- Conclusion

The arrival of Windows VISTA has brought about changes for many motherboard manufacturers, with what we hope are improved editions of their famous boards, sporting VISTA enhanced features. Asus accomplishes this with the release of their P5B Premium VISTA edition. The board more-or-less is a P5B Premium with several additions to make it "VISTA" compatible, and at the same time improve VISTA experience.

The overall performance of the P5B Premium was very good in all tests. Compared with Asus' other P965 motherboard, the Asus Commando, we saw somewhat higher performance using exactly the same components. On the other hand, overclocking performance was lower than what we had seen with the Commando. Remember though, that the Commando is a newer board with a different design and is aimed at overclockers.

The extra features of the P5B Premium, such as ScreenDUO, RemoteAI and TMP, are welcome, even if we don't feel that most users will use them all. The Asus P5B Premium costs around €180~200, whereas the Commando costs €200~250. With the arrival of the P35 platform, it is very possible that prices will drop even further. We have no major complaints with the P5B Deluxe, but we prefer the Asus Commando.

Overall, the Asus P5B Premium is an "improved" edition of the famous P5B Deluxe with several "VISTA" specific features. If you are interested in investing in a futureproof motherboard that will be a companion for your "VISTA" installation, then the P5B Premium VISTA Edition is a perfect choice. Otherwise, you can look for a P5B Deluxe or even better, the Asus Commando. Both products offer somewhat similar performance and high overclocking levels.