windwithme

Every year I always spend some time to write an article about mainstream PC platform recommendation for choosing the high C/P value mainstream products. Users can pay less get more performance products. AMD stuck in 65nm for couple year and not much progress. It caused two main weaknesses for Phenom X4 CPU, high power consumption and over heat. That’s why I didn’t write too many reviews with AMD platform. Since 2009, AMD launched 45nm CPU and still keep in parity. After then, AMD announced a series X2/X3/X4 CPU, and also can enable cores and L3 cache. It makes AMD ramp up the market share in 2nd half 2009. Of course, the parity motherboard is also the key factor. Especially the economy crisis in 2009, the users lower their cost in many consumer products. AMD CPU highest C/P one is Athlon II X3 425/435, the price is around 66~75 USD. This CPU may enable quad cores by MB south bridge. However, please be aware that it’s not 100%. If it’s unstable, please back to the tri-core to operate. Another model is Athlon II X4 620/630, the price is around 93~107 USD. The main difference with Phenom II X4 is no L3 cache. It also has opportunity to enable it to be complete Phenom II X4. This time I use Phenom II X2 545 for quad core test. You cannot find this model in the market already. Besides, I use Micro-ATX MB which is AMD main segment in few years. AMD uses their leading UMA performance and lower price to compete with the other chipset provides. This article introduces three 785G MB to enable Phenom/Athlon II being X4 and OC performance. First model is DFI LANPARTY BI 785G-M35 The market price is about 108USD. Lower Left Corner 1 X PCI-E X16 1 X PCI-E X1 2 X PCI LAN chip is JMicron JMC250 Audio chip is Realtek ALC885 and use tantalum chip capacitor for better audio quality Lower Right Corner 6 X black SATAII by SB710. SATA2 and support RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1 1 X IDE Upper Right Corner 4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600(O.C.) The maximum DDR3 capacity is 16GB. DDR3 1600 no need to OC CPU. Next by is 24-PIN power connector Upper Left Corner AM3 CPU Socket, 4+1 PWM Next to heat sink is hynix 128MB DDR3 SidePort Memory Second is GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H The market price is about 99 USD. Lower Left Corner 1 X PCI-E X16 1 X PCI-E X1 2 X PCI LAN chip is Realtek 8111C Audio chip is Realtek ALC889A supports 7.1 channel and Dolby Home Theater technology Lower Right Corner 5 X light blue SATAII by SB710. SATA2 and support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and RAID JBOD。 1 X IDE Upper Right Corner 4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600/1800(OC). The maximum capacity is 16GB DDR3. Next by are Dual BOIS and 24-PIN power connector Upper Left Corner AM3 CPU Socket, 4+1 PWM It also has 128MB DDR3 SidePort Memory

Finally, add CPU voltage, challenge high clock “5GHz” by air cooling CPUZ certification Intel Core i5 661 OC 5G / windwithme About 1.476~1.488V, this range can provide enough voltage for 5GHz into OS. If you want to use Super PI and same level software, I think adding voltage up to 1.52 ~ 1.56V for CPU is necessary. E8400~E8600 also can make CPU run at 4.8~4.9GHz, but voltage and temperature of 32nm are lower. In the future, if Intel makes 32nm better, overclocking dual-core CPU to 5GHz will not be just a dream. BIOSTAR T-Series TH55XE Merits: 1. The design of package makes the product look high quality. 2. The range of BIOS voltage setting is wide; external clock and other options are also plentiful. 3. Power consumption of H55 chipset is very low. 4. Overclocking can make CPU/DDR3 reach 200/2000 steady level. 5. CPU power supply material is applied by better phase design. Demerits: 1. The price of all H55 MB is still too high now. 2. Due to Intel’s structural design, i5 CPU built-in GPU can not show good performance on DDR3. Performance:★★★★★★★★★☆ Material: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specification:★★★★★★★★☆☆ Appearance:★★★★★★★★★☆ Price:★★★★★★★★☆☆ Price of most H55 MB is about NT$4200 (about US$130). Although the price of BIOSTAR T-Series TH55XE is about US$117, it is a cheaper choice. But I think the price of H55 chipset is still too high; if its price can be reduced to US$100, the product must be more popular. About Clarkdale CPU, there will be both Core i5 6XX and Core i3 5XX series, and the main difference is supporting TurboBoost or not. I find some quotations about this kind of CPU from other websites: Core i5 6XX: US$176~284 Core i3 530/540: US$113/133 respectively; and the price of Intel Pentium G9650 without HT technology is US$87. My personal thinking of “All in One MB” platform, at the initial stage the price of the CPU product that consumers can accept is about US$90 ~ 110. Therefore, Core i3 530 and Pentium G9650 are the products that can fit in with most consumers’ budget. My experience about testing Clarkdale platform this time Supported by 32nm new technology, the CPU, compared with 45nm, has higher clock, lower temperature and power consumption, all of which make a great impression on me. But now owing too high price, Intel still leaves something to be desired to make its products accepted by more consumers. I feel very happy that besides AMD platform, Intel also releases higher performance All in One chipset. Although current Clarkdale C/P value is not high, anyway Intel finally makes great progress on this product field in 2010. I also expect the parity of this new platform is coming soon. The release of Clarkdale provides one more choice in the market, and makes the performance of Intel All in One chipset greater in the future. By the way, I'm also enjoyed the world of DSLR; I actually already had 4 of them since last year, including my latest one - a CANON KISS X3 Kit (500D). In the coming February, I'm going to share my experience of the CANON KISS X3 And again, I truly appreciated for all your support, feedbacks, or even one simple comment; that gives me the power and encourages to continue my sharing. Thank you

