Tech Reaction

Introduction:

A motherboard is probably the single most important component to the enthusiast. For a person in the know, this is pretty obvious, but for a newer user this may come as new information. Many forums as well as review sites fail to reveal the big picture, and there are a plethora of components used in the assembly of today’s motherboards that frankly most people don’t even understand. This hodgepodge of devices can range from cheap, make-shift components to high quality, full-fledged solutions; yet the focus is usually just on the numbers and never the underlying design.

Background:

First one must take a short trip back in time to when there was no integrated sound to speak of, video card memories were measured by the kilobyte, DIPs were on the way out and the hard disk controller was an add-in card. Everything but the most basic of components were purchased separately and at a premium.

The windows accelerator was a star with 256k, 512k or 1024k of memory, and this determined the amount of colors and resolution. The sound card (if you got one) had to be a Sound Blaster or Ad Lib compatible and could cost as much as a high-end sound solution of today for only 8bit sound at that. A network interface controller (NIC) was unheard of by most and heat sinks were a rarity, even for CPU’s.

Just adding up the cost of all of that could have given someone a heart attack. Then add the rest, and you had a month or two’s pay down the drain. Fast forward 20 years and almost everything can be had on a single board, saving a bundle of cash. A hundred bucks can get everything but the CPU, memory, hard disk and a case. Where does this leave the consumer? Better off financially, that is true, but what is sacrificed? Quality and raw power!

What gets lost in the all-in-one approach? Pure performance. Integrated everything is great for the general user, but it is really a hit when you want the fastest thing that money can buy.

For most enthusiasts and gamers, the most important things to be considered are the CPU and video card, without considering any of the components mentioned in the background section above. Do users consider what they are actually buying to go along with that $300 CPU and $500 video card? Most of the time no. I guess it is like building a new rig with the cheapest add in components you can find; bargain basement memory, no-name sound card, USB 3.0 card, SATA card and wireless card.

Purchasing a well outfitted motherboard should be the number one priority in any build and it can and should take longer to select than any other single component in the system. But why is the motherboard the most important?

Details and Features; A board is the sum of its components.

Knowing what a motherboard is made of is a little more than just looking at some benchmarks. Any motherboard of this class will preform similarly in normal benchmarks and this leads to the question; Why buy this ASUS motherboard over a similar one from Brand X? The sum of the parts.

CPU: Intel® Socket 1156 Core™ i7 Processor/Core™ i5 Processor/Core™ i3 Processor

Memory: 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory

Expansion Slots: 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16 or dual at x8 / x8 mode), 2 x PCIe 2.0 x 1(5GT/s, blue slots), 1 x PCIe 2.0 x 1(2.5GT/s,gray slot), 2 x PCI

Multi-GPU Support: Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology,Supports ATI® Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology

Storage: Intel® P55 Express Chipset built-in: 6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10

JMicron® JMB363 PATA and SATA controller: 1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices, 1 xExternal SATA 3Gb/s port, 1 xSATA 3Gb/s port (black)

JMB363 is a single chip, one-lane PCI Express to two-port Serial ATA II and one-port PATA Host Controller. The JMB363 is designed to provide two-port SATA II and one-port PATA connectivity. The JMB363 supports both AHCI and Legacy IDE controller to increase system feasibility, including Native Command Queuing (NCQ), Hot Plugging, ATAPI Device Supporting, Port Multiplier with Command-based Switching Supporting, Programmable Output Swing Control to fit SATA II Gen1m and Gen2m (External SATA Connection, eSATA). It features PCI Express bus and Serial ATA II interface to express high performance storage devices.

• Supports 2-port 3.0Gbps SATA II interface

• Supports two independent SATA II channels (separate logic and FIFO)

• Supports Native Command Queue (NCQ) on SATA II port

• Supports Hot Plugging like USB on SATA II port

• Supports SATA II Gen1m and Gen2m (External SATA Connection, eSATA)

• Supports Port Multiplier with Command-based Switching on SATA II port

• Supports up to UDMA6 transfer mode of PATA

• Supports up to 4 storage device connection

• Supports up to 0,1,0+1,JBOD RAID function

:Product brief JBM363:

Marvell® PCIe SATA6Gb/s controller: 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (Gray)

6Gb/s SATA Host Controller

The 6Gb/s SATA host controllers are ideal cost-effective solutions for NAS, set top box, motherboards. Embedded with hardware RAID controller, this product enables inbox driver support without additional driver installation.

