Included Extras and Software
Asus has been increasing the amount of connectors, cables, and extras that they have been including in their motherboard packages over the months as another way to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The P5 series of motherboards is no exception here.
Here is the bundle that you get with your purchase of the Premium P5AD2 motherboard.
Asus has included eight SATA cables, one for every channel that their motherboard provides, as well as enough power adaptors for all eight SATA devices as well. This is a big plus for anyone buying a motherboard that has had to purchase cables separate.
Here is the adaptor for the additional Gigabit network connections and two additional Firewire connections. This now brings the Asus P5AD2 Premium motherboards total network connections up to three: 2 Gigabit and 1 wireless 802.11g.
This device that Asus has included is unique to motherboards that I have seen. It is a connection for the back of the motherboard that allows you to connect two SATA hard drives up to the system without having to install them into you case. There is even an external power connector, and Asus has included all the cables necessary for your use of this device as well. This is something that can be very handy for making backups of a system or sharing large amounts of data with friends at LAN parties, such as the upcoming Quakecon 2004.
Other included extra are the wireless antennae, IDE cables for all the channels available, a serial connector (should you need it) as well as the header for the additional 2 USB 2.0 channels and game connector. Software that is included is the Asus suite as well as a suite of software from WinDVD.
Asus Suite Software
The Asus installation CD provides a good amount of software and drivers to make sure you have everything you need to begin your system building.
First up we have the drivers portion.
Followed by the utilities, which includes AsusProbe software, Asus Update for BIOS upgrades, you won’t have to download the DirectX 9.0b, and there are a few other items you can see as well.
Finally, there are included PDF manuals as well as contact numbers for Asus support in all world regions.
The AsusProbe software allows you to monitor temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds through this Windows application.
While I didn’t do extensive testing on this software, I can tell you now that the processor was simply NOT running at the low temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.
