We were recently honored with an invitation to GIGABYTE’s official P55 Motherboard launch party which turned out to be a very informative event. As always, there was massive amounts of fraternizing and partying all night long. Ok, obviously there wasn’t “much” of that going on at such a prestigious launch event. What we did get to do was mingle with Intel, GIGABYTE, and Kingston and picked their brains on what was in store for us with the newest Lynnfield Processor and P55 Motherboards.
That’s right folks, the INTEL Core i5 train is getting ready to leave the station and GIGABYTE is definitely onboard!
Lynnfield and P55: The Gamer’s Choice
As you probably already know, Lynnfield returns to the tried and true Dual Channel Memory interface that once took the PC world by storm. Many of us said there was still plenty of performance to be had with Dual Channel and we think Intel agrees. While Nehalem is the pinnacle of compiling, rendering, and data crunching performance, it isn’t the most cost effective solution for everyone.
Lynnfield and P55 appear to be an affordable solution for gamers based on a design that helps lower the cost of the components. Having said that, any user that is into heavy multi-tasking, graphics and video should also listen up.
Despite its more cost effective design, it doesn’t mean Lynnfield will be pulling any punches when it comes to performance. There’s very little gaming performance difference between Dual and Triple Channel memory unless you use multi-threaded, memory intensive applications that can utilize this power effectively.
Why the Socket Change?
The reason is far simpler than you might expect. The LGA 1366 retention system, while sufficient, wasn’t entirely perfect. Intel engineers have kept up with some of the various issues reported from the field and felt it was safer to revise the design in an effort to create a better socket. However, we’re pretty sure the Lynnfield design, features, and new P55 Chipset also made it the optimal time to make this transition to the new LGA 1156 socket.
The changes help bring down costs because of the more simple design. As we all know in this economy, lowering costs is never a bad thing for consumers; something that AMD has been capitalizing on for quite a while with some extremely aggressive pricing.
Although the LGA 1156 means you’re tossing your LGA 1366 chips out, the simpler, better engineered boards ultimately make consumers happier and the timing was just perfect. Don’t be surprised if these two sockets remain the standard in to the next generation Westmere processor.
GIGABYTE Teaches the Art of P55
It’s here that GIGABYTE leaves conventional engineering behind and charges forward leading the industry as well as setting new standards. Some new features include both 12-Phase and 24-Phase VRM. This means the CPU will have ample power on hand for extreme overclocking and maximum stability, especially in regards to the 24-Phase. This is further augmented by Precision OV a very useful new power management feature implemented on GIGABYTE’s new P55 offerings.
Engineers have added two eSATA/USB Combo ports to some of the models. The ports double in function for both eSATA and USB 2.0 devices when needed increasing your expansion capabilities. SATA support receives a helping hand with X.H.D. which makes setting up RAID 0 so simple that anyone can do it. It’s as easy as X-H-D!
While TPM and its 2048-bit encryption aren’t completely new, they’ve expanded its capabilities by using a USB drive and/or Bluetooth device like your cell phone to unlock the system with the correctly programmed key. Kind of makes you feel like all James Bond inside.
Smart 6 brings you a new level of system management. It offers a slew of Smart options like QuickBoot, QuickBoost, Recovery, Dual BIOS, Recorder, and Timelock for when you want to give your teen a hint that it’s time to “unplug”. Smart 6 gets an extra hand as Dynamic Energy Saver 2 returns offering improved power management features and software features. Things just keep getting greener at GIGABYTE.
GIGABYTE’s New P55 Line Up
As with any confidential agreement, there are certain things we can do just short of revealing any benchmarks before Intel is ready. And, that means we can’t show you the GIGABYTE P55 line up so elegantly on display. JUST KIDDING! Of course, we can!