Nuclearus Multi Core => 17945 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 17.69/8489 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 219569 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 6371 x CPU=> 14569 PCMark Vantage => 15076 When Core i5 661 is overclocked to 4.6GHz, 1.3V voltage can make the system steady. 32nm design makes dual-core CPU total clock raised 300 ~ 500MHz further. H55 does not provide RAID function, so I used a SDD to test transfer rate. CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D, specification is 220/120 MB/s From the test of SDD with high transfer rate, I find read/write performance of H55 is less 5 ~ 10MB/s than ICH10R. I think the possible reason is deviation value, or the performance of single chipset could be lower. As result, H55 shows fine performance on HDD. GPU OC 1167MHz 128mb 3DVANTAGE => 563 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1024 X 768 => 7455 Users can overclock built-in GPU by BIOS options. The GPU performance can be raised 15 ~ 20% after overclocked. DRAM performance test CPU 133 X 25 => 3333MHz DRAM DDR3 1333 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 11709 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 9259 MB/s CPU 200 X 23 => 4600MHz DRAM DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 17848 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 13613 MB/s About DDR3 2000, BIOS setting is CL8, but CPUZ shows CL9, EVEREST CL10. I’m not sure why they are different; probably something related to BIOS setting. Concerning DDR3 bandwidth performance, I thought Clarkdale can show great result like P55 dual-channel/ X58 tri-channel. The design that Intel makes Memory Controller built-in can make the bandwidth of these new platforms 150~250% faster than LGA 775. It's pity not able to take advantage on its high bandwidth infrastructure due to GPU engine integrated inside Clarkdule Core i5 processor.

CrystalMark 2004R3 => 155768 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 4832 x CPU=> 10794 PCMark Vantage => 10706 CPU voltage is only 0.948V when system is standby; the voltage rises to 1.128V when CPU is in full loading. Moreover about TurboBoost, when the system is standby, only single core is used, and CPU clock also rises to 3.6GHz. When dual cores are in process, CPU clock will change to 3.46GHz. In other words, under the condition of single core, CPU multiplier can be plus X2; of dual cores, plus X1. The default CPU clock of Core i5 661 is very high, and the performance of the CPU is also great, suitable for non-conversion or drawing software. For most software that do not support multitasking, CPU clock at this moment is more important. 3DVANTAGE => 486 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1024 X 768 => 7011 Clarkdale shows similar performance in 3DMARK2006 and 3D like 785G. However, H55, without overclocking, gets higher scores in 3DVANTAGE than 785G. StreetFighter IV also shows high performance; of course, built-in GPU products are what we use to compare. The result also means Intel has made great progress in GPU design. PSU is quiet in latest series E7 Cable Management, watt is 480W Module design makes it easier to place cables in order. When H55 platform is used as word-processing, 350W PSU is enough to support the system. But if running at higher-performance VGA or hard drives will be added in the future, 400W ~ 500W PSU are recommended. Test of power consumption Standby: - 34~39W When CPUZ displays 3600MHz, this condition means single core is being used. Full speed: - 79~89W When CPUZ displays 3466MHz, this condition means 2 physical core + 2 virtual HT cores are being used. The combination of Intel Core i5 661 and H55MB saves more power; when the system is in standby mode, the lowest power consumption is only 34W. And, the range of power consumption is 79 ~ 89W when CPU is at the full speed 3.46GHz; hence, 32nm platform can save more power than ever. But I also find that different PSUs bring dissimilar results: when the system is standby, the power consumption is mostly 38 ~ 42W for common 400W PSUs; and, 34 ~ 36W for 480W PSU (80 PLUS also help save energy). OC performance CPU 200 X 23 => 4600MHz DRAM DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T GPU 900MHz 128mb Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 12m 49.813s CPUMARK 99=> 709

