Newegg and P55?

G

gman

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 24, 2001
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So are the P55 boards suppose to be available today as well? I cannot locate any on the Egg and I'm ready to get a i7 860, but need a MB to go with it Newegg!!:mad:
 
I've usually found Newegg to be a day or two behind on stuff like this. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
299 for an 860 at newegg compared to 229 at microcenter... sigh.

I wish I had an MC in my area, Fry's has no such deals on CPUs
 
The 1156 boards are up at the Egg. Jeez what took so long.:rolleyes:
 
gman said:
My too. No Fry's or MC here in Charlotte. :confused:
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I've got Fry's here, but I doubt they sell for any less than 299 there either, plus they'll charge me tax, NewEgg doesn't.
 
They're all posted now and there's a filter for LGA 1156. No heatsink filters for that socket compatibility yet.
 
ZZF has the Gigabyte P55-UD4p for $162.99 shipped. A little cheaper than the egg, and no automatic price jacking.
 
I'm loving the placement of the power and USB connectors on the Intel 1156 board. That'll be my road.
 
Torquemada XP said:
I'm loving the placement of the power and USB connectors on the Intel 1156 board. That'll be my road.
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Yeah, I thought the Intel board looked really good too... I bet they use their own GigE controller too... Not some Realtek POS.
 
0ptional said:
Yeah, I thought the Intel board looked really good too... I bet they use their own GigE controller too... Not some Realtek POS.
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They probably do use their own Gigabit network controller, but it is probably fairly low end as is typically the case. Don't get me wrong it beats the snot out of a Realtek or Marvell controller any day of the weak. With that said if you want to do some serious overclocking, I think you'll find that the Intel BIOS is entirely too castrated to allow for anything but disappointment. I could be wrong on that point as I haven't worked with the new Intel P55 board but that's generally the opinion I always come away with when working with Intel boards.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Intel boards fine, (I own about 8 Intel boards currently) but for an enthusiast build I tend to look somewhere else.
 
Dan_D said:
They probably do use their own Gigabit network controller, but it is probably fairly low end as is typically the case. Don't get me wrong it beats the snot out of a Realtek or Marvell controller any day of the weak. With that said if you want to do some serious overclocking, I think you'll find that the Intel BIOS is entirely too castrated to allow for anything but disappointment. I could be wrong on that point as I haven't worked with the new Intel P55 board but that's generally the opinion I always come away with when working with Intel boards.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Intel boards fine, (I own about 8 Intel boards currently) but for an enthusiast build I tend to look somewhere else.
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I agree that it'll probably be lacking in overclocking features, which is incredibly important, but the layout and the use of their own GigE controller is pretty nice.

I wish other companies would use the built-in P55 GigE instead of us having to install some other driver..
 
Dan_D said:
They probably do use their own Gigabit network controller, but it is probably fairly low end as is typically the case. Don't get me wrong it beats the snot out of a Realtek or Marvell controller any day of the weak. With that said if you want to do some serious overclocking, I think you'll find that the Intel BIOS is entirely too castrated to allow for anything but disappointment. I could be wrong on that point as I haven't worked with the new Intel P55 board but that's generally the opinion I always come away with when working with Intel boards.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Intel boards fine, (I own about 8 Intel boards currently) but for an enthusiast build I tend to look somewhere else.
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Yes, I use Intel boards because I don't overclock. They are very good for flawless performance at stock settings. :)
 
Torquemada XP said:
Yes, I use Intel boards because I don't overclock. They are very good for flawless performance at stock settings. :)
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This is true. The only other problem I have with them is that they tend to be a little lean on features.
 
Either way, I'm waiting for USB 3.0 to end up in the mobo's before adopting a P55 or even X58, I'd like a little side of ICH11, but we'll see.

It's still day 1 so the prices are a little crazy as well, at least at NewEgg they are...
 
0ptional said:
Either way, I'm waiting for USB 3.0 to end up in the mobo's before adopting a P55 or even X58, I'd like a little side of ICH11, but we'll see.

It's still day 1 so the prices are a little crazy as well, at least at NewEgg they are...
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Prices already look pretty good to me. The most expensive P55 chipset based board I've seen on Newegg so far is the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 and it is priced at $219.99. The least expensive P55 board linked above was the GA-P55M-UD2 which is priced at 109.99.

