With the movement of the primary PCIe 2.0 lanes from the chipset to the processor itself, the P55 is more or less a south bridge disguised by a different name.  The P55 offers up 14 USB 2.0 ports, 8 lanes of PCI Express 1.0 support (the lanes on the Lynnfield core are 2.0), Gigabit Ethernet, HD audio, 6 SATA channels with Matrix Storage Technology and that's about it.  Performance should pretty much be identical to that of previous generation Intel ICH chips.

As I mentioned on the previous pages the chipset communicates with the processor via a 2 GB/s DMI connection - somewhat constraining for future technologies like SATA 6G but should suffice most users for the duration of the processor's life.

Comparing the X58 diagram here to the P55 diagram the biggest shift is in the move to a single chip design for the P55 and how much work it looks like the Lynnfield CPU is taking off the hands of the chipset.  This is without a doubt a big step towards higher-level system integration.

As far as retail P55 product goes, we have literally been swimming in it. 

The ASUS Maximum III Formula is one of the best P55 motherboards I have tested to date and includes devilish good looks with some very unique overclocking functionality.  This board was the basis of all our Lynnfield benchmarks for this review. 

The P55 chipset itself isn't very exciting to look at...

Intel's motherboard team has always made some quality launch-time motherboards and the DP55KG is no exception.

The best part about these new P55 motherboards will be the price.  While X58 motherboards are still hard to find under $200, there will be MANY available on day one for $150 or so.  You can expect a whole room full of P55 motherboard reviews to be on PC Perspective in the coming weeks!