It was something we just couldn't put our finger on when we first saw the upcoming P5N72-T Premium from Asus, sort of a feeling of déjà vu, and it didn't take us long to figure out why, as it's pretty much the same as the Striker II Formula.

Some things are different, though, as the P5N72-T Premium is a cut down version in comparison to the Striker II Formula and if you look carefully at the picture below, you'll notice a few things missing on the PCB. For starters, there's no external CMOS reset button and only the power on/off button remains on the motherboard.

The most obvious change is, of course, the missing heatpipe and the backlit R.O.G. logo on the Striker II Formula. The colors are also slighty different and three fan connectors, as well as the connector for Asus' external LCD poster, are also gone.

It looks as if Asus has taken a page out of Nvidia's book this time around and recycled an old product and given it a new name, kind of ironic considering that the 780i chipset is just a re-hash of the 680i. One has to wonder if Asus is having a hard time selling its 780i boards; maybe this is the next X38 chipset for Asus?

You can find the Striker II Formula product page here for comparison. At least this new board should be cheaper, which is always something if you're looking to put together a DDR2 3-Way SLI setup.