EVGA seems to have found its roots in Intel's 5-series chipset due to lack of chipsets from NVIDIA that support the latest Intel processors. In the process, EVGA gets to make Intel 5-series motherboards brandishing SLI support, as well as some pretty impressive enthusiast-grade features. With the X58 Classified series, EVGA took on the mighty ASUS to give out a full-featured motherboard for overclocking LGA-1366 processors. It looks like the company is working on another motherboard with similar credentials for LGA-1156 socket processors, based on the Intel P55/P57 chipset.

The EVGA 132-LF-E657 is a full-featured LGA-1156 motherboard focussed on overclocking. The CPU is powered by a lavish 12-phase circuit that makes use of DrMOS (driver-MOSFETs). The CPU socket further seats LICC (Low Inductance Ceramic Capacitors). Electrical stability is brought about by two 8-pin ATX CPU power connectors, a design first featured on the X58 Classified. Additional power stability for the expansion slots is brought about by a 4-pin Molex input. The four DDR3 DIMM slots are powered by a 3-phase circuit. Intel Braidwood technology is supported on this motherboard. The technology involves an NVRAM module that speeds up OS and applications loading. There are two clock generators on this board, perhaps to handle two independent clock domains that gives the user greater control over a few settings.

With Intel's LGA-1156 Ibex-Peak platform weeks away from launch, like most major motherboard vendors, Biostar its compatible motherboard lineup ready, top to bottom. The company has at least three motherboards based on the Intel P55 chipset for the first wave, two in its mid-range T-Series, and one high-end T-Power series. The lineup starts with the T-Series T5 XE, continues with T-Series TP55 XE, and ends with the T-Power I55.

The T-Series T5 XE is a low-frills model that relies on the chipset's stock feature-set for the most part. The CPU is powered by a 4+2 phase power circuit, and the memory by a 2-phase circuit. The expansion slots are standard issue, two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots that are electrically x8 when both are populated with video cards, two each of PCI-E x1 and legacy PCI, six SATA II ports routed to the chipset, an additional controller driving the IDE, one gigabit Ethernet connection, and 8-channel audio. Simple anodized aluminum heatsinks cool the chipset and a portion of the board's VRM area.

Intel's upcoming processor and compatible platform launch schedule gained some clarity today with tentative launch dates and time-frames surfacing from industry sources. Highlights on the client front include:

• Desktop platform initially based on Lynnfield quad-core processor and P55 chipset to be out between September 8~11
• Three recently detailed mobile quad-core processor models based on the Clarksfield core will be announced towards the end of September or early October
• Around the same time as above, Intel will release two new budget chips for its CULV platform, called Celeron SU2300 and Celeron 743. Expect these to be toned-down variants of the existing Core 2 CULV chips

One of Gigabyte's first LGA-1156 motherboards in the micro-ATX form-factor, the GA-P55M-UD4 was previewed by CPU3D.com, revealing an upper-mainstream motherboard sporting all the essentials and a little more. The CPU socket is powered by a lavish 14-phase circuit, cooled by independent VRM heatsinks. The CPU is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. The expansion slots on this board include two PCI-E x16 slots (electrically x8, x8 when both are populated), one open-ended PCI-E x4 slot, and a legacy PCI slot. The P55 PCH provides five internal SATA II ports (blue), and one eSATA port on the rear-panel. An additional controller provides two SATA II ports (white) and the legacy IDE connector. 8-channel HD audio driven by Realtek ALC889A codec, one gigabit Ethernet interface, two Firewire ports in all, and 14 USB 2.0 ports make for the rest of the feature-set. It makes use of Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 3 construction. The GA-P55M-UD4 will be part of Gigabyte's first wave of LGA-1156 motherboards.

ASUS' P7P55 series includes the company's mainstream-thru-premium motherboards based on Intel P55 chipset, supporting LGA-1156 socket processors. Following the recent exposé of its little sibling the P7P55 Pro, XFastest took the higher-end P7P55 EVO for a photo-shoot. This motherboard retains its lesser sibling's feature-set for the most part, except for additional connectivity. The CPU is powered by a 14-phase power circuit. Additional power management is provided by the ASUS EPU chip. The expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16 slots.

