ASUS P5V-VM DH Digital Home Series - motherboard - micro ATX - P4M890

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Slow
Ease of Installation	Satisfactory
Stability	Very unstable
Value For Money	Poor

Advantages:	Cheap .  .  .
Disadvantages:	Core 2 Extreme?

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I have been using this motherboard with my Intel Core 2 E6600 processor for the last 3-4 months, and it's been nothing but trouble. It does not fully harness and utilize the power of Core 2 as it uses a VIA Chipset rather then the more advanced Intel Core 2 created Chipsets such as the Intel 975X, and it does not support Intel Core 2 Extreme (E6800 processor and above), which is a big negative for upgrading and shows it does not have the necessary abilities for the latest technology.

ASUS P5V-VM DH Digital Home Series

The main technical specs you will need to know to know include:

The micro ATX - P4M890 - LGA775 Socket

A PCI-Ex 16 slot and Integrated VIA UniChrome Graphics

A UDMA133, SATA (RAID), Serial ATA-300 (RAID)
An External and Internal Serial ATA 3.0 GB/s
Built in Ethernet, 802.11b, 802.11g
And High Definition Audio (6-channel)
It also comes with an Asus DH Remote, ASUS MP3-In, and an ASUS WiFi-AP Solo which is a wireless receiver which is actually surprisingly good.

It is said that it can handle hyper threading technology and core-speeds up to 3.8GHz and beyond, although my computer keep freezing regularly and the screen flickers constantly, so I very much doubt it can handle 3.8GHz clock speed.

I have 2 Intel Core PC's, and one has a cheaper P5V-D2 MX motherboard, and it works quicker, it works more reliably and it hasn't had one problem from point one, where as my P5V-VM DH computer has had constant problems and is acting more like a 128ram windows 98 PC near to extinction.

I am not entirely sure if the problem lies fully on the motherboard, as the graphics card or monitor may have a large part in it, but other then the cool remote and button features such as Noise OFF which decreases the sound to almost nothing unless your power supply is noisy, the motherboard is not one I would recommend.

The motherboard seemed like a bargain for £50, but I guess you get what you pay for, as it is limiting Core 2's potential, and we cannot allow that to happen, it would be a greater investment to save up for a £100 Gigabit Motherboard, which will fully support Core 2 and Core 2 Extreme and will suffice your overclocking needs.

In all, if you have a lower spec graphics card and are not planning on using Core 2 extreme, and you need a budget pc, then this motherboard may be considerable, but I would not build a Core 2 PC on this motherboard, as you would be missing out on the full potential.