windwithme

Upper-Right Corner 4 X DIMM DDR3 support 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133 and 32GB capacity. It supports XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) memory and next is 24-PIN power in. Sandy Bridge has improved the DDR3 insertion. Users don’t need to insert from DIMM1 as LGA 1366 or LGA 1156. LGA 1155 can insert whatever DIMM1 or DIMM2 to boot the system. Upper-Left Corner UD7 use top grade 24-phase PWM and dual power switch to achieve the maximum power supply and power efficiency to save power. CPU metal cover with plating for better texture. The upper left is 8Pin power in. IO 1 X PS/2 KB/Mouse 2 X USB 2.0(Black) 6 X USB 3.0(Blue) 2 X eSATA also support USB 3.0(Blue) 2 X IEEE 1394a 2 X RJ-45 LAN 1 X S/PDIF fiber/coaxial output Z68X-UD7 has no GPU output interface as other Z68. It just provides more expansion interfaces to replace to GPU output. I guess this model is focusing on high end market, so users demand for built-in GPU is less. Providing more USB3.0, eSATA or other ports are more useful than Intel built-in CPU. This design can be good or bad. It depends on user needs. Other brands also has similar deign in high end Z68. PWm is Intel latest VRD 12 (Voltage Regulator Down). It also uses Driver MOSFETs to have better power efficiency. 2 USB 3.0 use NEC D720200AF1, Made in Japan. It supports up to 10 USB 3.0 devices GIGABYTE heatsink is also new design. The matt process makes the texture better. UD7 is GIGABYTE high end version, the heatsink is bigger to enhance cooling performance in PWM and chipset. Boot Screen Main BIOS Tuning Menu, called M.I.T. Clock set up page It has CPU frequency/ratio, DDR3 frequency. 2600K default ratio are 38, 37, 36 and 35. Turbo Boost 2.0 has more detail CPU boost mode. Internal PLL Voltage Override is special item for P67/Z68. You can use it to improve the stability when OC CPU over 5GHz. P67 default is disable and Z68 is enable. Users have to beware of it.

Intel launched 4th chipset for Sandy Bridge in May. It’s Z68 which is familiar to many users. Z68 chipset is most high end one for Sandy Bridge. You can OC and have GPU output. Z68 is integrated with P67 OC function and H67 multi graphic output features. Even though Z68 doesn’t have great OC ability as Internet rumors, it actually adds 2 new technologies. It really helps for data transfer and multimedia performance. The First is Intel Smart Response Technology which using small capacity SSD to speed up HDD OS and software. The other is Lucid Virtu GPU virtualization technology. Users can switch between built-in GPU and external graphics card. For the market price, Z68 MB is the most expensive Sandy Bridge products. However, the price gap between P67 is not big. Basically, the same level P67/Z68 products, the price gap is only 18USD. For users who set budget for mid-high Sandy Bridge MB, Z68 MB C/P value should be higher. CPU uses LGA 1155 most high end Intel Core i7-2600K. K series mean it unlock the frequency. In 1155 platform, there are only 2500K/2600K. Intel new Logo packing. The box is smaller than last generation which is more green. Inside box are CPU, original cooler, product manual and logo sticker. Intel 4 Cores CPUs most use copper bottom coolers. 2600K clock is 3.4GHz which support latest Turbo Boost 2.0 technology to achieve 3.80GHz performance. It’s physical 4 Cores with Hyper-Threading. There are total 8 threads which is known as 4C/8T. 32nm and 95W power consumption. L3 Cache is 8MB and it’s LGA 1155 most high-end CPU so far. GIGABYTE Z68X-UD7-B3 Since LGA 1155, GIGABYTE makes color change in their mid-high products. It’s all black design. The PCB, DRAM and PCI slots are all black. Especially, the PCB is matt for better looking. So far, GIGABYTE all black version is starting from UD3R and UD3P to UD4/UD5/UD7. The others which are like D3, UD3, DS3 or even lower, they are still traditional blue PCB. Of course, I think blue PCB is still ok. I am more caring about the components and design. Some users feel high end MB must be black, because it looks with better texture. That’s why there are many black MBs in the market. Accessories Product Manual, Software Guide, Driver CD, I/O panel, CrossFireX/SLI bridges. SATA cables, front 3.5” USB 3.0 panel, external eSATA Port Lower-Left Corner 4 X PCI-E 2.0 X16 slots support 2Way/3Way ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology. PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 bandwidth are X16. PCIEX8_1 and PCIEX8_2 bandwidth are X8. 1 X PCI-E 2.0 X1 2 X PCI 2 X Realtek RTL8111E LAN Chip supports Teaming and Smart Dual LAN. Realtek ALC889 audio chip supports 7.1 channel and Dolby Home Theater technology. Lower-Right Corner 2 X White SATAIII provide by P67. 4 X Black SATAII provide P67. You can hybrid use. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10. 2 X Gray SATAIII provide by Marvell 88SE9128. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1. Lower-Right corner is debug LED to let user understand the hardware status during boot.

