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In Pictures: Asus Maximus III Formula

techradar.com — Asus adds Intel P55 to its line of Republic of Gamers mother boards.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 16, 2009

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  • rubixcubez, on 06/16/2009, -2/+14Why on a 'P' chipset? Asus have always coupled their highend gaming boards with the 'X' chipsets
  • darkened, on 06/16/2009, -0/+10I love Asus products especially mobo's but for as many steps forward this takes it seems to take just as many back.
  • inactive, on 06/16/2009, -4/+13Four slots? Dual channel? What's this, 2008?
  • dfross, on 06/16/2009, -0/+9The P55 chipset is for the "Core i5" architecture, due later this year. It's the little brother to the Core i7, Nehalem. Its own code name is Lynnfield, the actual launch name may not be "core i5", Intel may change it.

    They use dual channel memory instead of triple channel (all P55 boards will have multiple of 2 memory slots), but still DDR3. It is a medium level rather than high level architecture, probably aimed at those a bit more money conscious in these times.

    The interesting thing is Asus refitting its top end motherboard brand in this medium-level arena. The board doesn't even have killer features, though it has some of the overclocker-friendly stuff the other Maximus boards have, like the buttons integrated onto the board itself. It's probably targetting the same people who are currently taking low end C2D/C2Q chips (like the Q6600) and overclocking it hard, rather than paying more for the high end chips.

    Certainly, Core i7 has come out at very expensive, particularly the CPUs and motherboards, so Core i5 or whatever it ends up being called could be an attempt to get a larger slice of that market.
  • inactive, on 06/16/2009, -2/+7I thought asus maximus was Latin for big ass booty.

    Where all the booty?
  • thealsir, on 06/16/2009, -0/+5OK digg downers, just to get it out there, the CPU for this chipset is dual-channel. Look it up.
  • rubixcubez, on 06/16/2009, -1/+6it's called voltage stability
  • opitica, on 06/16/2009, -1/+5no, it doesn't. do you care to answer the question or just be a smart ass?
  • thealsir, on 06/16/2009, -0/+4Yeah, seriously, one ethernet port? They could've cut back on something else instead.
  • thealsir, on 06/16/2009, -0/+3A question of mine is why is the top pcie slot blocked by a heatsink? That's effectively eliminating its functionality.
  • rubixcubez, on 06/16/2009, -0/+3lol. the internetz has no tone. ok well, increased voltage stability, better overclocking. thats about it really.
  • Slade605, on 06/16/2009, -1/+4ths motherbored will maek trolling easyer
  • HonoredMule, on 06/16/2009, -0/+2Why is fangor getting buried? Fragile components near the cpu slot is a Very Bad Thing, and capacitors can get knocked off very easily, because the electrodes pull right out of the capacitor even more easily than they snap off the board. If heatsinks still had those spring-loaded notches you had to reef down on with a screwdriver, DIY purchasers (the primary market) and system builders wouldn't consider this board until it sold for one-third the price of similar alternatives.

    Super-stable current is awesome...just stabilize elsewhere. A broken motherboard isn't stable at all.
  • inactive, on 06/17/2009, -0/+2Because Asus already has a high end X series board: The Rampage II Extreme.

    This is the lower level board for P55.

    I doubt there will be an X chipset for socket 1154, no reason, the high end will remain in i7 territory.
  • fangor, on 06/16/2009, -0/+2My thoughts exactly.
  • opitica, on 06/16/2009, -0/+2thank you. sorry i WOOOOSHHHED
  • dougm68, on 06/16/2009, -0/+2Thats hilarious.
  • KibibyteBrain, on 06/16/2009, -0/+2Probably because the X55 chipset isn't out yet and this is a better platform than anything out right now for this line of processors. In this economy, it seems Intel is avoiding competing with itself between not releasing the other half of several paired products.( X55 and P55, Core i7 and Core i5, etc) Also, I'm not sure how big the market is in a tight economy for a mid-range high-end chipset, nor the need as the P55 seems to be as good as any sane person would want without upgrading to a Core i7 anyway.
    Also, I believe the differences between dual-channel and triple-channel memory have been heavily analyzed, and its definitely not the sort of thing to write home about. But the core i5 products will mostly be removing Core 2's from the shelves.
  • KibibyteBrain, on 06/16/2009, -0/+1What? I always thought the Red on Black styling combined with the magic smoke was what made it fast!
    Also, it makes perfect sense to me that it should be the people solving the difficult technical issues that adjust to the needs of the machinist designing the cooler mount. /s
  • dougm68, on 07/07/2009, -0/+1Shaddup geek. When I want your opinion I'll pull your underwear over your head and ask ya for it. Until then, keep your pocket protector shut.

