Conclusions
If you're in the market for a Lynnfield system, you're stuck with Intel's P55 Express chipset. And that's a good thing, because this plucky little mid-range PCH has enough I/O goodness and expansion capacity to anchor high-end motherboards well above its pay grade. In a sense, the P55 Express feels like an updated south bridge chip; an ICH11R, if you will. It's an evolutionary step up from the ICH10R, employing the same excellent Serial ATA RAID controller, plenty of PCI Express connectivity, and an improved USB component. Plus, it's available in a tiny, power-efficient package.

My only complaints about the PCH are that it doesn't support 6Gbps SATA or full-bandwidth PCIe 2.0. Even I'll admit that 6Gbps SATA would be a stretch given the chipset's mid-range aspirations and the peak performance of today's fastest solid-state drives, though. Plus, few integrated peripherals and expansion cards really require PCIe signaling rates faster than 2.5GT/s. In reality, then, the P55 Express is well-tailored for Lynnfield and enthusiast-oriented motherboards.

We pored over P55 boards from the big three today, and they all look pretty good. There are few performance differences between them, and their BIOSes are nearly as well-equipped. Heck, the three even have similar peripheral payloads and expansion slots. They pushed our Lynnfield CPU's base clock to within 10MHz of each other, too.

To tease our favorites from the bunch, we have to get picky. Attention to detail is usually an Asus strong suit, and in many ways, the P7P55D Deluxe is as refined an enthusiast board as we've seen. The layout is nearly perfect, for example, and we needed much less voltage to hit our maximum base overclock than with the others. But there are also things about the Deluxe that, well, aren't perfect. The auto-overclocking scheme needs work, and so does Asus' approach to power saving. Windows software shouldn't be required for competitive power consumption. I'm also not crazy about the secondary PCI-based GigE chip or the lack of hybrid eSATA/USB connectivity. This is supposed to be a high-end motherboard, after all.

With a $250 MSRP, Gigabyte's GA-P55-UD6 has an even greater premium to justify than the Deluxe. For the most part, it does a better job. You get more of everything: six DIMM slots, 10 internal SATA ports, two hybrid eSATA USB ports, and an audio codec that does a heck of a SoundStorm impression. All is not flawless, of course. One of the x1 slots is crowded by the chipset cooler, the BIOS's fan speed controls are frankly inadequate for a high-end motherboard, and something's up with SATA burst rates.

That leaves us with MSI's P55-GD65, which has the distinct advantage of costing just $160. This is a true mid-range offering, and as we saw today, it doesn't force you to give up much. With the exception of slower USB transfers and some odd SATA burst behavior, the GD65 was every bit as fast as the other boards. Plus, it's quite power-efficient and has simple but effective power management and auto-overclocking features. Heck, the BIOS even has decent fan speed controls.

It's tempting to name the GD65 our Editor's Choice on the strength of its more attractive value proposition. However, I'm going to reserve judgment until we've had a chance to test a few other boards in its price range. Expect more on that front soon.

Between the high-end Deluxe and UD6, I think Gigabyte gives you more for your money. However, I don't think either makes a compelling case for spending $225 or more on a Lynnfield board. You're much better off checking out the mid-range boards Asus and Gigabyte have cooked up with the P55. We'll be exploring those options shortly.

Update — We've now had a chance to look at a couple of other affordable P55 boards. Against these more direct rivals, the MSI P55-GD65 picked up a TR Recommended award.