In DDR3 test, we used CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMT4GX3M2B2133C9 memory. DDR3 1867.4 CL6 9-6-24 1T ADIA64 Memory Read - 23189 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 25063 MB/s Maximum Memory-Copy - 25820 MB/s DDR3 2134.4 CL9 11-9-27 1T ADIA64 Memory Read - 24898 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 28178 MB/s Maximum Memory-Copy - 28139MB/s DDR3 2134.2 CL8 10-8-26 1T ADIA64 Memory Read - 25291 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 28640 MB/s Maximum Memory-Copy - 28308MB/s One of the performance reinforcement of Sandy Bridge is the bandwidth of DDR3. P67 features dual-channel bandwidth which can catch up tri-channel of X58. In addition, it’s not necessary to install first bank first when we install DRAM like LGA 1156/LGA1366. User can when choose any bank to install first with P67. As for DDR3, we can see the obvious difference between 1866MHz and 2133MHz. In the test, CORSAIR DDR3 2133 CL9 can be adjusted to CL8 or lower. If the frequency is set at 2133, the performance gap between CL8 and CL9 is not big which can be shown in the above three different DDR3 bandwidth comparison chart. If user want to purchase DRAM, suggest considering clock frequency as priority then lower parameter as second. In SATA3 transfer rate test, we used Intel 510 Series 120GB SSD. ATTO DISK Benchmark test(over 32k),the SSD delivers read and write speed of 467.8 Mb/s and 231.7 MB/s,respectively. CrystalDiskMark 4K QD32 Read – 141.8 MB/s Write – 66.11 MB/s EVEREST File Benchmark test(over 1024k),the SSD delivers read performance of 400 MB/s. AS SSD Benchmark Seq Read – 436.63 MB/s Write – 203.53 MB/s 4K-64Thrd Read – 82.25MB/s Write – 66.12 MB/s Intel 510 Series 120GB delivers read and write speed of up to 450/210 MB/s which is supposed to be the high-end product line in SSD market. When it matches with P67 chipset, it has a good outperform in STAT3 transfer rate which can reach the spec or higher transfer performance.. Temperature test (Indoor temperature around 28℃) In idle condition, the temperature is around 39℃~47℃. When CPU is operating in full speed, the temperature is around 87℃~96℃. Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum Summer is underway, so the indoor temperature also increase which leads to the temperature rise in overclocking platform. When 2500K is overclocked to 5GHz, apart from the added voltage, the temperature also increases a lot. You have to pay attention on this. If you want to get a lower temperature, it’s suggested to be overclocked to 4.8GHz and the voltage can be adjusted lower. In this way, it will feature a better performance in temperature, voltage and power consumption for a long time user. Surely it is difference for 2500K and it will depend on your own CPU to adjust. Earlier some Ocers ask me about the performance difference between 2500K & 2600K. Below is to use 2600K to overclock to 5GHz/DDR3 2134.2(CL=8)/VGA is changed to GTX 560Ti for CPU performance comparison. CPUMARK 99 => 771 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 39.23/18830 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 9.86 pts CPU(Single Core) => 2.03 pts Compared with 2500K, 2600K features more L3 cache by 2MB as well as the Hyper-Threading support. From the above single-core test, the efficiency performance is close to 2500K. However, due to the hyper-threading, 2600K features performance improvement by 25% than 2500K under same frequency. Advantage: 1.The MB has a decent appearance and packing and the pricing is positioned at middle-end P67. 2.It features abundant BIOS option which has wide range of voltage as well as good overclocking performance. 3.Full Japanese solid-state capacitors, builds in POWER/RESET/CMOS Reset button and debugging LED. 4.It also employs OC Switch Button design and support IDE device which is hardly to find in P67 MB. 5.Dual-LAN, two eSATA connectors supporting SATA3,USB3,etc. Disadvantage: 1.Without NVIDIA SLI support. 2.CPU voltage can be only displayed by means of self-brand software, some software can’t reveal the true CPU voltage. 3.The market visibility needs to be strengthened for FOXCONN MB. Efficiency ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Material ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specs ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Appearance ★★★★★★★★★☆ Price/Performance cost ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Currently many MB manufacturers have begun to launce the latest Z68 products. The advantages of Z68 is that it features overclocking technology of P67 and display output specs of H67, but the price is more expensive than P67. The feature of Z68 embedded display won’t be used if user plays game in PC. The Rattler P67 unleashed by FOXCONN is priced at US$199(NT$5800), which will be set a little higher than entry-level P67 but cheaper that the middle-end one. The cost performance is relatively good. Surely if it can be a little cheaper to close the price of entry level P67, the market competitive power will be stronger. . FOXCONN used to target at High End market for Quantum Force series and the price is close to the other manufacturers. This time we introduce P67 Rattler who’s pricing falls on the middle-end range. It’s really an encouraging thing. We expect that FOXCONN will unveil X79 motherboard with more preferential price and offer the customers with more choices. This article is also in my blog. WIND3C Welcome your visit.