Not bad at all. (Of course I'm the guy who spent $429.99 on an EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified, so take my thoughts on price with a grain of salt.)
 
is the ASUS board out that uses the SATA 6 controller?...I think it's called the P7P55D Premium

can anyone tell me the difference between the different Gigabyte boards?...what's the difference between the P55-UD2 vs UD5, UD6 etc?
 
polonyc2 said:
is the ASUS board out that uses the SATA 6 controller?...I think it's called the P7P55D Premium

can anyone tell me the difference between the different Gigabyte boards?...what's the difference between the P55-UD2 vs UD5, UD6 etc?
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As for the ASUS board, I am unaware of the existence of a P7P55D Premium. I know the Deluxe does not support SATA 6G. The P55 Express chipset supports SATA 1.5 and 3G only. The only difference between it and the ICH10R is support for 2 additional USB 2.0 ports for a total of 14 vs. 12. The P7P55D Deluxe also incorporates a JMicron JMB322 Hardware RAID controller and a JMB363 PATA/SATA controller. Neither of which support SATA 6G. I know the Gigabyte boards are rumored to support it but I am not sure which models do and which ones do not. Since the P55 Express chipset doesn't support it natively, it must come in the form of an additional controller which is integrated into the board's design.

Among the Gigabyte boards the main differences are going to be features and power phases. The UD5 is going to have more power phases and more features than the UD3 or UD2 will.
 
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Dan,

How well do you think the Gigabyte P55 UD3R will overclock compared to the UD4P or UD5?
 
polonyc2 said:
ASUS P7P55D Premium P55 Preview- SATA 6G returns

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=769
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I hadn't heard of that board, but it fit with ASUS' naming scheme so I'm not surprised to see it. Looks like SATA 6G is provided by a Marvell chip and a PEX PLX8613 PCI Express bridge chip. We'll have to see how well that works. Of course I don't even have any SATA 6G drives (There aren't any out as far as I know.) to test with (if any are even out) so it doesn't matter right now. I couldn't test it right now despite wanting to.

J Macker said:
Dan,

How well do you think the Gigabyte P55 UD3R will overclock compared to the UD4P or UD5?
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Not sure. Typically the UD3R boards don't overclock quite as well as the more expensive boards do but they usually come within 10 to 15MHz BCLK of the more expensive UD5 and Extreme boards.
 
Enthusiast LGA 1156 boards that cost more than Enthusiast 1366 boards? ... lol no thanks.
 
Man you can buy a lowend x58 motherboard for the price of one of those p55ds. Slap in an i7 920 and have a better system.

What the heck? The P55 can only support PCIE 1.0? Talk about gimped right out of the box.

"Since the P55 chipset only supplies PCIe 1.0, the most if can offer over a single lane is 250 MB/s; the PLX bridges as many as 4 lanes of PCIe 1.0 to PCIe 2.0 where a single lane provides 500 MB/s."
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=769

Apparently they have to route multiple PCIe 1.0 lanes to get enough throughput to support Sata 3.0 on that motherboard.
 
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if you don't ever plan on going SLI/Crossfire then the X58 is a waste of money...I read an article today which stated that less then 10% of all users are currently using an i7 (Bloomfield)...most people realize that it brings nothing substantial to the table...triple channel= total waste except in synthetic benchmarks...Lynnfield is for that other 90%

people talk about how the X58 is more future proof because Gulftown will be using the same socket...useless!!...because if you upgrade to Lynnfield now you will have zero need to upgrade when Gulftown comes out...now Sandy Bridge is another story but by that time Intel will have changed sockets again meaning that everyone will be in the same boat no matter if you have Socket 1366 or 1156!!
 
polonyc2 said:
if you don't ever plan on going SLI/Crossfire then the X58 is a waste of money...I read an article today which stated that less then 10% of all users are currently using an i7 (Bloomfield)...most people realize that it brings nothing substantial to the table...triple channel= total waste except in synthetic benchmarks...Lynnfield is for that other 90%

people talk about how the X58 is more future proof because Gulftown will be using the same socket...useless!!...because if you upgrade to Lynnfield now you will have zero need to upgrade when Gulftown comes out...now Sandy Bridge is another story but by that time Intel will have changed sockets again meaning that everyone will be in the same boat no matter if you have Socket 1366 or 1156!!
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Making blanket statements is a bad idea. The LGA1366 platform has other features than just SLI or Crossfire that can be of use to certain users. Don't be so quick to dismiss them just because you aren't the kind of person who takes full advantage of their hardware.
 
What the heck? The P55 can only support PCIE 1.0? Talk about gimped right out of the box.
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No I don't think you read the article. P55s are PCie 2.0.

