ECS Elitegroup P55H-A

Board Layout:

When it comes to the design of the ECS P55H-A, it is a standard ATX motherboard with a traditional layout compared to other Intel motherboards and earlier ECS board designs. There are four DDR3 memory slots on the motherboard that can handle up to 16GB of RAM and can run at DDR3-2200MHz speeds in an overclock mode or DDR3-1333/1077/800MHz otherwise. Next to the DDR3 memory slots is the 24-pin ATX power connector.

Next to the P55 Chipset, which is covered by a passive aluminum heatsink, are six Serial ATA 2.0 ports that are capable of driving RAID 0/1/5/10 configurations. Below these SATA ports are power and reset button switches built directly on the motherboard PCB, which is very convenient for those running open-air test systems or want to test out their hardware prior to installing the motherboard in a computer case. Running along the bottom edge of the motherboard are three USB 2.0 ports, one IDE ATA-133 port, COM header, S/PDIF header, and audio header.

The expansion slots on this motherboard include two PCI Express x16, one PCI Express x4, one PCI Express x1, and two PCI slots. The two PCI Express x16 slots are PCI-E 2.0, but if two graphics cards are installed, the x16 bandwidth is limited to PCI-E x8 to each of the slots. The ECS P55H-A is compatible with ATI CrossFire support. Above the expansion slots is an 8-pin EPS12V power connector along with a 4-pin molex connector. If using an older ATX power supply with just a 20-pin and 4-pin motherboard connector, the 4-pin molex connection is required to provide additional power, especially if you plan on running dual graphics cards.

The ECS P55H-A supports Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors that use the LGA-1156 socket. Core i7 processors using LGA-1336 are not compatible. On the top and backsides of the CPU socket area are a set of heatsinks that help cool some of the power circuitry on this motherboard. The rear panel ports on the P55H-A motherboard include two PS/2, one clear CMOS, six USB 2.0, one eSATA, one Gigabit Ethernet, and six audio ports (including one S/PDIF output). A button on the I/O panel to clear the CMOS is especially handy for overclockers and enthusiasts that routinely tweak their system for optimal performance. A J-Micron JMB361 ASIC powers the eSATA port as well as the IDE port on this motherboard. The HD audio codec used on the P55H-A is a Realtek ALC888, and the Gigabit Ethernet is backed by a Realtek 8111DL NIC.