ASRock P55 Extreme Intel P55 LGA 1156 Motherboard Review

Specifications/Features

Model: P55 Extreme
Chipset: Intel® P55 Express
CPU Support:
– Supports the Intel® Core™ i7 and Intel® Core™ i5 Processors in the LGA1156 Package
– Advanced V8 + 2 Power Phase Design
– Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
– Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
– Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
– Supports EM64T CPU
Memory Support:
– Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology
– 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots
– Supports DDR3 2600+(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
– Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB
– Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
BIOS:
– 16Mb AMI BIOS
– AMI Legal BIOS
– Supports “Plug and Play”
– ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
– Supports jumperfree
– SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
– CPU, VCCM, SB, VTT Voltage Multi-adjustment
– Supports I. O. T. (Intelligent Overclocking Technology)
– Supports Smart BIOS
Audio:
– 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection
– DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
– Premium Blu-ray audio support
LAN:
– PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
– Realtek RTL8111DL
– Supports Wake-On-LAN
PCI Expansion:
– 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (Single at x16 or Dual at x8/x8 mode)
– 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (at x4 mode, 2.5GT/s)
– 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot (2.5GT/s)
– 3 x PCI slots
– Supports ATI™ CrossFireX™, 3-Way CrossFireX™ and Quad CrossFireX™
– Supports NVIDIA® SLI™ and Quad SLI™
Internal Connectors:
– 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5 and Intel® Matrix Storage), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
– 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)
– 1 x Floppy connector
– 1 x IR header
– 1 x COM port header
– 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
– 1 x IEEE 1394 header
– 1 x TPM header
– CPU/Chassis/Power FAN connector
– 24 pin ATX power connector
– 8 pin 12V power connector
– CD in header
– Front panel audio connector
– 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports)
I/O Panel:
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
– 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
– 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port
– 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
– 7 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
– 1 x Powered eSATAII/USB Connector
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1 x IEEE 1394 Port
– 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
– HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Form Factor: ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
– All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)
Supported O/S: Microsoft® Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant
Certifications:
– FCC, CE, WHQL
– EuP 2.0 Ready (EuP ready power supply is required)

Features:

ASRock Unique Features:
– ASRock OC Tuner
– Intelligent Energy Saver
– Instant Boot
– ASRock Instant Flash
– ASRock OC DNA
– Hybrid Booster:
– CPU Frequency Stepless Control
– ASRock U-COP
– Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
– Combo Cooler Option (C.C.O.)
– Good Night LED
Smart Switch:
– 1 x Power Switch with LED
– 1 x Reset Switch with LED
– 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
Accessories:
– 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card
– Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
– Floppy/ATA 133 Cables
– 4 x SATA Data Cables (optional)
– 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables (optional)
Hardware Monitoring:
– CPU Temperature Sensing
– Chassis Temperature Sensing
– CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer
– CPU Quiet Fan
– CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control
– Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore