The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe may be an i865PE motherboard, but it is virtually indistinguishable from some of the higher-end i875P motherboards. The i865PE supports the same basic 800 MHz FSB and dual-channel DDR400 as the i875P, but ASUS has gone the deluxe route with the board, and included 6-channel audio, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, 8 x USB 2.0, as well as Parallel ATA RAID (VIA) and Serial ATA (2x) RAID (ICH5R). The layout is pretty standard, and includes a 1 AGP/5 PCI/Proprietary Wi-Fi slot design, along with going the high-end route with a four DDR socket implementation.
The basic features are just the start, and this ASUS Deluxe model also includes various BIOS, overclocking and safety features to boot. These include AI BIOS (auto BIOS load and recovery), AI Audio (peripheral identification and trouble shooting), AI Net (diagnoses and reports cable faults), and AI Overclocking (quick BIOS overclocking up to 30%). In our testing, these features did come in handy, though the AI BIOS option did give us an error two times, which subsequently disappeared on reboot.
The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is a performance marvel for the money, and although we didn't expect it, ASUS does offer a nice selection of hardware and software. This retail pack is definitely made with the price-performance user in mind, and includes the motherboard, one black ASUS-branded Floppy cable, two black ASUS-branded ATA-66/100/133 cables, two SATA cables, an I/O Shield, a driver CD, a RAID floppy disk, a WinDVD Suite CD (WinDVD, Creator, WinRIP), a Quick Setup Guide, a 110-page hardcopy user manual, a keyboard template (for BIOS features), and an ASUS case sticker. This may not be as robust as some of the more expensive i875P motherboards, but ASUS has definitely given users a lot of bang for the buck, and it matches the overall market of the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe perfectly.
The layout of the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe starts out extremely strong, and the arrangement of primary ATX, floppy and IDE connectors is perfect. These are all set in a square format at the top-right of the board, and this should be a template for other manufacturers to follow. The CPU socket and color-coded DDR sockets are set in a virtually perfect position, and the standard 1 AGP/5 PCI layout is augmented by a space between the AGP slot and first PCI slot, to make room for more expansive video cards like the GeForce FX. The secondary IDE RAID connectors are at the bottom right, with one running parallel to the PCI slots and the other offset on the right edge of the motherboard. The SATA ports are directly between them, right below the DIMM sockets.
It's tough to find any real issue with the overall layout of the P4P800 Deluxe, but the secondary ATX power connector could use some work. In direct contrast to the well-designed nature of the other components, ASUS has placed it near the ATX backplate, which requires the power cord to get a little too close to the processor for our liking.
The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is definitely one of the easiest motherboard to install and with a near-perfect layout and design, the hardware and peripheral installation was a piece of cake. Windows XP loaded easily and there were no issues with the drivers or other peripheral software. The P4P800 Deluxe is also a full-sized ATX design, so you won't have board overhang to worry about.
When it comes to overclocking, ASUS doesn't take a back seat to anyone. The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe has all the ingredients necessary for overclocking glory, including 1 MHz FSB adjustment (up to 400 MHz), and full CPU core, AGP and DDR voltage selections, with each offering a very nice maximum value. ASUS also provides AGP/PCI bus locking and overclocking, and while not giving any form of DDR clock speed increases, there is a feature called Memory Acceleration Mode, which emulates the Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) of the i875P. The only questionable call is the choice of an AMI BIOS, as we feel that Award offers a bit easier navigation for such a high-end System BIOS.
There are different market segments for each Intel chipset, and the i865PE is designed to be a mainstream performance option. ASUS has taken this basic design, added in some high-performance features, tossed in excellent overclocking options, jacked overall speed with the MAM (Memory Acceleration Mode) feature, and basically offers near-i875P performance at a lower price. The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is obviously the price-performance leader and is a real steal for more budget-minded gamers.
