Yeah you already know the reason I am here for…
But first, here’s something for the uninitiated.
I respect Gigabyte a lot, simple reason that they stood by what they said and have supported me (especially with my extreme overclocking). Things have been good with Gigabyte since 2007, and continue to do great with each passing year- touchwood.
Many reviewers/overclockers around the world will agree to the fact that they don’t impose restrictions of any sort and truly value feedback, be it good or bad. This sort of freedom also encourages us to put in that little extra to make sure they keep coming up with better and better stuff as
it’s us who will benefit in the end.
So here is the star of the day “Gigabyte P55-UD6”.
Those who are familiar with Gigabyte motherboards know UD6 means top end for the series. This one’s no different. It comes with all the bells and whistles characteristic of top end Gigabyte motherboards.
Honestly, I am sorry for not being able to cover everything in detail here.
But what I can surely offer you all and without any compromise or partiality is my take on the performance it has to offer and how easily at that.
Here we go…
[BREAK=Page 2: Features and Specification]
[BREAK=Page 3: Pictures]
Board:
BIOS:
[BREAK=Page 4: Test Setup]
Intel Core i5 750 (ES)
-
Gigabyte P55-UDS
-
ASUS P7P55D-Premium
Kingston HyperX 1800 CL9 2GB
ASUS ENGTX260 MATRIX
7200.10 250GB
DELL 24"
Silverstone DA1000
OS: Windows 7 RC
Tests were run thrice and average results were taken.
CPU - i5 750 was tested at different frequencies.
Stock speed of - 21X133 [2800MHz]
OverClocked Speeds of - 20X200 [4000MHz] as well as 21X200 [4200MHz].
Note1: Gigabyte P55-UD6 by default has a BCLK of 136.7 and I chose to use this as it is. Not everyone will go and change it to 133BCLK. So keep this in mind when you check the stock – 2.8GHz results.
Note2: Asus P7P55D Premium has a BCLK of 200.5 instead of 200 or 199.9BCLK. So keep this in mind for the overclocked results of Asus board.
[BREAK=Page 5: Super Pi]
“Super Pi” does not need an introduction. One of the most popular benchmarks for testing CPU performance.
Pi32M times:
GB P55-UD6 @ 2.8GHz: 13m : 01 : 140s
Asus P7P55D Premium @ 2.8GHz: 13m : 21 : 155
GB P55-UD6 @ 4.2GHz: 09m : 05 : 518s
Asus P7P55D Premium @ 4.2GHz: 09m : 05 : 393s
[BREAK=Page 6: Everest Cache & Memory Benchmark]
EVEREST Ultimate Edition is an industry leading system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology.
[BREAK=Page 7: PCMark Performance]
Another popular PC benchmark, PCmark Vantage analyses the performance of your pc and determines its strengths and weaknesses.
Something is off here. I will check with Gigabyte and update if anything changes.
[BREAK=Page 8: x264 HD Benchmark]
This benchmark tests performance with one of the most popular H.264 video encoders, the open-source x264. The results come in two parts, for the two passes the encoder makes through the video file. These scores come from the newer, faster version 0.59.819 of the x264 executable.
[BREAK=Page 9: 3DMark Performance]
A 3DMark score is an overall measure of your system’s 3D gaming capabilities, based on comprehensive real-time 3D graphics and processor tests.
3Dmark06 tests your system’s DirectX 9 performance.
3Dmark Vantage tests your system’s DirectX 10 performance.
[BREAK=Page 10: Gaming Performance: Batman Arkham Asylum]
After a long time, here is a superhero game that does justice to the title and has enthralled gamers worldwide apart from just Batman fans
[BREAK=Page 11: Gaming Performance: Crysis]
One of the most awaited and visually stunning games of the present times. Crysis brings most gaming rigs down to their knees
[BREAK=Page 12: Gaming Performance: Far Cry 2]
A hit or miss with gamers, Far Cry 2 still stands as one of the decent games to test the gaming performance of one’s system.
[BREAK=Page 13: Gaming Performance: HAWX]
Hawx - One of the best aerial combat games ever made. This graphical treat also feautres DX10.1 support.
[BREAK=Page 14: Gaming Performance: Resident Evil 5]
Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5 , is a survival horror video game and was preceded by a benchmark tool, that was released for both system performance evaluation as well as to test the new 3D technology which is implemented in all the cut-scenes within the game.
[BREAK=Page 15: My take]
My Take:
I have started liking Gigabyte boards for sometime now and so I may seem a bit biased here.
But only they are to be blamed for that as they have really pushed themselves up to the level of the best out there.
Many users across the world, even extreme overclockers will share the same sentiment as me.
And continuing that very sentiment but not being blinded by it, this is a very good board indeed.
A stable and strong performer… barring the odd PCMark Vantage score. I am sure that will mostly be taken care of by a BIOS update in future.
Also I could push my old Kingston sticks to a high that was seemingly unachievable on all the DDR3 boards tested here till date.
Till the other test candidates (oh yeah a few more to go ;)) are subjected to the customary bump and grind, the Gigabyte P55-UD6 seems to be the best of the lot for now, with a significant improvement in max BCLK achievable (under air-cooling) compared to previous candidate.
Ok here is the update on Price: Rs 18990/-.
This kind of price is a spoiler for many enthusiast wanting to upggrade but this is the price I got from Gigabyte India.
