As we move into the holiday season, many are looking to Intel's new Lynnfield Desktop Platform for an upgrade or new build. Not surprising, there's plenty of good hardware on the market to choose from. In this article, Benchmark Reviews looks at the P7P55D EVO motherboard from ASUS. As part of their P55 lineup, the ASUS P7P55D EVO provides full support the for the new Lynnfield platform, along with several unique features. We'll explore these features in detail and find out how the EVO stacks up against other mainstream platforms.

For computer enthusiasts, the last Intel milestone was the Core i7 processor launch that paralleled the X58-Express motherboard chipset launch back in November of 2008. Ten months later and well into September of 2009, Intel has returned with the P55-Express chipset for mainstream users who pair it with the new LGA1156 socket. On the outside little more than the processor socket and memory configuration has changed, replacing dual-channel for triple. PCI-Express now offers only one 16x lane instead of two, while the number of SATA and USB ports continues to give more expansion room than the average user might need. The consumer might not know what to expect when choosing between the two products, other than one is mainstream (P55) and the other is for extreme enthusiasts (X58). In this article, Benchmark Reviews directly compares the Intel Core i7-860 equipped Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 motherboard against the GA-EX58-UD4P with Intel Core i7-920. Testing a Core i7-860 against an i7-920 might not seem fair, and it's a little biased to compare P55 against X58, but the final outcome might just surprise you.

Benchmark Reviews had the opportunity to review and launch two new Lynnfield processors from Intel: the Core i5-750 and the Core i7-870. While these were the stars of the launch, it wouldn't be a complete platform without the motherboard. Released in parallel with the two processors, is the Intel P55 Express Chipset. In this review, we'll examine the new chipset in detail and take a closer look at Intel's flagship DP55KG Extreme Series Motherboard.

Last month, we took a look at AMD's new mainstream processor: the Athlon II 250. We were impressed with both performance and cost. Today, Benchmark Reviews looks at an equally impressive motherboard: the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P. Based on AMD's 770 series chipset, the MA770T-UD3P is one of the first mainstream motherboards to offer full support for AM3 processors and DDR3 memory. Throw in Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 3 manufacturing process and price tag of only $80, and it's easy to see why this board is quickly becoming a budget-build favorite.

For years, the focus on computers has been on faster, better performing systems. Recently, however, with rising energy costs and more environmentally conscious consumers, computer manufacturers have turned to designing machines that use less energy, cost less, and still have many of the advantages of modern computer systems. In the realm of mobile and energy efficient computing, two real competitors have recently emerged. Via, with their Nano chipsets named after biblical references, has dominated the field until recently; at least as far as pure statistic performance is concerned. Intel is the other name, and with that name they have competed quite fiercely for the lion's share of the mobile and ultra-economic computing market. But name is all they had to go on, since their products, the Atom series, have fallen short of the standard set by Via. With the release of Intel's newest Atom, though, that has all changed. Benchmark Reviews is bringing you the down and dirty on the first ever dual core processor made specifically to combine improved performance with low energy consumption as we test the Intel BOXD945GCLF2D Atom 330 Intel 945GC Mini-ITX Motherboard/CPU combo kit.

We all want more for less. That's why enthusiasts overclock, and that's why we build HTPCs. The PlayStation 3 game console has sold millions of units because of its ability to delivery realistic video game performance, but Sony has sold more units because of the PS3's Blu-ray Disc player capability than any other factor. Bringing personal computer technology into the home theater environment has just come one step closer, thanks to the NVIDIA ION platform. The synergistic effect of an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and the dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom process have delivered true high-definition performance beyond any HTPC before it. The Zotac IONITX-A-U packages the Atom N330 CPU and 9400M GPU on a Mini-ITX DDR2 motherboard. Benchmark Reviews discovers how nice it is to have native HDMI connectivity from the HTPC into the HDTV in this article.

ASUS has some tough shoes to fill. Fortunately, they're familiar shoes; their own, in fact. A long string of high performance motherboards that got adopted simultaneously by the enthusiast and gaming sets, led ASUS to create a specialty brand segment they call "Republic of Gamers". The ROG Creed goes like this: "The Republic of Gamers is committed to delivering the most innovative and best performing PC solutions to enhance the gaming experience of power users." That's a tall order, especially in the competitive PC component market where today's news is already old news. One of the newest members of this Republic is the Maximus II GENE, part of a new group of small form factor components that give nothing away in performance to their larger brethren. Benchmark Reviews is pleased to review this latest offering, based on the Intel P45 and ICH10R, and we put it through the wringer against a well known full ATX-size reference board.

The new ASUS Maximus II Gene motherboard goes by the tagline: Mini Size, Max Mobility. You have to take these marketing lines with a grain of salt, because taken at face value, you might expect a mini-ITX board. Instead we have a micro-ATX (uATX) board that squeezes almost every last feature from its feature-rich ROG brother into the slightly smaller format. A more accurate description might be: Micro Size, Max Performance. Let's dive in and take a look at what ASUS calls: A new band of ROG heroes, the GENE squad.

Along with AMD's launch of the Phenom II and Athlon II processor families this year, we've also witnessed a steady shift in focus from their AM2+/DDR2 platform to a full AM3/DDR3 platform. The good news is that these newer AM3 processors support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, allowing consumers to upgrade without replacing their whole system. Still, that leaves many wondering if they're missing out by not making the jump to DDR3 memory. To help answer that question, today Benchmark Reviews puts Gigabyte's DDR2-based MA790X-UD4P motherboard to the test.