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Intel DP55KG Extreme Series Desktop Motherboard (P55 ATX Core i7 Core i5 LGA1156)
Intel Desktop Board DP55KG Motherboard The Intel Desktop Board DP55KG is built with the new Intel® P55 Express Chipset, supporting the Intel® Core™ i7 and Intel® Core™ i5 processors in the LGA1156 package. The revolutionary two-chip layout enables lower power consumption and more advanced performance tuning1 for a smoother, more realistic experience. Intel® Extreme Memory profiles (Intel® XMP)is a performance-packed expansion of the standard DDR3 memory specification, hitting speeds of 1600 MHz or faster. Eight SATA and two eSATA ports deliver greater flexibility. Build your system quickly with 90-degree rotated SATA ports and easy-to-locate, aligned front-panel headers at the edge of the board. An integrated Bluetooth module onboard connects to peripherals. With incredible support for up to eight threads of raw processing power, dual-channel DDR3 memory, and flexible support for ATI CrossfireX technology and NVIDIA SLI technology, the Intel Desktop Board P55KG brings the best weapons to any application or game.
Lowest New Price: USD 169.99
Great motherboard for building your own computer - Intel tools rock!
I decided to build a computer after a 10 year hiatus.
SPECS:
I chose this motherboard, 4gb (2x2g)Corsair XMS 3 1600mhz ram,the new unlocked Intel i-875K processor cooled by a Corsair Hydro H50. Also went with Ultra X4 750 watt modular Power Supply, Hitachi 1gb 7200rpm Sata HD, Lite-On 24x DVD+RW, the LEXA S Case, and the EVGA GTX480 video card, and Asus XONAR Essence ST Soundcard. I have a 30 inch Dell 3008WFP Monitor, Apple Blue-tooth Wireless Keyboard and Logitech Performance Mouse MX to complete out my build. I am running Windows 7 Professional 64bit 1 user OEM.
INSTALL:
It took me most of a Friday night to get this built. Mostly because the back plate of the Cooler doesn't fit correctly, I had to live with some bow in the back plate to get the 4th screw in. But all and all not too bad. It booted fine the first time. I didn't realize you can't use a Blue-tooth Keyboard at first so I had to grab an older cordless usb Microsoft one to actually set up Windows. The motherboard lined us great with my case and the SATA Cables and many of the other cables were able to route behind the motherboard through rubberized holes in the case. I had no issues installing the motherboard at all, just fine, and well laid out to plug in 4 fans, a water cooler, sata plugs, case front panel wires, power wires, etc. A+++
PERFORMANCE:
I didn't know how to overclock anymore after 10 years. So I read some stuff googling and wasn't sure and instead just used the Intel Desktop Control Panel to experiment. I ended up setting the Ram to 1600mhz and only changing the multiplier to 29x in quad config, 30 in three, and 31 in 2 and single core. I get a score of about 9,000 on CPU Mark. That was all I needed to do, no changing voltages or any of the rest of it. That is what worked best and has run cool and solid ever since.
FEATURES:
The blue-tooth doesn't work for my Apple keyboard, it recognizes it, lets you type in the code but loses connection, so I use a small usb dongle instead. The Video Card sits fine. There is some bling you can turn on in the bios for lights and a blue skull with glowing red eyes. I turned it on high since I have a case window. The real feature is the Intel Control Panel. It shows temps, overclock settings and fan speeds and lets you save profiles. That is a great feature and now that I am done overclocking, I don't use the bios anymore. I also downloaded the latest drivers and firmware from Intel. Paired with the Asus Soundcard (got because of the powerful headphone amp built in) I just use Grado SR-80 and Sennheiser RS140 wireless headphones and a set of Altec Lansing FX6021 speakers.
FINAL IMPRESSION: For me this was a good jump back in to building my own computer. I wasn't satisfied with anything pre-built that I could afford. Building my own let me spend in the areas I valued. The Intel Board was a great choice because it runs well and is very expandable with a second or even third video card and lots of SATA and USB Ports. Get one!
Intel has never let me down!
I'd expect nothing less from Intel. I bought this board for a gaming computer that I was building. So far, my gaming and computing experience has been unbelievable! I play Assassin's Creed, Crysis, Prototype, Spore, Devil May Cry 4, World of Goo, Portal (Steam), Bioshock, and a bunch of others on max settings without any glitches. The board also has temperature monitoring technologies and fail safe features, which is nice to have.
I highly recommend this product to anyone! Keep up the good work Intel!
PROBLEM RESOLVED: LAN speed now as advertised
The problem below has been resolved with Intel's release of a new LAN driver package (14.6). This raises my star rating to 4-5 stars for this product. (Wish Amazon would allow edits of the star rating as well as the text)
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Original review:
With the current BIOS (3822) and LAN driver (14.5), speeds are limited to 10Mb. Hopefully Intel will either fix this issue or correctly label their motherboard as 10Mb and not gigabit capable.
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