Windows Experience Index - CPU 7.7 CPU-Z 1.57 can’t catch the voltage of Rattler properly no matter its added 60~150mV in BIOS and all display with 1.37~1.38V. At this moment, we should use AEGIS PANEL in OS to get the current CPU voltage. When 2500K is overclocked to 5GHz, it can get a high score in the above test software. It can shorten the operation time when run with the software which consumes more CPU resource. 3D bench use NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 with the brand of “POINT OF VIEW” which is the common brand in Europe. GTX 590 is based on dual GPUs and GPU/Memory clock is 608/3414MHz. Total memory capacity is 3072MB(2X1536mb). I/O connector provides three DVI ports and a mini Display Port. 3DMark Vantage => P42645 LOST PLANET 2 DX11 1920 X 1080 TEST B - 77.7 fps FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 7200 GTX 590 gets a quite amazing scoring in 3DMark Vantage bench which also due to the good support on VGA. In addition, two Game test software also account for the improvement towards GPU SLI but not that much as that of 3DMark Vantage. Previous testing when Sandy Bridge run with GTX560 Ti is quite power saving. This time we use be quiet! Straight Power E7 Golden 550W to see whether it can secure enough power supply. The power supply features coated painting and non-modular design and it is 80 Plus gold certified. The pricing is cheaper than that of many gold certified PSUs. Power Consumption Test In Idle condition, the power consumption is 136W. In OOCT test, the power consumption is 526W. The power consumption of GTX 590 is not high in idle condition, much better than that of LGA 1156 platform. In OCCT test, Power Angel shows around 520 ~ 530W when CPU and VGA at full speed simultaneously. . Power consumption lower down to 250 ~ 400W when play game or CPU with full speed. According to the information of 80 Plus website, it is about 89.14% when use 115V full loading to change full speed from 526W to 467W. Under the top platform, it’s enough to match be quiet! E7 Golden 550W for power supply.

Test system configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K MB: FOXCONN Quantum Force Rattler DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMT4GX3M2B2133C9 VGA: POINT OF VIEW GTX590 HD: Intel 510 Series 120GB POWER: be quiet! Straight Power E7 Golden 550W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64 bits The background picture is quite special in Foxconn software installation screen which making us have a feeling of floating in the space. There is abundant software. FOX LOGO is the software which can change the startup screen. AEGIS PANEL is the main adjustment software which integrates multi-function. The right window is the choice area of four main functions. While the left window is the overclocking page so the users can set the CPU multiplier or hardware voltage directly. Moreover, it features hardware monitoring function and the overclocking archived page. Overclocking performance CPU 100 X 50 => 5002MHz 1.43V (Disable)Turbo Boost、C1E、Internal PLL Voltage Override DDR3 2134.2 CL8 10-8-26 1T 1.637V Hyper PI 32M X4 => 7m 20.139s CPUMARK 99 => 770 Nuclearus Multi Core => 27235 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 31.20/14976 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 415981 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 7.89 pts CPU(Single Core) => 2.02 pts PCMark Vantage => 24675

The new Quantum Force cooler module features iron-grey dual heatpipe design. Personally, the color sense of black and red color matching in Inferno Katana of P55 is better. The area of P67 chip heatsink is not big; aluminum printing lines are quite dedicated, which will be great help in increasing thermal area. OC Switch Button Press "O.C." button, and then use the up and down arrow to adjust CPU clock and each interval is 1MHz. The OC range is not big due to the limit of Sandy Bridge CPU clock is between 105 ~ 108MHz. In addition, the dots in the below are PCB Voltage Sensors and the users can measure the voltage value directly. Share BIOS setting style of Windwithme The startup screen design is quite simple and clear, and the style is in accordance with the racing pictures of packing. The black stripe is the commonly-seen carol design which often appears in motorcycle products. Quantum BIOS is the main adjustment page. CPU Information page Internal PLL Voltage Override is the new platform option which can strengthen the stability of CPU OC to 5GHz. Turbo Boost 2.0 technology has the ever refined CPU multiplier acceleration mode. 2500K default setting is 38,37,36,35 in Turbo Mode and the picture shown is the setting of OC to X50 multiplier. DDR3 setting option is designed for users to choose quicker parameter under stable usage. The below setting is DDR3 2133 CL8 10-8-26 1T. Voltage Page There are three modes of CPU Core Voltage. Standard Mode => CPU Core Voltage Offset (1/1000 Volt) Dynamic Mode => +10~+1260mV Fixed Mode => 1.10~2.00V CPU VTT (Encore) Voltage 1.005~2.011V CPU PCH Voltage 1.80~2.43V DRAM Voltage 1.005~2.501V Hardware Monitor Sandy Bridge in terms of CPU OC is much easier than the ever platform. As it mainly uses for CPU multiplier, we choose 2500K/2600K for the availability of adjusting CPU model of multiplier. In addition, we adjust CPU voltage according to different OC potential and it’s suggested to enable Internal PLL Voltage Override if over 5GHz. Moreover, DDR3 OC is simpler than ever. It’s not necessary to increase CPU clock to OC DDR3. Basic OC can reach to 2133. Surely, it also requires good physique DDR3 so that can stable run for DDR3 1866 or 2133. Above is the setting suggestion when use 2500K with Rattler OC 5GHz/DDR2133 for reference.

