Introduction

When I think of computers I think performance. I have always been the one who had the best that my money could buy. I am also lucky that I chose a profession that pays well (Firefighter/Paramedic) which allows me to afford many of the finer things I appreciate. Like most performance users I don’t tend to upgrade as often as I would have liked to due to the cost. Sure a video card, new CPU cooler and maybe some memory but a motherboard and a processor usually didn’t fit the budget. When I do purchase a processor and motherboard I attempt to purchase the best at the time and pray that they will be somewhat future proof. I would define future proof as being far enough of the software curve to where I can get a good 3 years out of the investment before the software that I use begins to require more than my system can handle. By now most performance users have had their systems for about three years and are slowly growing out of it and are getting the itch to upgrade. Good news something new has finally arrived and it has the promise of getting you through the next three years without a hitch.

Intel has announced their latest entry into the performance class with the second generation Core i7 Series Extreme Processors. This series which requires a new socket (LGA 2011) and the new X79 Express Chipset motherboard and come in either four or six cores with up to 15MB of L3 cache. This new series of processors and motherboards will replace the aging socket LGA 1366 processors and X58 chipset. This platform is compatible with up to 64GB of DDR3 Quad Channel memory, has forty PCI express lanes to run multiple video cards without the need for a bridge chipset to increase bandwidth. Also added are Intel Turbo Boost and HyperThreading which further increase performance. Once you choose you most appropriate CPU you will need a motherboard to support it. ASUS offers an entire line of X79 motherboards in different segments allowing the user flexibility of choice based on their personal needs.

The ASUS P9X79 Deluxe Motherboard offers multiple features at a mainstream performance level price. The P9X79 Deluxe includes Dual Intelligent Processor 3 technology for performance power control, Bluetooth 3.0 with WiFi, ASUS USB Boost, ASUS SSD Caching, a new DTS codec for enhanced onboard sound, passive thermal reactive chipset heatsinks with heatpipe, ASmedia USB 3.0 controller, Dual Gigabit LAN, ASUS AI Suite and One of the most advanced UEFI BIOS on the market.