Can we replace the "express gate" with some Linux by ourselves?
What is the special feature(s) of the "express gate" compare with Linux?
Thanks for your professional advise.

It's embedded in the BIOS (non-volatile) memory. Unless you have special tools to access the firmware, there's no way you can program this. It's also a highly reduced version of Linux, made small enough to fit into this limited memory -- I don't know the exact size. I know that current full-featured versions of Linux demand just about as much in the way of resources as Windows.

express gate seems very limited in its usefulness on $300 mobos. In a typical system that has such a board, just how long would you have to wait for windows to load? A minute? Hardly seems worth it. 5 years ago this would have been real handy on budget PC's that took 5 minutes to load up windows, but not now.

Hi. I realize that manufacturers will give you free stuff to review and maybe it can be fun but perhaps there should be a separate section for gear that is not related to silent computing, so the articles on the front page can be silence-related? Or you could sell such articles to another site, for instance one of the many sites for overclockers? Just a suggestion.

FYI, our main interest with this board was EPU. Asus said it worked well, asked if we'd like to assess it because SPCR has a rep for rigorous power/efficiency testing, and we said sure. This is the first board (only?) that has EPU.

thanks for the review - I was very interested in the EPU/ non-EPU comparison and it seems to bear out what every other review of EPU/DES boards finds ie. it makes no difference if you remove the undervolting/ underclocking side of things.

Still useful for those who don't want to dabble with undervolting, but the whole thing about dynamically switching power phases to save power is either marketing fluff or makes so little difference as to be pointless. The fact that Gigabyte P35 and EP-35 boards were the same, with only a fresh sticker over teh model no., seems to confirm this.

The P5Q that is waiting for my HTPC case to arrive has EPU. P45 chipset. Intelligent Detection! Automatic Moderation! it says on the box.

forget about express gate first...
The key is the energy saving here...
The test showed not a big difference for paying more...
Why we bother to buy this? Any not Gigabyte?

I saw another web site stated that the ASUS win Gigabyte for the energy saving performance.... but it doesn't match with the result that shown here (well, I trust SPCR)

Most likely... if EPU is used as it typically works on this board, then underclocking and undervolting is part of the package, and the typical user will see a signficant reduction in power compared to normal settings. It's too bad that we could not confirm whether the core portion of EPU is working or not on this sample, but for the typical (performance obsessed) user of this board, it still may be a worthwhile feature, and possibly an introduction to both underclocking and undervolting -- which most SPCR readers become familiar after a few article reads.

Couple thoughts here...

1st - it would be interesting to see how the power saving on this asus board compares to the current generation Gigabyte board thats designed towards the same purpose.

2nd, im wondering if one of the reasons EPU doesnt seem to work so well is because Asus tested it like an overclocker would -- once overclocking is turned on EPU shuts off and becomes a moot point. Which is a shame as it sounds like a really good idea.

Totally agree, I saw another website compare Gigabyte with ASUS on the energy saving...
Frankly I really hope SPCR can do the same, I trust SPCR more.

You should have used the EPU-6 Engine software and not AI Gear, in my opinion it's a best piece of software because it also changes the chipset and memory values.

I also have a E7200 but on a P5Q Pro and with Max Power Saving enabled my processor runs at 1432MHz with 0.944v but it's possible to underclock it even more, on Turbo mode you can overclock it, I have put mine for testing only at 2700MHz with 1.128v.

http://www.silentlife-project.com/pics/10.jpg

The differences aren't big from EIST enabled (on my computer its 2 to 3w in idle) but every little bit counts.