Conclusion
The P45 Express is Intel’s new mainstream chipset, but that didn’t mean the motherboards had to use it on mainstream products. A few of today’s samples were lower-cost alternatives to super-expensive X48 models, a few put a gamer-oriented twist on traditional budget parts, and the rest fell somewhere between the two extremes.
We even had a few winners, such as the Gigabyte EP45-DQ6 for the most onboard features and the ECS P45T-A for the lowest-priced CrossFireX performance model. Yet showing off in a few categories doesn’t automatically qualify a product for an award, and neither of these models stood out consistently throughout our tests.
The ASRock P45TS-R could become the motherboard enthusiasts love to hate, with its good performance, lack of features and haphazard connector layout. The fact that it has fewer features than any other part in today’s comparison makes it difficult to consider for a value award, and the lack of sellers quoting a retail price makes such an award impossible.
The second-best performer in today’s comparison, MSI’s P45D3 Platinum also reached the highest stable CPU speed. A generous feature set and good layout further increases its worth, but when it comes to value, we couldn’t find anyone selling it.
Third-place performer and second-place CPU overclocker, MSI’s P45 Platinum looks like a great product, and one that a person can actually buy. Having the same feature set as the P45D3 Platinum, its $175 starting price is completely acceptable. The only question left is whether or not the $25 difference between it and the better-featured P5Q Deluxe favors MSI or Asus. For us, the value competition is a draw between these two feature-laden products.
- intel ,
- p45 ,
- motherboard
Latest Motherboards News
- 25/05 – Thunderbolt Will Become Key Motherboard Spec in 2H 2012
- 22/05 – Does Your AMD FX Platform BSOD with Steam? Read This.
- 04/05 – 54 Million Enthusiast and Performance PC Gamers Globally
- 01/05 – Intel's Next Unit of Computing Rivals Raspberry Pi in Size
- 10/04 – Intel P67 Express Chipset Begins Product Discontinuance Cycle
Latest Motherboards reviews
- 30/04 – Six Sub-£160 Z77 Motherboards, Benchmarked And Reviewed
- 23/04 – Video Teaser: Intel's DZ77GA-70K Motherboard
- 17/04 – Overclocking: Asus Rampage IV Extreme Versus EVGA X79 FTW
- 08/04 – Intel’s Z77 Express And Lucidlogix MVP: New Features...
- 27/02 – Six £165-£215 LGA 2011 Motherboards, Reviewed
Wait, i think i missed the conclusion... what was the conclusion.....or am i just silly !?
Great review any who, i have been waiting for one of these. I would say go for the P5Q Deluxe!!!!!!!!11
the old E6xx CPU is not good enough to explore the FSB of the new P45 chipset. i seen better review then this in term of hardware. there should be at least a dual core 45nm processor and a 45nm quad processor.
sigh....tom's been lazy with hardware update!
I assume it is a mistake that says the P45 platinum from MSI has an X48 chipset?
so waht about a decent conclusion something like, are these boarfds worth the extra cash over a P35 chipset variant, everything tells me they offer little incentive over the P35, thoughts anyone?
Hello?
Uhm .. 45nm!?
I agree, test with a better (new) CPU(s) 45nm Dual/Quad.
That would be really interesting. This probably means alot to someone that owns the E6xx series CPU which i doubt someone buy if they buy a P45 board.
Methinks Tom has a bit of biassed attitude favouring Asus tbh