| ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution X48 ATX Motherboard
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Installation:
The following components were used with the ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution motherboard for this review.
» Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Dual Core processor
» OCZ Technology Vendetta CPU cooler
» Sapphire 1024MB Radeon HD3870 X2 PCI Express graphics card
» Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» Aeneon XTune PC3-12800 1600MHz 2GB dual channel DDR3 memory
» Tuniq Miniplant 950W power supply
» Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
The physical installation was a snap thanks to the well thought out layout of the board, and ample spacing around areas that can occasionally cause issues on some boards. While I ran into zero issues, some areas are worth checking out.
The first set of images show the main components installed on the motherboard in order to gauge clearances. First we have a look at the OCZ Technology Vendetta cooler as seen from the back of the board. Clearance is not a problem, and much larger heatpipe coolers will fit without interfering with any of the board's features. Rough mock-ups with the Cooler Master Hyper Z600 and the Noctua NHU-12P were also successful, and these are two of the biggest coolers I have used.
 
Next we see the CPU cooler from another angle which provides a look at how close the fan comes to the memory slots. While there is no problem here, I could foresee an issue with larger coolers and memory modules with elaborate cooling mechanisms. This issue is hard to avoid on any motherboard, but with the Cooler Master Hyper Z600 and perhaps some OCZ Technology Reaper memory, you may have problems.
 
In the below left image we see that with a long video card installed in the first PCI Express x16 slot there isn't an issue with interference, but you do have to plan your installation properly. The memory needs to be installed first, since the release tabs are right up against the card. With such a setup you also lose the use of one fan header, but with so many onboard it doesn't strike me as a big issue.
 
The above right image shows a long video card installed in the second blue PCI Express x16 slot, and just how convenient those side mounted SATA ports are. The card just clears the tops of these, and if they were mounted in the traditional orientation you might lose the use of six out of eight ports.
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