Asus P7P55D-E motherboard...

[Cr00zng]

Buying a new motherboard from Asus might be a gamble, at least with the P75P55D-E model.
Asus website list the motherboards' features at their web site:

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Here are some of the features:

Marvell® SATA 6Gb/s controller:
- 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (gray)

NEC® USB 3.0 controller:
- 2 x USB 3.0 ports (blue; at back panel)

Expansion Slots:
- 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single at x16)

On the surface, it does sound good, but once the board is fired up, the above selected features are either on or off, depending on the settings. This is selectable deep in the BIOS, under the "IO Levelup" function, that have the following options:

• [Disabled]
• [USB 3.0]
• [SATA 6G]

There's no [USB 3.0 and SATA 6G] option and this is how each options work:

[Disabled]:

• PCIe slot-1 16x
• USB 3.0 ports reduced to USB 2.0 speed
• SATA 6G, or SATA 3.0, reduced to SATA 2.0

[USB 3.0]:

• PCIe slot-1 reduced to 8x
• USB 3.0 ports are USB 3.0
• SATA 6G, or SATA 3.0, reduced to SATA 2.0

[SATA 6G]:

• PCIe slot-1 reduced to 8x
• USB 3.0 reduced to USB 2.0 speed
• SATA 6G, or SATA 3.0, is SATA 3.0

Here's an image of the PCIe bus speed when the [SATA 6G] option has been selected:

iolevelup Asus.jpg

Isn't that lovely; do I want 16x PCIe video card, or speed up the new SATA 3.0 SSD drive?

While I am aware that I should've researched this motherboard more than I've done; however, it is also a false advertisement that Asus does at their website. Just to put it mildly...

I am also aware that there isn't much I can do at this point, other than raise the issue of this type of marketing. And just maybe, some people reading this can learn from it....

 

[pricetech]

I had an Asus board several years ago that I had similar issues with. I never did like the board. However, it turned out to be a killer gaming board, which made my son very happy since he ended up with it.

Hard to say whether I'd want another one or not.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

At least they were upfront about it.....:sarc:

 

[Cr00zng]

Well, they did say that:

True USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s Support

But certainly they left it open to interpretation without mentioning reduction in the PCIe speed.

In either case, the board is going back for a refund without restocking fee; the seller didn't even argue...

Anyone knows a motherboard that supports SATA and USB 3.0 with the PCIe speed is 16x?
TIA...

 

[Hopalong X]

That is why I went with the Pro version.

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO

 

[GeneO]

It is good you post this. Gigabyte has a similar board so you have to do your research.

The pro version supports full speed using a bridge chip as does the premium:

http://usa.asus.com/compare.aspx

 

[Hopalong X]

There are several of us using the ASUS P7P55D-E PRO board on the forum.

I've had mine since August this year and have had no problems.

Just a thought.
Mike

 

[Cr00zng]

That is why I went with the Pro version.

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO

Thanks for the tip...

Well, they did say for the PRO version:

True USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s Support

Just in case, I've red the manual for the PRO version of the same board and it does not mention the "IO Levelup" function. I didn't read the manual in advance for the D-E version of the same board.

 

[Cr00zng]

Well, the P7P55D-E Pro does have the same Marvell 9123/9120 chip and Controller Driver V1.0.0.1042 as the P7P55D-E does. The chances are that Gigabyte has the same Marvell chip, but I am not sure about their driver.

There are some issues with the Marvell chip and on of them is performance. Here's a benchmark for this chip when the "IO Levelup" is set to disabled in the P7P55D-E, or in another word the chip performs at SATA 2.0 speed:

AS benchmark_SATA 2.0 C300.jpg

And here's another image when the "IO Levelup" is set to SATA 3.0 in the P7P55D-E:

AS benchmark_SATA 3.0 C300.jpg

While there's a sizable difference between the two benchmarks, there's no true SATA 3.0 throughput even when the BIOS is set to the correct values. The actual sequential read/write throughput should be 300-350 and 120-130 respectively. The other benchmark numbers should also be 10-30% higher as well.

At the current time it seems that the best support for SATA 3.0 is coming from AMD. The LGA 1155 will have SATA 3.0 support coming out next month, but it remains to be seen just how well it'll perform with SATA 3.0. My bet would be on very well...

In the meantime and since there isn't much choices for me, I'll probably order a P7P55D-E Pro today. At least it'll be an easy drop-in replacement... yeah right...

 

[GeneO]

That is why I went with the Pro version.

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO

Thanks for the tip...

Well, they did say for the PRO version:

True USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s Support

Just in case, I've red the manual for the PRO version of the same board and it does not mention the "IO Levelup" function. I didn't read the manual in advance for the D-E version of the same board.

The PRO and Premium versions of the P7P55D-E have a 4 lane bridge chip used for the USB3 and SATA3 that the other versions don't have. This bridge permits you to use both at full rate without using any of the PCI-E 16 graphics lanes.

- Gene

 

[Zepher]

Damn, had no idea about this limitation.
Had I known I would have gotten the Pro version since it wouldn't have actually cost me anything but time. The $30 difference would have been absorbed by my labor installing my Q6600 setup I sold.

 

[Cr00zng]

The PRO and Premium versions of the P7P55D-E have a 4 lane bridge chip used for the USB3 and SATA3 that the other versions don't have. This bridge permits you to use both at full rate without using any of the PCI-E 16 graphics lanes.

- Gene

While that is true...

The PLX bridge chip combines four PCIe x1 into one, creating a bandwidth of 1GB/s. This bandwidth is split equally between the USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 data buses, effectively giving 500MB/s bandwidth for each. Both buses are connect to the P55 chip, which in return is connected to the CPU via the 2GB/s DMI data bus.

The SATA 3.0 specification has a maximum data transfer rate of 750MB/s per connected devices, effectively doubling SATA 2.0's 375MB/s maximum transfer rate. In light of this, there's a limitation for the P7P55D-E Pro as well, in regards to supporting the SATA 3.0 maximum data transfer rate.

Here's a link for comparing Asus PLX based board with Gigabyte's version of true SATA and USB 3.0 support.

SATA 6Gbps Implementation Investigated – ASUS vs. GIGABYTE P55 :: TweakTown USA Edition

Please keep in mind that the review in the above link is rather dated and since then Gigabyte did release their PLX bridge chip based motherboard as well.

 

[GeneO]

Well if I were putting together a new system, I would wait a couple of weeks for the Sandy Bridge line. TheIntel P67 chipset supports SATA 6 Gb/s native.

Cheers & Happy New Year!

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

or AMD bulldozer.....