Asus P5K3 Premium: Part 1

Box Contents

• Six red SATA cables, three of which are 90 degree connectors
  
• One Molex to two SATA connector adapter cable
  
• Case badge, Manual, WiFi Solo-AP, Quick Start Guide and Driver CD
  
• Software disk including Norton Internet Security 2007, Corel Snapfire Plus SE, Intervideo DVD Copy 5 (trial)
  
• Black floppy and IDE cables
  
• Two optional heatpipe cooling fans
  
• Rear I/O shield
  
• PCI bracket with two USB and one 6-pin Firewire port
  
• Wireless LAN antenna
  
• Asus Q-connector

We're only missing a couple of USB ports and if you really need them, a RS232 serial and S/PDIF out for the board pin-outs as well. There are still eight USB 2.0 ports provided out the box with six of those rear I/O. Two pin-outs are left spare - possibly for use on the front of a case and the last ports are used by the WiFi AP feature.


There is not only a very comprehensive manual but also a quick start guide and an extra software disk. Everything else you'll possibly need is also included, like the wireless antenna and heatpipe cooling fans which, despite being rather noisy, are more important considering the memory heatsink is connected to just one of them. It's unfortunate Asus didn't include something like a low profile axial fan for the memory heatsinks because it's just crying out for one - but that would have cost even more to include it for just a single motherboard.


The SATA ports get three 90 degree connectors which not only gives you the option but means you can easily unplug all the closely sat plugs even when all six are being used. Or using them on optical or hard drives means there's less likelihood of snapping them off because they jut out less - this is great attention to detail from Asus.

There is only a single molex to SATA adapter included, however by now the probability of having quite a few SATA connectors on the PSU is high since they've been around for a several years, or you might already have some left over from old motherboards anyway. You could argue the same thing about SATA cables, but after a time the connectors wear so it's always good to use some new ones anyway.