Express Gate
Another function that has been heavily advertised on the box is the ASUS Express Gate. Under the Express Gate title, ASUS P6T boldly declared that with the Express Gate software and select hardware users would be able to access the internet within 5 seconds of turning on the computer. I decided to further investigate that claim. After clicking on the “Internet” icon on that start up screen, I was almost immediately transported into a linux-like environment and asked to confirm Language, EULA, and Date and Time settings. After the confirming those, I was then transported to the desktop out of which several functions became available.
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The desktop looked similar to any other desktop but only offered the functions listed at the original boot up screen. In this desktop environment I was able to view images, check my mail, chat with people using messenger, and call people using Skype. These features worked extremely well, though sometimes took a while to load. I regret to say that the display driver was not completely perfect either. I was not able to obtain my monitor’s native resolution of 1680 x 1050. The resolution that I had to seattle for was 1440 x 1050 (max).
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The Drive Xpert feature has also been integrated into the Express Gate. The Drive Xpert settings can be set to enhance speed through a RAID 0 setup, or increase redundancy through RAID 1 setup. Drive Xpert only functions when there are identical hard drives plugged into the two orange-colored SATA ports on the motherboard.
The RAID 0 setup will split the file (almost) evenly and different parts across two hard drives. In this case the data rate almost doubles which is why in the set up it is referred to as the “speed” option.
The RAID 1 setup will take the original file and copy it to the second hard drive. Since two hard drive are less likely to fail than one hard drive, this option enhances reliability of your data.
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