Maximus III Spy Pics

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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For those of you that are fans of the ASUS ROG series of motherboards, we have spy pics of the Maximus III Formula motherboard. No specifications yet, but you can certainly see what it is all about. Looks like we lost a couple of X58 memory slots but have gained more than a few power phases! This thing is looking meaty.
 
Damn board has more power phases than Oprah has chins currently.
 
.. 20 phase power??? and it does look like this will be an x55 chipset board...
 
Disappointing, no tipple channel and pci slots.

Although, I do like the pcie tabs and the ram tabs.
 
The question is: How many power phases will a .50 BMG round penetrate?
 
afaik, i5 integrated PCI-Express lanes (no NB inbetween), and will connect via DMI to the P55 chip, which takes the classic SB role.
if so, what is that heatsink there for, exactly?
or maybe i'm just wrong?
 
vengence said:
3 PCI-E slots but only Dual Channel Memory? I understand it's "mid-level" but I would think if you are going to crossfire/sli you would want tripple channel memory.
Click to expand...

Since the i5 has only X16 lanes ( plus ~4 through the DMI, sorta), going multi-GPU will instantly half the maximum graphics memory bandwidth (X8 each). going 3-channel isn't going to make a big difference in graphics performance in a setup like this.
 
StrayGator said:
Since the i5 has only X16 lanes ( plus ~4 through the DMI, sorta), going multi-GPU will instantly half the maximum graphics memory bandwidth (X8 each). going 3-channel isn't going to make a big difference in graphics performance in a setup like this.
Click to expand...

In other words, don't assume that because of the later release date, that III > II. Intel is doing like video card manufacturers did a few years ago: launch the new generation high-end first, then fill in the mid-range later with reduced memory bus width, etc. Also like the vid card manufacturers, the later release of i7/i5 muddies the water by giving us higher memory clocks* on the narrower bus, and likely reduced PCIe latency by hanging the interfaces directly off the CPU.

So theories notwithstanding, how it all performs in benchies vs. realworld is something we will have to wait and see.

*i5 promises higher stock memory clocks vs. i7, but who here runs stock memory speed? I'm just annoyed that mainstream is still two channel, because it leaves three channel kits in the "enthusiast" domain, and priced accordingly.
 
Um it is very red and black, yes cool looking... but p55 chipset on LGA1366 cpu = fail.
 
Nanan said:
Um it is very red and black, yes cool looking... but p55 chipset on LGA1366 cpu = fail.
Click to expand...

Ah my bad, it is the i5 socket, a step backwards for intel... Well I guess it might be ok for entry level machines for mom doing her email, and grandma viewing pics on the web.
 
Nanan said:
Ah my bad, it is the i5 socket, a step backwards for intel... Well I guess it might be ok for entry level machines for mom doing her email, and grandma viewing pics on the web.
Click to expand...

Um.. no. This is WAY overkill for that. :p
 
Nanan said:
Ah my bad, it is the i5 socket, a step backwards for intel... Well I guess it might be ok for entry level machines for mom doing her email, and grandma viewing pics on the web.
Click to expand...

Still going to be faster than PII clock for clock.
 
Neat looking. Tons of power phases! I've never seen a board with so many. I wish they had changed the expansion slot layout though. The last PCI-Express x16 slot is a bit too close to the board's edge. The top most PCi-Express x1 slot looks to be fairly uselsss due to the chipset cooling.
 
StrayGator said:
Since the i5 has only X16 lanes ( plus ~4 through the DMI, sorta), going multi-GPU will instantly half the maximum graphics memory bandwidth (X8 each). going 3-channel isn't going to make a big difference in graphics performance in a setup like this.
Click to expand...

IIRC, the LGA1156 socket will have two X16 lanes direct to the CPU skipping the PCH
 
I think these are going to perform MUCH better than people think.

That said, that is an expensive looking board and if it is not significantly less than a similarly ROG'd out X58 board, well, they shouldn't even bother. imho
 
Does anyone know about the X55's ability to support crossfire and SLI? or will it need an nf200 chip?
 
Dual channel = cheaper. What makes it cheaper? It needs less pins to CPU (remember, the memory controller is on the CPU). 1156 vs 1366. X58/1366 was meant for workstation and enthusiast market, and just so happened to come out first (and just so happened to beat on AMD that much more). Why do you think there was so much complaining that X58 was too expensive? P55/1156 will remedy this. If you don't want tri-channel, no prob, the channel is full of product for you right now. But if you are more budget conscious, then P55 is probably going to be your next upgrade.
 
oh man I can't believe this is a midlevel board. I CANNOT wait to see what ROG does with for a enthusiasts board.

And I love the clips for the PCIE and the ram.
 
P55/1156/Dual channel is not coming to compete with i7 but to replace the 775 quad market, call it performance mainstream if ya like. I'll happily replace my Q9550 with one of those i5 maybe next year :)
 
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