ASUS P7P55D Premium motherboard main features are:

• Socket: 1156.
• Chipset: Intel P55 Express.
• Super I/O: Winbond W83667HG
• Clock generator: ICS 9LPRS140LF
• Parallel ATA: One ATA-133 port controlled by a JMicron JMB363 chip
• Serial ATA: Eight SATA-300 ports, six controlled by the chipset (RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10) and two SATA-600 ports controlled by a Marvell 88SE9123 chip.
• External SATA: One, converted from one of the internal SATA ports using the I/O bracket that comes with the board.
• USB: 12 USB 2.0 ports, eight soldered on the motherboard and four available through two headers on the motherboard. The motherboard comes with one I/O bracket containing two USB ports and one eSATA port.
• FireWire (IEEE 1394): Two ports controlled by a VIA VT6308P chip, one standard-sized soldered on the rear panel and one available through a header. The board doesn’t come with an I/O bracket to use this second port.
• On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with a VIA VT2020 codec (eight channels, 24-bit resolution, up to 192 kHz sampling rate, no information on signal-to-noise ratio). On-board coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs.
• On-board LAN: Two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one controlled by a Realtek RTL8110SC controller, which is connected to the system through a standard PCI connection, and the other controlled by a Realtek RTL8112L chip, which is connected to the system through one PCI Express x1 lane.
• Buzzer: No.
• Power supply required: EPS12V (ATX12V compatible).
• Slots: Two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (working at x8 when two video cards are installed), two PCI Express x1 slots and two standard PCI slots, featuring a PLX PEX8613 chip to expand the number of internal PCI Express lanes on the motherboard.
• Memory: Four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to 16 GB up to DDR3-1600/PC3-12800 or DDR3-2133 through overclocking).
• Number of CDs/DVDs provided: One.
• Programs included: Motherboard drivers and utilities.
• Extra features: Only Japanese solid capacitors, MemOK! Memory testing feature, Express Gate, serial port, 32-phase voltage regulator circuit, overclocking remote control (TurboV), switches to protect CPU, memory and memory controller overvoltage.
• More Information: http://usa.asus.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 280.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this First Look article.