This panel has a lack of X-factor (Asus iPanel Deluxe)

Member Name: isvikthere

Product:	Asus iPanel Deluxe
Date:	13/09/05 (2281 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gives your computer a professional touch. Not that expensive

Disadvantages: Too much of a gadget. Poor conception. Some serious drawbacks

INTRODUCTION

When in 1996 I started really getting back into computer hardware the first PC I bought secondhand had in its front cover a snazzy LCD panel indicating processor speed. Because in the 1990s Cyrix (a now defunct CPU manufacturer) managed to gain worldwide acclaim by being able to run its Intel 486 type processor clone, called 486DX at a speed of a whopping 40Mhz, while the other 486-type processors of the day only ran at a measly 33Mhz (!). This was called the TURBO function and this top turbospeed could be proudly displayed on the said panel if the turbo button was pushed. So all this allowed to show off that you had a really fast PC. This is what the Asus i-panel immediately made me think back off.

For exactly three years now I own an Asus(tek) P4-S533 motherboard, which is still going strong and which has the necessary i-Panel connector. This connector is officially referred to as the "AFPANEL Connector". So when I ran into this panel on a site I was immediately tempted into buying it. As you will see further down the review, my other and younger Asus motherboard, model P4-S8X-X doesn't have the necessary connector anymore.


PURPOSE

So it is an instrument to visually display what is really going on inside the machine. In fact the i-Panel can show on its LCD panel the same numbers that are shown in Asus' motherboard monitoring software called Asus PC probe which exists in versions for all the Windows operating systems. For those interested the tool will be on the drivers CD that came with your motherboard and updated versions normally can be downloaded from the Asustek support site, currently in its version 2.24.10 for WinXP.

The values that can be displayed on the i-Panel's LCD-display are

- CPU fanspeed
- Power Supply Unit fanspeed
- Case fanspeed (if you have the fan connected to the correct three pin connector on the motherboard)
- primary voltage (3,3V) which is the voltage for the memory modules
- secondary voltage (5V)
- CPU speed
- CPU voltage
- CPU temperature
- Motherboard temperature
- Case temperature

Only one of these values can be displayed at a time and to scroll through them you have to push a small button located on the panelfront. Since on Asus motherboards the voltage settings can be changed through the Bios for overclocking purposes the i-Panel allows you to monitor how your PC behaves after you've changed some of these settings, without having to get out of the programme you are testing to check in the PC-probe utilitiy.


DESCRIPTION

The Asus i-Panel Deluxe has the typical PC beige/white colour and is therefore clearly designed to go into a plain type PC tower. Its front has the size of an optical drive and it will fit in a free 5"25 inch bay where it will only take up less than half of the depth of the bay. And even then when you open up the i-Panel there isn't really that much inside with just a small printplate sitting behind the front of the box. The rest of the small box is completely empty. Plugged directly into the printplate and coming out to the rear of the panel are five ribbon-type connector cables that have to go onto your motherboard :

- one to the 20-pin AFPANEL connector
- two to the USB-connectors
- one for the sound connector

The fifth and last ribbon cable for the COM serial port doesn't really connect to the motherboard but to an add-in module with you are supposed to insert at the rear of your PC where you fix your PCI-cards. It provides an internal loop for the serial COM-port, which of course normally resides at the rear of your PC.

So these ribbons feed the two USB 1.1 ports, the COM-port and the sound connectors (Microphone, Line In and Line out for headphones) that are located on the righthandside of the panel and which allow you to connect devices to the front of your PC. To the lefthandside there is the LCD panel which displays the values in red and in between there are some other LEDs indicating what readout value the i-Panel is currently displaying. Under the LCD panel there are five buttons of which four are quick access buttons that work under MS-Windows : internet browser, e-mail and two programmable hotkeys. The fifth serves to switch to the different readout values the panel can display. To program the two hotkeys you need to install a software utility called Asus Hotkey, it is found on a floppydisk that is part of the package that comes with the panel.

If you have a beige Medium size ATX tower and a 5"25 inch bay left, the i-Panel is quickly installed. You needn't be a rocket scientist to manage it but make sure that you route the connector ribbons carefully. The i-Panel connector itself goes on in only one way onto the AFPANEL connector of the motherboard, so you can't make any mistakes there. The other connectors (USB, sound, COM) are a bit more tricky to connect. In case of doubt keep your motherboard manual ready.


