Archive for the ‘Motherboards’ Category
There are a couple of other decisions that will have to be made, mainly whether or not to get ready for the two other new technologies on the market…SATA 6gb/s, and USB 3. Many new P55 motherboards have onboard SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3, but were you aware that most of them actually use PCI-E lanes to compensate for the lack of buses to utilize these new methods of data transfer, taking those valuable lanes away from the video cards? Today I will be looking at the Asus P7P55D-E Pro, a middle-of-the-road version of Asus’ new P55 motherboards that sport SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3 without PCI-E compensation. Yes, this board prepares you for the future while allowing you the full use of your PCI-E lanes for SLI or CrossfireX by using Asus’ new PLX implementation. Is the P7P55D-E Pro the P55 board to have? Read on to see!
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Then just last weekend I was chatting with a friend that had attended CES, who told me that Intel was working on a new LGA 1366 processor line, a six-core monster using 32nm…yeah, I know, I’m behind the times, the gossip about the new processors started back in Nov-Dec, but I was busy “fixing up” a “fixer-upper” house and moving during that time. Anyway, I got a little excited, hoping that maybe LGA 1366 wasn’t dead, just in hibernation. The very next day, lo and behold, our friends at Gigabyte placed a cool little gem into my hands…a brand new LGA 1366 motherboard, complete with onboard SATA 6GB/s and USB 3. Today I will be looking at the Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, the entry-level model of their three new X58 motherboards, which appear to be designated differently from the older models by an “A” after the X58 in their name, and ending with an “R” rather than the usual “P”. Will this be the board of the future? Read on to see!
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All of these changes in processor and chipset design, along with Intel’s new 32nm manufacture process, opened the door for their latest and most radical change yet…placing the VGA on the processor. Yes, Intel’s new 2010 Core i5 600 series processors have on-die graphics processing. Of course to accommodate this, Intel has released a new motherboard chipset, the H55 Express. Sporting the same LGA 1156 socket as the P55, this new design has monitor ports in the I/O panel. So far I’ve seen 20 H55 motherboards for sale at my favorite online retailer. Of these 20 boards, 19 are mATX boards, including the motherboard I am looking at today, the Asus P7H55D-M EVO. Sporting Asus’ EVO cosmetics and onboard extras, this motherboard also natively supports the new “Superspeed” USB 3.0. Read on to check out the Asus P7H55D-M EVO!
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Prior to about a year ago, ASRock boards were definitely in the economy class. Oh, they were decent, stable motherboards, but they just had the look and feel of inexpensive. Not so today, ASRock’s boards are just as nice as those built by the “household name” companies like Gigabyte, Asus, etc. Today I will be looking at the little brother to the P55 Deluxe, the ASRock P55 Extreme. I suppose “little brother” isn’t the correct term since the two are basically the same board with only one change I can see at first glance, but the savings are significant. As with all ASRock boards, you get what is a full-featured motherboard at an economy price. Read on to check out the P55 Extreme!
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Some weeks back I looked at an mATX AMD 785G economy motherboard, supporting AM3 processors with DDR3 memory. It was a very impressive board with a very impressive price. Performance and stability easily met my expectations, and it will be the standard for any other 785G board that I get my grubby little hands on. Today I will be looking at a full ATX 785G motherboard by Asus, the M4A785TD-V EVO. It is definitely nicer than the mATX board I just mentioned, with much nicer cooling and CrossfireX support. It supports DDR3-1800 memory (requiring CPU overclocking). All this at a surprisingly economical price. Read on to check out the Asus M4A785TD-V EVO!
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The lack of a Northbridge means the elimination of the hottest chip on the motherboard and the need for cooling that chip, along with the associated traces, etc, which means building a P55 motherboard costs less. Apparently the motherboard manufacturers have passed those savings along to the consumer, the average price of a P55 board is about $100 less than the average price of an X58 board. The processors are less expensive too, the release price of the LGA 1156 Core i7 860 was a little less than $100 below the release price of the LGA 1366 Core i7 920. And it’s given that a dual channel memory kit will cost less than a triple channel kit with the same specifications, so expect to save $200-$250 when building a new LGA 1156 rig as compared with a new LGA 1366 rig in the early part of this year. Today I will be looking at one of Asus’ new P55 motherboards, the P7P55D EVO. It is in their EVO family of motherboards, sporting the EVO look and Asus TurboV EVO overclocking. It has tons of other features, after all, it is an Asus board. Read on to check out the Asus P7P55D EVO Motherboard!
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ASRock is definitely not a stranger here at ThinkComputers.org, this will be the 11th ASRock motherboard I’ve reviewed. ASRock is best known for their economy motherboards and their uncommon solutions to common motherboard issues. But the last few ASRock motherboards I’ve looked at, though priced less than the competition, were full featured, well built, and every bit as good as boards from those “household name” companies. Today I will be looking at ASRock’s top P55 motherboard, the P55 Deluxe. It too is a full featured board and carries all of ASRock’s unique features. It is designed for the overclocker and priced for the beginning builder. Will it carry my new i7 860 to glory? Read on to see!
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Earlier in this decade, nobody used AMD chipsets. During the time of Socket A, Socket 754, and Socket 939, there was no question, you used an nVidia nForce motherboard. To tell you the truth, I’m really not sure if AMD even made chipsets at that time, and if they did I have no [...]
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ASRock appears to have continued this trend. Today I will be looking at ASRock’s new P45 motherboard, the ASRock P45X3 Deluxe. There are some goodies found on this board that aren’t on ASRock’s other P45X3 motherboards. But even with the extras, this board has an incredibly low price. Read on to find out about the ASRock P45X3 Deluxe!
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To satisfy the desire for enthusiast/gamer mATX motherboards, Asus has created a new series of boards, the ROG Gene series. These mATX form factor motherboards sport the features of Asus’ high-end ROG motherboards. The first of these to be seen was the Rampage II Gene, an mATX i7/X58 board. Our friends at Asus have now released an mATX Socket 775 ROG Gene motherboard, the Maximus II Gene. It looks to be the answer to what I’m looking for, an upper-end mATX board with Intel P45 chipset. Designed with the enthusiast/gamer in mind, it should be the platform for an awesome LAN party rig, which definitely fits my high-performance/high-portability desire. Will the Maximus II Gene do the job? Read on to see!
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