Asus P5Q-EM G45 mATX motherboard

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November 18, 2008 by Lawrence Lee

Product	Asus P5Q-EM Intel LGA775 Motherboard
Manufacturer	ASUSTeK
Street Price	US$140

Asus has a tradition of producing quality, feature-rich motherboards. The P5E-VM HDMI was one of their best — an Intel LGA775 mATX board based on the G35 chipset. With so many features it made an excellent ATX replacement and stood alone in its class for almost a year. Now, poised to replace it is the Asus P5Q-EM. Sporting a similar feature-set, but based around the new G45 chipset, it has some big shoes to fill.

Our first experience with Intel's G45 chipset was very positive. The DG45FC, Intel's mini-ITX adaptation of the chipset, proved to be very capable and extremely power efficient. Its form factor, however, is very restrictive; it does not even support all of Intel's current processors — you cannot use a quad core with it or anything with a TDP over 65W. For those wanting a little more versatility, the microATX form factor is ideal. The question is: does G45 translate as well to mATX?

Asus' Intel motherboards typically ship with a glossy blue box.

Box contents.

Asus P5Q-EM: Specifications (from the product web page)
CPU	Intel® Socket 775 for Intel® Core™2 Extreme/Core™2 Quad/ Core™2 Duo/Pentium® dual-core/Celeron® dual-core /Celeron® Processors Compatible with Intel® 05B/05A/06 processors Intel® 45nm Multi-Core CPU support *Refer to www.asus.com for Intel CPU support list
Chipset	Intel® G45 / ICH10R with Intel® Fast Memory Access (FMA) Technology
Front Side Bus	1600/1333/1066/800 MHz
Memory	4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR2 1066(O.C.)/800/667 Memory Dual Channel memory architecture When installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Hence, a total installed memory of less than 3GB is recommended.
Expansion Slots	1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 2 x PCIe x1 1 x PCI
VGA	Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD Multi-VGA output support: HDMI, DVI-D and RGB Supports HDMI with max. resolution 1920 x 1080@60Hz Supports DVI with max. resolution 1920 x 1080@60Hz Supports RGB with max. resolution 2048 x 1536@75Hz Maximum shared memory of 1849 MB Supports Microsoft® DirectX® 10, OpenGL® 2.1, Pixel Shader 4.0
Storage	Southbridge 6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Intel® Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10 Marvell® 6102 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
LAN	Realtek® 8111C PCI-E Gigabit LAN controllers, featuring AI Net2
Audio	Realtek® ALC 1200 8 -Channel High-Definition Audio CODEC - Support Jack-detection, Multi-streaming - ASUS Noise Filtering - DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC
IEEE 1394	Agere® L-FW3227 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (one at midboard; one at back panel)
USB	12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6ports at back panel)
ASUS Unique Features	ASUS Power Saving Solution: - ASUS EPU-4 Engine - AI Nap ASUS Exclusive Feature: - ASUS Express Gate ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution: - ASUS Fanless Design - ASUS Fan Xpert ASUS Crystal Sound: - ASUS Noise Filtering ASUS EZ DIY: - ASUS Q-Connector - ASUS O.C. Profile - ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 - ASUS EZ Flash 2
Overclocking Features	Precision Tweaker 2: - vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.00625V increment - vDIMM: 45-step DRAM voltage control - vChipset (NB): 30-step chipset voltage control - vCPU PLL: 35-step CPU PLL voltage control - vFSB Termination: 25-step reference voltage control SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) - FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 800MHz at 1MHz increment - PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 180MHz at 1MHz increment Overclocking Protection: - ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features	ASUS MyLogo 2™
Back Panel I/O Ports	1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse combo port 1 x Optical S/PDIF output 1 x D-Sub port 1 x DVI port 1 x HDMI port 1 x IEEE1394a 1 x LAN (RJ45) port 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 8-channel Audio I/O
Internal I/O Connectors	3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports 1 x Floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector 1 x COM connector 6 x SATA connectors 1 x CPU Fan connector 1 x Chassis Fan connector 1 x Power Fan connector 1 x IEEE1394a connector Front panel audio connector 1 x S/PDIF Out Header Chassis Intrusion connector CD audio in 24-pin ATX Power connector 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector System Panel (Q-Connector)
BIOS	8 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
Manageability	WOL by PME, WOR by PME, WOR by Ring, Chassis Intrusion, PXE
Accessories	1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable 1 x FDD cable 3 x Serial ATA cables 2 x Serial ATA power cable for 3 devices 1 x eSATA bracket I/O Shield User's manual 3 in 1 Q-connector
Support Disc	Drivers ASUS Express Gate ASUS PC Probe II ASUS Update ASUS AI Suite Anti-virus software (OEM version) Image-Editing Suite
Form Factor	uATX Form Factor 9.6 inch x 9.6 inch ( 24.4 cm x 24.4 cm )

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