Yet another chipset from Intel who evidently appear to be somewhat dissatisfied with the 10 or so chipsets they’ve released in the past year. The P45 is basically a cut-down, lower-priced version of the high-end X48 chipset-based boards. It’s also set to be the last socket-775 chipset until the release of the eagerly awaited Nehalem range at the end of the year.So what makes the P45 better than its predecessor, the P35? Firstly, the P45 ups the front side bus to a maximum of 1,600Mhz over the P35′s 1,333MHz, which in turn gives overclockers a little more headroom to play with. It also boasts PCI-Express 2.0 support for twice the graphics bandwidth and supports Intel’s 45nm-based processors, the latest, more efficient and slightly more powerful Core 2 chips. It features the ICHlO southbridge too, which includes a 10GB ethernet controller and built-in wireless support, while dropping the aging PS/2 and LPT ports.Asus has a reputation as one of the more innovative companies in the market – the Eee being a testament to that – and this latest PSQ Deluxe is no exception. The board itself is well laid-out, with the usual, aesthetically
