Monday, June 15th 2009
ASUS ROG P55 Maximus III Formula in Pretty Pixels
ASUS' P55 motherboard lineup seems to have come a full-circle, complete with a Republic of Gamers (ROG) series model. The Maximus III Formula takes over its name from the X38-based Maximus, and P45-based Maximus II. The board is based on the new Intel P55 chipset, which supports the upcoming Intel Core i5 series processors.
The board is a sprawling metropolis. The CPU is powered by a massive 19-phase power circuit. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory, with its own 3-phase power circuit. A sporty cooler sits atop the board's VRM while a pseudo-heatsink gives it the industrial feel of having a northbridge which it doesn't, while a flat, large heatsink cools the P55 chipset. The board packs several ROG-exclusive features, such as iROG, Voltmeter LED, and ROG-Connect. The two red PCI-Express x16 slots arrange as dual x8 slots when both are populated, while the third white slot is electrically x4 and connected to the the P55 PCH. From the looks of it, a SupremeFX audio card will be bundled. Gigabit Ethernet, LCD poster, eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet, and a CMOS reset switch make for its rear-panel. It is expected to arrive in Q3 2009. More pictures of the board can be viewed here.
Source:
PC Games Hardware
The board is a sprawling metropolis. The CPU is powered by a massive 19-phase power circuit. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory, with its own 3-phase power circuit. A sporty cooler sits atop the board's VRM while a pseudo-heatsink gives it the industrial feel of having a northbridge which it doesn't, while a flat, large heatsink cools the P55 chipset. The board packs several ROG-exclusive features, such as iROG, Voltmeter LED, and ROG-Connect. The two red PCI-Express x16 slots arrange as dual x8 slots when both are populated, while the third white slot is electrically x4 and connected to the the P55 PCH. From the looks of it, a SupremeFX audio card will be bundled. Gigabit Ethernet, LCD poster, eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet, and a CMOS reset switch make for its rear-panel. It is expected to arrive in Q3 2009. More pictures of the board can be viewed here.
35 Comments on ASUS ROG P55 Maximus III Formula in Pretty Pixels
pretty quick!
nice colour scheme there!!
the colour scheme is great... love it! hope it cools as well as it looks
doesn't cool anything:
It's only cosmetic. Maybe the first VRM heatsink offloads some heat to it. The second heatsink is on its own. :)
and i hope it probably comes with a Supreme-Fx III sound card as well :D
it doesnt seems P55 will be the mainstream chipset...
Me still wishes for some white and red combination, like some of the older sapphire boards :respect:
Interesting to note how the Memory modules are inserted. The bottom catches look like they don't open so you have to hook it in the bottom first and then push it in until the top latch catches.
If so it just seems like it's just for looks mainly unless you have a BTX case as it would flip the cooler upside down.
The heat conduction medium is the metal tube, not the gases (yes I know the pipes are hollow, because they want to cheap-out).
If I don't go i7, then this board is high on my list of alternatives.
Safe volts = green
Moderate volts = yellow
Very high volts = red
Uber-brutal-mega-hyper volts = black hole color
PCI-E x8 even hampers an HD 4850.
I tested my 4870's on a 1.1 16x/4x board, and then on a 16x/16x 2.0 board. There was 10-15% difference at most. I assume this is because the secondary cards ram isnt used in crossfire, therefore its bandwidth requirements are much lower.
edit: they dont mention video ram size at all? that could play a part.
edit 2: ah they have a few games where it sucks ass, the ones i tested myself arent in there, except 3dm06 - which i also found didnt change between boards.