ASUS P7P55 Premium Photos [From COOLIFE]

[Sadasius]

Pffffff I will wait for the 64 phase thank you very much!

[Blacky]

at this rate next asus board will have a gazillion of phase pwn's (on a mainstream mobo LOL!)

[Benny Lodewijk]

i'm looking forward for 48 phases pwm then.... LOL

[saaya]

Here, let me Google that for you....now, was that so hard?

you didnt quote the result of a google search here cause it doesnt actually answer my question... so please...

Memory compatibility issues are often the bane of system upgraders, and ASUS is the only motherboard manufacturer in the world that has devised an ingenious tool solely to tackle memory-related problems. Called MemOK!, ASUS' exclusive motherboard feature takes the guesswork and anxiety out of memory upgrading, restoring user confidence and peace of mind. In the event of a boot failure after installing new RAM, all the user has to do is press an easily accessible button on the motherboard and MemOK! will automatically load the failsafe settings needed to ensure a successful system boot. MemOK! is able to rapidly detect and resolve memory issues—even if bad or unstable memory is used!

what does that mean? how does it work? they say itll work even if the memory is bad/unstable... that doesnt make any sense... if a stick is dead its dead, theres no magic button thatll make it boot again... or are they using onboard memory chips to boot from and completely ignore the memory slots to begin with?

all i can find when googline is PR stuff that doesnt say what it is and what it does, just how great it is...

Gigabyte did daughterboard PWM...7? years ago... but with fewer phases. Maybe those boards were practice runs for your idea

actually they had 12 phase pwms back then iirc!
it totally flopped... i never understood why this fad came back to life...

Why doesn't a Premium board can use a digital PWM? Hilarious 32 analog phase design, if it's suposed to be a premium hardware motherboard, use digital PWM and do not start a crazy marketing race against Gigabyte...

im really curious how much adding all those phases actually hurts reliability... think about it, the more parts you add, the higher the chance of one of them blowing up one day for some quality variation... to sell this as a premium board not even aimed at overclockers is really bizarre... its a complete waste

I've used MemOK on a CrosshairIII. It did the job but couldn't get Reaper DDR3 running at 1600MHz! Basically it runs a memory test algorithm at a variety of settings to give you stable memory. Its good for getting mismatched RAM working together but doesn't do XMP speeds.

thanks!
hmmmm so its basically trying diferent speeds and timings and ignoring the spd... that means its a fool proof way of getting the mem configured... sounds not bad for normal end users who dont want to mess with mem timings and speeds and xmp profile incompatibilities etc...

This just in! Jensen Huan nvidia CEO predicts 570 phase pwms by 2012!

[K404]

im really curious how much adding all those phases actually hurts reliability... think about it, the more parts you add, the higher the chance of one of them blowing up one day for some quality variation... to sell this as a premium board not even aimed at overclockers is really bizarre... its a complete waste

Here might be an idea worth persuing for an enterprising company....


PWM phase redundancy


Then cynicism kicks in... what company would use the redundancy feature to offload crap quality components under a deluxe title. Phase redundancy stops being a safe-guard... it becomes the only way to keep the board working

[massman]

i was laughing a while ago joking with a friend that next we will be 32phase pwm and then 48 and etc... and now it seems this might really happen

You guys were joking in a bar after having a couple of drinks and at the other table an Asus engineer overheard your conversation and went:

[saaya]

You guys were joking in a bar after having a couple of drinks and at the other table an Asus engineer overheard your conversation and went:

hahahah thats something i could really believe to be true

[Raja@ASUS]

Not sure why they went for a dual inductor design here, other than perhaps create the illusion of additional phases. Perhaps it will be 'backed up' by one of those thermal images showing improved heat dissipation I guess there are plenty of people that still call an inductor a phase (this thread contains a few), so I guess someone back at HQ thinks this might work.

[.:Nismo]

Can someone explain the benefits of all the phase pwms?

