ASRock Intros Entry-Level P55 Motherboard

ASRock introduced a new entry-level, low-cost P55DE3 socket LGA-1156 motherboard, based on the Intel P55 chipset, supporting Intel Core i5 and Core i7 "Lynnfield" processors. Its simple design employs a 4+1 phase power circuit for the CPU VRM, four DDR3 memory slots to support up to 16 GB of memory, that boast of support for DDR3-2400+ by overclocking, two PCI-Express x16 slots, of which the second (orange) slot wired to the P55 PCH and provides electrical PCI-E x4 connection, and two each of PCI-E x1, and PCI. Two of the chipset's six SATA 3 Gb/s ports are permanently assigned as eSATA, with four available internally. The CPU socket area provides mounting holes for LGA-1156 and LGA-775 coolers. Gigabit Ethernet and 8-channel HD audio make for the rest of it. The ASRock P55DE3 is selling for as little as 87 EUR.