From 2007, FOXCONN has begun to introduce middle and high end MB products, hoping to establish its own-brand products and create the complete MB product line ranging from high to low end. During the period, FOXCONN has unveiled P35/P45/P55/X58 MB products, etc. However, as the choice is limited and some factors related with low visibility market, it makes us feel a period of silence since the beginning of P55 products. Early June, we have seen FOXCONN P67, Z68 and X79 in Computex, showing that from the impression of previous Quantum Force, each MB has a unique naming. This time, Intel P67 chipset is called Rattler, targeting the main route of racing judged from packing design. FOXCONN Rattler Appearance Quantum Force has been used to creating visual sensation by matching the color with black and red Nowadays, in MB market, several other brand high-end products also used such color scheme. Rattler is supposed to target middle-end P67 with decent specs and materials. Accessories Brochure, installation guide, driver as well as I/O panel SATA cable with parallel and vertical type, IDE cable, 4PIN-SATA power cable and USB expansion port The left bottom of the MB 2 X PCI-E 2.0 X16 slots, supporting 2Way CrossFireX(X8+X8) 3 X PCI-E X1 slots 1 X PCI slot. In addition, there are two Realtek RTL8111E LAN chips and Realtek ALC892 audio chip. The right bottom of the MB There are two red SATAIII ports provided by P67 chip, four black SATAII ports also provided by P67 chip as well. An IDE port offered by Marvel 88SE6121 chip and supporting RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10. In addition the MB features dual-BIOS, POWER/RESET button, debugging LED, etc. The right top of the MB There are four DIMM DDR3 slots supporting 1066/1333/1600(oc)/1866(oc)/2133(oc) with capacity of up to 32GB. The left top of the MB As its LGA 1155 socket pitch is the same as that of LGA 1156, so their coolers are also compatible. CPU power supply uses 14 phase Hybrid PWM which can parallel connection at the same time. As for I/O, there is a PS2, six USB 2.0(black), two USB 3.0(blue), one IEEE 1394a, two Gigabit LAN, two eSATA, one S/PDIF coaxial/optic fiber connectors, etc.

SATA transfer test with CORSAIR FORCE SERIES F40 EVEREST Read Test Suite - Linear Read(Middle) 259.8 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Read 149.4 Mb/s，Write 48.97 MB/s Random Access Write 64KB 228.023 MB/s EVEREST Linear Read Average 259.9 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 16k has great performance. The max read/write is 286.2 Mb/s and 263.6 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark Seq Read - 146.04 MB/s Write - 46.28 MB/s 4K-64Thrd Read - 96.83 MB/s Write - 43.55 MB/s H61 is entry chipset so it doesn’t support RAID. You can enable AHCI for higher performance SSD. CORSAIR FORCE F40 official spec is 280/270 MB/s. In some software, it almost can reach it. 4K performance is also good. If you are using small files more often, 4K reading speed is very important for SSD performance. H61M-D2P-B3 has no CPU OC features, you still can adjust some other BIOS items. BIOS shows CPU default voltage is 1.164V and adjusting to -0.210V. After reboot, the BIOS shows 0.984V Temperature( Room is around 25℃) Enter to OS desktop - 26~27 CPU Full Speed - 38~42 Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum Lower the CPU voltage, you can have better temperature and power consumption. Of course, you have to do the reliability test after lowering the voltage to make sure you can use this setup for long time. Comparing 2 settings, enter to OS desktop temperature is same. For full speed test, there is 10 degrees difference. So lower the CPU voltage is also can lower the temperature. This is another trick for non-OC H61 system. GIGABYTE H61M-D2P-B3 Good 1. Simple and clean design packing. Also good spec and components 2. H61 make All in one system have lower power consumption and better performance. 3. 100% Japanese solid caps, PWM is 4+1+1. The components are better quality. 4. BIOS items are rich. Users can do OC GPU or voltage tuning. 5. Built-in 3D performance is big improvement than previous generation. You can even watch Blue-Ray with i3. Weak 1. H61 chipset temperature is a little bit too high. 2. DDR3 DIMM only supports 2 DIMMs. Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Components ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specification ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★★★☆ GIGABYTE H61M-D2P-B3 market price is 2650 around 93USD. It has DVI/D-SUB dual output and the price is similar to the others. Some H61 also have 3 graphics output, USB3 and 4DIMM DDR3 design, but the price will be more expensive. Users can get it by your own budget. H61/H67 MB price is little bit lower than H55/H57. Also, this time all MB brands provide more models to the market. The key issue is the Core i3 2100 price is higher than Core i3-540 around 10USD. So the LGA1155 and LGA1156MB+CPU price are similar. Intel has launched Sandy Bridge Pentium G CPU on 22 May. This combo will have better C/P for users to enjoy this latest platform performance. This article is also in my bolg. WIND3C Welcome your visit.

CPU Full Speed - 47W Compare to i3-540 with H55, the power consumption is 52W/83W. You can see the 32nm 2nd Gen Core i3-2120 has much lower power consumption and higher performance. If you are serious for power saving, Sandy Bridge structure really show you the strength. DDR3 Bandwidth DDR3 1330.4 CL6 7-6-18 1T ADIA64 Memory Read - 16436 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 17690 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy -18285 MB/s H61 chipset only can support DDR3 1333. The clock seems not high. However the Memory Controller is new design, the performance is still much higher. After fine tune to CL6 7-6-18 1T, you can see the DDR3 score is very high. Intel HD Graphics HD2000 Performance test Default clock is 1100MHz 3DMark Vantage => P1046 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1024 X 768 => 30.79 FPS FINAL FANTASY XIV 1280 X 720 => 374 Sandy Bridge built-in GPU in all SKUs. The models are HD2000/HD3000. Core i3-2120 is using HD2000 and you can see the 3D performance is much better than previous platform. You can treat it as the highest GPU 3D performance currently. You can use it to meet more 3D software requirement. OC to 1333MHz 3DMark Vantage => P1357 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1024 X 768 => 36.34 FPS FINAL FANTASY XIV 1280 X 720 => 447 Using BIOS GPU clock to adjust it from 1100 to 1333MHz, the performance increases about 18~29%. It’s almost same to i5-2300 which need to OC to 1700~1800MHz. i3 HD2000 OC range is much smaller, but after OC GPU, the 3D performance is still some improvement. Let’s compare the power consumption after OC GPU Enter to OS desktop - 24W CPU Full Speed - 57W After OC Intel HD2000 to 1333, it just increase 1W and full speed increase to 10W. You can see even GPU built-in design, the clock and performance also impact the power consumption.