[K404]

It gives the company marketing team something to talk about

[saaya]

Can someone explain the benefits of all the phase pwms?

in theory more phases = cpu can pull higher current... this is only happens when you overclock your cpu... with subzero cooling cause it would thermtrip or burn out with conventional cooling before you can pull enough current to cause normal pwms trouble... so putting this on a non ocing board is entirely useless...

in reality, the way they increase phases, if you can even call it more phases, doesnt increase the max current draw notably or even makes it worse, and it seems to result in worse actual voltage stability

oh and with they i mean asus AND gigabyte...

somebody correct me if im wrong pls, not that much into pwms...

[Smartidiot89]

I like my 4+1 phase design

[nr4]

in theory more phases = cpu can pull higher current...

And in reality, 1kg of (cpu-vrm) coils used on this ASUS motherboard costs less than the (cpu-vrm) coils used on 1 EVGA X58 Classified motherboard .
Same or worse for the mosfets...

It's all about quality of components and design.

[saaya]

exactly, you can use your budget in a smart way like evga and dfi or you can use it on something that looks impressive but barely works

[Xoulz]

Can someone explain the benefits of all the phase pwms?

Marketing, nothing more...

[nr4]

exactly, you can use your budget in a smart way like evga and dfi or you can use it on something that looks impressive but barely works

Well i wouldn't say that EVGA's and DFI's cpu-vrms are the smart way budget, i would say that what they are made from passion for overclocking.

What ASUS and Gigabyte are doing is really the smart way, using components that cost maybe 10 times less with huge marketing, pointing at 98% of the market, delivering very good performance for all categories.

But for the rest of 2% there can be only the best of the best, and there you can find those extreme motherboards like EVGA, DFI, also ASUS has some very good models.
These motherboards have secrets that cant be revealed by pictures or by marketing, the only way to find them out is by "pushing them to the limits".

This ASUS P7P55 Premium motherboard is a very good one, but only by testing/tweaking it, you can find really how well it performs.

[Frank M]

The insane amounts of phases and marketing bullcrap buzzwords aside,
PLX at the bottom? True x16 PCIe 2.0 ×2?
Also, what's that small daughterboard right above it for?

[sholvaco]

^
1. The PLX takes four PCH PCIe lanes (limited to 2.5 Gbps each) and binds them into a single 5 Gbps (PCIe 2.0) lane to ensure sufficient bandwidth for the Marvell SATA 6G controller (which only uses an x1 interface).

2. ASUS Express Gate flash drive.

[Bromptoners]

So this is also a "Fake 32 Phase" as well? Funny to see how Asus accusing GIGABYTE for their 24 phase and now themselves coming out this design.. What a joke

[EnJoY]

im really curious how much adding all those phases actually hurts reliability... think about it, the more parts you add, the higher the chance of one of them blowing up one day for some quality variation... to sell this as a premium board not even aimed at overclockers is really bizarre... its a complete waste

I had this exact same question the other day. I wonder how these overkill solutions will fare in the long run when compared to a more conservative solution with less, but still adequate "phases".

I think all of us have owned at least one board where a mosfet blew, certainly more so in the old days (NF7-S anyone?), but it still happens if you test enough hardware.

[Raja@ASUS]

The multiplexed solutions are not really overkill, as the current limit is determined by the buck controller. One could claim its easier on the FET's due to shared load (duty cycle per phase in async or load sharing in parrallel operation), but you could just use bigger FET's that can handle the load. A base swithcing frequency of 250KHz and 90mv of ripple @ idle is in no way overkill.

[dduckquack]

looks like someone is building a fortress around the cpu socket...

[c931]

PWM phase redundancy

Who cares about redundancy? PWM phase striping to maximize energy throughput!

[Bromptoners]

Seems that 32 phase is not the end... Asus now gives you... 48 phase!

But am I failing my maths or what, how does 32 + 3 = 48??

[Smartidiot89]

Seems that 32 phase is not the end... Asus now gives you... 48 phase!

But am I failing my maths or what, how does 32 + 3 = 48??

But can it run Crysis?