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Anyone who wants to build a Core i7 PC can buy a compatible motherboard for around £80. If you’re looking for the best possible motherboard, though, this Asus P7P55D Deluxe is a contender. Like all motherboards for Intel’s latest chips, the P7P55D Deluxe uses Intel’s P55 Express chipset. As the Northbridge’s functions are built into the new processors, this leaves just a single Southbridge controller chip for dealing with slower peripheral devices. The new processors’ memory controllers support only DDR3. This motherboard has four slots for dual-channel memory. Intel lists the maximum memory speed as 1,333MHz, but Asus has rated this motherboard at up to 1,600MHz, so you can confidently overclock your processor’s core clock speed without having to reduce the memory multiplier to compensate. There are two PCI Express slots for graphics cards. You can either use one graphics card at x16 speed, or two at x8 each. Even at x8, no current card will max out the available bandwidth. It supports both Nvidia’s SLI and ATI’s CrossFire standards, so serious gamers are free to choose between them. The P55’s Southbridge controls the other expansion slots – a single PCI-Express x4, two PCI-Express x1 slots and two PCI slots. It’s a good selection and provides plenty of upgrade potential. P55 supports up to six SATA II devices and has a built-in RAID 0/1/5/10 controller. Asus has added a pair of additional controllers that add an IDE port for older drives and three more non-RAID SATA ports – one of which you can connect to the supplied eSATA backplate. The rear of the board has every port you could reasonably expect: eight USB ports, FireWire, two Gigabit Ethernet ports and two PS/2 ports. For audio it has coaxial and optical S/PDIFs and the usual set of six analogue mini-jacks. Asus has included a number of extra features, such as its latest power management tool, which saved around 10W when the PC was idling. Its TurboV EVO tool provides plenty of overclocking options from within Windows, and there’s even a wired remote that lets you switch between preset clock speeds as required. It’s a comprehensive set of overclocking tools, and ideal for those who find Intel’s own Turbo Boost technology lacking in ambition.
We should also mention the P7P55D’s fantastic blue colour scheme, as this is one of the best looking motherboards we’ve seen in years. It’s very expensive, admittedly, but for those who are planning on overclocking their PC, this motherboard provides every possible option.
