P55 Motherboard Round-up: Asus, EVGA, GB, Intel, MSI
Unlike Asus and Gigabyte, Big Blue, i.e. Intel, isn't as well known for their enthusiast class motherboards, but they are making advances in this area and would like to change that.
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Intel DP55WG Media Series Motherboard
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| Processor LGA-1156 i5 / i7 Processors Memory Four 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM DIMM sockets Supports DDR3 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz DIMMs Supports up to 16 GB max Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot 1 x PCIe 2.0 x8 slot 1 x PCIe 2.0 x4 slot 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots 2 x PCI bus connectors RAID Intel Matrix Storage Technology for SATA Audio Intel High Definition Audio subsystem Realtek® ALC889 audio codec Networking Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/s) LAN subsystem Intel 82578DC Gigabit Ethernet Controller |
Back Panel I/O 8 x USB 2.0 ports 1 x RJ45 LAN jack 1 x IEEE1394a port 1 x S/PDIF In 1 x S/PDIF Out 8 -Channel Audio I/O Accessories 4 x SATA data cables SLI bridge Rear I/O shield Quick start guide Drivers and utilities disk Form Factor ATX 12 x 9.6 inches ( 30.5 cm x 24.5 cm ) Warranty 3 year warranty from date of purchase Includes technical support, parts, and labor Price $140 |
With eight P55 boards in this comparison, Intel's DP55WG is the most economical choice at $140. But don't let the low price fool you. This product provides all of the advantages that the P55 chipset offers without a lot of frills. We find that this board's feature set is ample, and the board delivers in the performance department.
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The layout of the motherboard is relatively bare, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We do like the fact that Intel installed a POST code LED for troubleshooting purposes. Also, we were surprised to find a small, onboard power switch by the memory slots. It would've been awesome to find a reset switch as well but no luck. The DP55WG's only heatsink is located on the P55 chipset. Unlike the rest of the boards we're looking at today, there are no heatsinks surrounding the CPU socket area.
At this price point, we weren't surprised to find a limited bundle inside the box but Intel included enough to get things started. The DP55WG includes a quick reference guide, an I/O shield, drivers disk, four SATA cables, and an SLI bridge. In this case, we feel a couple more SATA cables would be ideal to correspond with the motherboard's six SATA ports.
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The back I/O panel features several ports for connectivity. Here, we find optical S/PDIF in and out, one Firewire port, eight USB 2.0 ports, a single RJ-45 LAN jack, clear CMOS button, and 6 audio jacks. We can't blame Intel for deciding to do away with PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports as we haven't used either in years.
