ASUS Commando Motherboard Review :: ASUS Commando Bundle

• Six Red SATA cables
• Three molex to six SATA power adapters
• One black IDE ribbon cable
• One black floppy ribbon cable
• PCI bracket with two USB 2.0 ports
• PCI bracket with IEEE-1394a port
• Optional radial heatpipe cooling fan
• ASUS Q-connector
• Motherboard manual
• Driver CD

The hardware side of the bundle gives you everything you need to work with your new motherboard. Six SATA cables and the associated SATA power cables means that you can use all of the ones onboard without purchasing another cable. The standard IDE cable and Floppy cable round out the cable assortment of the bundle.

There is a USB bracket with two ports in the bundle, bringing the total out of the box on this board to six. A second Firewire port is also included via bracket, making a total of two available on this board out of the box. ASUS has taken to including extra cooling fans with their motherboard bundles, saying it should be used for water cooling.The ASUS Q-Connector allows the new user to install the Power button, the Reset button, the Speaker and other accessories in one motion.

The software bundle is as extensive as you can get for a motherboard bundle. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is the latest FPS (First Person Shooter) from Ubisoft. Released early last year, GRAW is an excellent game. A full version of GRAW is included with the Commando motherboard package. To complete the gamer part of the package, a copy of 3DMark06 Professional is also included.

Kapersky's Anti-Virus software is the included anti-virus software. I use Panda but Kapersky's does the job and is included with the bundle. InterVideo is the maker of DVD playback software WinDVD. ASUS includes MediaLauncher a suite of InterVideo software with the Commando bundle.

Last but not least, ASUS includes their-own branded software. The Ai suite is the overclocking software for ASUS users. PC Probe II monitors the temperature, voltages, and fan speeds of the system in Windows. ASUS Update lets the user update the BIOS while in a Windows environment. One oddity on the Driver CD, though the Commando is a P965 board, the Driver CD says nForce 680 SLI. The drivers on the DVD were correct meaning that perhaps an nForce 680 SLI version of the Commando board is coming.