The first two arrange as (x8, x8) electrically, while the third one is electrical x4. Two PCI-E x1 and two legacy PCI slots make for the rest of the expansion. The connectivity options of this board will include support for SATA III. Apart from the six SATA ports the P55 PCH provides, an additional Marvell 88SE9123 two-port PCI-E SATA III controller is present, which also provides an IDE connector. Apart from the 8-channel audio, Firewire, and 14 USB ports in all, there are two gigabit Ethernet controllers. More pictures can be found at the source.

Earlier today, we were tipped off about the high-end MSI P55-GD80 motherboard. Looking a little eastwards, we were able to get information on its little brother, the P55-GD65, a low-frills motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset, supporting LGA-1156 socket CPUs. This board concentrates on the feature-set the P55 chipset alone provides. The CPU is powered by a 7-phase circuit, with the active-phase switching power management feature, that turns off redundant phases when the power demand is low.

The board provides two PCI-E x16 slots (electrically x8 when both are populated), one open-ended PCI-E x4, and two PCI-E x1 slots. Two legacy PCI slots neighbour them. The PCH provides six SATA II ports, while an external JMicron controller gives out one internal SATA port, an eSATA port, and an IDE connector. Four DDR3 DIMM slots support up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory. On the connectivity front, there are two gigabit Ethernet connections, 8-channel audio, Firewire, and USB.

MSI's lineup of LGA-1156 motherboards has a new high-end entry in the making, apart from a seeming higher-end G9P55-DC which was recently pictured. The P55-GD80 fills the lineup, perhaps a notch below it, and the other MSI LGA-1156 motherboards that lack an NVIDIA nForce 200 chip and 3-way SLI support. The P55-GD80 was pictured in all its glory (read: release grade chipset cooling), sourced by SAV-Computer. The picture reveals a PCB layout very similar to the G9P55-DC, with differences in the CPU power circuit, overclocker-friendly features, and the storage connectivity.

The board uses a 10-phase CPU power circuit with standard solid-state capacitors, compared to the 11-phase circuit with flat-bed ML capacitors on the G9P55-DC. This board surprisingly has more overclocker-friendly features, such as on-board controls for clock-speeds, clear-CMOS, OC-Genie, a DIP switch to control voltages, and voltage-sensing points that make measuring voltages convenient. Apart from the Intel P55 PCH, it uses an NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chip that broadcasts 16 PCI-Express lanes (from the processor root complex) to 32 lanes on the PCI-E x16 slots. Apart from the six SATA II ports the PCH provides, an additional controller provides two internal and one external SATA ports, and one IDE connector. Two gigabit Ethernet connections, 8-channel audio, Firewire, and around 13 USB ports make for the rest of the package. The board supports Intel Lynnfield and Clarkdale processors.

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.

Most motherboard vendors chose Computex as the ideal platform to showcase their upcoming products for the upcoming Intel LGA-1156 processors. The Intel booth was decked up wall-to-wall with Intel 5-series motherboards, some of which, made it to cameras for their unusual designs. Take for instance, the Shuttle SP55H7. This board uses a custom form-factor to fit into the company's bare-bones systems. The socket is slanted, and surrounded with an unusual mount-hole arrangement for the cooler, which again, could be of Shuttle's own design. This is, perhaps to make the most out of the available PCB area.

A more popular motherboard vendor, MSI showcased the first M-ATX motherboard for the platform we have seen so far, the H57-ED65. Based on the Intel H57 chipset. The socket is powered by an 8-phase DrMOS power circuit. MSI takes care of the basics for this platform, providing a PCI-E 2.0 x16, one PCI, and two PCI-E x1 slots. The dual-channel DDR3 memory slots neighbour one NVRAM slot. Apart from the six SATA II ports the H57 provides, a second controller drives the IDE connector, and perhaps, one or more eSATA ports. The rest of the 'wall' can be viewed here. By the looks of it, Intel made sure a full-fledged lineup of motherboards are available to the consumers when it kicks off the series of LGA-1156 processors, and there is every indication that the new platform won't have much trouble replacing the current LGA-775 series.