Key features

• 1 or 2 SATA 1.5, 3 or 6 Gb/s ports
• PCIe 2.0 x1 host interface
• Hardware RAID 0/1 Support
• On-the-fly AES 256bit Data Encryption
• Windows and Linux OS support
• Small package 9X9mm
• Power consumption: 1W

:Marvell controller link:

LAN: Realtek® 8112L Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2

Audio: VIA® VT1828S 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC: Absolute Pitch BD192/24, DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC, Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-Retasking, Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O

VIA Vinyl HD Audio codecs represent the next generation of sound quality, supporting the high definition HD Audio standard for a whole new immersive surround sound experience. The VIA Vinyl VT1828S is a low-power optimized, high fidelity, 10-channel High Definition audio codec which is compatible with Intel High Definition Audio specification and supports stereo 24-bit resolution and up to 192 kHz sample rate for DACs/ADCs.

The VIA Vinyl VT1828S features five DACs, two stereo ADCs, analog input to analog output mixing, and two independent S/PDIF outputs. It can achieve 110 dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) for DACs and 100 dB SNR for ADCs. A high quality analog mixer is used to support A-A path.

Supporting Blu-ray and HD DVD Audio Content Protection as well as advanced VoIP and music enhancement functions, the VIA Vinyl VT1828S also features Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Beam Forming (BF), and Noise Suppression (NS) technologies for an unmatched PC audio experience.

The VIA Vinyl VT1828S uses two jack detection pins for presence detection on up to eight audio jacks allowing software to determine if there is a device plugged into the circuit. It also boasts a front-panel jack re-tasking feature that allows flexible configurations.

The VIA Vinyl VT1828S is embedded with software utilities such as environment emulation, EQ, extender, and optional sound effects, including support for QSound, DTS Connect, Dolby1 Digital Live, Dolby PCEE program, SRS Lab and Creative.

:1828s link:

IEEE 1394: VIA® 6308P controller supports: 2 x 1394a port(s) (one at mid-board; one at back panel)

VIA Fire IIM VT6308P/S 1394 Host Controller

A complete small package single chip PCI solution for high-speed, low power seamless plug and play connections to the latest IEEE 1394 enabled devices.

The IEEE 1394 high-speed serial bus (known as ‘Firewire™’) is a leading PCI peer-to-peer interconnect system and is widely acclaimed as the primary interface for digital audio and video applications. The IEEE 1394a specification enables hot-swappable high volume connections to PC peripherals such as printers and external hard disk drives, multimedia appliances, and consumer electronics devices such as game consoles and video cameras.

:6308 link:

USB: NEC USB 3.0 controller: 2 x USB 3.0 ports (Blue, at back panel) Intel® P55 Express Chipset: 12 x USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)

The Industry’s Most Flexible, Feature-Rich PCI Express Bridge and Switch Product Family

ExpressLane™ PCI Express (PCIe) Product Family offers fully configurable switches with Non-Transparent bridge function and forward/reverse bridges. Our PCIe switches and bridges are fully-compliant with the PCI Express Base 1.0a, 1.1 and 2.0 specifications.

By adding the PLX chip ASUS has seemingly improved the PCIe bandwidth and efficiency as will be seen in the PCIe tests.

:PLX link:

Overclocking Features: Precision Tweaker 2: vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.00625V increment, vIMC: Adjustable IMC voltage at 0.00625V increment, vDRAM Bus: 104-step DRAM voltage control, vPCH: 36-step chipset voltage control, vCPU_PLL: 56-step reference voltage control, SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increment, Internal Base Clock tuning from 80MHz up to 500MHz at 1MHz increment, Overclocking Protection: ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)

Back Panel I/O Ports: 1 x PS/2 Keyboard (Purple), 1 x PS/2 mouse port (Green), 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output, 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output, 1 x IEEE1394a, 1 x eSATA port, 1 x RJ45 port, 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (blue), 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports, 8-channel Audio I/O

Internal I/O Connectors: 3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports, 1 x IDE connector, 1 x IEEE 1394a connector, 1 x CPU Fan connector, 1 x Power Fan connector, 7 x SATA 3.0Gb/s connectors (blue/black), 2 x SATA 6.0Gb/s connectors (gray), 2 x Chassis Fan connector (1×4-pin, 1×3-pin), Front panel audio connector, 1 x S/PDIF Out Header, 24-pin ATX Power connector, 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector, System Panel(Q-Connector), 1 x MemOK! button

BIOS: 16 Mb Flash ROM , AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3

Accessories: 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable, 2 in 1 Q-connector, 2 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s cables, 2 x Serial ATA 6.0Gb/s cables, 1 x 2-port USB and eSATA module, 1 x SLI Bridge

A true beauty, in more ways than one.