One of the four motherboards on display is a rather capable GA-P55M-UD4 micro-ATX motherboard that looks anything but micro. It boasts 12-Phase VRM which means there’s some overclocking headroom, plus a full gamut of features normally found on a full size ATX including CrossfireX and SLI. This is reminiscent of the no holds barred ASUS ROG Rampage II Gene X58 mATX board that we previously reviewed.
Next in line were the GA-P55-UD4P and UD5P. The UD5P model offers 12-Phase VRM as well as a third PCI-Express x16 slot beneficial to extreme gamers pushing beefy graphics cards. The UD4P offers basic, yet ever capable, SLI and CrossfireX support which should be popular with gamers on a budget. However, in either case, the features continue to be plentiful offering the best bang for buck if you can’t afford this next board in the lineup…
As with any new chipset launch there needs to be a flagship, and this is GIGABYTE’s answer. I seem to recall angelic voices coming down from the heavens as I approached three different GA-P55-UD6 systems.
This board offers a couple extra useful features which includes 24-Phase VRM. This is the platform of choice if you are an Ultra-Durable extreme enthusiast who wants to squeeze every possible drop of performance from your shiny new Lynnfield processor.
One UD6 system was connected to a Phase Change cooling system belonging to Fugger, who is a World Champion Overclocker and participant in GIGABYTE’s own GOOC Overclocking events. With this setup, he was able to push the Lynnfield to frequencies well beyond many Nehalem processors. He was also running some of that brand new Kingston DDR3 Dual Channel HyperX Memory that will be launching very soon at some super fast frequencies.
Lynnfield and P55 Tuned for Windows 7
There are some new features with P55 that you’ll find helpful. First, the P55 platform has been put through rigorous testing and is fully supported by Microsoft Windows 7. Everything has been tested and validated under the new operating system so come October 22, 2009, you won’t have any issues when you make that jump to the OS that Vista should have been. This also means that more than likely, Vista loyalists should also enjoy the same compatibility out of the box.
While overclocking has been far from poor when it comes to Nehalem and the X58 Chipset, it’s the Triple Channel memory controller that limits the level of CPU and memory overclocking that many enthusiast have grown to enjoy. Lynnfield’s Dual Channel interface allows the P55 platform to really push the limits. Rumors from various forums have claimed that it should smash through the 2133 MHz DDR3 barrier. That means Lynnfield would need some much higher CPU Bus, or Bclk, frequencies! Even more impressive is that all these feats have been produced under some form of Windows 7.
OK, We’ll Give You One Racing Benchmark
Although we can’t post real benchmarks due to the phone book thick NDAs we signed, here’s a quick visual for those that like charts…
Could this be a hint to any expectations? Like you, we really enjoy seeing sneak peaks at performance, but the force is very strong with the Intel PR manager.
All we can say is given Intel’s track record since Conroe, this may be an excellent if not the perfect future choice for gamers especially when coupled with any of the boards in GIGABYTE’s P55 collection. Improvements in the new core offers plenty of performance that we think you’ll be happy with when you purchase your next system. Plus, any money saved means one can purchase a more capable video card or possibly an extra one.
Rest assured, we will be presenting more charts come September 8, 2009 when Core i5 officially launches!
Another Excellent GIGABYTE Launch Party
Well, there you have a preview of the impressive, new P55 Motherboard line up from GIGABYTE. There’s a lot of excitement behind the series and how it will help take Lynnfield to another level of performance. Hopefully we helped put things in better perspective as we near its release. We really are just excited as you are!
We will be back again soon with performance round ups using any and everything Lynnfield we can get our hands on. In the meantime, feel free to stop by our Forums or IRC Channel if you have some questions or to let us know if we may have missed answering in this bit of coverage.
We would very much like to thank everyone at GIGABYTE, from the staff to the engineers, for the opportunity to attend the launch party. We understand how much work goes in to setting up these events and we really appreciate their efforts. GG!
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GIGABYTE Kicks Off Their INTEL Core i5 Line Up With a Party – Photo Gallery