BIOSTAR’s G.P.U Phase Control CPU Load Line option is also put in this page. Built-in GPU option, named IGD Graphics 32/64/128MB can be selected to share RAM. Main page of CPU technology options Common C1E, HT, VT, etc technology all can be set enabled or disabled from here. When built-in GPU is used, all of these options will appear They can be overclocked with built-in GPU, with range from 133 ~ 2000MHz For BIOS setting, I set steady configuration according to the ratio of CPU to DDR3 is 200 to 2000. When external CPU clock is set over 166 ~ 175MHz, built-in GPU becomes unsteady. So, if you want to overclock CPU over 200MHz, external VGA is suggested. I find this special situation when I use Clarkdale; one possible reason is that GPU is built in CPU, so the design affects overclocking capability indirectly. Testing platform: CPU: Intel Core i5-661 ES MB: BIOSTAR TSERIES TH55XE DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 VGA: Intel Clarkdale 900MHz HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D POWER: be quiet E7 Cable Management 480W Cooler: Mega Shadow(Deluxe Edition) OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit BIOSTAR’s exclusive software TOverclocker, multifunctional OS software, allows user adjust external clock, voltage, and performance modes from this programme directly. Hardware Monitor The upper software allows user to change boot logo directly; FOXCONN also had similar software before. G.P.U Energy-saving software: it is suggested to disable this utility when overclocking to remain system steady. BIOSTAR now provides more and more software and professional functions as a big manufacturer should have. From software user aspects, I believe Biostar team should improve and make it more user friendly. Below is the test result of Intel new 32nm platform. CPU uses Intel Core i5-661, 4 Threading, clock is 3.33GHz, L3 Cache 4MB GPU is 900Mhz, 87W, official price is US$196 Default performance: CPU 133 X 25 => 3333MHz DRAM DDR3 1333 CL9 9-9-24 1T GPU 900MHz 128mb Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 18m 00.891s CPUMARK 99=> 550 Nuclearus Multi Core => 13523 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 13.07/6273

IO 1 X D-SUB 1 X DVI-D 1 X HDMI 4 X USB 2.0 1 X RJ-45 1 X eSATA/USB 2.0 1 X S/PDIF Out 1 X IEEE 1394 Under heatsink of TSERIES is H55 Mosfet uses a smaller heatsink LAN chipset Realtek 8111DL Audio chipset Realtek ALC888, surrounded by Japanese solid capacitors Boot logo Main page of adjusting frequency, voltage Page of voltage CPU Vocre -0.080~+1.260V CPU VTT Voltage 1.150~2.080V CPU PLL Voltage 1.800~2.730V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.545V PCH PLL Voltage 1.100~2.030V PCH Voltage 1.10~1.25V IGD Voltage 1.18~1.78V Intel PPM Configuration, many C-STATE can be selected from here DDR3 Timing Configuration Users can adjust arguments according to their DRAM quality.

In the past six months, we often saw a lot of news about Intel 32nm CPU on the internet; more information was about Core i7-980X, also LGA 1366 6 physical cores + 6 virtual HT cores (12 Threading). The orientation of 32nm CPU belongs to Intel future highest-level LGA 1366 platform, which most consumers show less interest in because of higher price. Now take a look at Intel LGA 1156 platform. About this new product line, there will be some 32nm CPU products put on sale, including Core i5 6XX and Core i3 5XX series, and named Clarkdale. The market orientation of these two series is different from previous Intel CPU. The main reason is that Intel defines new CPU structure, not putting GPU into chipset like before but into CPU directly. Intel’s such new design will affect PC market style “All in One MB” is becoming the future. On chipset side, Intel releases H55/H57 to support new CPU design, and main difference is with or without RAID function. Same as P55 chipset, a single-chip is adopted in the new chipset; I assume Micro-ATX form factor will be the main design for H55/H57 motherboards. Of course, some manufacturers also released ATX form factor for higher-level H57, seeming to direct compete with AMD 785G/790GX. Especially, Micro-ATX products of AMD hold a special attraction for consumers for a quiet sometime now. Therefore, Intel wants to increase his market share counting on this new product line this time. This time I used BIOSTAR T-Series TH55XE as my MB platform, which using Intel H55 chipset without RAID function, and its street price is around US$115 (about NT$3750). Firstly, we can see the black is the main colour for the package. I think the matching colour is exactly moderate, and package design is very special. Product manual, driver CD, related cables and IO panel are attached. BIOSTAR TSERIES TH55XE itself Intel latest LGA 1156 32nm CPU front/reverse side The CPU in the picture is Core i5 661, 2 physical cores + 2 virtual HT cores (4 Threading). CPU clock: 133 X 25 = 3.33GHz; built-in GPU clock = 900MHz Lower-left of the motherboard 1 X PCI-E X16 1 X PCI-E X4 2 X PCI LAN chipset: Realtek 8111DL Audio chipset: Realtek ALC888，7.1 channels and supports HD Audio Lower-right of the motherboard 5 x yellow SATAII，H55 provides SATA2 specification Power、Reset buttons、debug indicators Upper-right of the motherboard 4 x DIMM DDR3, supports 800/1066/1333/1600(OC)/2000(OC), maximum capacity of DDR3 is 16GB。 1 X IDE, by JMB368 With 24-PIN power connector Upper-left of the motherboard LGA 1156 location, adopting CPU 4+ VTT 2+GPU 1 phases power supply BIOSTAR adopts IR DirectFET phase design for power supply, with higher cost and better quality than common material.

