ASUS P5E3 Premium X48 Motherboard Review

Package & Accessories

Since the Asus P5E3-Premium is not a part of any additional marketing campaign groups like the Maximus or Rampage, the package is going to be a standard Asus offering that uses package real estate for advertising features.

As predicted, the P5E3-Premium package receives the ASUS premium package treatment of an all black box with gold foil writing and covered head to toe in logos more logos than a Nascar driver. Under the top flap, a primary focus of ASUS advertising budget has gone towards making sure we all know what EPU is, does, and how it can help save us money. Yes, even motherboard manufacturers are advertising how their products actually save us money by saving energy.

The underside of the top flap is very similar to our Features section in that it goes over a few unique features of this motherboard with images and text. The rear of the package continues on with this theme and proceeds to educate us on every possible feature they could jam into the space. We also get an abbreviated copy of that lengthy specifications sheet we presented a couple sections back.

As was mentioned, it is the abbreviated version because the specifications list we looked at had a heck of a lot more information than that. Either way, ASUS has done a fine job esthetically presenting a large amount of information about the P5E3-Premium. Let's now get a look inside and see what we have for an accessories package.

The package of goodies we get with this motherboard is above average if we had to quantify it and will mention that it is very similar to a Rampage Formula accessory pack we just looked at recently here at HWC. Here is a complete breakdown of what is included:

• 1 x Floppy Cable
• 1 x IDE Cable
• 3 x 90 Degree SATA Cables
• 3 x SATA Cables
• 1 x 4-pin Molex > Dual 5-pin SATA power cable
• 2 x Optional PWM Fan
• Dual USB & Single Firewire PCI Expansion Bracket
• 2 x Wireless @N
• ASUS Q-Connector
• Rear I/O Panel

There really is nothing to out of the ordinary that needs further explanation but let's get a better look at a couple items.

The Q-Connector is a neat little piece of hardware that has become standard with all ASUS motherboards in recent memory. This connector is designed to make the tedious task of hooking up front panel cables simple and straightforward. For the most part, it does this task well and has eased the installation process a little bit for the end user. The other luxury item we have are the two additional fans that clip onto the surrounding heat sinks if you are water cooling or in a situation where there is no airflow over the heatsinks.

Like the list points out, there are also two included WI-FI antennas. The P5E3-Premium comes with two omni directional antennas in order to provide the maximum coverage possible for the wireless N connection. Through the included software, the P5E3-Premium can act as a normal wireless client, or take on the role of access point providing wireless access to other devices within wireless range. That is a nice feature that will come in handy for many people with less than simple wireless setups.