The P2B-LS performed in the benchmarks within 2% of the other 10 or so 440BX based mainboards that we've tested previously. Its SCSI controller also performed within 2% of our standard Adaptec U2W external PCI Host Adapter on all of the disk tests we ran. None of this is a surprise since both the integrated U2W controller on the P2B-LS and our Adaptec 2940U2W PCI controller utilize the same Adpatec 7890 chip…..Good stuff indeed…
The BIOS that's equipped on the P2B-LS allows for the usual options save for the addition of a full terminator enabled/disabled feature for the onboard LAN and SCSI. The BIOS also adds the option to boot from an external PCI SCSI controller first upon bootup or the integrated SCSI controller that's on the board itself. In our usage of the P2B-LS we didn't encounter any trouble that could be attributed to the board's BIOS, it operated without a hitch.
By now you're probably getting the clue that we really thought the ASUS P2B-LS was a fantastic product. It is. We test a lot of products each week for Sharky Extreme and there aren't very many that achieve a 4.0 or 4.5 "sharkfin" rating from us. We're tougher than most online publications when doling out high praise, our feeling is that it takes a superior product to get us to spout accolades. (We don't want to be like some of the less scrupulous movie reviewers who give wonderful sound bites to movies that you know are crap….Think of us as the online Siskel and Eberts of PC hardware) The P2B-LS deserves very high praise for its fantastic support, its pain free installation, its impressive combination of LAN and U2W SCSI and its wonderful instructional guides.
This board works, and it works in a big way.
