P55 Mobo Roundup

[HIO]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
IOW, the level of confusion and misinformation among computer hardware 'enthusiasts' is second only to perhaps the audio 'enthusiast' (audiophile) community.

Good analogy!

 

[mmnno]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
mmnno, what 775 cooler do you plan on using? and do you plan on overclocking?

My Core i7 860 under Megahalems runs 10*C-15*C hotter at 4.0ghz than Q6600 G0 @ 3.4ghz was under Tuniq Tower in the same case with same Graphics Card.

Core i7 chips run extremely hot once overclocked. Therefore you may think twice before using a Socket 775 cooler, unless it is Scythe Mugen 2, TRUE or something along those lines.

The $150 Asrock board has significantly better power circuitry cooling

I wanted to use an enzotech sapphire, which has no 1156 bracket yet. However it turns out I will be getting an EVGA FTW anyway, so problem solved .

 

[Infrnl]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
My Core i7 860 under Megahalems

Did you have any issues with your megahalem? I installed my rev B on a UD2. The backplate ended up a little loose when screwing on those double sided screws. Also when I bolted it all together I noticed it seems fairly loose on the cpu? Did you notice any of this?

I had to add 3 sm washer per screw when mounting on the cpu. got it tighter but still a tiny tiny bit of play. I need to recheck following instructions exactly, but with the washers and IC D7; I was @ idel mid to high 20's, full load mid to high 60's.

My UD2 fried, so I am currently looking for a replacement till I get the UD2 rma'd.

I want to get one locally, but the cheapest is the UD4 micro board for $150 plus tax

There might be better boards in the $150 range, not sure. I can also get a evga LE online for $150 and $118 after rebate/cashback.

Last thing I am wondering is; I might need SLI for GPUGrid (distributed computing) I think with the latest software/drivers; its required to run multiple cards in sli. I am not 100% sure, but I thin thats how it currently works.

I know some boards do 16x/4x, but is there any sli support on these, or do you have to get a 8x/8x board? Thanks

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Infrnl

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
My Core i7 860 under Megahalems

Did you have any issues with your megahalem? I installed my rev B on a UD2. The backplate ended up a little loose when screwing on those double sided screws. Also when I bolted it all together I noticed it seems fairly loose on the cpu? Did you notice any of this?

It is supposed to be lose by design. The backplate is NOT supposed to be tight like for any other cooler you may have seen. Once you bolt the heatsink to those 2 supporting beams with the top supporting cover, it becomes tight.

Sorry to hear about your UD2. Do you have a good PSU? Did you use standoffs when mounting the board?

In regard to SLI, I am not sure what impact an NV board will have on performance in GPUGrid software. You may want to ask that in the Distributed Computing forum section. For games you do want 8x/8x at minimum.

In that case UD4P or P7P55D Pro is the way to go.

 

[imported_Lothar]

RussianSensation
Are you able to enable your power saving features while overclocking at 4GHz? Do they actially work?

Xbit labs did a review on the UD6 complaining that you can't keep(or they don't work rather?) the power saving features while overclocking/raising BLCK.

I would hate for my CPU to idle down to 1.xGHz while the mobo keeps feeding it 1.36v overclocked voltage instead of lowering the voltage accordingly.

Maybe I should start looking at ASUS?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Lothar
RussianSensation
Are you able to enable your power saving features while overclocking at 4GHz? Do they actially work?

I can confirm that they do not work with the current BIOS in place in regard to voltages. At 4.0ghz, in idle mode, I get 190 BCLK x 9 = 1710 mhz and a voltage of 1.280V .

At stock speeds they do work. I get 133 x 9 = 1197 mhz with a voltage of 0.848V. At load with Turbo mode at 133 x 22 = 2930mhz, the effective voltage is 1.152V.

Let me know if you want me to put up any screenshots.

So if you want power saving features {low voltages in idle} @ 4.0ghz, go with ASUS over Gigabyte.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: Lothar
RussianSensation
Are you able to enable your power saving features while overclocking at 4GHz? Do they actially work?