    SLOWER ALWAYS = WORSE.
    If you had a girl friend, I'd make her a believer.

    ~nerd owning.
  • dougm68, on 06/16/2009, -1/+2Why would you make a slower board? Or processor for that matter. Economy be damned.
  • rubixcubez, on 06/16/2009, -1/+2umm... does 19phase power mean anything to you?
  • inactive, on 06/17/2009, -0/+1In the U.S. X58 boards launched in the same price space as their X48 equivalents before normalizing down to about the same $200-250 for a "regular" X58 and then well higher for the retarded fancy ones like the X58 Classified, which is a 200 dollar stupid tax if you're not going for a benchmarking record with no intention of running the computer for more than about 20 minutes.
  • Jhiaxuz, on 06/16/2009, -0/+1I don't rely on the motherboard branding too much. A lot of the boards which have the same physical appearance are usually the same model but with certain features missing. I have a Asus P5N32-E which I bought for about $170 back in the day and when I removed the label maker which had this model sku printed on it, it revealed to me that imprinted in the board is labeled as a Striker Extreme.

    Bear in mind as well that these two boards used a different chipset (650i vs 680i) and still performed fairly equal to each other with the big difference being the price on both boards. So, I'm not sure why people will assume the worst when Asus takes a step back to a P55. If anything, this will breed a new price point for people who want to upgrade but not break the bank and I would bet the farm that these boards will meet the needs of those who purchase them; whether the regular Joe or enthusiasts.
  • inactive, on 06/17/2009, -0/+1The Core i7 is VERY reasonable for what it is. The CPUs are comparably priced to the Core2s. The Mobos are expensive but that's because they're ALL X58. Look at any X48 board, similar price point.

    i7 is priced just fine for what it is. If you're not in the market, Lynnfield is for you.
  • ATL, on 06/20/2009, -0/+1there are some short PCI-E cards that MIGHT fit in there

    but yeah I agree with you

    the other pcie could easily be blocked by a large graphics card too...
  • Jhiaxuz, on 06/16/2009, -0/+1Slower does not always equal worse for processors. It's the architecture which the product is built on which improves efficiency. Has nothing to do with the economy.

    Why would they take a step back to a P55 board? The same reason Chevrolet makes more Aveos than Corvettes: to reach more of the market.

    The bottom line is, you don't have to buy it and if you're not going to buy it then it's certainly not an issue.
  • daridave, on 06/16/2009, -0/+1Indeed, I went "meh" when I saw it all.
  • opitica, on 06/16/2009, -1/+1there are a TON of capacitors next to the cpu slot. can anyone speculate on why there would be such a large number?
  • thealsir, on 06/16/2009, -3/+3Isn't the CPU for it dual channel?
  • ThirdPrize, on 06/16/2009, -2/+1come on, we don't need to know about EVERY mobo that gets produced. We just need to know when the average # of cores doubles. That is the only real benchmark these days. A few 0.1 Ghz here and there ain't worth diddly.
  • dfross, on 06/17/2009, -1/+0While X58 absolutely is high-end stuff, same as X48, the price bump was significant. Even now, 6 months or so after launch:

    X48: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?grou ...
    £100-£260, typically around £150

    X58: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?grou ...
    £140-£340, typically around £200

    It was worse when it launched - a lot of high end PC builders, who are used to paying through the nose for bleeding edge stuff, thought it was a bit much to pay £200 as a minimum for a motherboard.
  • fangor, on 06/16/2009, -4/+2Enormous amounts of silver capacitor thingies crowding the cpu slot make me a saaaaaaaad panda.
  • fangor, on 06/16/2009, -6/+3It's called I'm going to snap one of them off trying to install my heat sink. Well, no I'm not, cause I'm not going to buy this.
  • H0ns, on 06/16/2009, -5/+1Mirror?
  • HastyBoom, on 06/16/2009, -8/+1I don't know what I'm looking at.
  • syntaxgs, on 06/16/2009, -12/+1this A Neat Mother Bored but what do they need for

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