This board has a good layout, allowing the use of PCI and PCIe 1x slots even when running multiple graphics cards.

The low profile heat sink on the P55 chip allows for the use of full length video cards.

Speaking of heat sinks, the mosfet cooling seems to be a little weak at first but could some of it be form fitting function?

They look a little underwhelming in this day of heat-pipe addiction, but do they actually serve a dual purpose? Being pleasant to the eye, with a modern art style, as well as providing surface area. Is it possible that the design is causing turbulent air flow where other sinks just get missed by air entirely because of their design? Short answer, quite possibly.

What is the fascination with the heat pipe and is it better? It looks neat and makes people feel like they getting the best cooling, and it works if done correctly. However, when heat pipes and heat sinks are designed simply with the “cool-factor” in mind, it is not much better and perhaps even worse in some cases than small and simple heat spreaders.

Some manufactures design their products to be aesthetically appealing even at the expense of performance. Consider the example below:

Below is a common heat sink with a heat pipe.

This is an AMD board, and while they may look great and get the job done, these heat sinks may be doing more to hinder cooling performance as opposed to aiding in it. They are bulky and in situations where air flow is hampered (as above) by the HSF, they will serve to trap heat which will interfere with the cooling process. Conversely, in a high air flow-low pressure scenario, the design would not permit the flow of cooler air around the cooling fins. In the worst case they would act as a wall and considerably impede the flow of air, rendering them effectively useless.

These heat sinks would really only shine with a smaller HSF and maximized pressure or minimal air movement; thus, preventing the air from taking a path over or around them. A moderate to high flow of air with low pressure, if not directly forced onto the cooling fins, is fairly useless with this design.

This ASUS board does not take this approach to Mosfet cooling and goes with the conventional, no heat pipe design, though the looks are anything but conventional.

To this point many probably think this is just a rant to make people take less notice of the tiny sinks on the mosfets of the ASUS board; nope, there is a reason the sinks can be so small:

ASUS Hybrid 12+2 Phase Power Design

Unprecedented Innovation with the Best Quality Component for Best Performance

The groundbreaking 12+2 phase VRM design is brought to the ASUS motherboards. 12+2 phase power design, 12-phase for vCore and extra 2-phase for the memory controller inside CPU, can provide the highest power efficiency, and hence generates less heat to effectively enhance the overclocking capability. With the high quality power components such as low RDS (on) MOSFETs, Ferrite core chokes with lower hysteresis loss and 100% Japan-made high quality conductive polymer capacitors, ASUS 12+2 phase VRM design also ensure longer component life and minimum power loss.

*16 Hybrid Phase = 12+2 Phase x T.Probe

How it works:

Phase shifting is a way to keep any one mosfet from reaching a terminal temperature. By splitting the load, the maximum overall temperature is lowered, thus allowing for better power management and less heat to be generated.

This information from an article at Hardware Secrets appears to be in order; a few errors here and there, but as I said, in order.

By using a little electronic know how, this ASUS motherboard does not generate the heat of many budget models and in turn allows for a smoother and possibly higher overclock. Your main limiting factors being the power supply and the CPU itself.

I must insert a little disclaimer: This is not really the ASUS setup for extreme cold and super clocks (it will work though). A 16+ phase ASUS design, or a high-end digital PWM solution, will give a better chance of sustaining higher clocks for longer periods of time.

The rear port arrangement is nothing out of the ordinary save for a couple of features. Many of the boards of today lack a separate PS2 Mouse and KB port, and as a big bonus this board includes coax and optical audio outputs. The two blue USB ports are 3.0 while the other 6 are USB 2.0.

Software:

I was satisfied with the ease of use that was afforded with the bundled overclocking, tweaking and monitoring software. The AI Suite is a utility that allows access to the three components of the suite as well as a monitoring station for some temperatures, voltages and fan speeds.

EPU and Energy Usage: To load the systems, WCG BOINC was running while also running OCCT PSU test.

Power State	AMD	Intel
Power Off/Off-Standby	2.44w	3.66w
Idle (Stock)	93.94w	78.08w
Idle SLI (Intel)		122.61w
Idle SLI (Intel) Max Savings		92.72w
Full Load (Intel 4.33Ghz)	213.5w	152w
Full Load SLI (Intel) Stock		170w
Full Load SLI (Intel) 4.33Ghz		232w

Using EPU (It is not recommended to be used while overclocking) power usage can be lowered even more.

The EPU tool is effective for the power miser. With customizable settings as well as presets the efficiency of your PC can be increased quite a bit. In testing this feature

Allowing the program to use the presets and testing the extremes (Turbo and Max Savings) only the idle SLI stock draw was reduced by 4.88 watts, from 92.72 to 87.84 watts and the load was reduced a whopping 27 watts, from 170 to143 watts in max savings. In turbo the only change was an increase at load of 2 watts, from 170 to 172 watts.