Test Configuration CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 MB: GIGABYTE H61M-D2P-B3 DRAM: CORSAIR CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 VGA: Integrated Graphics HDD: CORSAIR Force SSD 40GB POWER: Antec HCG 400W Cooler: Intel Original Cooler OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit Performance Test CPU 99.8 X 33 => 3293.4MHz C1E Enable DDR3 1330.4 CL6 7-6-18 1T Hyper PI 32M X 4 => 16m 27.559s CPUMARK 99 => 508 Nuclearus Multi Core => 12926 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 13.10/6288 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 199112 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 3.16 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.32 pts PCMark Vantage => 11831 Windows Experience Index - CPU 7.1 H61 chipset with Core i3-2120 have very good benchmark for most software. Sandy Bridge structure CPU/DDR3 performance is much more improved than LGA 1155. 2nd Gen Core i3 is more expensive. If you are use Pentium G series, the C/P will be better. Temperature( Room is around 25℃) Enter to OS desktop - 24~28 CPU Full Speed - 44~50 Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum For 32nm i3 CPU, the temperature is always good. I use Intel original slim type cooler for this test. The room temperature is higher than real environment. It caused the full speed is 54℃. Of course, if you are installing in chassis, it may increase 5~8 due to the air flow. Power Consumption Enter to OS desktop - 23W

PWM controller is following Intel latest VRD 12 design guide. The cost is higher than traditional design. GIGABYTE heatsink use new design. Matt surface makes it look better. Boot screen is similar to packing. BIOS Main Page MB Intelligent Tweaker, M.I.T. Clock setup page CPUfrequency/multiplier, DDR3 clock, Integrated Graphics clock, etc. CPU Related Technology C1E for power saving. Advanced DDR3 parameters. Voltage page Dynamic Vcore(DVID) -0.320~+0.640V QPI/Vtt Voltage 0.900~1.440V Graphics DVID -0.320~+0.640 PCH Core 0.900~1.500V DRAM 1.100~2.400V PC Health Status H61 is most entry chipset in Sandy Bridge. There are many limitations in BIOS tuning. However, GIGABYE still provides rich BIOS items for user to adjust. H61M-D2P BIOS is mainly for GPU OC, CPU/DDR3 voltage and DDR3 parameters tuning. Fine tune the items can improve some system performance.

It’s been 5 months now since Intel launched latest Sandy Bridge structure. The first launch is LGA 1155 socket P67/H67 chipset for different segments. P67 is for K series CPU to have OC clock ratio features and without GPU output. H67 is for Sandy Bridge CPU graphics output feature but no CPU OC function. According to LGA 1156 H57 chipset, H67 is for higher price segment. There should be some parity chipset like H55. This time the new chipset is H61. H61 has 2 key differences with H67. One is RAID and the other one is SATA3. However, H61 price is lower. For worksheet or not much expanding requirement users, it can be the better choice. Many MB brands launch their H61 products since March. H61 price segment is decided by graphics output ports and USB3 support. This review is entry H61 and model name is GIGABYTE H61M-D2P-B3. The box design is simple and clean. White back and some wordings emphasize the spec. GIGABYTE H61M-D2P-B3 Board Due to Intel B2 issue, GIGABYTE in most Sandy Bridge chipset product adds B3. B3 can avoid users to buy the old version. Actually, now you are hard to find B2 boards already. 100% Japanese Solid Caps and blue PCB as usual. Micro ATX size is 24.4cm x 20.0cm which is suitable for All in one built-in GPU system. Accessories Product manual, Quick installation guide, IO panel, SATA cables and utility CD Lower-Left Corner 2 X PCI-E X16, first one is X16 and second one is X4. 2 X PCI Realtek RTL8111E LAN Chip Realtek ALC889 Audio Chip supports 7.1 channels and High Definition Audio technology. Lower-Right Corner 4 X blue SATA provided by H61 which are SATA2 and no RAID support. There are 2 USB 2.0 front port connectors to support 4 USB 2.0 devices in front panel. Upper-Right Corner 2 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333. DDR3 max capacity is 16GB. Next is 24-PIN power connector. Upper-Left Corner 4+1+1 phases PWM which is enough for 32nm CPU. Left is 4Pin power connector. IO 1 X PS2 Keyboard 1 X PS2 Mouse D-SUB/DVI output 6 X USB 2.0(Black) 1 X RJ-45 LAN

