Let's get a feel for the layout of the ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard.

From left to right: a blue PCI Express x1 slot, a blue PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, a grey PCI Express x1 slot, a legacy light blue PCI slot, the second grey PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, another legacy light blue PCI slot, and a final blue PCI Express x1 slot. A special note: The blue PCI Express x1 slots get a full 5GT/s of bandwidth, while the grey PCI Express x1 slot in the middle only gets 2.5GT/s of bandwidth, a result of bridging the remainder of the Intel P55 PCH's bandwidth via the PLX PEX8608 chip.

The SATA ports on this motherboard are split up into two groups. The grey SATA 6Gb/s ports on the left are controlled by the Marvell SE9123 controller, while the four blue SATA ports on the right operate at 3Gb/s and are controlled by Intel's P55 PCH. These blue ports can be run in RAID 0/1/5 and 10 modes. There are two more ports (you can spot them in the next picture, below) that are also controlled by the Intel PCH, for a total of 8 SATA ports.

The ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard comes with four slots for DDR3 SDRAM, which can operate at speeds of 1066/1333/1600MHz, or 2200MHz when overclocked. Next to the memory banks is the memory over-voltage switch (to the right) and the ASUS MemOK! button, which resets the memory back to default voltages.

The ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard uses a hybrid 16 phase power design, allowing the motherboard to provide variable levels of electrical power to the socket 1156 Intel CPU, based on processing demand.

The ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard actually has one more SATA 3Gb/s controller hidden away next to the front panel header. This black SATA port can be run to a front panel eSATA header, or used with internal SATA hard drives.

The flat, passive heatsink covering the Intel P55 PCH is low enough that it won't conflict with large PCI Express videocards.

Finally it's time to see how ASUS' latest motherboard performs, overclocking the P7P55D-E Pro is next!