I can confirm that they do not work with the current BIOS in place in regard to voltages. At 4.0ghz, in idle mode, I get 190 BCLK x 9 = 1710 mhz and a voltage of 1.280V .

At stock speeds they do work. I get 133 x 9 = 1197 mhz with a voltage of 0.848V. At load with Turbo mode at 133 x 22 = 2930mhz, the effective voltage is 1.152V.

Let me know if you want me to put up any screenshots.

So if you want power saving features {low voltages in idle} @ 4.0ghz, go with ASUS over Gigabyte.

I'll give Gigabyte a month to provide a bios update to the issue, If not I might bypass them for ASUS.
My rig should be up and running by the end of November, so I'm in no hurry to buy parts yet. I've only bought a HAF 932 so far.

Anyone have any opinion on eVGA P55 LE? It's available for $149.99 after rebate on eVGA.com and I'm seeing it for $154 shipped from some other websites using Google shopping. Actually it's available at Micro Center for $139.99 after rebate!

The only thing I know so far is that it has socket 775 mounting holes(I don't have a socket 775 cooler so no benefit for me?).
It seems to have advanced features like LED diagnostic, CMOS/reset/power buttons, and other things which the $150 ASUS, and $139 Gigabyte lacks for the same price.
I do see that it lacks Solid Capacitors though. Is the term "Solid Capacitors" simply a marketing gimmick(like "# of phases" is) or is it an important feature that someone would actually need/want?

After $150, there's a big hole in motherboard prices and the next price is $179+

*EDIT*
I just discovered that the eVGA P55 LE doesn't have an eSATA port. Fail.

Also, I read the article on Xbit labs article in detail and missed a part.
The difference on idle between ASUS(running at reduced voltage) and Gigabyte (running at full voltage) was only 7 watts!!!
That's not something to get worked up all over, but I would still appreciate if they fixed that issue.

 

[RussianSensation]

Although there are diminishing returns with power phases, 8+2 (UD3R design) is probably the minimum you are going to want for 4.0ghz overclock.

Check out Tom's roundup linked above, P7P55D and UD3R stood out. I think EVGA SLI FTW is an awesome board but that LE looks ordinary.

Asus P7P55D Deluxe got Editor's Choice. P7P55D is good for 210 BCLK is bound to be a good board as well

I forgot to tell you, Gigabyte boards do not support Turbo multiplier in static overclocking mode. In other words, Asus and MSI, for example, will let you access 22x multiplier manually on the 860 while Gigabyte limits you to 21x, unless you enable Turbo Mode. Not that it matters since my Gigabyte hits 210 BCLK so at 21x multi you get 4.4ghz :beer:

 

[SolMiester]

I want to see a MSI Big Bang review....cant wait to see this hydra chip in action!! Kind of takes away one of the X58 advantages of multi-gpu lane limitation.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Although there are diminishing returns with power phases, 8+2 (UD3R design) is probably the minimum you are going to want for 4.0ghz overclock.

Check out Tom's roundup linked above, P7P55D and UD3R stood out. I think EVGA SLI FTW is an awesome board but that LE looks ordinary.

Asus P7P55D Deluxe got Editor's Choice. P7P55D is good for 210 BCLK is bound to be a good board as well

I forgot to tell you, Gigabyte boards do not support Turbo multiplier in static overclocking mode. In other words, Asus and MSI, for example, will let you access 22x multiplier manually on the 860 while Gigabyte limits you to 21x, unless you enable Turbo Mode. Not that it matters since my Gigabyte hits 210 BCLK so at 21x multi you get 4.4ghz :beer:

Yeah, no kidding.
If I saw the EVGA P55 SLI FTW selling for $160-170 shipped, I'd buy it now.
What eVGA needs to do is release a P55 FTW motherboard with the exact same features (without SLI support) at a lower price(~$160-170). I'd buy that. :thumbsup:

How are they able to do this? I thought the multipliers are locked on those chips?
Interesting...So what made you choose Gigabyte?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Lothar

How are they able to do this? I thought the multipliers are locked on those chips?
Interesting...So what made you choose Gigabyte?

