Specifics on specifications
Enthusiasts can be sticklers for detail, so we've provided the full specifications for the P5E3 and DQ6 below. This doesn't make for particularly stimulating reading, of course, but there are a few highlights worth noting.

IDE support probably isn't a concern for most folks putting together high-end systems; SATA optical drives are common enough that there's no reason to use clumsy ribbon cables ever again. Still, it's interesting that the Gigabyte board gets its IDE support from a dedicated ITE chip while the Asus settles on one from JMicron that also provides a SATA controller for the board's eSATA ports.

There are also differences on the networking front, and not just the P5E3's inclusion of 802.11n Wi-Fi. The Asus board splits its wired networking between Marvell and Realtek networking chips, with the latter tied to the PCI bus. We'll see how that affects performance a little later, but keep in mind that both of the DQ6's Realtek GigE chips have a PCIe interface.

Our final spec highlight comes when we look at Firewire, where Asus employs an Agere controller while Gigabyte uses one from Texas Instruments. Both boards support only 1394a, or "Firewire 400." Gigabyte has dabbled in 1394b "Firewire 800" in the past, but the lack of native Windows XP support for the faster standard created performance problems without the proper hotfixes and third-party drivers. Those complications may have spooked motherboard makers, which could explain why 1394b is all but absent from newer mobos.