Asus P6T Deluxe X58 OC Palm Edition Motherboard

Introduction

With the previews done and dusted, it’s now time for OC3D to get down and dirty with the Asus P6T Deluxe and some full benchmark treatment. As this is our first full X58 review, I’m sure every enthusiast wants to know how well it performs against the current high end Skt775 systems available and if indeed it’s worth the money to upgrade. For this reason and until we get more X58 motherboards to compare,  will be pitching the P6T deluxe against a high end 790i setup in the hope that we will see some marked performance differences.

As the P6T deluxe ‘OC Palm Edition’ is the first retail release from Asus under the X58 banner it will be used as the benchmark for other motherboards to compete against. It boasts an amazing array of features, SLI/Crossfire compatibility, Triple channel DDR3 and of course support for Intel’s latest CPU, Nehalem. Costing near £275 it certainly isn’t cheap, £30 more than the standard edition but as the title suggests, the OC Palm edition has a new(ish) feature that some may have seen before on the P5B Premium boards. The ‘Screen Duo’ has been re-incarnated and included in the P6T package, let’s hope it is a more worthwhile addition than the previous attempt.

Here’s what Asus had to say in a recent press release:

Fulfilling demand for users that require a motherboard able to achieve extraordinary overclocking capability, ASUS, world-leader in motherboard production, has unveiled the new ASUS P6T DELUXE amid high user expectation. This innovative motherboard utilises Intel’s latest platform, and features the exclusive ASUS Super Hybrid Engine concept that encompasses the TurboV and EPU technologies to deliver the twofold benefits of overclocking and power efficiency. TurboV is an advanced overclocking application that enables easy overclocking without the need to exit or reboot the operating system; while the EPU automatically provides users exceptional power efficiency. Equipped with Super Hybrid Engine, users will enjoy the best overclocking environment and address environmental concerns at the same time.
 

Specification

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 ; Intel® QuickPath Interconnection MT/s
 
Memory
6 x DIMM, 12 GB, DDR3 1600*/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Triple channel memory architecture
Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
*Refer to www.asus.com or this user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors Lists).
 
Expansion Slots
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x16/x1 or x16/x8/x8 mode)
1 x PCIe x4
2 x PCI

Multi-GPU Support
Supports NVIDIA® 2-Way or Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology
Supports ATI® CrossFireX™ Technology

Storage
Southbridge 6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports
Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10 Marvell 88SE63202 x SAS (RAID 0 and 1)
Marvell 88SE6111
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
1 xExternal SATA 3.0 Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)

LAN
Dual Gigabit LAN controllers 2*Marvell88E8056® PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2

Audio
ADI® AD2000B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
– Support Jack-Detection, Multi-Streaming, and Front Panel Jack-Retasking
– Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O

IEEE
1394 VIA® VT6308 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (one at mid-board; one at back panel)
USB
USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 8 ports at back panel) 14

Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x PS/2 Keyboard/ Mouse combo port
1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial + Optical)
1 x External SATA
1 x IEEE1394a
2 x RJ45 port
8 x USB 2.0/1.1
8-channel Audio I/O

Internal I/O Connectors
3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
1 x Floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA connectors
2 x SAS connectors
1 x CPU Fan connector
3 x Chassis Fan connector
1 x Power Fan connector
1 x IEEE1394a connector
Front panel audio connector
1 x S/PDIF Out Header
Chassis Intrusion connector
CD audio in
24-pin ATX Power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
System Panel(Q-Connector)

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

Form Factor ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 9.6 inch 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )

Wow. The P6T deluxe appears to have everything anyone could want in the specification. SLI, Crossfire, RAID etc. Perhaps the only thing missing is the dedicated sound card as seen on the higher end models.

Let’s take a look at the package…