ASUS P5QL-E Review

Testing:

Exacly how will this board stack up when it is compared against some of the otherboards that are out on the market? Well, there is only one way to see and that is to push it to the limits. I will be stressing the ASUS P5QL-E using a variety of scientific and video benchmarks to see how well it scores at stock and overclocked speeds. Then I am going to put it up agaist several motherboards to see how it compares. All settings, voltages, timings, and latencies will be run at stock specifications to keep out any variables that may interfere with the scores and cause unwanted results.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel Core2 Q9450
• Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-E
• Memory: Mushkin Redline XP2 8000 2 x 2 GB 5-5-5-12
• Video Card: Sapphire HD4850
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800watt Modular Power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 7200.11 1TB SATA w/32MB Cache
• Opticals: Lite-On 8x DVD+/-RW
• O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Comparison Motherboard:

• Comparison Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6

We here at Overclockersclub.com have just recently switched from the 8800 video card as our testing video card to the HD4850, so at this time, there is only one other motherboard that we are able to compare the ASUS P5QL-E to. We will be launching more reviews with more motherboards being compared very soon, so check back at a later time.  

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

• Processor: Intel Core2 Q9450 @ 420MHz x 7.0 Multi = 2940MHz
• Sytem Memory: Mushkin Redline XP2 8000 2 x 2 GB 5-5-5-12

When it came to overclocking the Intel Core 2 Q9450 on the ASUS P5QL-E I ran into a few problems getting it stable anywhere above 2940MHz (420x7). Leaving all of the voltage settings on auto, I was able to get the FSB frequency all the way up to 400MHz with a multiplier of 7x. However, I did end up jumping to 1.355V on the CPU voltage to get it stable at 420MHz x 7 Multi giving me the speed of 2940MHz. If I tried to raise the FSB frequency any higher than 420MHz, no matter if the FSB termination voltage was raised to 1.36-1.40 volts or the CPU PLL to 1.4 volts, I would keep getting either a BSOD or just unstable results within 15 minutes of stress testing. I was very dissapointed seeing that I was only able to get 420MHz out of the board. I was aiming more towards 480 to 500MHz on the FSB Frequency.

Benchmarks:

• Scientific & Data:

1. Apophysis
2. WinRAR
3. SpecviewPerf 10
4. PCMark Vantage Professional
5. Sandra XII
6. ScienceMark 2.02 Final
7. Cinebench 10
8. HD Tune 2.55

• Video:

1. Crysis
2. Knights of the Sea
3. Bioshock
4. Call of Duty 4
5. World in Conflict
6. Call of Juarez
7. Company of Heros-Opposing Fronts
8. 3DMark 06 Professional