We didn't have much time but we got you a couple of shots of the latest and greatest desktop motherboards featured at Intel's booth. The linked pictures are about 2.5 MB each and not resized, straight from the camera for all your zooming pleasure. Please use the comments section of this news post to tell us about the highlights you spotted.

Earlier today, we covered ECS coming up with two motherboards, based on Intel P55 (LGA-1156), and AMD 785G (AM3). Coincidentally, ASRock has a similar pair which is gearing up for launch at the upcoming Computex event. The P55 Deluxe could be the company's premium LGA-1156 motherboard, while the M3A785GXH/128M a rather high-end board, especially looking at its feature-set, that expands that of the the chipset typically offers.

The P55 Deluxe supports LGA-1156 processors sans the Flexible Display Interface feature (FDI), since it looks devoid of common display connectors. It supports four DDR3 DIMMs, with the Dual-Channel DDR3 memory interface, advertising support for DDR3-2000 (probably by overclocking). The board provides three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, (x16, NC, x4) or (x8, x8, x4, when the slots are populated). Apart from ATI CrossFireX, NVIDIA 3-way SLI support is advertised.

Over to the M3A785GXH/128M, and there is an interesting feature here. Although AMD 785G isn't specified to support CrossFire, ASRock used an external lane switch card to support it. The first two PCI-Express x16 are eletrically (x16, NC) or (x8, x8, when both are populated). The third slot seems wired to the southbridge and is electrically x4. The board supports AM3 socket processors, with four DDR3 DIMM slots offering support for dual-channel DDR3-1600 memory. The Radeon HD 4200 IGP makes use of 128 MB of DDR3 SidePort memory. Standard display connectors such as DVI, D-Sub and HDMI apply. An external storage controller ups the number SATA channels, by providing an internal, and an eSATA port. ASRock wasn't very generous with its photography.

ECS is dressing up two new motherboards for a gala launch at Computex 2009. The A785GM-M and P55H-A were recently announced by the company to be heading for display and launch at the event, in its Computex booth invitation press-release. AlienBabelTech published exclusive pictures of the two.

To begin with, the A785GM-M is a micro-ATX motherboard based on the new AMD 785G chipset. The chipset features a Radeon HD 4200-class IGP. It is possibly based on the new RS880 core. The board supports AMD AM3 socket CPUs, and provides four DDR3 DIMM slots. Its display connectivity options include D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI. The rest of its connectivity includes FireWire, eSATA and one gigabit Ethernet interface.

The P55H-A on the other hand, is one of the company's first offerings that support the upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. This is another of the motherboards we have seen so far, that lack display connectors, and hence, lack Intel Flexible Display Interface support, that connects integrated graphics processors on some CPUs to their output. It provides two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrically dual x8 when both populated). Four DDR3 DIMM slots support dual-channel DDR3 memory, 8 channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, and 6 SATA II ports make for the rest of it.

Intel's Core i5 series marks the consumer mainstream entry of the Nehalem architecture, in a bid to propagate quad-core processors, at the same time letting the market digest existing inventories of dual-core processors, and making sure its foundries are well-oiled to cater to the 32 nm process, Intel is giving its "Lynnfield" quad-core processor a quarter's head-start. Taiwanese industry observer DigiTimes notes that the platform' debut may have been delayed by a little over a month.

Originally slated for July, the industry debut of Lynnfield and its launch companion, Intel P55 chipset, have been pushed to early September. Stocks of the processors and compatible motherboards however, will be in time for the launch. The processors may be available to retailers about a week ahead, in late August itself, while compatible motherboards even earlier, in mid-August.

Intel plans to start the lineup with three models (yet to be named), clocked at 2.66 GHz, 2.80 GHz, and 2.93 GHz, and priced at US $194, $284, and $562 respectively (in 1000-unit tray quantities). Major motherboard vendors such as ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI have already displayed some of their first compatible motherboards. The P55 chipset itself is expected to be priced at $40.

