Asus P4T-E

The P4T-E uses the Intel 850 chipset. It supports the new Socket 478 processors, but is incompatible with older P4

processors. It supports UltraDMA/100 and has two USB controllers for a total of four USB ports. RDRAM memory is

supported to a maximum of 2 GB, and the interconnection between the MCH and ICH2 is through Intel’s Accelerated Hub

Architecture. The motherboard features completely jumper-free operation through the BIOS. It has 5 PCI, 1 AMR and

1AGP slots. Our board also had AC97 audio.

In our tests, the board scored a 50.9 and 58.2 in BW and CCW 2001 respectively. Performance in Quake III and 3D Winbench 2000 were equally good. We did these tests using 256 MB RAM and a Seagate Barracuda ATA IV hard drive. The rest of the configuration included a GeForce2 GTS video card, and a 2 GHz P4 processor.

At Rs 15,200, the P4T-E is an expensive proposition. However, since it goes with the latest (also expensive) P4 processors, price should not make much difference in the buying decision. It comes with a two-year warranty.

Anuj Jain