Board layout and Bundle

In this side photo you can see that ASUS is still including legacy connections like IDE and Floppy. You can also get a peek at the heat sinks on the VRM's. If you look closely at the ram slots, you will notice that only the top side of the slot actually opens. The bottom side clasp doesn't move like on traditional slots. This allows the RAM slot to be close to the back side of the video card, as well as provide more room for extra features to be put on the board.

Along the bottom edge of the board you can see the case header, the two JMicron SATA ports, USB headers, and the on-board power and reset switches.

In this angled view you can get a better idea of the height of some components and a better look at the layout of the board. You can also get a good look at the power design. The P7P55D Deluxe uses a true 16+3 phase design, 16 for vcore, and 3 for the memory controller. Partnered with the T.Probe, ASUS calls this a 24 Hybrid phase design. When you are shopping ASUS P7P55 motherboards, this will primarily be the differences between each model. Typically the more phases you have, the cooler and more consistent the power being delivered to each component, which should allow for a higher and more stable over clock.

Here we have a close up shot of the CPU socket area. Everything is spaced out far enough not to cause problems with even the biggest air cooler we have around, the V10 from Cooler Master.

This motherboard has plenty of I/O! 8 USB ports in the back, along with Coaxial and TOSLINK audio outputs. We again see legacy PS2 Keyboard and Mouse ports. Notice the small button just to the right of the PS2 ports, that is a CMOS clear button!

Finally we have a shot of the PCIe layout. There are 3 x16 slots which reconfigure to x8/x8/x4 if used in CrossFire or SLI.

Bundle

The bundle is typical ASUS, very good! They provide 6 black SATA cables, 3 of which have a right angle on one end. On the left is the SLI bridge, in the middle is my new favorite piece, the "Q-Shield." An IDE cable and PCI bracket USB breakout are also included.