Intel's quad-core Core i5 2.66 GHz processor based on the Lynnfield core, was tested on an Intel reference-design P55 motherboard (DIBX_CRB) by forum members of XFastest. The processor accompanies 2.80 GHz and 2.93 GHz variants higher up in the series, and is expected to be priced at US $196.

The test bed was put through 3DMark Vantage (Performance and eXtreme settings), Cinebench R10, Queen, Photoworxx and AES tests of Everest. The GPU is of little relevance, as the CPU test 1 is what is to be looked at. At Queen, the setup with 4 cores and HyperThreading enabled, edged a dual-Xeon L5320 (8 cores) setup. It proved to be roughly 25% faster than Core 2 Extreme QX9650 at Photoworxx, and scored marginally higher than it AES. More pictures of the motherboard at the source.

With the industry inching closer to the launch of Intel's Core i5 series processors, motherboard vendors are busy readying waves of motherboards to go with the processors' launch. Earlier in March, a picture of Gigabyte's first P55 chipset motherboard, the GA-IBP surfaced. The pictured then revealed a motherboard based on the Ultra Durable 2 component package. At an overclocking event in Los Angeles, Gigabyte unveiled a second motherboard. This one, yet to be named, is up to date with the Ultra Durable 3 package, a seemingly powerful CPU VRM design, support for dual-channel DDR3 memory, dual-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, an additional storage controller for four SATA ports over the six P55 offers, among standard features. The expansion slots on this board include three full-length PCI-Express slots, the first (blue) one being of full x16 bandwidth that shares 8 lanes with the first orange slot if populated, while the second orange slot is electrically x4, and probably connected to the P55 PCH. No other details have emerged about this board, though we're keeping track of things.

Surprisingly, VR-Zone today posted pictures of the LANPARTY UT P55 board, a twin of the recently spotted DFI LANParty Dark P55 T3eH6, that packs several interesting features. Quick introduction, the board uses Intel's P55 chipset for the upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. The board has a total of four DDR3 DIMM slots, three PCI-E x16 slots, digital power circuit and DFI's usual color theme. Also note, that there's a slot on the motherboard for NAND flash installation. Additionally, a mini USB port is located on the I/O backpanel. For now the presence of this NAND flash slot remains mystery. DFI will showcase the motherboard at Computex Taipei 2009 where we hope they will say what is it for.

DFI seems to be almost ready with a motherboard based on Intel's P55 chipset, that supports the company's upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. This motherboard did not get the limelight at this year's CeBIT event. It doesn't seem like DFI finalized the board's cooling, hence the pictures don't show coolers over the chipset and VRM areas. The rest of the board's features are pretty visuals:

• 6+2 phase CPU power circuit,
• Four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR3 memory
• P55 chipset used without any additional PCI-Express bridge chip
• Three PCI-E x16 slots, most likely two of them are routed to the CPU, arrange as x8, x8 with both populated, while the third is routed to the P55 chipset's 8-lane PCI-E hub
• Six SATA II ports from the PCH, two from an onboard controller, the same controller also provides an IDE connector

The rest of its features seem pretty standard for motherboards of its class. DFI may introduce this motherboard in some of the first waves of product launches following Intel's launch of compatible processors.

During the ongoing CeBIT event, ASUS has two of its newest motherboards on display. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they are based on the Intel P55 chipset, and have the LGA-1156 CPU socket, supporting the upcoming Intel Core i5 series processors. ASUS chose the "P6T" prefix for naming its first generation of LGA-1366 motherboards based on the Intel X58 chipset. With LGA-1156 and Intel P55 chipset, the company plans to use the "P7U" prefix. The two motherboards on display are the P7U and P7U Pro.

Both motherboards have identical PCB layouts, except for the P7U having a few features toned-down. Both use a (3+1)+2 phase CPU power circuit. Both feature 4 DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Six SATA ports, a PCI-E x4 and a number of PCI-E x1 slots make for the rest of the mix. While the P7U Pro features two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots (which arrange as x8, x8 when both are populated), the P7U features a single PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot. Both models feature ASUS-exclusive features such as Turbo-V that allows on-the-fly overclocking, ExpressGate that is a basic instant-on OS, and the EPU power management feature.