The P7P55D Premium motherboard addresses this issue by integrating a PEX PLX8613 PCI Express bridge chip. Now, using 4 lanes of PCIe 1.0 lanes from the P55 chipset, the PLX8613 has access to nearly 1 GB/s of bandwidth and the PLX provides 500 MB/s of bandwidth over a single PCIe 2.0 connection. That is the key factor here: obviously the Marvel 9123 chip can only accept a single PCIe connection for data - but it can be either Gen1 or Gen2 PCI Express. Since the P55 chipset only supplies PCIe 1.0, the most if can offer over a single lane is 250 MB/s; the PLX bridges as many as 4 lanes of PCIe 1.0 to PCIe 2.0 where a single lane provides 500 MB/s.
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Actually, yes, he did read it correctly. The PCIe on the P55 is 1.0, first gen. It uses the PLX chip to essentially bridge 4 lanes of PCIe 1.0 into a single lane of PCIe 2.0 for the Marvel chip.
 
Dan_D said:
Among the Gigabyte boards the main differences are going to be features and power phases. The UD5 is going to have more power phases and more features than the UD3 or UD2 will.
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does it make a difference, performace wise, if I were to get the UD4 vs UD6?...prices seem to be quite a bit cheaper for the 'lower end' UD2 etc boards and I was wondering if the price increase was worth the premium price when they basically seem like the same board...even going to the official Gigabyte website it is hard to differentiate between the model numbers
 
Actually, yes, he did read it correctly. The PCIe on the P55 is 1.0, first gen. It uses the PLX chip to essentially bridge 4 lanes of PCIe 1.0 into a single lane of PCIe 2.0 for the Marvel chip.
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Yep I stand corrected. Found this at bit-tech.

Intel has been decidedly sneaky in its marketing of the PCI-E capabilities of P55, though. Intel says that P55 supports 'Generation 2' PCI Express, which usually operates at 5GT/sec for an 8x slot. Intel disputes this, claiming "The PCI-E ports on P55 support the PCI Express 2.0 spec at the 2.5 GT/sec speed. The 5GT/sec speed (which is often referred to as Gen 2) is an optional component of the PCI-E 2.0 spec and is not supported on P55."

We asked Intel what exactly made the PCI-E connections of P55 'compliant' with the Generation 2 specification, but have yet to receive a precise response. Even if Intel is classing it as 'working with Gen 2 devices', PCI Express is designed to be backward compatible, so we can just as easily say that the PCI-E lanes of P55 are actually PCI-E 1.1 connections. But we'll wait to hear from Intel before catagorically saying that.
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polonyc2 said:
does it make a difference, performace wise, if I were to get the UD4 vs UD6?...prices seem to be quite a bit cheaper for the 'lower end' UD2 etc boards and I was wondering if the price increase was worth the premium price when they basically seem like the same board...even going to the official Gigabyte website it is hard to differentiate between the model numbers
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They'll perform the same. The main difference between the various models are simply features, power phases and BIOS. They won't necessarily overclock the same. Typically with the UD3R versions you can expect overclocking to be slightly more difficult requiring more adjustments than the higher end boards do. This isn't always the case and your mileage may vary somewhat. Again they'll overclock well but not quite as well as the higher end models do.

They represent a great value for the enthusiast but remember you get what you pay for. They are quality boards but they aren't as nice as higher end boards.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Man you can buy a lowend x58 motherboard for the price of one of those p55ds. Slap in an i7 920 and have a better system.
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I hesitate to respond to this, as it has been rehashed many times in the forums. That said, I will summarize:

1. 1366 is a great socket for those that need/want its features (most notably 3X SLI, and triple channel memory). For those that don't, why get a "low-end" motherboard for no reason? 1366 is a "deluxe" platform for users who need very unusually high performance, and don't mind paying for it. If 1366 is what you want, I think it makes more sense to go with a fully-featured 1366 board, than to skimp with a low-end board for price reasons. :confused:

2. The i5-750 benches very impressively against the 920 in single- and double-threaded applications (due to its very robust Turbo mode), and the i7-860 even employs HT, making it a very formidable challenger in all applications. Bytheway, finding applications which are optimized for 4+ cores is like finding the needle and the thread in a haystack.

3. Triple channel memory, schmiple channel memory. :D

At the end of the day, 1156 was meant to be a high-end socket for budget-conscious users, and 1366 a high-end socket for performance-driven users. Building a cheap 1366 rig is fine, of course, but I believe that is putting a square peg in a round hole. Especially with i9 around the corner (for those who believe it will be a "drop-in" upgrade), it only looks to be getting pricier.

Either platform gives jaw-dropping performance. Those who need triple channel memory and triple SLI should know this, and need not waffle between the two platforms. Those who don't make a good decision either way, in my opinion. There is no need to laud 1366 as somehow inherently superior.
 
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