ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP@n is in fact one of the most high-end motherboards for Intel CPUs money can buy – if you can afford it. Costing around USD 360 in the United States only people with bottomless pockets can afford this marvel.
The only “flaw” we can see is the DDR3-only requirement, as DDR3 memories are still more expensive than DDR2 and with a questionable performance gain. If you have money this won’t be a problem for you, plus you will be 100% updated with the most high-end technologies available today.
Express Gate feature – which allows you to browse the Internet and access Skype without entering the operating system and even without a hard disk drive attached – is a really clever idea. It is done by incorporating a small Linux version with web browsing and Skype on the motherboard ROM memory. This feature would be really interesting if added to entry-level motherboards, because then you could assemble really cheap medialess PCs for Internet browsing.
If you aren’t impressed by its embedded 802.11n access point you can still buy the version without it, called simply P5E3 Deluxe, if you can find it (we couldn’t find the model without the access point being sold in the USA).
ASUS has also other three motherboards based on Intel X38: P5E (the simplest one), Maximum Formula and Maximums Formula Special Edition – all based on DDR2 memories. You can see them all clicking here.
