Special Features

The ASUS P7P55D boasts a number of special features. Let's go through them and see how they actually fare.

ASUS TurboV EVO

Although TurboV Evo works, but I don't see what's so great about it. It may be useful for newbies, but enthusiasts who are the ones who would actually buy this motherboard will not use the Auto Tuning function. Overclocking in Windows may create stability issues too.

ASUS Hybrid 12+2 Phase Power Design

This grade of power circuitry is pretty standard for a higher-end motherboard, but it's great to see that even a mid-range motherboard like the P7P55D gets the same treatment! With low RDS MOSFETs, ferrite core chokes and high-quality conductive polymer capacitors (made in Japan), the ASUS 12+2 phase VRM design will improve the lifespan of the components, and offer better stability when overclocking beyond the rated specifications.

T.Probe

T.Probe is yet another dedicated microchip which monitors the power phase loads and balances the load on the power phase when enabled. There's also a software utility that allows you to view the power phase loads in real time.

ASUS Express Gate

This is another feature that I would not use since I hardly turn off my machine. Express Gate™ is a Linux-based mini-OS that provides you with quick access to the Internet and key applications before entering Windows. Great if you really use it, but I suspect most P7P55D users won't bother using it.

MemOK!

MemOK! is a quick and painless tool which helps you to boot up if you are using really old and slow DDR3 RAM modules. What it actually does is it will try booting up using various combinations of memory timings, voltages, and clock speeds. I did not encounter any DDR3 compatibility issues with my Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 memory though.

ASUS EPU

Unfortunately, this is yet another feature that looks good on paper, but doesn't work very well in real life. ASUS claims their new ASUS EPU to be the world´s first power saving engine, what it actually does is far less dramatic. All it does is reduce the voltages, clock speeds and fan speeds of the CPU and graphics card, and spin down the hard disk drives whenever they are idle. I tried it on my system, and it barely reduces my power consumption since I already enabled all the important power saving features in the BIOS. It actually crashed my system when I customised my own settings using the EPU-6 software. I uninstalled it soon after that.

ASUS Fanless Design

Due to Intel's excellent chipset design, removing the need for a north bridge, the ASUS P7P55D only comes with passive heatsinks on the PCH (Platform Controller Hub), and the VRMs. The PCH barely releases 5 watts of heat, which is easily handled by a simple heatsink. The VRMs, on the other hand, do get pretty hot under heavy load.

Fan Xpert

I had huge expectations of Fan Xpert ever since I started using ABIT's excellent µGuru, which allowed for the full customization of fan voltages down to 6 V (from the standard 12 V) at different temperatures. This is a feature that even external fan controllers can only envy. Fan Xpert is a simplified version, with just 3 profiles available. It is also known as Q-Fan Control in the BIOS.

Stack Cool 3

When I review ASUS P5AD2 Premium back in 2004, Stack Cool was one of the marketing points used to provide that motherboard. The third version of Stack Cool is now part of the ASUS P7P55D, and there's still no scientific tests to prove its usefulness, so I won't comment on its usefulness.

EZ-Flash 2

EZ Flash 2 is a BIOS update utility built into the BIOS. Simply launch this tool and update BIOS from a USB flash disk before entering the operating system. You can update your BIOS with just a few mouse clicks. You do not need to prepare a floppy diskette (do they even exist???) or using an OS-based flash utility. I couldn't get it to work, so I flashed to the latest BIOS version using the traditional method.

O.C. Profile

OC Profile allows you to save your BIOS settings into a file on a FAT32 partition, and freely distribute it. Then again, not many will run on the same hardware configuration, and even if they do, they will not be able to support the same overclock settings or memory timings. So it is not as useful as you might think.

It may sound like I'm bashing every special feature in the ASUS P7P55D, but the truth is most of these features either don't work well, or they are just marketing fluff. So why did I still buy the ASUS P7P55D motherboard? Well, I will explain it as we go on this review.

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