Intel® P55 Express Chipset

A revolutionary transformation in Intel chipset architecture Desktop PC platforms based on the Intel® P55 Express Chipset, combined with the Intel® Core™ i7-800 and Core™ i5-700 processor series, create intelligent performance for faster multi-tasking, digital media creation and gaming.

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The Intel® P55 Express Chipset

The Intel® P55 Express Chipset continues to push innovation with a new architecture
designed to deliver the quality and performance needed for faster multitasking, digital
media creation, and gaming. The Intel P55 Express Chipset achieves incredible
performance by supporting the latest Intel® Core™ i7-800Δ and Core™ i5-700Δ
processors, the latest Intel® ExtremeTuning Utility (Intel® XTU), and industryleading
I/O technologies.




Revolutionary Single-Chip Architecture with Enhanced Chipset Capabilities.

The Intel P55 Express Chipset introduces a new generation of chipsets with a single chip replacing the traditional two-chip approach. The repartition of the processor and chipset into two devices enables performance and system improvements
over previous generations.

• PC platforms based on the Intel P55 Express Chipset use up to 50 percent
less power than the previous-generation platforms.

• Smaller form factors are possible, because the Intel P55 Express Chipset footprint is
65 percent smaller than the previousgeneration platforms.

• The Intel P55 Express Chipset provides expanded I/O device ports for advanced
usage models, to take advantage of modern peripheral devices.


Intel® Matrix Storage Technology (MST)1

• When using one or multiple hard drives, users can take advantage of enhanced
performance and lower power consumption. When using more than one drive, users have additional protection against data loss caused by hard drive failures.
• Valuable digital memories are protected against a hard drive failure when the system
is configured for any one of three fault-tolerant RAID levels: RAID 1, RAID
5, and RAID 10. By seamlessly storing copies of data on one or more additional
hard drives, any hard drive can fail without data loss or system downtime. When
the failed drive is removed and a replacement installed, data fault tolerance is
easily restored.

• Intel® MST provides benefits to users with a single hard drive. Using Advanced
Host Controller Interface (AHCI), storage performance is improved through Native
Command Queuing (NCQ).

• Native support for external SATA* ports (eSATA), combined with Intel MST, provides
the flexibility to add an external drive for increased data storage with up to six times faster performance than USB* 2.0 or IEEE 1394 400.2 Support for eSATA also enables the full SATA interface speed of up to 3 Gb/s outside the chassis.


Intel® Rapid Recovery Technology

With the ability to instantly boot from a clone hard drive, Intel® Rapid Recovery
Technology provides a fast, easy-to-use method for data recovery and return
to operation.