“The X58 chipset is currently the flagship of Intel’s chipset line, but it was lacking a couple of key features due to its launch date. These where of course SATA 3 and USB 3. This is no longer true thanks to Asus. They have put a SATA 3 Controler onboard as well as adding two USB 3 ports on the back of the motherboard. This gives the X58 chipset a much needed modernization, since its little brother the P55 already has these features. If you happen to not be an Asus fan then you will have other options as well. Gigabyte plans to have a new X58 board out that will also support these features.Other than the adding of these two features there is not much else thats different from the P6T, but lets take a look at the features to give you a refresh of what Asus has to offer.”
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 LGA1366 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Gigabyte X58A-UD3R @ VR-Zone
- Jetway NC63-330-LF IPC Motherboard @ PCShopTalk
- Intel H55 Mobo Shootout – Integrated HD Graphics Showdown @ Hardware Zone
- BIOS Option Of The Week – ASF Support @ TechARP
- ASRock M3A785GXH/128M @ iXBT Labs
P6T gets an update
Don’t let the name fool you, the Asus P6X58D is nought
but a P6T with support for USB 3.0 and SATA3 as well, not much else has changed. There are a few extra features but the main reason to want this board is native support for the new transport buses. Bjorn3D did some benchmarking with a SATA 2 SSD so the differences in file transfer performance do not stand out as much as they would with a SATA 3 drive; they are still very rare. The board might not be worth replacing an existing X58 board but if you were worried about being limited to a P55 because of the new features, you now have several choices to go with.