Layout and Features

ASUS is at it again – showing off yet another upcoming P55 motherboard, this time the P7P55D Deluxe aimed a user that is looking for both competent overclocking options as well as an easy-to-use experience. We are also learning about ASUS’ upcoming Xtreme Design initiative that offers consumers a host of new features and options including the return of the TURBO BUTTON!
ASUS took some time out over the month of July to wander around the country showing off its new P55-based motherboard, the P7P55D Deluxe.  You will likely remember my video preview of another ASUS P55 offering – the P7P55D EVO – from just a couple of weeks prior.  While I didn’t get the chance to get this new motherboard captured with the camcorder I did have some information that I wanted to share with our loyal readers.  Keep in mind that while some motherboard companies are actively working with us to get information to you all BEFORE the Lynnfield CPU launch, other motherboard vendors like Gigabyte are forcing us to keep data on their products hidden, for some incomprehensible reasons.  Kudos goes out to ASUS for looking after the consumer first and foremost. 

ASUS P7P55D Deluxe P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Preview - Motherboards 5 

The ASUS P7P55D Deluxe takes what the EVO had to offer and bumps it up another notch.  It supports Intel’s upcoming LGA1156 Lynnfield processor, two channels (four total DIMM slots) of DDR3 memory, both CrossFire and SLI technology and of course is powered by Intel’s P55 single-chip chipset.  Using some ASUS-exclusive overclocking technology they are claiming support for memory speeds as high has 2133 MHz with official speeds as high as 1600 MHz. 

There are three total PCIe x16 slots, two of which are split off of the main PCI Express bus coming from the Lynnfield CPU itself – a new feature to the processor.  When just a single of the slots is used it will run at x16 speed though with two cards (for SLI, CrossFire or just multi-monitor support) both will run at x8 speeds.  The third slot runs at x4 speed and is powered by the Intel P55 chipset directly. 

Storage includes 6 SATA 3.0 Gb/s connections from the P55 chipset and 3 additional ports courtesy of a pair of JMicron controllers.  While there was planned support for SATA 6.0 Gb/s technology on the board originally, it was removed when the problems with the Marvell chipset were found last month. 

ASUS P7P55D Deluxe P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Preview - Motherboards 6

Dual Gigabit LAN, 8-channel audio powered by a VIA chipset and Firewire round up the overall feature set and connectivity options.  We should note the lack any eSATA or even USB-powered eSATA ports on the board though…

ASUS Xtreme Design

Along with the new features of the P7P55D Deluxe, and the entire line of P55 motherboard, ASUS is introducing a new initiative they are calling “Xtreme Design”.  It will attempt to gain traction with consumers by focusing on three key areas: performance, safety and reliability.  The performance aspect comes from a range of feature upgrades and overclocking options available in both software and in the BIOS itself.

What is probably most crucial to our readers about all this stuff is the re-introduction of a crucial piece of technology missing over the past years: the Turbo button.

ASUS P7P55D Deluxe P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Preview - Motherboards 7

That’s right boys and girls, the new ASUS motherboards will allow you to use the cases primary power button to initiate TURBO MODE just like the days of your 386!  I’m not making this up – and I also think it’s a cool feature – to enable a hardware button for a preset overclocking profile that will work on basically ANY chassis design available today.

There are other crucial new additions to the motherboards that come along with the Xtreme Design initiative including 16+3 phase controller, new and improved TurboV overclocking software, Stack Cool 3+ that offers 2 oz of copper and super ML capacitors to name just a few.  We’ll be going into more detail on these features when we get the board in-house for future testing.                                             
Closing Thoughts

While we STILL cannot show you performance results for the Intel Lynnfield processors and platform, the more we are learning about the support that companies like ASUS are throwing behind the platform, the more excited we get.  ASUS is obviously pushing hard for its P55 motherboards to become the de-facto standard for users looking to build new systems or to upgrade their current ones and if the final products can live up to the expectations that ASUS is setting, I think they will be making a strong case for that goal.

ASUS P7P55D Deluxe P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Preview - Motherboards 8

We are eagerly looking forward to this coming fall and putting in some quality testing time with all of these products!

Additional Reading: