The Board - A Closer Look

One of the most gratifying features for a hardcore overclocker is the choice of a socketed BIOS, easily replacable should the unfortunate take place. It's located next to the memory slots, in a place where it could be easily swapped without dismantling the system, a bigger plus for those that choose to watercool thier rigs. The now familiar J-Micron 363 SATA controller seen above is neatly tucked under the Southbridge heatsink, and provides not only rear panel eSATA connection, but also is responsible for the ninth SATA port located at the bottom edge of the board. It also provides support for the IDE connector seen at the edge of the same picture, located just above the right-angled SATA ports.


The P7P55D-E PRO's CPU power control is provided by a compliment of components, the first two being the EPU2 chip, and another small chip located nearby, with "PEM" written diagonally across the surface. Seen on other ASUS motherboards, it's a powerful pair, and something that wasn't quite expected given the segment this board is placed in. The EPU2 chip serves as the brain behind the multiple phases, with the "PEM" chip responsible for switching each phase at the proper frequency.


Added to the previous pair is the T.Probe chip, which signals the EPU2 chip with temperature and loads data. All together you have a complex and efficient PWM design, capable of heaps of power, and a bit of energy saving too. Finally combined with the TurboV chip, for "on-the-fly" bus frequency and voltage adjustments, the P7P55D-E PRO is a wolf in sheep's clothing, something utterly missed on the packaging.


To make sure the memory sub-system isn't left out, there's a two-phase power source here as well, provided with similar components to the VTT supply. For those wanting to go the extra mile, at the opposite end we find a switch to provide additional memory voltage for those wanting more. Hybrid design; overclocking and daily usage; now it starts to make sense!


We find the usual ICS clock generator between the PCIe slots, but located just down below is the the much more unusual PLX PCIe bridge chip, which provides proper connectivity and bandwidth for the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps connections not provided natively on the P55 chipset.


The USB 3.0 found on the rear panel is provided by the now proven and utterly common NEC/Renesas 720200 controller, which was a tiny bit of a disappointment, given the date the board was manufactured in, and lower-power options currently available on the market. The SATA 6 Gbps PCIe Marvell controller manages the two earlier mentioned white SATA ports, yet another familiar friend not quite expected, but more than welcome.


The Realtek 8112L LAN controller was barely recognizable, yet another common component almost too common! Time to replace the final stamp, Realtek! Winbond provides the Super I/O chip, and we're quickly reminded of why ASUS was able to bring so much to the table, yet remain affordable, with each component used time and again in other designs.


ASUS tapped VIA for both Firewire and audio control, and while more than capable, given the abundance of other features found elsewhere, we couldn't help but be left wanting a bit more from the audio side of things. We'll get to why in the benchmarks.


One of the final features ASUS has bundled in the P7P55D-E PRO is a bit of POST code display tech, of sorts, with four different LEDs indicating the board's status as it boots up. The first is the CPU LED, one to quickly light and go dark, unless something is wrong. Next to the second to light up, the DRAM LED, we find the "MemOK!" button, a nice fail-safe feature exclusive to ASUS, ensuring a stable system no matter what memory is installed.


The third POST stage is indicated by the VGA LED, located near the rear edge of the uppermost PCIe x16 slot. Once finished, the final stage is indicated by the "BOOT DEVICE" LED located just below the Southbridge heatsink, near the SATA connectors.


The P7P55D-E PRO sports four fan connectors total. Two PWM headers are just to the left and below the CPU socket, bringing a Corsair H70 with its dual fans to mind, with the third PWM header found near the top of the DIMMs. The fourth fan header, a normal 3-pin, is found near the right-angled SATA connectors, on the bottom right of the board, summing up the important physical bits the ASUS P7P55D-E Pro provides.