Computer Accessories, Desktop PC and Laptops Accessories

Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Motherboard
$339.99 at Newegg.com
$358.92 at TECH ON WEB
$371.00 at Compuvest

Introduction

With the release of the X58 chipset around 10 months ago, a lot has changed in the world of computer hardware. Suddenly, gamers and hardcore enthusiasts were able to purchase a motherboard which supported both SLI and CrossFire, were able to run memory in an all-new triple-channel scenario and last but not least, make use of the awesome performance the i7 series processor offered. Although many would have liked to upgrade to the X58/i7 platform, doing it inexpensively was one of the largest roadblocks caused by this new technology.

Fortunately, ASUS and a few other motherboard manufacturers cottoned onto the crisis hardware enthusiasts were experiencing and decided to shred features that many users didn’t need from their top-end motherboards in order to make more affordable versions. This opened a new window of opportunity for enthusiasts to migrate from their current systems to the performance driven i7/X58 combinations without breaking the bank.

One of the most popular X58 motherboard which supports the i7 processor series is the ASUS P6T board. In many reviews and tests it has delivered outstanding performance and has proven to be a favourite amongst overclockers. ASUS immediately became aware of this success and developed the ASUS P6T SE (Second Edition). The SE was designed to be a cheaper alternative to the original P6T and was made possible by removing SLI support (so CrossFire only), downgrading the capacitors and removing a couple of needless features. Today we hope to find out if the £25 price difference between the P6T SE and its elder brother is money worth saving. Let’s see how the sibling performs…

About ASUS

“ASUS comes from the last four letters of Pegasus, the winged horse in Greek mythology that represents the inspiration of art and learning. ASUS embodies the strength, creative spirit and purity symbolized by this regal and agile mythical creature, soaring to new heights of quality and innovation with each product it introduces to the market.”

Specifications and Features

LGA1366 Intel® Bloomfield Processor Ready
Intel X58
PCIe 2.0
ATI CrossFireX Technology
ASUS TurboV
ASUS True 8+2 Phase Power Design
ASUS Express Gate
ASUS Fanless Design – Heat-pipe solution
Up to 20°C(36°F) Cooler – Stack Cool 2
Fan Xpert
Noise Filtering
DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC
ASUS Onboard Switch
Q- Shield
Q-Connector
EZ-Flash 2
O.C. Profile
SATA on the Go
IEEE 1394a interface
High Definition Audio
S/PDIF-out on Back I/O Port
GreenASUS

To read about the features that the Asus P6T SE bo

asts, please click here.

CPU	Intel® Socket 1366 Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition/Core™ i7 Processor Supports Intel® Dynamic Speed Technology
Chipset	Intel® X58 / ICH10R
System Bus	Up to 6400 MT/s ; Intel® QuickPath Interconnection
Memory	6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory Triple channel memory architecture Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs. *Refer to www.asus.com or this user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors Lidts).
Expansion Slots	3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x16/x4 mode) 1 x PCIe x1 2 x PCI
Multi-GPU Support	Sup ports ATI® Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology
Storage	Southbridge 6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Intel Matrix Storage Technology supports Support RAID 0,1,5,10 JMicron® JMB363 PATA and SATA controller 1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices 1 xExternal SATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go) *Due to the Windows XP/ Vista limitation, the RAID array with the total capacity over 2TB cannot be set as a boot disk. A RAID array over 2TB can only be set as a data disk only.
LAN	Realtek® 8111C PCIe Giga bit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Audio	Realtek® ALC1200 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC Support Jack-Detection, Multi-Streaming, and Front Panel Jack-Retasking Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O ASUS Noise-Filtering
IEEE 1394	VIA® VT6315N controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (one at mid-board; one at back panel)
USB	12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
Special Features	Multi-language BIOS ASUS MyLogo 2
Back Panel I/O Ports	1 x External SATA 1 x IEEE 1394a 1 x LAN(RJ45) port 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 8 -Channel Audio I/O 1 x PS/2 Keyboard (Purple) 1 x PS/2 mouse p ort (Green) 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output
Internal I/O Connectors	3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports 1 x IDE connector 6 x SATA connectors 1 x IEEE 1394a connector 1 x CPU Fan connector 2 x Chassis Fan connector 1 x Power Fan connector 1 x S/PDIF Out connector Front panel audio connector Chassis Intrusion connector CD audio in 24-pin ATX Power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector System Panel(Q-Connector) 1 x Power on switch
BIOS	16 Mb Flash ROM AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
Manageability	WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE
Accessories	User’s manual 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable 4 x SATA cable 2 in 1 Q-connector ASUS Q-Shield
Support Disc	Drivers ASUS PC Probe II ASUS AI Suite Anti-virus software (OEM version) ASUS Update Image-Editing Suite
Form Factor	ATX Form Factor 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 2

One interesting thing to note is that the P6T SE, unlike most X58 motherboards, does not support SLI. It does however support CrossFire.

Asus P6T Motherboard
This motherboard supports the Intel Bloomf

ield processors in LGA1366 package which has memory controller integrated to support 3-channel (6 DIMMs) DDR3 memory. Support Intel(R) QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) with system bus up to 6.4GT/s and a max bandwidth of up to 25.6GB/s. Intel Bloomfield processor is powerful and energy efficient CPU in the world.

Product Rating:
Newegg.com $239.99