For the DRAM test, supporting 3 channels is big advantages for X58 platform. I use the famous extreme memory maker, CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8, supports 3-channel. Black/Red color make GT be more attractive DDR3 2100 CL8 8-8-24 1T, BIOS set as 1.600V SP2004 3 X Blend mode, 5.88GB stable in full load Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 30925 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 21274 MB/s DDR3 OC can reach 2100 CL8 easily and only need 1.600V Besides DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 quality is great, the X58A-UD7 OC capability is also in good standard. It makes the combination be even greater. Comparing to P55 dual channel performance, X58 3-channel bandwidth is much higher. The CPU is Gulftown, 6 cores and HT technology work as 12 It’s not selling in the market yet, but there are many CPU test since August. CPU OC to 4GHz to see some future structure performance CPU 175 X 23 => 4025MHz DDR3 2100 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper 12 X PI 32M=> 14m 53.289s CPUMARK 99=> 620 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5662 x CPU=> 31983 PCMark Vantage GTX260 SLI 2WAY=> 20313 GTX260 SLI 3WAY=> 27205 During the test, you can see many software only support 4-8 cores. In physical 6 cores plus HT, some benchmark scores decreased rather than increased. I think the software need to improve more in this condition. SLI 3WAY is also the same. CrystalMark 2004R3 scores is decreased. So far, some software cannot support this high spec 100%. However, Gulftown with SLI 3WAY really get the higher benchmark scores. GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 Good 1.X58A-UD7 uses GIGABYTE most high end components and technologies 2.Support 3WAY SLI and CFX. NV system can use PhyX to build 4 VGA 3.SATA3 use high end Marvell 9128 chip. USB 3.0 uses NEC chip 4.BIOS items are rich and wide voltage items. CPU/DDR3 OC ability is great. 5.Built-in 6 SATAII, 2 USB/eSATA and 2 USB 3.0 6.Hybird SILENT-PIPE enhance the thermal solution. NB also support water cooling block Weak 1.Hybird SILENT-PIPE will block one PCI-E X1 2.LAN and Audio chips are all Realtek. They could consider for some better one. Performance ★★★★★★★★★★ Components ★★★★★★★★★★ Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★★☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 is really the new blood for X58 platform Except enhance the components, it also implements latest USB 3.0 and SATA3 LGA 1156 doesn’t sell well because i7 CPU plus P55 price is almost the same as LGA 1366 After LGA 1156 i3 CPU launch, the platform should be cheaper and rise the C/P value. For the current market, LGA 1366 is still the most high end one. SATA3 is helpless for users who only use 1~2 HDD. 7200rpm HDD performance is around 100~120 MB/s. However, for milti-HDD and SSD users, SATA3 is a great improvement. The most attractive part is USB 3.0. USB2.0 has been using for years. 30~35 MB/s bandwidth is too slow for most USB external storage users. USB 3.0 can reach 150 MB/s in test which is almost 5 times faster. This technology is more practical. GIGABYTE announced GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 is high standard in overall performance. Previous GIGABYTE X58 series can support Gulftown 6 cores CPU by upgrading BIOS. It’s a pity that LAN and Audio can use better chip to match their high end components level. If you want to build a top level PC, LGA 1366 is your best choice. For top MB, X58 price is higher, but compare to the same price range X58 products, UD7 is still competitive.

