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ASUS P6T SE X58 i7 Motherboard Review
Author: Rhys Published: September 9th, 2009 12:37 PM Category: Motherboards, Reviews Rating:
The ASUS P6T SE Intel X58 i7 Motherboard
The ASUS P6T SE is designed to be used with any LGA1366 Intel i7 processors. There are six memory banks on the motherboard which can each support a 4GB stick totalling a maximum of 24GB and can be used in a triple channel configuration.
Looking firstly at the CPU area of the motherboard you can see it’s surrounded with low profile capacitors and chokes (eight in total). Due to the amount of space around the CPU area and the low profile capacitors, installing an aftermarket CPU Cooler on this board shouldn’t be a problem at all.
The actual CPU Fan header is in a rather silly position. Instead of it being located towards the top of the motherboard, ASUS has positioned it just above the first PCI-E x16 slot. This means routing the cable becomes more of a hassle.
In total there are four heatsinks on the P6T SE. Unfortunately only two of these are joined with a heatpipe (MOSFETs and X58 Northbridge). This is a slight let down as the motherboards cooling could be significantly improved by joining all the heatsinks like seen on the Asus P6TD.
The X58 Northbridge heatsink is styled like most of the other ‘sinks in a blue finned design. The top of it is proudly labelled with an Asus logo badge.
Joined to the Northbridge with a single heatpipe is another heatsink which covers the MOSFETs. This comes in a simplistic fin design. Fortunately, ASUS have managed to make this reasonably low-profile; therefore, you shouldn’t have any clearance issues with aftermarket coolers.
The Southbridge heatsink also entails the fin design. It can easily be removed by loosening the two plugs located diagonally from each other.
Flipping the board over, you can see ASUS have used their ‘Stack Cool 2’ technology which can also be seen on the P6T Deluxe. The Stack Cool 2 design allows for the PCB to be used as a passive heatsink against unwanted heat.
In total the board boasts six RAM slots which run in a black then orange pattern. If you’re not familiar with the memory configurations on X58 motherboards, the first DDR3 stick goes into the second slot closet to the CPU (orange one). The banks allow for a potential 24 GB to be installed and can work in triple channel mode.
Between the memory slots and the side of the board you’ll find an onboard power switch. If you’re using the board without a chassis for testing your gear before installing the system into a case this is certainly helpful. Enthusiasts, namely hardcore overclockers, will also find this particularly useful.
Also evident is a space for a Reset switch. However, Asus have chosen not to include it for whatever reason.
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