For the person sitting in a small room or on a budget this can make a significant difference. This could save up to 50 dollars a year depending on usage as well as keep the room cooler and quieter.

These tests were run several times and the results were the same. Perhaps the video card has a higher idle draw than anticipated?


Fan Xpert: will allow the user to have more control of their fan speeds, allowing for cooler or quieter conditions and perhaps both if setup to kick into high gear at a specific temperature.

TurboV EVO is the sweetheart of the bunch as it can allow the user to squeeze out that last drop of performance without worrying about a potential BIOS reset. The software is pretty straight forward and fairly simple to use. As with most things, if you don’t know what it is, try to find out before making adjustments. Just playing with settings can kill a CPU, so always do your research before doing overclocking of any kind. None of these tools should be used long term on the stock CPU cooler as temperatures may become an issue, causing instability or premature component failure.

The auto tuning is probably the best option for the novice as it allows for a decent overclock without getting too extreme.

The CPU level up option is the most basic and easiest on the CPU.

A quick and dirty kick in the butt is what you get with the turbo key.

The T.Probe microchip detects and balances power phase loads and temperatures in real-time. With optimal power phase functions, components run cooler and extend the system’s lifespan.

T.Probe software allows for the graphical representation of the power phase leveling controlled by the T.Probe chip which is enabled or disabled in BIOS. There is one option (Xtreme Phase Performance Mode or Power Saving Mode). By selecting power saving mode the power is switched to four phase mode.

The PC probe, though not remarkable, has one particularly nice feature. Each monitoring window can be detached and only what you choose is shown.

Getting into the mix:

Testing a motherboard can be very dependent on the CPU. Because you can’t test every board with the same chipset, it is sometimes necessary to go to the competition to see the true strengths and weaknesses of a motherboard and the total effectiveness of the build. I will be using a mainstream Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H for comparison. Both setups will be running Windows 7 32bit.

Processor	Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 620 Processor	Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 661 @ 3.33GHz
Speed : 2.61GHz	Speed : 3.34GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)	Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)	Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core	Type : Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size	Integrated Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 4x 512kB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size	L2 On-board Cache : 2x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
	L3 On-board Cache : 4MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size, 4 threads sharing
Computer	Computer
Mainboard : Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H	Mainboard : Asus P7P55D-E PRO
BIOS : Award (Phoenix) F6 04/07/2010	BIOS : AMI 1002 05/21/2010
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe USB FireWire/1394	Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No	Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : No	Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 2GB DIMM DDR3	Total Memory : 2GB
Chipset	Chipset
Model : AMD RS780 Host Bridge Alternate	Model : ASUS Auburndale/Clarkdale DRAM Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2GHz (4GHz)	Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 134MHz (134MHz)
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 101MHz (202MHz)
Memory Module(s)	Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL8-1GBTD 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600	Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL8-1GBTD 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL8-1GBTD 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600	Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL8-1GBTD 1GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600
Graphics Processor	Graphics Processor
Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (257.21 driver) (112SP 14C 1.38GHz, 499.6MB 2×900MHz)	Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (257.21 driver) (112SP 14C 1.38GHz, 499.6MB 2×900MHz)
	Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (257.21 driver) (112SP 14C 1.38GHz, 499.6MB 2×900MHz)
Storage Devices	Storage Devices
Maxtor 6Y080P0 (82GB, ATA133, 3.5″, 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 76GB (D:)	Maxtor 6Y080P0 (82GB, ATA133, 3.5″, 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 76GB (D:)
ST3500418AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5″, 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)	ST3500418AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5″, 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)

Featuring only two USB 3.0 and two SATA 3 (the norm on the P55) ports allowing for limited use now and in the future. AMD boards have put much more into the 3.0 specs of both interfaces with most boards having between two and six USB 3.0 ports and six SATA 3 ports.

USB and SATA:

Though the advantages are slight, they are there for running USB and SATA 2 on level 3 interfaces and this is what the majority of the AMD boards have:

The AMD SATA2 on SATA2 burst speed data was erroneous and after several tries I decided to omit the results.

PCI-E Testing:

The ASUS board seemed to shine in the PCI-E part of the testing. Using a somewhat dated GPU to allow any possible limitations in the bus, the ASUS part shows a slight advantage. I did consider extensions and the like but I believe the scaling would have changed with CPU speed. PCIe latency and lane efficiency are the only things I can think of that will account for these results and these are presumably attributed to the PLX dhip.