Test Configuration CPU: Gulftown 2.40GHz ES MB: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC SLI 3WAY HD: Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB POWER: CORSAIR TX950W Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit GIGABYTE “A” version means supporting SATA3 and USB 3.0 technologies First, let’s see the difference of SATA3. This time I use Seagate latest Barracuda XT. It supports SATA3 and backward compatible with SATA2 In SATA2, bandwidth 3Gbps HD Tune Pro 3.50 average read is 110.0 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 8k can reach highest read in 142 MB/s and write in 139 MB/s CrystalDiskMark is read 143.1 Mb/s and write 137.6 MB/s HD Tune Pro 3.50 average write is 104.5 MB/s In SATA3, bandwidth 6Gbps HD Tune Pro 3.50 average read is 110.0 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 8k can reach highest read in 142 MB/s and write in 137 MB/s CrystalDiskMark is read 143.1 Mb/s and write 139.1 MB/s HD Tune Pro 3.50 average write is 104.1 MB/s As the test in SATA2 and SATA3, the performance is not big different in normal application. After all, SATA2 bandwidth is 3Gbps, means 300MB/s and SATA6 is 6Gbps, 600MB/s This spec is for max bandwidth, especially for multi-HDD RAID5 or SSD RAID0. SATA3 will bring the max bandwidth into full play in such conditions. USB test is using BUFFALO 1.0TB external HDD. It’s very rare USB 3.0 product so far Plug into USB 2.0 port HD Tune Pro 3.50 average read is 33.2 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64k can reach highest read in 35 MB/s and write is 32 MB/s CrystalDiskMark is read 35.25 Mb/s and write 32.76 MB/s Plug into blue USB 3.0 port HD Tune Pro 3.50 average read is 120.4 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64k can reach highest read in 154 MB/s and write in 159 MB/s CrystalDiskMark is read 154.3 Mb/s and write156.2 MB/s FDEBENCH test is read in 126 Mb/s and write in 136 MB/s Formerly, USB 2.0 max bandwidth is around 30~35 MB/s. It’s fatal wound for USB devices. FLASH mostly is MLC, is very hard to reach 30 MB/s. However for users who using 2.5/3.5” USB external box, HDD performance is above 50 MB/s~100 Mb/s USB 2.0 bandwidth will limit the products performance. This issue will be solved soon as more and more USB3.0 MB.

The screw holes next to NB heat sink are used to install Hybird SILENT-PIPE This heat pipe also supports water cooling system. The user can install the pipe into it without buying a water cooling block. USB 3.0 chip is NEC D720200F1 3x USB power design to provide 3 times electric current by independent chip for all USB ports. It can solve the insufficient power issue which may cause read write lose as using external storages. I will test USB 3.0 performance later. Below SB heat sink is Marvell SE9128 chip which supports SATA3 SATA3 ports is SATA6 and SATA7 in upper side. Boot Screen MB Intelligent Tweaker, also called M.I.T. DDR3 parameters setting. X58 supports three channel, so there are 3 sets items Voltage Page Load-Line Calibration StandardLevel1/Level2 CPU Vcore 0.50000~1.90000V QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.120~2.000V IOH Core 0.850~2.080V CPU PLL 1.000~2.580V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.600V Advanced CPU Features C1E is power saving and lower frequency feature. It runs automatically as low CPU utility rate. Intel Turbo Boost is opposite with C1E. It will increase clock in full speed operation. You can find many articles in internet. Because of the limited space, also I had detail review in previous product, so I won’t explain Intel Turbo Boost PC Health Status X58A-UD7 is GIGABYTE most high end product. The voltage and items in BIOS are rich The setting is stable at 175/2100. If your hardware OC capability is good, you can refer to this set up. I hope it is valuable for your configuration.

Since LGA1366 launched at the end of 2008, there are not many news in the market recently. Instead the new LGA1156 has very high exposure rate in all medias. These 2 structures are very similar and make users hard to choose as the different strength. LGA 1366, the extreme level product line and will have 6 cores CPU soon. Currently X58 chipset support 3 channel and 6 DIMMs DDR3 for higher extensibility and Quad core CPU with HT technology. LGA 1156 is the following segment. P55 is single chip and the power consumption is lower. HT version CPU and LGA 1136 are similar price. i5-750 is the most valuable choice so far. In the future, i3 dual-core will make LGA 1156 product line be richer, but still only the combination of dual-core, quad-core and HT. Even though there are not many news of X58 MB, but it’s still the top end product in Intel platform. USB3.0 and SATA3 are launched in these 2 months, and most manufacturers implement with P55 MB. Compared to X58 revision, there is only GIGABYTE X58A-UD7. GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 is the key role for this review. Let’s look at the appearance first. Accessories User’s manual, software manual, driver CD SATA/eSATA cables, USB Port bracket CrossFire and 3WAY SLI bridge Lower Left Corner 4 X PCI-E, the bandwidth is 2 X16 and 2 X8, support CrossFire and 3WAY SLI 2 X PCI-E X1 1 X PCI Realtek 8111D dual LAN chipset support Teaming Realtek ALC889, supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio/Dolby Home Theater technology Design in Taipei Lower Right Corner 6 X blue SATAII provided by ICH10R, SATA2 supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 2 X white SATAIII, provided by Marvell 9128, SATA3 supports RAID 0, RAID 1 2 X white SATAII, provided by GIGABYTE SATA2 chip, SATA2 supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD 1 X IDE，GIGABYTE SATA2chip provide Dual BIOS dual protection, also built-in Debug LED Upper Right Corner 6 X DIMM DDR3, supports 800/1066/1333/2200, the max DDR3 capacity is 24GB Cyan big button is Power and blue small button is Reset DDR3 uses 2 phases PWM and next is 24-PIN power connector Upper Left Corner LGA 1366 CPU socket, and CPU metal cover is electroplated. X58A-UD7 uses 24 phase PWM. It’s same as own P55-UD6 design and the highest in X58 board in the market now. IO 4 X USB 2.0(Yellow) 2 X USB 3.0(Blue) 2 X RJ-45 LAN 2 X eSATA/USB 2.0 Combo 1 X S/PDIF Fiber/Coaxial output 1 X 1394a clr CMOS button Full look after installing the Hybird SILENT-PIPE These heat pipe is also used in previous X58-EXTREME The shortcoming is lose one PCI-E X1 after installation

