The PC Report

This is a badass motherboard if you ask me. The EVGA W555, which was shown off at CES 2010, is a dual-processor motherboard that is designed for overclocking unlike most workstation motherboards. The board is larger than the E-ATX standard meaning that you may not be able to fit it in your standard case, but you should expect that when it has two CPU sockets on the one board.

On the board are two LGA 1366 sockets, mainly used for Intel’s upper-end Core i7 range of processors. However, you can’t just chuck in any old Core i7 CPU in this board because they lack a pair of QPI links, instead you’ll need to grab a processor from the Xeon W5000 series which has that pair of QPI links to talk to the northbridge and the other processor at the same time. Unfortunately these Xeons are much more expensive than the standard Core i7s thanks to them being more suited for the workstation computer.

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VIA, a company known for their incredibly small mainboards and systems, has released a new platform, Mobile-ITX, that takes on the older Pico-ITX platform by being 50% smaller; it measures just 6cm by 6cm. The device is aimed at the next generation of embedded devices, and with a 5-watt power consumption we assume it’s designed for devices that are always left on.

The Mobile-ITX platform is modular, containing two parts: the CPU module card and I/O carrier board. The Mobile-ITX based CPU modules include a core CPU, chipset and memory controllers and I/O features such as USB, HD Audio, IDE and PCI Express just to name a few. The first commercial Mobile-ITX CPU Module is expected to be announced in Q1 2010

Asus appears to be ramping up its ROG Connect overclocking system – they’re adding remote Bluetooth control to the list of things it can do. On the back of the Asus Maximus III Extreme motherboard is a button that when pressed, switches from normal control to a Bluetooth system that allows your “Bluetooth-enabled PDA phone” to review their system’s status and tweak settings wirelessly. Sounds pretty cool on paper, but we are yet to see it in action.

The board is set up for the serious, with a P55 chipset for Core i5/i7 processors, five (yes, five) PCIe 16x slots for graphics cards in multiple configurations, 6 SATA 3Gb/s ports and 2 SATA 6Gb/s ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a myriad of USB 2.0 ports and a maximum of 16GB of DDR3 RAM via 4 slots. Apart from the actual motherboard specifications, there is no price or release date as of now.

USB 3.0 is starting to make a push into the retail world, as companies start implementing the technology in their cameras, external hard drives and optical drives. With this push though, you’ll need to upgrade your motherboard to support it, and if you’re an i7 user, this Asus X58 board should suit your needs. Unfortunately though, the Asus P6X58D Premium motherboard only sports two USB 3 ports, however I think we’ll cope for now.

Other features of the board include support for 24 GB (yes, twenty-four) of DDR3 RAM via six slots, three PCIe 16x slots for your graphics expansion cards, two SATA 6Gbps ports plus those two USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports and the LGA 1366 slot for your Bloomfield i7 CPU. The motherboard is available now for purchasing for US$310 via Newegg.

Asus axed its last attempt at a USB 3.0 motherboard in July “not for any particularly interesting reasons.” It looks like Asus is having another crack at a USB 3.0 motherboard with the P7P55D-E, which will be supporting SATA 6Gbps alongside USB 3.0 like the cancelled P6X58. Sadly though, the motherboard only carries two USB 3.0 ports, unlike the 10 USB 2.0 ports. SATA 6Gbps is also lacking with only 2 of those ports vs. 6 SATA 3Gbps.

Other than the USB/SATA, the motherboard is designed for the latest Intel i5 and i7 (and upcoming i3) processors with its LGA1156 socket and P55 chipset. It also carries both CrossFire X and SLI with its two PCI-E slots, and can support DDR3 RAM up to 2200MHz. The motherboard will be hitting retailers early next month for US$299.

A friend tipped me off today that some Australian computer retailers have the new Intel Core i5-750 listed, priced and “in stock” along with some nice P55 motherboards from both ASUS and Gigabyte.

CentreCom and PC Case Gear both have an extensive range of P55 motherboards on sale, ranging from AU$168 to AU$376, all of which can accommodate the new Core i5 range. PC Case Gear also has up the Core i5-750 up for AU$289, and is marked “in stock.” Whether or not they’ll ship yet is left to be seen though.

I also noticed that PC Case Gear has products from the new i7 range also up for sale. The 2.93 GHz i7-870 is up for AU$779 “in stock,” while the 2.8 GHz i7-860 is up for AU$395 and will ship out ETA September 11. Both the i5-750 and i7-860 are listed cheaper than the higher-end i7-920, which is currently going for AU$399.

We showed off not so long ago ASUS’s P6X58 motherboard that included USB 3.0; the first motherboard we’ve seen to include it. But now, according to The Inquirer the motherboard has been completely cancelled by ASUS.

The board was a premium model featuring an X58 chip, LGA 1366 socket for i7s, SATA 6gbps and the major selling point of USB 3.0. The board was apparently pulled “not for any particularly interesting reasons.” This could be because of the Marvell SATA 6gbps chip or it could be because USB 3.0 performance wasn’t up to scratch. We don’t really know

Fortunately, the lack of USB 3 products means that we’re not really missing out on much. However, it would still be good to see some sort of USB 3 motherboard in the future.

Now we have it: an actual motherboard that comes equipped with USB 3.0 – the new standard in USB that will allow up to 5 Gbit/s transfers. The new board packs 2 blue USB 3.0 ports along with 4 USB 2.0 ports on the rear I/O panel, as seen in the above picture courtesy of Xfastest. Other features include the LGA 1366 socket and X58 chipset, 6 DDR3 slots in triple-channel, the usual array of PCI and PCI-E slots, several SATA 6 Gbps ports and an awesome heatpipe display (check it out after the break).

Like most products these days, ASUS has refrained from giving us a price or release date, but we expect it to be soon. Unfortunately, Xfastest, who got their hands on the motherboard, cannot test and benchmark the USB 3 capabilities because of the… well… lack of USB 3 products at the moment.

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A few days ago we looked at one of ASUS’s new P55 motherboards to coincide with the release of Intel’s Core i5 range, and now we have a Gigabyte iteration brought to our attention by AnandTech. The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 will probably be Gigabyte’s premium P55 motherboard with a retail cost of over $200 when it launches fairly soon.

On the list of features we find the i5′s LGA 1156 socket surrounded by an array of heatpipes, 6 DDR3 slots running in Dual-Channel, 4 SATA 6 Gb/s and 6 SATA 3 Gb/s ports, 3 PCI-E 16x slots (16x/4x or 8x/8x/4x), 2 PCI slots and 2 PCI-E 1x slots + an array of other features. According to AnandTech the board + i5′s performance will “surprise a lot people, especially those buying into the lower end i7 market.” Well I guess we’ll have to wait until the release for any real performance outlines.

–Source–

To coincide with the release of the new mid-range Core i5 platform by Intel, ASUS has given AnandTech a preview of their new P7P55D EVO motherboard. The board is based on Intel’s P55 chipset (for the Core i5) and is to be one of a few mid-level boards in ASUS’s P55 range. The board is expected to market for around US$120 at launch.

The board is one of the first I’ve seen to include a SATA 6Gb/s chip on it but unfortunately ASUS has chosen to use the chipset that is ridden with driver issues. The board also uses the new LGA 1156 CPU socket that will be the standard for all Core i5 processors. More specifications after the break.

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