This is going to be the first of the P55 chipset from the major computer vendors. Well ASUS is well pleased to release their more powerful and definitely expensive type P55 chipset. The deluxe edition from ASUS is a well deserved good thumbs up from us in the Atlantisgamers, with a good sound of features and also accessories that a premium cost motherboard will definitely have to ease some spots or increase their productivity as well as the high quality parts placed in the good places. Prime examples of the deluxe editions are the older P35 and the third edition core 2 chipsets the P45 with their WIFI onboard chip makes it much easier for online connectivity.
As the P55 and the new releases of the new corei7 processors with the LGA1156 socket configuration and as well as the mainstream corei5 series, are going to have the good treatment o the new Xtreme design features, additional chokes and CPU power regulators and as well as a makeup on the chipset cooling. As well as new 2.oz copper lining addition on the base of the PCB, a matter of fact a defacto of the Gigabyte version of the ultra durable 3, but still being a good addition of ASUS personal features; like the EVO over-clocking tools and power saving modes, an anti-EMI (for protecting sensitive electronics, like the motherboard from accidental power surges or a simple electromagnetic disturbances), and as well as their own BIOS LED feature onboard and MEMOK support.
Well the design of the new P55DX deluxe edition board likewise from the other motherboard that ASUS has made, is a complete mix of things, having the top part of the PCB is the blue coated passive, and one of those combinations from the P43 chipsets but having the eight pin and the 24 pin connectors in their desired and convenient places and in the south part of the motherboard is the large cooler block almost the size used in the X58 chipset, well we find that the core specs of the motherboard is a six plus three external SATA ports with also a support of a SATA III 6.GB/s speed and also a support of more I/O connections in the back of the board; with a massive eight USB ports and two PS/2 ports for both keyboard and mouse and as well as dual Ethernet ports, and as well as the clear CMOS button and one for the turboV support. This clearly explains the need of an extra chipset for the Southbridge controller and the heat produced in this demands.
Overall of the board’s layout is exquisite and pretty standard for most major manufacturers, a triple PCI ex graphics card slots, while this is physically possible for a triple SLI support or a crossfire configuration but the CPU’s Northbridge only support 16 lanes so we could see a short of bandwidth in the second or the third graphics card, but you may get away with a third physics card. Well the cooler compatibility is already thrown out of the window because of a new different pin combination so we have to pay extra for a corei5 socket kit or about a few bucks if you are that lucky. But the cooling performance of the corei5 with a P55 is par or the same reading given in any cooler with the previous benches form the corei7 processors in either over-clocked and stock specs, but having a few degrees less or more depending on the personal settings and also the factor given off the onboard Northbridge chipset.
Over all the performance of the deluxe edition P55, a lower memory reading and PCI latency because of the uniform settings of the chipsets you could expect better performance in one card with full 16 lane bandwidth but the problem is the prize, reaching about $143 is a bit expensive when you consider the PCU combination, but we could expect a better deal with a corei3 processors with onboard graphics chipset.