PRODUCT EVALUTATION

Although, just like with my first PC, having this type of dashboard on your PC has a certain cool, the added value is mostly purely cosmetic. This because there is a serious drawback to the main purpose of the i-Panel : showing the main readout values that allow you to analyze the PC workings. The drawback being that the panel itself causes your system to lag ! This is clearly addressed in the FAQ found on the Asussite and which I simply must reproduce here to confirm my views :

Question :
When I connect ASUS iPanel on my motherboard, I found the system will lag every 8 seconds. Why?

Answer :
This is because every 8 seconds, the BIOS will do accessing hardware monitor and the system will receive the data through SMI bus then show it on iPanel. Due to the low speed of SMI bus, the lag may be obvious if you are using some continuous operation in your system (such as playing music, movie, etc). Thus, if you need iPanel to trace the system health, the problem can not be avoided we apologize. If the lag is not acceptable when you need to do something continuously, please disable the "Ipanel Update Timer" in the BIOS and use ASUS PC Probe instead to watch the system health, while you can still use the "Mode" key on iPanel to update the system health data manually. If you can't find the option "Ipanel Update Timer" in the BIOS, please make sure that you have connected iPanel with the motherboard. Because not all iPanel-supported motherboard BIOS have this option, you can update the BIOS to the latest version to see if it is available

So this is indeed a serious drawback in the whole setup, the tool which should help you monitor the workings of your PC running at full steam in fact hinders its performance. Not that practical I think.

Also the choice of colour for the i-Panel makes that it will look akward in anything but a plain vanilla PC-tower. And even there you are limited to towers of medium size as the ribbon connectors really aren't all that long and most motherboard connectors they have to be connected to are located way down at the lower righthand corner of the mainboard. Case modders with fancy tuned towers and who are normally the targeted audience for this type of device will be very little charmed by the i-Panel.

The device will only be useful when the computer is sitting on your desk and not underneath it, because it is only with the PC within view and reach that you will be able to benefit from what the i-Panel offers, direct readouts and access to front connectors. Also the use of a COM-connector nowadays is very questionable. Most people find this serial port connector on the i-Panel Deluxe ugly, so maybe they should look for some other cool gadget to plug into this port. I also see little to no use for the four direct access buttons, as these functions are easily found on today's multimedia keyboards and often through more comfortably located and shaped buttons since the ones on the i-Panel are really tiny. Having two extra USB-ports at the front can be nice but that was mostly an asset in the era when PC cases didn't have them yet. Nowadays most cases, even basic models, do have extensions for USB-ports in their front doors.

The fact that at PC startup the i-Panel displays the different boot POST-codes the system is at, can be helpful if ever you run into trouble at bootup. Of course then you need to a have a list that explains these codes at hand.

ATTENTION !

The i-Panel is currently supported ONLY by the following Asustek motherboards :

A7A133 CUSI-FX P4B P4T-CM
A7A266 CUSI-M P4B-E P4T-M
A7A266-E CUSL2 P4B-LS P4T533
A7M266 CUSL2-C P4B266 P4T533-C
A7M266-D CUSL2-C BP P4B266-C TUA266
A7S-VM CUSL2-M P4B266-E TUEG-VM
A7S333 CUV266 P4B266-SE TUEP2-M
A7V266 CUV266-D P4B533 TUSI-M
A7V266-E CUV266-DLS P4B533-E TUSL2
A7V266-EX CUV4X P4B533-V TUSL2-C
A7V333 CUV4X-C P4S133 TUSL2-M
A7V8X CUV4X-D P4S333 TUV4X
CUA266 CUV4X-DLS P4S333/C ?
CUC2 CUV4X-E P4S533 ?
CUEP2-M CUV4X-V P4S533-E ?

It is my distinct impression that over the last years Asus has abandonned the support for the i-Panel on their motherboards altogether (and maybe rightly so ...)


CONCLUSION

So this device can have its uses and at its original retail price of in between 20 to 35 GBP it was affordable for people that are into tuning and modding but all in all the device has such limitations that it will only please basic enthusiasts. Real tuners should go and look elsewhere for more serious hardware monitor devices, preferably ones that also allow you to adjust the fanspeeds on the fly. All in all for a brand like Asustek that has a big reputation in the manufacturing of quality computer products the i-Panel is a bit of a disappointment. This both in its conception and its functionality.

Note
The i-Panel also exists in a Basic version, which lacks both the audio connectors and the serial port.

©2005 isvikthere

Summary: Looks can be deceiving with Asus pushing the empty box principle to new heights.

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