X-Bit Labs discusses Tick+ and Tock- in their reivew of the ASUS P9X79 Deluxe, as Intel’s original Tick-Tock product strategy seems to have been changed recently.  As you can see the board is quite crowded, in part because of the 8 DIMM slots, so crowded that ASUS moved some of the power chokes to the backside of the board.  You get four PCIe 3.0 slots, of which two can run at full 16x speeds when populated, as well as a pair of PCIe 2.0 1x slots.  On the back are a half dozen USB 3.0 ports as well as four 2.0 ports, S/PDIF out as well as 6 analog out provide sound and it even sports WiFi and Bluetooth.  Check out what X-Bit considers the new standard in X79 boards.

"ASUSTeK mainboards are the leading brand today that is why this particular model seems to be an ideal choice for opening a series of articles dedicated to the new platform. We will dwell on absolutely everything about it: package, accessories, technical specifications, EFI BIOS functionality, new programs and utilities, overclocking potential, performance and power consumption."

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