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3P Good 1.GIGABYTE parity P55 product still have good package and components quality 2.2oz PCB, 100% Japanese made solid capacitors, and plenty of software 3.P55 supports both ATI CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI 4.Rich BIOS items, wide voltage range and great OC ability in CPU/DDR3 5.Built-in 8 SATAII, 10 USB and 2 USB/eSATA combo ports Bad 1.SATAII position will interfere with long VGA card as GTX260 (Even though GIGABYTE has 2 vertical SATA cables for compensation) 2.Just launched platform has less CPU for choice. Currently, there are only 3 CPU Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ Components ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specification ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★☆☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★★★☆ GIGABYTE has launched 4 P55 models in the market which are UD3P/UD4P/DU5/UD6 The price is between 5200NTD to 9000NTD that equal to 160~278USD UD3P is the current lowest price model, however, the OC ability is not far away from the others During the performance test, UD3P performs in pretty high standard in OC P55-UD2 is GIGABYTE Micro-ATX P55 product but still don’t see any in the market yet For this kind of mid-high segment, Micro-ATX is always launched slower I do hope see this kind of product more. The full product line is also a good weapon to compete with the other brands Core i5-750 plus P55-UD3P is the cheapest LGA 1156 combo so far For LGA775 users, upgrading to Q8400 and Q9550 is the cheaper solution. However, if you are looking for new middle end PC, Core i5 is your must consideration The future CPU and 32nm manufacturing technology will bring you more visions

DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T, BIOS set as 1.500V SP2004 2 X Blend mode, 3.91GB full load stabled Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 24479MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 18556MB/s DDR3 2160 CL8 8-8-24 1T，BIOS set as 1.600V SP2004 2 X Blend mode, 3.90GB full load stabled Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 25230MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 19354MB/s DRAM doesn’t need 1.8-2.1V as LGA775 As Core i5/i7 bulit-in Memory Controller, the new DDR3 platform only needs 1.65V DDR3 2000 CL8 needs only 1.50V and DDR3 2160 CL8 also needs only 1.60V Above DRAM test, DDR3 quality is key factor, but also need good DDR3 OC MB to bring it out Pull up both CPU/DRAM CPU 216 X 19 => 4104Mhz DDR3 2160 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 9m 45.063s CPUMARK 99=> 638 Nuclearus Multi Core => 7816/11660/34409 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 25.42/12200 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 319963 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5851 x CPU=> 21272 PCMark Vantage => 16033 3DMark Vantage => 13119 Compare to 200/2000 test, CPU only raise from 4G to 4.1G, so the CPU performance is not big jump However, as DDR3 2160 and also raise CPU clock and frequency, the overall performance still enhance quite much CPU clock can pull to 219Mhz, but it’s not very stable. So I don’t put in this report

PC Health Status All above are BIOS screen and also my OC setting for P55-UD3P XPU/DDR3 is 200/200 ratio. The OC setup may be different as depending on your components combination Even the same model and period Core i5-750, the OC ability are vary. Users need to find your best voltage setup by your own. Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-750 MB: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3P DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 VGA: MSI R4890 CYCLONE DDR5 1GB HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0) POWER: Antec TruePower New TP-750 Cooler: Mega Shadow(Deluxe Edition) CPU 200 X 20=> 4000Mhz 1.35000V DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T 1.500V Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 9m 57.216s CPUMARK 99=> 621 Nuclearus Multi Core => 7618/11364/33466 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 24.76/11886 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 313013 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5707 x CPU=> 20405 PCMark Vantage => 14916 3DMark Vantage => 13038 P55-UD3P can reach 200/2000 easily. Of course, CPU and DDR3 quality is also very important UD3P doesn’t lower the OC ability as the price is cheaper. The OC range is very wide DDR3 OC ability Combine with the professional extreme memory maker CORSAIR latest product which supports P55 dual channel DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 Black and Red collocate makes GT be more attractive Clock is DDR3 2000, parameter is CL8 8-8-24 and voltage is 1.65V