Good engineers? hehe I had MSI CD-53 and all I had to do was set EIST to Enabled. I was then able to select 22x multiplier freely when overclocking. But like I said my board will do 210 BCLK with ease so there is no need for 22x multiplier, not to mention Core i7 processors overclock better with odd multipliers (as you will see per Xtremesystems link). Unfortunately, that board was crapping out on memtest86.

Generally I was very unhappy with LiveUpdate4 under Windows 7 64-bit it would never find the latest bios. So I was forced to flash using the USB key. It has no Load Line Calibration and in general felt cheap. I wasn't happy that it would crap out in Prime95 even at stock speeds and was overvolting my Core i7 860 to 1.200V at 2.93ghz.

So then I decided to return the board to Microcenter. I decided to pony up extra $$$ for a better board. Since I was buying my P55 board when 1156 was just released (around September 9th), it left me with Asus P7P55D or UD3R.

I had previously owned GA-965P-DS3 and GA-P35-DS3L and those were outstanding budget overclockers. I am already familiar with Gigabyte's excellent website, dual bios, and great stability with my previous boards when overclocked. In addition, Newegg had a bigger discount on my Gskill ram with the Gigabyte board. So it ended up being cheaper than the Asus board. Otherwise, if I had known about inability to use voltage power savings while overclocked, I would have spent the extra $$ for the Asus board.

I was an early tester so to speak and Newegg didnt' have any EVGA or Asrock boards when I was buying. This review also helped

But even now after reading reviews and comments on the forums, Gigabyte UD2/UD3R and Asus P7P55D stand out <$150. So looks like my board was a good decision, although may not be the best board <$150.

 

[ChaosDivine]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
I had previously owned GA-965P-DS3 and GA-P35-DS3L and those were outstanding budget overclockers.

+1 I still have two 965P-DS3 Rev 1.0s running an E6600 @ 3.6GHz and E6420 @ 3.3GHz. 24/7 for the last 3 years without problems and they've been through a couple of graphics cards each (X800, X1950XT, G80 8800GTS, 4850, 4890).

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: ChaosDivine

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
I had previously owned GA-965P-DS3 and GA-P35-DS3L and those were outstanding budget overclockers.

+1 I still have two 965P-DS3 Rev 1.0s running an E6600 @ 3.6GHz and E6420 @ 3.3GHz. 24/7 for the last 3 years without problems and they've been through a couple of graphics cards each (X800, X1950XT, G80 8800GTS, 4850, 4890).

:thumbsup:

Ya, I loved the 965P-DS3. All I did was get a $5 Zalman Northbridge and Big Typhoon and it easily pushed E6400 @ 3.4ghz. But if you want to be impressed even more for a <$100 board, my Corsair CM2X1024-5400C4 (DDR2-675) got up to DDR2-1000 speeds at CL5 at 500FSB. Not too shaby for a budget board!

The P35 DS3L was OK for 65nm quad. On just 4 phases I got up to 3.4ghz (and still limited by the chip/cooling). The board did crap out at 435FSB+. That is why I didn't go for Q9550 E0.

 

[gizbug]

Go with the ASUS P55-UD3R. Won't regret it, great company, AWESOME board.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: gizbug
Go with the ASUS P55-UD3R. Won't regret it, great company, AWESOME board.

Does such a motherboard exist?
Is it produced by ASUSbyte?

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: gizbug
Go with the ASUS P55-UD3R. Won't regret it, great company, AWESOME board.

Does such a motherboard exist?
Is it produced by ASUSbyte?

Nope, it's by Gigasus!


/i like my P55-UD3R other than one main complaint: when OCing RAM past doable speeds/timings, instead of being able to reset/power off then on & POST fine, it half POSTs.

Again & again & again, until i frickin' reset CMOS.
Massive effing PITA! :frown:

My P5Q-D recovers from bad RAM OCs so flawlessly i cannot even remember the last time i ever had to reset CMOS, but it's a massive Gigafail on this mobo.

That & POST/SATA controller screens as slow as crap, which makes what would be a fast reboot/startup a lot slower.
Not sure why Gigabyte can't get this better like other brands...