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be quiet! POWER SUPPLIES/CPU COOLERS/FANS EFFICENT POWER 400W 80 PLUS GOLD DARK POWER PRO(P10) 850/1000W 80 PLUS PLATINUM FANS DARK/SHADOWS WINGS Thermaltake Level 10 GT For AMD Case Show Girl

Windpad C Series Z68A-GD80/Z68A-GD65/Z68MA-ED55 MSI VGA ASRock Z68 Professional/Z68 Extreme7 990FX Extreme4/A75 Extreme6 P67 Professional ASUS ROG - MAXIMUS IV EXTREME-Z MAXIMUS IV GENE-Z/Crosshair V Formula eee Pad SL101

FOXCONN X79 MB Quantum Force Rattler(Intel P67) Z68A-S ECS Black Series MB A990FXM-A X79R-A Tablet PC MSI NoteBook GE620 GT683

LGA 2011 X79A-UD3 X58A-OC 990FXA-UD7 A75-UD4 Touch BIOS G1.Assassin PC BIOSTAR Intel/AMD MB TH61 ITX TZ68A+ TA990FXE

CORSAIR DDR3 VENGEANCE DOMINATOR GT USB Flash Drivers SP2200/SP2500 Force 3/ForceGT 3/NOVA 2 Live Demo H80/New SSD Live Demo GIGABYTE Intel/AMD MB Z68-Gaming

Intel Z68/P67 X79 MB MSI Windpad BIOSTAR TZ68A+ AMD Booth AMD VISION NoteBooks AMD 990 CORSAIR AX650/HX1050W

The high caps on card shows ONKYO high intention for the professional audio card. Some internet rumors said next generation SE-300PCI will move to X-FI chipset. I guess it might cater to game or movie hobbyist. SE-200PCI interface is same as VIA driver software. As my personal experience with several VIA 1723/1724 audio cards, this interface is very familiar. VIA interface is pretty simple. You can use default for all. I think it because Envy24HT is audio quality oriented, it doesn’t have many soundstage setups. Conclusion after watching movie High frequency tone is very good. It’s mellower than X-FI, but the difference is small. Middle frequency is very good. You can hear all the human sound detail and the clarity is much better. Low frequency is also mid-high level. Even it’s not such powerful as X-FI, however it’s not far away. Overall, I found the human sound is clear and you can feel the levels as background music or special effects. The accent is not so strong. The sound is a little bit weak, but the stretch is very good. The overall is more balance than X-FI. In game, it’s similar to movie Comparing to X-FI, you still can hear some detail, but the surround sound is a little weak. The difference is not big gap comparing to music. However, it’s not a big problem. You can adjust the soundstage mode in desktop controller to enhance the accent and surrounding. Using SE-200PCI can leverage SP2500 sound clarity and restoration to another level. It’s more suitable for users who need lossless audio. The mid and high frequency is enhanced very much. SE-200PCI comparing to X-FI, the soundstage and accent is a little bit weak.] For the diversity factor, if you like stronger accent, you can use controller to adjust the soundstage to enhance the low frequency. BTW, X-FI uses analog 3.5mm jack, but SE-200PCI uses digital RCA jack. It may be the reason to cause the difference. For built-in X-FI audio has such good quality, G1.SNIPER use high level audio caps is the key factor. I have been using 5.1 channels speaker for years, because I thought only 5.1 channels speaker has better surrounding stereo. After comparing with few friends’ 2.1 channel one, I found the audio detail and human sound are better than 5.1 channels. 2.1 channels speaker is more suitable for my demand. This CORSAIR SP2500 is high end 2.1 Gaming PC speaker. CORSAIR also has mid-end SP2200. SP2200 price is only 40% of SP2500. The position is par price PC speaker. The first sight of SP2500, I feel the outlook and quality are good level. The desktop controller is also very fine. Even though it position at Gaming segment, the sound in move is also very good. It’s a very competent for multimedia PC speaker. Combining with 2 high end audio chips, the overall performance is very good level. Good gaming speakers need good audio cards to bring it into full play. I hope this review can be your reference for gaming speaker. The audio quality test above is subjective. Everyone has your own feeling for audio. The sense range is PC speaker level. I set up in default values to avoid the environment affect. This review also post in my blog WIND3C Welcome 3C lovers to visit and advise. Thanks

