The PK5-E and PK5 Deluxe motherboards
Asus motherboards are renowned for their quality. The Asus P5K-E and P5K Deluxe motherboard do not deviate from that standard of quality. These two motherboards are siblings but not twins. There are way more facts that make them alike than different. This article will lay out the differences between these two motherboards.
Overclocking Facts
Motherboards manufactured by Asus are built with performance and overclocking in mind. That said, both the P5K-E and the Deluxe have a suite of overclocking features. They are collectively named “Intelligent overclocking tools.” Check out two of these features. The first is “Overclocking Protection.” This feature will recall the CPU’s parameters to protect your system. The other feature is the “Precision Tweaker,” which has a suite of subfeatures. Tweaking the FSB speed in 1 MHz increments is one of these features.
Parallel Points
These mobos come out of the box blazing with 1333 MHz front side bus speed. They also have 4 DDR2 ram slots. Both mobos have socket 775, which means they are ready for compatible Intel processors. The Core 2 Duo, Pentium-D, Extremes and Core 2 Quads are compatible with these boards. Next gen Intel 45nm CPU compatibility support is native to both boards.
I/O Ports
Expansion slots, I/O connectors and ports are abundant on these motherboards. Here is a partial list: 8 channel audio; 10 USB; 6 SATA 3Gb/s; 2 eSATA; 2 Firewire ports; S/pdif optical and coaxial; PS/2 port for keyboard; 2 PCI slots; 2 PCI Express x16 slots; 2 PCI Express x1 slots1; gigabit Ethernet RJ45 connector.
Asus P5K Deluxe
The P5K Deluxe motherboard has copper heat pipes. This heat pipe design directs chipset heat away from components. This heat is directed by the existing CPU fan. The Deluxe also has dual gigabit Ethernet. This is in addition to the Asus WiFi. The Deluxe sports the Asus omni-directional WiFi antenna too. Other than these features, there are no other major differences from the P5K-E.
Pricing
You can purchase a new Asus P5K-E motherboard in the $125.00 range. A new P5K Deluxe will hit you at least $50.00 more. As of this writing, the online community has many used and refurbished P5K’s. Most claim the boards have never been overclocked. Previous overclocking may not be so much of an issue with this particular board. But a caution is still in order.
Understanding
These facts about the Asus P5K-E and Deluxe motherboards have hopefully cleared up some questions. The Deluxe model has the heat pipe design, native WiFi and dual LAN capability. Those are the differences. These are huge to some but not so big with others. At any rate, these motherboards are solid performers for enthusiasts and those requiring a higher end motherboard.
References: http://www.intel.com/technology/architecture-silicon/45nm-core2/
Dual LAN http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/p35-ddr2-motherboards-compared,1629–2.html