There are several manufacturers showing off P55 based boards at CeBIT. We have posted some of the boards which were mentioned at other websites, but Jetway is also throwing their offering into the pool. The board uses bright colored slots on a black PCB. There is an unknown slot next to the memory modules - named CNF 1. The board features 14 USB 2.0, 7 SATA, 1 eSATA, two PCI x16 slots for GPUs and a third named "HD Display slot".

It looks like motherboard vendors aren't missing the opportunity CeBIT provides to display their upcoming motherboards, notably those based on Intel's LGA-1156 supportive P55 chipset. One of the first ones from the house of Gigabyte is the GA-IBP. "IBP" refers to "Ibex Peak", the platform codename. Featuring most common components of a motherboard of its kind, that include four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory, connections for Intel's Felxible Display Interface (FDI), three PCI-E x16 (electrical x16, x8, x8, rearranges based on slot population), and the single-chip P55 chipset, the board supports both ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI technologies. six internal SATA ports, HDCP-compliant onboard audio and dual-Gigabit LAN make for the rest of the offering. We will learn more about this basic design from Gigabyte as we get closer to the launch of Intel's upcoming LGA-1156 processors.

ECS showcased yet another upcoming motherboard during the ongoing CeBIT event: the LFH-A. Based on Intel's P55 chipset, the motherboard supports LGA-1156 socket. Featuring all the essentials the Ibex Peak platform provides, that includes two support for dual-channel DDR3 memory, six internal SATA ports, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots and one PCI-E x4, the board also extensively supports Intel's Flexible Display Interface that links the IGP on the processor die to the connectors on the board: DVI, D-Sub and HDMI.

The P55 chipset is cooled by a small pre-production heatsink. It should also indicate that the P55 chip indeed runs cool enough to warrant a heatsink of that size, and that since most of the traditional chipset machinery has migrated to the CPU, there's very little the vendors need to do as far as chipset cooling goes. ECS LFH-A might feature in some of the first waves of motherboards to launch along with the launch of the platform itself.

MSI will be one of the first motherboard manufacturers to design one based on Intel's upcoming P55 chipset, supporting Intel's upcoming Core i5 series processors, using the LGA-1156 socket design. Boy, is this one interesting board. Pictured by Hardware-Aktuell, the MSI G9P55-DC picture shows perhaps the first picture of a fully-assembled LGA-1156 socket, with its complete retention mechanism in place.

The CPU is fuelled by two independent 6-phase power circuits. Four DDR3 DIMM slots support dual-channel memory. Storage comes in the form of six SATA II ports routed to the P55 chip, with four (blue) SATA II ports and an IDE connector courtesy of an additional controller. The board features two PCI slots, a PCI-E x1 slot to hold a "hardware" sound card (part of the package), an open-ended PCI-E x4 slot and three PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. In case you're wondering how the 16 PCI-E lanes the CPU ends up sparing for graphics ends up into a 3-Way SLI supportive solution, take a look at what would trick you for a southbridge. That, infact is the NVIDIA BR-03 chip. It can provide two PCI-E x16 links, or PCI-E x16, x8, x8 connections to the three slots, much like in the nForce 780a SLI solutions for the AMD platform. Let the puny chipset heatsinks not fool you either. This board is pre-production and its release-grade version will feature an MSI-made cooling solution that cools the chipset and the rather crowded VRM area. We will learn more about this board as CeBIT progresses.

Now faced with delays, Intel's upcoming Ibex-Peak platform, a next-generation mainstream implementation of the Nehalem architecture, is an interesting mix of technologies, where Intel seeks to minimise the platform and energy footprints while delivering value and performance through a clever bit of rearrangement of system components. HKEPC has learned that Intel's 5-Series mainstream chipsets consists of five models: P57, Q57, H57, P55, and H55. The P57 and P55 are built for the consumer PC with discrete graphics. The H57 and H55 chipsets are built for processors with integrated graphics, with support for the Intel FDI. The Q57 is built for the business / enterprise-client PC, it supports a host of exclusive Intel technologies that make the machine easier to manage.