P55 Heatsink Audio、LAN Chip P55-UD3P Boot Screen M.I.T. Menu CPU.DDR3 Clock current status Adjust CPU clock ratio, QPI clock ratio and BCLK CPU Core Feature Turbo Boost Tec is auto OC feature in Intel Core i7/i5 DDR3 Setup DDR3 parameters page B2B CAS Delay is the P55 exclusive item for DRAM performance The range is 1~32 and Auto is around 1~3 The higher number means looser. Sometimes, you even see 1xxx MB/s which is lower bandwidth than DDR. However, it’s also the key factor for pulling DDR3 clock Voltage page Load-Line Calibration Disable will raise CPU voltage as full speed/Enable will lower CPU voltage as full speed CPU Vcore 0.50000~1.90000V QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.050~1.990V PCH Core 0.950~2.000V CPU PLL 1.600~2.540V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.600V

It’s been almost 2 month since Intel launched LGA1156 socket on 8th Sep The new platform product line and market position are clearer As my previous review, LGA1156 is still focus in between high end and middle end CPU has 3 models so far. The highest is i7-870 and middle is i7-860 They both support HT which make Quad core CPU can simulate 8 cores i5-750 doesn’t support HT and it’s the most entry model now. The price is around 200USD MB Chipset is P55 and all MB makers also launched the products at the same time Currently, the P55 MB price is between 160~280 USD If you want to buy LGA 1156 platform, i5-750 plus 160USD P55 MB is the best C/P Certainly, if you need HT and also affordable, you also can consider i7-860 Merely, i7-860 price is very close to LGA1366 platform The MB this time is GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3P, price is 5200NTD This is entry price level for P55 MB so far First of all, it’s the package. UD3P is not GIGABYTE high end series, so the box is not so big Accessories Product Manual、Smart6/Smart TPM Guide、Driver CD and IO Shield. SATA cables are 2 standard and 2 vertical head GIGABYTE P55-UD3P Body Lower Left Corner 2 X PCI-E support CrossFire and SLI technology and the bandwidth is X8+X8 1 X PCI-E X1 4 X PCI Realtek 8111D LAN Chip Realtek ALC888 supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio Lower Right Corner 6 X Blue SATAII supports RAID 0， RAID 1， RAID 5 and RAID 10 2 X White SATAII supports RAID 0， RAID 1 and JBOD Dual BIOS, dual protection Upper Right Corner 4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600. The maximum DDR3 capacity is 16GB DD3 2200 is after overclocking spec. DDR3 has extra 2 phase PWM and 24-PIN head near by 1 X IDE, GIGABYTE SATA2 Upper Left Corner LGA 1156 CPU Socket UD3P CPU PWM is 8 phase and VTT is 2 phase IO 10 X USB 2.0 1 X RJ-45 LAN 2 X eSATA/USB 2.0 Shared 1 X S/PDIF Fiber /Coaxial output Close look to the components surround by CPU

Okay, now let’s try the hi-performance gadget “CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0)”. To test the SATA data transportation. Some people concern about the SATA transmission because P55 is a “Single chip” chipset. After the test, we can found the data transmission is almost the same with LGA 775 platform. DFI LANParty DK-P55 T3eH9 Plus 1.New cooler design. Good looking & good quality! 2.SLI & CrossFireX ready, bundled with SLI/ CrossfireX bridge. 3.All made in Japan capacitors; Tantalum capacitor for Audio; Intel 82578DC GbE LAN 4.Various BIOS options; wide range for voltage setting; outstanding CPU/ DDR3 OC 5.8 SATA II & 1 power eSATA 6.Patented BIOSecure technology. Negative 1. To OC Bclk to 220MHz would be better. 2. To cooperate with more retail store, users can buy DFI product easier. 3. Orange slot & connector should be changed. Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Quality ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ Appearance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Price/ Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ DFI will launch mini ITX P55 soon, which named “MI P55-T36”. I think DFI is trying to leverage the advantage from IPC department in order to find a new way out. The quality and cooler design is outstanding in DK P55, if DFI can release new BIOS for better OC, the Price/ Performance ratio would be very attractive. Here comes my DK P55 ABS file for your reference. If you have similar hardware with me, maybe you can try my setting. Wish you will get a nice overclocking! windwithme DFI LANParty DK-P55

PCMark Vantage => 15482 DK P55 performs stable in 200/ 2000MHz. To compare with other P55, there is no difference in voltage setting. OC performance is better than average. DDR3 bandwidth DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-25 1T，1.53V Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 24479MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 18567MB/s DDR3 2100 CL8 8-8-25 1T，BIOS 1.63V Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 26008MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 19645MB/s Memory bandwidth of DK P55 is a little bit higher than others. However, the frequency reaches 2100MHz only. I hope that DFI can break through the bottleneck and release new BIOS for overclocking. Software bundling is the weakness part in DFI product. Finally, DFI adds some useful tools for P55 series such as Auto-boost, bclk OC & BIOSecure. BIOSecure let you recover BIOS when crashing. Generally, you have to send the board back when BIOS is crashed; with BIOSecure, you can recover it by yourself immediately. If your board cannot boot anymore, you can user BIOSecure on the other PC or NB as “BIOS programmer”. Simply “install” the new BIOS via mini USB port, your board with be fully recovered within 1 minute. Then, let’s try higher bclk and DRAM frequency CPU 210.8 X 20 => 4216Mhz DDR3 218 CL8 8-8-25 1T Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 9m 24.406s CPUMARK 99=> 653 Nuclearus Multi Core => 25975 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 25.89/12425 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 305172 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5966 x CPU=> 21375 PCMark Vantage => 16052 CPU works stable in bclk 210.8MHz, it could be higher if you enable “CPU/DRAMCOMP”. When OC to 4.2GHz, it still passes the test. Of course, if shows the OC performance.

