With their 9xx series of CPUs, Intel also introduced the 975X chipset. There’s basically just one big difference between the 975X and Intel’s previous 955X chipset- the possibility of dividing the PCI-E x16 slot into two PCI-E x8 slots and thus supporting dual graphics cards. While SLI is unsupported, Crossfire works just fine on these boards.

ASUS was already ahead of the game- their 955X chipset based P5WD2 already features two PCI-E x16 slots and with a recent BIOS update, support for CrossFire technology was also enabled. However, today we have their 975x based P5WD2-E which is pretty much identical to its predecessor- give or take a couple of features.

Packaging

Like their recent Intel chipset based boards, the P5WD2-E is part of the AILife series by ASUS and thus, comes nicely packaged in a white box with a somewhat minimalist look. The front and the back have some features and specifications printed that the inside flip provides more info on the board.

Inside the packaging, ASUS bundles all the usual stuff such as IDE, floppy and SATA with their power connector converter cables as well as back plates for firewire, USB, Serial and MIDI. The user manual if of standard ASUS quality which is always good while ASUS includes the WinDVD suite with the drivers CD that lets you watch and create DVDs. We were a bit disappointed to not find the TV-WiFi card which was a part of their previous AILife series boards.

Layout

Compared to the 955X chipset board, there are subtle changes to the layout of the P5WD2-E and all of them are for the better. There is still ample space around the CPU socket and both the 12V and main power connectors are nicely positioned to reduce any sort of cable clutter in your system. Along with the main power connector you also find a molex connector onboard which is recommended if you’re running a CrossFire configuration.

ASUS slightly re-arranges the expansion slots configuration on the P5WD2-E and we certainly like it better this way. You now have a PCI-E x2 slot between the two PCI-E x16 slots while three 32-bit PCI slots sit below the second X16 slot and one PCI-E x1 above the first PCI-E x16 slot.

The four SATA connectors powered by the southbridge are perfectly placed by ASUS. Although it might look like the second PCI-E slot with a long graphics card might make them inaccessible, this is not the case. The X1800XT we used in this slot diced right though the center making all four slots available. Like the P5WD2, this board also had the Southbridge powered IDE connector bent ninety degrees and towards the center of the board which could be a problem to reach for people with tall chassis and optical drives on top.