Audio Creation mode. I don’t test mix or recorder this time, so I won’t use this mode. Select Entertainment Mode for Watching Movie High frequency tone is very good. You won’t hear grating sound. Mid frequency is mid-high level. You can discern human voice clarity clearly. I think the weak point is the rich sense of mid frequency. X-FI chip needs to improve in the future. Low frequency is the key part of this combo. Accent is not to strong. You can hear the fat and extension. For computer speaker position, this is very high level one. Basically, it’s very average. SP2500 and X-FI build very good soundstage. The sound exquisite and reproduction is mid-high level. This combo is suitable for gaming and movie. Select Game Mode for Playing Game Surrounding sense is very strong, especially the character walks on the plank. The “wide open space” sound is very good due to 2 channels mutual act. In the fighting game, the effect is from characters fight and the background music. Accent and surrounding soundstage make you feel being on spot. This platform is also rare top end LAG 1366 system. CPU is Core i7-990X Extreme which is just launched 2 months. I also would like to share you some air cooling OC performance. CPU 200 X 21 => 4199.8MHz 1.400V DDR3 1600 CL7 8-7-21 1T 1.600V Hyper PI 32M X 12 => 14m 47.891s CPUMARK 99 => 720 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 11.76 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.60 pts Windows Experience Index - CPU 7.8 PCMark Vantage => 22787 Intel 990X review is not many in internet, I just share some OC performance with G1.SNIPE. 990X OC range is better than my previous 980X, air cooling 4.2G at 1.4V Some benchmark software seems don’t support 6C12T. So some CPU test performance is only a little bit higher than 4C8T structure. I suggest you can refer to CINEBENCH R11.5. The multitasking score of 990X 4.6GHzis 11.76 and 920 4.2GHz is 7.23 In full support 6C12T software, 990X can have wider CPU performance improvement. Back to audio again, next is desktop controller and 4 setup pages. Volume, normally over 5 levels is very loud. Subwoofer, I recommend to adjust to second level, the green zone, to have better low frequency. However, low frequency is depending personal like, you can adjust by yourself. Program items LATE NIGHT/STADIUM/CONCERT HALL/CLUB/THEATRE/KARAOKE/DYNAMIC POP/WIDE Input items LINE/AUX1/AUX2 Eq items REFERENCE/CLASSICAL/POP/JAZZ/Mod X/ACTION/DRAMA/FPS/ACTION GAMING/HEADPHONES。 User can fine tune program/eq items to pick the most suitable soundstage effect. It provides 9 languages for choice. It includes Chinese(Simple) and Japanese, etc. The backlight background screen displays the time, dividing into 5/10/30/60 seconds. The colors can choose Day and Night. The LCD color will change to the suitable one. The desktop controller has very rich items. You can optimize your soundstage in many options. It also provides 9 languages to choose and the background can display “seconds” and also can choose Day or Night mode. SP2500 desktop controller is very exquisite. It’s hard to see in normal PC speakers. In order to make CORSAIR SP2500 sound be more clear, I use ONKYO SE-200PCI to test. It’s VIA Envy24HT series and the model is VT1724. This sound card is very suitable for listening music. The patch is more clean and pure. Some audio vendors also use VIA chipset for recorder card. The reputation in internet is very high.

Close look to satellite speaker front Central blue circle is 3” and official spec is 40W. Upper left circle is 1” and official spec is 16W.. 56 watts per satellite, so the continuous power is 112W . Total output of the speaker system includes subwoofer is 232W RMS which is bridged 6 Class-D amplifiers. Subwoofer backside IO design Upper Left “Remote” is for desktop controller. Upper Right red/white ATX4 jack is for satellite speakers. ATX4 is a really good design that can avoid oxidation after long time use. Lower Left green AUX1 jack is for audio card 3.5mm connector. Lower Right red/white RCA jack is for high end stereo devices to connect. Power Input They list the certificate and caution list. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-990X Extreme MB: GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER DRAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 VGA: msi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II HD: Intel 320 SERIES 160GB POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER GOLDEN 550W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit I separate 2 parts to test the audio quality. One is using MB built-in audio chip. Currently, the most top built-in audio is GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER. Furthermore, G1.SNIPER and SP2500 are positioning for Gaming market. This combo can make audio quality be better. G1.SNIPER changes their audio and network chips comparing to past high end boards. It also supports multi-VGA technology. The users can have more expandibility. GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER built-in Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi audio processor, model is 20K2. Built-in 128MB Memory cache for 20K2. This design is for Creative high-end audio card only before. Yellow and Green Caps are special for audio only. This is the first time I saw such high end audio chip, capacitors and cache design in MB. There are some threads in internet to discuss this design as well. Some users think the caps will cause audio be too thin and hard. I hope G1.SNIPER can consider the hiend components on audio card to enhance their audio quality level. Creative X-FI software provides Entertainment/Game/Audio Creation modes. Entertainment mode provides highest quality for audio and movie playback. I use this mode for movie test after. Game mode panel optimizes the game soundstage.

Most Gamers use game console or computer to play many games. For PC game users, 3D games’ video and audio effects are very important. First of all, for better visual effects, the users need good VGA and large LCD monitor. For the audio, I suggest hi-end audio chips and Gaming speakers for better audio. If you use computer long time every day, I think LCD, Keyboard and Speaker are worth to invest. Many people use their monitor, keyboard and speaker for 5~10 years. Investing better quality peripherals can let you feel more comfortable and longer life. These peripherals contact your sense directly. Better equipment can avoid your uncomfortable feeling. USA CORSAIR recently launched several audio devices. You can find the headset and speaker product line in their website. This review is Gaming Audio Series. The model is SP2500 High-power 2.1 PC Speaker System. You can clear understand it focus on gaming market. It should be a good option for gamers. SP2500 is official 2 years warranty. The box dimension is 57(Length) X 49(Width) X 40(Height) cm As the box is bigger, the space and protection are quite good. SP2500 is 2.1 channel PC speaker system. The pic below is Subwoofer. 8 inches 120W. It bridged dual 60 Watt class-D amplifiers with integrated DSP for 120 Watts of power. Fourth-order closed bandpass design with durable rubber surround. The dimensions are 46 x 25.8 x 29.7 cm. It’s quite big size which we consider to computer speaker. The manual has notice that user should allow 25cm clearance from Subwoofer to object. SP2500 is one Subwoofer and 2 satellites. It also has 1.8” LCD wired desk controller. Users can adjust the volume easily. Accessories Multi-lingual installation guide and other information Cables Start from Left, Power Cord/3.5mm, Stereo Cable/RCA, Audio Cable /ATX4, Satellites Speaker wire 1.8" TFT controller and satellites base The desktop controller has 2 jacks. One is 3.5mm auxiliary inputs and the other is mini USB. Lower-Right is a 3.5mm headset output. 2-Way Satellite Speakers The dimensions are 10.8 x 12 x 15.9 cm. The actual weight is 924g. The case is made from good quality plastic. Front bottom with block up part, the sound can surround the room more widely. The satellite speaker has round cushion in 4 bottom corners.

