The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Bethesda Softworks timeless classic of might and magic, good vs. evil, Oblivion is the fourth installment of the popular Elder Scrolls role-playing game series. Released in March 2006, the game is still going strong thanks to official expansion packs (Knights of the Nine, Shivering Isles) and a sizable modding community.

Oblivion does not support antialiasing and HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting simultaneously. However, you can force the game to use both through the NVIDIA control panel, which is what I did by making the following changes to the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion profile:

FRAPS was pressed into service once again to record minimum, maximum and average frame rates. My Oblivion installation has a lot of tweaks and mods that not only amp-up the visual quality over a “plain vanilla” installation of the game, but also add a lot more to the game world which also places additional stress on the system. For the outdoor benchmark, my character rode from Anvil on horseback along the Gold Road to Skingrad, non-stop. Indoor benchmark numbers were obtained by battling my way through the Vilverin Ruins which now has double the number of enemies thanks to Martigen Monster Mod 3.5.5. And the Average Frame per Second results are:

Here, the P5E64 WS Evolution gains a sizable advantage over the P5K PRO on the outdoor run from Anvil to Skingrad. With the indoor levels of the Vilverin Ruins, the scores are pretty close. Keep in mind that Oblivion randomizes a number of elements in the game world (i.e. the number of NPCs encountered) every time you reload and play through a level from the beginning, which can impact on your frame rates.

Word in Conflict

World In Conflict is Massive Entertainment’s award-winning RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game where you lead U.S. and NATO forces against a fictional Soviet invasion of the U.S. and Western Europe. World in Conflict stands out from similar RTS games by focusing more on combat that micro-managing resources. The game also invokes a more “cinematic” feel with a storyline that places the player in the role of Lieutenant Parker who commands the allied forces, and in no small part due to actor Alec Baldwin’s voice acting narrating the game’s cut scenes through Parker’s eyes.

World in Conflict has its own built-in benchmark which can be found on the Basic options tab under Options—Graphics at the main menu that records the minimum, maximum and average frames per second. Accepting the default Very High Graphics Detail setting on the Basic tab, I jumped to the Advanced tab and left all settings to their defaults, but made the following changes:

The last two options are DirectX 10-specific, and only selectable under Windows Vista.

Being one of the most demanding RTS titles under DirectX 10 which taxes the CPU as much as the CPU with all the visuals are maxed-out, both the P5E64 WS Evolution and P5K PRO are practically neck-and-neck in this particular benchmark.

Final Impressions and Conclusion

Feature-rich with above average expandability for the most demanding tasks, the ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution has a lot going for it. Board layout is excellent with no major issues. And it’s one of the best-looking motherboards in ASUS’ line-up. If your case doesn’t have a windowed side panel, this board might make you cut one out or buy a case with one. Even if windowed side panels aren’t your thing, the P5E64 WS Evolution is one mobo that will make you proud to take the side panel off to display the insides of your rig.

Of course, looks hardly mean anything if the board is a dog and doesn’t perform. Intel’s X48 chipset, and DDR3 RAM support with X.M.P., plus a well-organized user-friendly BIOS with almost every overclocking and tweaking option you might want, pretty much guarantees that performance won’t be much of a problem for the Evolution (whether you overclock it or not). With the next version of Adobe’s Photoshop being revamped as a true 64-bit application, imagine what this board with 8GB of RAM, a team of Western Digital VelociRaptors on all six ICH9R SATA ports, a pair of AMD FireGL V7350’s connected to two 30” LCD displays, and an Intel QX9770 Core 2 Extreme 3.20 GHz Processor running a 64-bit edition of Windows, can do—other than open up a major can of whoop-ass on your wallet, of course!

Compared to the P5K PRO, I was surprised by the quality and clarity of sound from the ADI 1988B 8-channel onboard audio through my set of Monsoon Planar Media 9 Speakers and Zalman ZM-RS6F 5.1 Surround Sound Headphones. Now that the word is out about the unselectable preset problem under Vista SP-1, hopefully SoundMAX and ASUS will get busy on an updated version that resolves this issue. As for all the grief AI Suite gave me during the review, I would recommend that anyone considering the ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution avoid using it until it’s fixed for this particular motherboard. Power users, whom this motherboard is definitely targeted for however, prefer to have as few programs operating in the system tray or background as possible. If they overclock at all, they go straight to the BIOS to do it themselves, rather than use a software utility. If power management is an issue, they'd use what's already native in Windows. So it's highly unlikely they'd even bother loading AI Suite in the first place.

If there was anything I could change about the P5E64 WS Evolution, it would be to drop the Marvell 88E8001 PCI Controller in favor of a second 88E8056 PCI Express Controller. And to integrate the G.P. Diagnosis daughterboard directly onto the motherboard—or somewhere on the rear I/O panel (makes it harder to leave out the box that way). I would also omit the existing software bundle, and just provide the necessary drivers to get the board up and running under its supported operating systems (maybe leave in ASUS PC Probe II). Considering the nature of workstations and their usage, I don’t see much point in bundling programs that have more appeal to the general consumer and enthusiast market. Anything else would be considered superfluous to the workstation crowd, who most likely already have their own specific and specialized suite of applications and utilities to use.

The only real drawback to the P5E64 WS Evolution at this point in time, is availability. The board is already appearing in the European market and elsewhere outside the United States. Searches on the Internet don’t show it anywhere in sight for sale here in the U.S. Normally I would also say that price is going to be a drawback as well (my guess is that the Evolution might be in the high $300 to mid $400 range). But this is a DDR3 workstation motherboard with Intel's latest top-of-the-line chipset and support for up to four PCI Express video cards. While DDR3 is going down in price, it’s still not quite as inexpensive as DDR2 RAM. I wouldn't expect a board like this to be cheap.

Obviously if your only computing tasks involve E-Mail, web browsing, managing your music and personal photo collection, and you’re looking for a motherboard to build a system with that purpose in mind, then the Evolution is NOT the board for you. Even if you’re building a killer gaming rig, you’d be better off (and a lot less broke) going with one of ASUS’ ROG (Republic of Gamer) motherboards.

If your goal, however, is to build the ultimate PC workstation that is powerful and reliable with plenty of room for growth now and in the future, then the ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution Workstation Motherboard is the one you've been dreaming about and waiting for.

Barry’s Rigs ‘n Reviews would like to thank William O'Neal at ASUS USA

for providing the P5E64 WS Evolution Workstation Motherboard for this review!

ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution Home Page