Taiwanese motherboard maker ASUS is expected to expand its line of high-end ROG motherboards with the introduction of a new Maximus III Formula board, which will be based on Intel's upcoming Lynnfield-support P55 platform. The new generation of gaming hardware from ASUS will provide users with a new level of performance, taking advantage of the performance benefits delivered by Intel's latest technologies. Equipped with a new socket 1156, pictures of the upcoming motherboard have recently surfaced the Internet, revealing some of its features.

Images with the board have been made available by the fellows over at the German-language pcgameshardware, which have apparently also scored a compatible Intel Lynnfield CPU, running at a core speed of 2.66GHz. The board has been built on a black PCB and features red and white components, including a ROG-branded cooling system, enabling computer enthusiasts to take full advantage of the overclocking capabilities of this new Intel platform.

Aside from the aforementioned LGA 1156 CPU socket, the new platform has also been featured with four memory DIMMs, enabling support for dual-channel DDR3 memory configurations. There are also three PCI -Express x16 slots, six SATA and one eSATA connectors, Gigabit Ethernet, Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons and a series of connectivity options in the back panel of the board. All that and more are to be enabled on ASUS' upcoming P55 motherboard, designed to provide computer enthusiasts with support for their overclocking setups.

Intel's Lynnfield processors and its compatible P55 chipset are to provide users with a more affordable alternative to the company's line of Core i7 high-end CPUs. Unlike the high-end X58 platform, P55 will only enable support for dual-channel DDR3 memory, whereas X58 has support for triple-channel DDR3. Combining Intel's P55 with the features that are typically available on ROG motherboards should enable a solid product, ready for Intel's upcoming technologies.