Cheap price on P7P55D E Pro P55 LGA1156 MAX 16GB DDR3 Atx 2PCIE16 3PCIE8 is the best
Band : Asus
Model : P7P55D E PRO
>> The Best Value motherboard with those extra features
This socket 1156 motherboard is the best value full featured board you can buy if you got a Core i7 860 I installed Core i7 860 along with 8GB of Corsair XMS3 RAM and had no problem booting up and installing windows7 64bit I installed the latest bios 806 by downloading the latest Asus updater utility from Asus website very simple to use from windows no DOS B S I set the CPU level up in the Bios to the highest setting and kept my ram running very close to its rated 1600mhz and everything else to auto also enabled the Intel Speed Step and Turbo mode and CPU/RAM voltage was still kept stock automatically by the BIOS Booted to Windows7 then went to ASUS website and downloaded ASUS EPU utility and ran the calibration Now when I am just browsing web and doing normal stuff my CPU runs at 1 4Ghz when I encode videos all four cores run at 3 63Ghz It has all the connections one could ask for USB 2 0 USB 3 0 SATA 3Gb/s SATA 6Gb/s I think it has more than 8 SATA ports an IDE port and if you happen to own one of those unsupported RAM then just hit and hold the MEM OK button on the board and it ll boot to the BIOS for you to manually set the RAM a very useful feature which I didn t need since my Corsair RAM was compatible even with older BIOS I am powering this board with a OCZ Mod X 700Watts power supply Corsair H50 Hydro CPU Liquid Cooler and Zotac 240GT 512MB DDR5 video card
>> This motherboard is terrific
I have had this motherboard for a couple of weeks and my overall impression is very positive I don t do much overclocking but the board has performed very well with all of my programs One area really stands out though I do use iTunes quite a bit and I ve never heard better sound than this board produces It s outstanding
>> Fantastic motherboard
Background
I recently upgraded to a Core i7 860 and needed a motherboard Now that USB 3 0 and SATA 6 are starting to become available I wanted one that would support these new technologies
Components used with it
Core i7 860
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Crucial 2x2GB DDR3 RAM
MSI Geforce 260 GTX
OCZ Vertex 120GB
Samsung F3 1TB
Silvertsone ST60F
Pros
USB 3 0 and SATA 6 with no reduction in PCIe x16 slot speed
silent
excellent board layout side facing IDE and SATA slots help with cable management able to fit large heat sinks
ASUS specific convenience features like the easy installation RAM slots and PCIe x16 slots clearly labeled back plate easy front panel and USB port connectors
includes 2 side connecting SATA cables
easy overclocking
diagnostic lights
Cons
expensive for a P55 motherboard although not for one with USB 3 0 and SATA 6
only 3 powered and BIOS controlled FAN slots 1 slot is powered and monitored but not BIOS controlled
no floppy connector and only 1 PATA connector Not really a con just thought to mention this
Summary
One of the least expensive P55 boards with USB 3 0 and SATA 6 Easy to install excellent board layout extensive BIOS and overclocking options round out a well balanced motherboard Highly recommended
