support is totally silent regarding all the problems many have with this board. Nothing usefull in the ASUS forum.

Overall Review: AI Suite is totally useless. The UI freezes as soon as you start it, but it will leave a hungry task active. The WiFi app works well, but fails to shut down 80% of the time. This pig is going in the trash soon.

Pros: It fits and works. Nice passive copper heatsinks. Stock cooler is quiet. Built-in raid controller works. Built in sound does Dolby Digital just fine. Haven't tried OC'ing yet.

Cons: Installing RAID DRIVERS with fresh install of XP and "F6 boot" did not work with the supplied "make disk" process given by ASUS. The boot up floppy had to be manually modified for XP to read the iastor.sys file. This really is an XP problem but ASUS should have corrected their "make disc" feature to compensate. This really is inexcusable as I spent 8 hours trying to get past a problem that should have taken five minutes(on a Saturday). To fix problem on floppy, simply create "A:\$OEM\textmode" folder, then copy iastor.sys, .inf, and .cat files into it. How hard would that be to fix for your customers, ASUS? :(

Overall Review: Some have complained of big video cards blocking SATA slots but this was not a problem for me even with my gigantic Radeon 3870. Also, ASUS is now supplying one right angle SATA cord to alleviate this. I did not have problems with video card hitting RAM slots either.

Pros: The WIFI does work with Vista x64, contrary to popular belief. Pretty good for overclocking. SATA ports might be blocked by big nvidia cards, but my pny 8800 gts g92 fit.

Cons: Most of the software that comes with this is bloatware. The only software of value might be the audio utilities.

Overall Review: Do your overclocking in the BIOS, not in Windows. Do a youtube search for this board for a great review.