Codenamed Eaglelake, the P45 is the mainstream offering in the 4 series. This partly new chipset will support upcoming Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors using a bumped 1600MHz Front Side Bus - current Core 2s use either a 800MHz, 1066MHz or 1333MHz FSB. In terms of features, the P45 can easily impress primarily due to the inclusion of the ICH10R south bridge.

Just recently Asus announced the Maximus II Formula which is based on the P45 chipset, and is the latest member of the elite Republic of Gamers series targeting gamers and overclocking enthusiasts alike. After all, they will need to aim at a certain niche willing to spend the big bucks given this board's suggested price tag of nearly $300.

This is one of the most equipped motherboards out there, even including the SupremeFX X-Fi sound card that makes use of the ADI 2000B audio codec, adding support for Creative's EAX 4.0.

http://www.techspot.com/review/105-a...mus-2-formula/

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I aquired an Asus Maximus II Formula motherboard after having had headaches with a Rampage Extreme and a P5Q3 Deluxe....all DDR3 related issues. Stepping down to this DDR2 motherboard, I was very pleased with it's stability and overclocking performance. I currently have an air cooled Q9550 at 3.83 GHz (450x8.5), 8GB of F2-8500CL5D GSKILL DDR2 clocked at 1128 MHz (450x2/8:10) and zero problems. Even with Intels Burn Test lasting a couple of hours, the board is solid. I rejected Vista 32 and 64 and tentatively used 2003. No problems. XP 32 drivers all work on 2K3 and the 3D Mark 2006 scores 22K using a 4870X2.