DDR3 setting in detail CMOS RELOADED: there are four banks for saving customized profile. PC status This is my BIOS setting screen capture. The potential of OC is depending on CPU quality. Even you get two or more i5-750 which was produced in the same time, the OC result will be totally different. So, you have to adjust frequency & voltage carefully to get the best result. Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-750 MB: DFI LANParty DK-P55 T3eH9 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0) POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER DELUXE 550W Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme Cooler Tuniq Tower12 Extreme ,Hi-end solution for air cooling. Cooper made basement; five heat-pipe in both left & right side. CPU 200 X 20=> 4000Mhz 1.34V DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-25 1T 1.53V Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 9m 52.359s CPUMARK 99=> 622 Nuclearus Multi Core => 24715 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 24.71/11858 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 294022 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5577 x CPU=> 20345

There is an extra fin module in middle for enlarging the surface for better heat dissipation. Cooler module for MOSFET; DFI indeed improves the cooler quality for DK series. Tantalum Capacitor for audio “Solid capacitor” produces “artificial” sound, so DFI adopts Tantalum cap in audio circuit. The memory bandwidth of P55 is less than X58 because the dual channel architecture. Boot up screen BIOS menu It’s the first time DFI adopts AMI BIOS. You can choose the language you want when log in BIOS menu. OC main menu Options for CPU Voltage setting page O.C. Shut Down Free: DFI patent technology; no “turn off the power” needed when changing the voltage. CPU Voltage 1.0000~2.0000V Power Saving Standard means turn ”Vdroop” off; Advance means you allow voltage droop Super VID ON means lock down the voltage when enabling EIST/C1E. CPU VTT Voltage +0.05~+0.697V DRAM Voltage 1.20~2.60V CPU/DRAMCOMP: When enabling this option, you can get 1~5MHz higher in bclk.

LGA 1156 is the latest Intel platform which announced two months ago. P55 is the first chipset designed for the new platform; and at this moment, there are three LGA 1156 CPUs in retail, Core i5-750, i7-860 & i7-870. By following Intel’s marketing segmentation, almost every MB manufacturers launched P55 product for mainstream to mid-high market. DFI LANParty launched P55 later than other brands; finally, we found DFI P55 in market in the end of October. Recently, we also heard some news about DFI’s P55 in mini-ITX form factor, maybe DFI want to create a different segment for P55? DFI LANParty launched P55 later than other brands; finally, we found DFI P55 in market in the end of October. Recently, we also heard some news about DFI’s P55 in mini-ITX form factor, maybe DFI want to create a different segment for P55? The product I review today is DK version, the mid-range product in LANParty series. The full marketing name is “DFI LANParty DK P55-T3eH9”. (DK P55 for short). You can find blue & black color on package; DFI adopts this pattern since early 2009. Accessories User manual, ABS manual (auto overclocking), DVD driver disc, I/O shield, Crossfire & SLI bridge, USB cable (for BIOSecure function). DFI LANParty DK-P55 T3eH9 Bottom left of DK P55 3 PCIe, supports 2-way CrossfireX & SLI with Physics (Bandwidth: x16/ x4/ x0 or x8/ x4/x8) 2 PCIe x1 2 PCI Intel 82587DV GbE LAN, Debug LED Realtek ALC 885 for 7.1 channels HD audio Bottom right of DK P55 6 SATA II connectors in orange (RAID 0/1/0+1/5 function from P55 chipset) 2 SATA II connectors in black (RAID 0/1 function from JMB322) Power/ Reset buttons Upper right 4 DDR3 DIMM in Dual channel architecture; ready for DDR3 1066/ 1333/ 1600/ 1800(OC); max capacity is 16GB (4G x 4) You should OC DDR3 to reach 1800MHz. You can also find 24-pin DC in connector here. Upper left LGA 1156 socket PWM: 6 phase for CPU, 2 phase for VTT, 1 phase for the incoming Clarkdale. I/O 4 USB 2.0 1 power eSATA/ 1 USB 2.0 1 optical/ Coaxial S/PDIF 1 RJ-45 LAN port 1 Clear CMOS button 1 mini USB port for BIOSecure Cooler module for DK P55