Scaling is pretty level except for a few feature tests where the ASUS board shows a ~5% advantage.

CineBench 11.5:

In the Cinebench tests we see a 10+% GPU advantage though the CPU tests are neck and neck.

WPrime:

Well I had to do one more test to try and check the playing field and again the AMD CPU is ahead. I think it is safe to say with a fair amount of certainty that the ASUS board has a superior PCI-E bus.

Looking at the CPU test results, it is evident that these two processors are equals in graphics arena when it comes to CPU power.
What does this mean for the light to moderate gamer? The total system cost can be offset by purchasing a lower end Intel dual core CPU and upping the cash available for a slightly better graphics card.

Onboard Audio:

I really enjoyed working with the sound software. I guess it could have been better, but compared to many other offerings it is superior.

Sound Tests:

Aquamark3 special testing using FRAPS

Though many have given up on a stand alone sound card, the graph above clearly shows that there is still a need for something more than the least common denominator. Though not nearly as big of an issue as it was 10 years ago, and often ignored, the audio chip can still have an impact on frame rate and overall performance.

Gigabyte sound disabled/enabled

ASUS sound disabled/enabled

In actual gaming tests, all results were negligible and to make an accurate observation, hundreds of runs would have to be made.

This is not an Intel advantage as much as an ASUS advantage in this case. The VIA Vinyl™ VT1828S used on the ASUS motherboard is just plain superior to the Realtek solution used on many motherboards today.

The sound is definitely superior to the Realtek solution as well, although it amazes me that I could tell as I have never paid attention before and definitely don’t consider myself an audiophile. I guess I could make this comparison: Realtek sound is like a glass breaking in a house with all of the background noises that create the ambiance of daily life, and the VIA solution equates to that same glass breaking in an empty concert hall; clear and crisp, no noise.

Overclocking:

Overclocking done with Cooler Master V6GT.

3.8 Ghz was a walk in the park and it ran fairly cool to boot.

4.45Ghz was the best that the board could muster in Auto OC mode.

BIOS Overclocking:

As seen above, the options for voltage, CPU and memory control are easy to find within the “Ai Tweaker” tab from the main BIOS screen.

Memory speed adjustments are in a sub-menu as seen here.

A fast and nasty overclock can be achieved by simply choosing some predefined settings. Though this is not what should be considered an efficient overclock by any means, it is good for the beginner, or as a starting point to tweak from manually even further.

Memory timings and sub timings can be set manually for increased performance.

Devices that are not used can easily be disabled to allow for the possibility of a more stable overclock.

The base CPU configuration options are easy to find and adjust.

Saving your OC and setup parameters is done easily and is also recommended in case a BIOS reset is needed or forced due to a failed POST. Taking time to tune and tweak your BIOS just to have to do it all over again can be avoided by using this feature.

5Ghz+ with this board, a good CPU and good cooling should be a breeze. This was not the best CPU in the world and it made 5Ghz, but would not boot into windows very easily.

And a little energy efficient SLI for fun:

Everyone knows about the screaming, super high-end video cards and the wild benchmark scores that they can churn out. Can it be taken to another level? Perhaps gaming on your big screen in your living room without heating up the house and having to max out the sound system to cover up the turbines used to cool your rig. Focusing on some of the capabilities of this board, such as the superior audio, two digital audio outputs and SLI capabilities made me wonder if it was feasible to make an SLI HTPC, low noise and low to moderate power consumption. Yes we can do that and do it well.

At 232 watts max for vantage (SLI), I am thinking full ATX HTPC with SLI to boot. Perhaps I should say HEPC?

Conclusion:

The real winner here is not the Intel chipset, though the Intel-based board did come out ahead in a lot of ways. The real winner here is ASUS.

Most people take for granted integrated audio. Many believe, with the advent of multi-core processors, that there is no need for dedicated sound cards or at least a better solution. The truth is that the CPU does more with the sound today than it did with the sound of ten years ago, and hence has to do more work in games and other sound intensive applications due to the complexity of the calculations necessary for positional sound, and all of the features used in the production of said sound (echoes for example). Many also do not consider the nuances of the bus or the other components that are put onto a motherboard. ASUS has done an excellent job of combining some of the better components out there to create a superbly high quality package for a solid price ($179 @ Newegg)

What ASUS lacks are more 3.0 spec interfaces for both USB and SATA. This board would be great for the cost conscious gamer, but for the graphic designer looking to set up a fast SATA raid when the 6.0GBps drives hit the mainstream, this low number of ports may be a turn off.

The ASUS P7P55D-E PRO has earned the TechREACTION.net Gold Silicon Award!