GIGABYTE G1.Assassin Good 1. G1.Assassin is most high end model of G1-Killer series. The packing and components are top level. 2. Built-in Creative CA20K2 audio chip, Japanese made high end capacitors and 128MB Memory cache. 3. Killer E2100 Network NPU chip with 1GB DDR2 cache for more efficient traffic control 4. Support both 4WAY ATI CFX and 3WAY NVIDIA SLI technology. It meet Gaming demand. 5. Exclusive Front Access Control Panel supports USB 3.0 and Quick Boost. It also Built-in Front Audio Headphone Amplifier 6. Rich BIOS items and high voltage range. CPU/DDR3 ability is excellent. 7. Very special military style thermal module design. The quality and visual affect are very good. Bad 1. So far, LGA 1366 32nm/6Core CPU price is still too high 2. XL-ATX Case is rare. 3. X58 chipset power consumption is higher than other P series platform. Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ Components ★★★★★★★★★★ Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★☆☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ G1.Assassin is the top model of G1-Killer series. The components and features are most complete. Of course the price is for high end market. The market price is around 15700NTD, 543USD. Comparing to G1-Kille entry G1.Guerrilla, the price is 10700, around 370USD. However, G1.Guerrilla has no X-FI audio chip and other spec is lower. If you compare G1.Assassin with others top Gaming X58, G1-Killer price has no advantage. The key strength is new audio and network design. Especially the audio performance is almost the best MB built-in audio currently. I also test other brand X-FI audio card, duo to the chipset and components, the real sound field and audio affect is behind G1.Assassin. G1-Killer Series is right position in Game filed. For multi-VGA gaming X58 platform, it’s really satisfied the most gamer’s requirements to build an exclusive high end Gaming platform. This review also post in my blog WIND3C Welcome 3C lovers to visit and advise. Thanks

LOST PLANET 2 DX11 1920 X 1080 TEST B – 46.4 fps FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 4409 As the latest GTX560-Ti, the 3D performance is mid to high level. X58 the best advantage is the PCI-E bandwidth is much higher than P55/67 series. It’s good help for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI performance. It’s also more suitable for positioning to Gaming MB. BTW, in previous review, I found nVIDIA performance drop issue at 1920X1200 resolution. The new nVIDIA driver has fixed this issue. G1.Assassin is not only focus on audio chip and capacitors. It’s also considering the headset. It built-in Front Audio Headphone Amplifier and be able to drive 150Ω loads, allow Gaming users to enjoy the higher quality audio. For real audio performance, I use CORSAIR HS1A Gaming Headset to test. First of all, you can see the packing. It’s official 2 years warranty. HS1A size is 210mm x 130mm x 235mm The extra-large diameter and deep-dish design help prevent them from touching your ears to avoid the uncomfortable issue. Overall, the headset components and quality are quite high level. If they can improve the wire, that will be perfect. It also provides microphone for users to chat with the others during playing game. The controller can adjust microphone switch and volume. In OS, Creative application interface provides several language packs for users to choose. There are Entertainment, Game, Audio Creation modes. The Game mode panel and items as below. It includes rich fine tune items. Audio Creation mode provides different panel and items. It looks like Creative own EMU audio panel, but actually the items and features are different. Entertainment mode panel interface is easy to use. Items and features are easy to understand. Creative application features are very varity. In Audio Creation Mode, listening songs or music. The high frequency has no ear-piercing or uncomfortable tones. It’s good performance. In intermediate frequency, I can hear all clear sounds. However, it lacks of human sounds reality. This is the part X-FI chip needs to improve. Low frequency is the key part of this headset and audio chip combination. The bass is very good. It’s really high standard. The overall performance is quite average. For the sound field, it can perform well. My most impressive part is the sound field is really surrounding. The sound sophistication and reality restore quality are mid high standard. However, it’s not X-FI strength. In Entertainment mode This is the emphasize part of X-FI. I use CORSAIR Gaming headset to listen all the sounds affect. The sound field is very good. No matter for bass or fighting scene, the sound is very shock. As this combination, it’s very high C/P for Gamers. It’s for your reference only. Fianlly, I post Intel latest launched, end of March, the top end CPU, Core i7 990X Extreme default performance test CPU 133.2 X 26 => 3463.2MHz DDR3 1865.4 CL8 9-8-24 1T 1.600V CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 9.22 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.24 pts 6C/12T has very high benchmark in default mode. In the future, I will find a chance to share you the detail 990X performance and OC share.