Which of Asus's new Core 2 boards is right for your Conroe build? Is the LGA775 platform even ready for the fickle tastes of enthusiasts migrating from familiar Athlon 64 territory?

Asus's first batch of Core 2-compatible LGA775 motherboards is most definitely ready for the throngs of enthusiasts looking to jump ship. Honing in on our pick of the litter is considerably more difficult, especially since performance is pretty even between them. Each board does have a unique set of attractive attributes, but those are tempered by at least a few less appealing liabilities.

The P5B Deluxe Wifi-AP Edition, for example, is hampered by the quirky nature of its JMicron ATA controller and the poor performance of one of its Gigabit Ethernet chips. The board also lacks support for both CrossFire and SLI, but it does have dual graphics slots and should work with NVIDIA's SLI sammich, the GeForce 7950 GX2. If price is an issue, the P5B is also the most affordable board of the bunch, although admittedly not by much. It is the only one with CPU multiplier control for Core 2 Duo processors, though. Don't forget that it's also using Intel's latest chipset, complete with six Serial ATA RAID ports hanging off the south bridge.

For $30 more than the P5B, you could get your hands on the P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe and its feature-packed nForce4 SLI X16 chipset. The P5N32-SLI offers the fastest memory subsystem of the bunch, and it also boasts the best performances in our networking and USB tests. SLI is supported, too, but High Definition Audio is not. Power consumption is an issue on this board, as well. Even at idle, the P5N32-SLI SE draws 30 watts more than either the P5B or P5W DH, and those boards have integrated Wi-Fi cards.

That brings us to the P5W DH Deluxe, which at $245 online, is the most expensive board of the lot. However, it's also the only board with Asus's unique digital home accessories, including a surprisingly versatile remote. CrossFire support doesn't hurt, either, but the board's confusing array of ATA and Serial ATA chips and ports does. EZ-Backup would be much easier to tolerate if it didn't jack with the ICH7R's existing Serial ATA ports.