Motherboard makers to refresh P55 boards

**geo** · 10-01-2009, 07:55 AM

USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s coming soon

The dark satanic rumour mill has churned out an interesting rumour on an upcoming refresh of P55 boards.

Motherboard makers are apparently readying a new generation of P55 boards with USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s support. The move isn't very surprising, as many punters complained about the lack of SATA 6 on recently introduced P55 boards. However, nobody complained about P55 board prices, which are surprisingly affordable at the moment.

Obviously there's plenty of room for slightly pricier, future-proof incarnations of existing P55 board designs. With USB 3.0 and SATA 6 devices starting to appear soon, there's no doubt there will be plenty of demand for such boards, in spite of somewhat higher prices. The extra cost will simply buy you peace of mind.

Bear in mind that the P55 doesn't have enough bandwidth to fully utilize the benefits of USB 3.0 and SATA 6, but the expected performance boost is still significant.

Obviously, X58 boards which can harness the new standards without a performance penalty, will also be beefed up with USB 3.0 and SATA 6.

Of course, motherboard makers already envisioned the upgrades while they were designing current boards, so adding the new features should be a breeze. However, some companies will take an even simpler route. They will simply bundle PCIe x4 cards with a couple of USB 3.0 ports, and presto, you'll be able to try out your new USB 3.0 hardware in no time.

The allure of adding USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s stickers on motherboard boxes, thus making them quite a bit more appealing, will probably prompt vendors to speed up their upgrade efforts. Unfortunately, we still don't know when the new boards are supposed to appear on the market.

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15774/1/

**Glow9** · 10-01-2009, 08:01 AM

lol that didnt take long

**[XC] gomeler** · 10-01-2009, 08:04 AM

What about.. X58.

**Ozzfest05** · 10-01-2009, 08:11 AM

What I dont understand p55 performance penalty over x58? Lets compare system P55 Formulla III I870 8 gigs of ddr3 2000 ram compared to lets just say
Gigabyte UD4P 920 6gigs of 2000 ram.

How does p55 have a performance penalty over x58?

**Ket** · 10-01-2009, 08:22 AM

I'll skip those chipsets thanks and wait for a midstream chipset that doesn't cripple USB3 and sata3 performance. I know I know, I used to buy nothing but highend boards, but these days theres never really that much difference between a decent midrange board and a highend board.

**Ozzfest05** · 10-01-2009, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by Ket

I'll skip those chipsets thanks and wait for a midstream chipset that doesn't cripple USB3 and sata3 performance. I know I know, I used to buy nothing but highend boards, but these days theres never really that much difference between a decent midrange board and a highend board.

For p55 I have no clue because I havent used them but for X58 this is false.
Classified.
No midrange X58 product comes close to delivering the clocks it can attain.

**Ket** · 10-01-2009, 08:36 AM

I wasn't talking about the X58 being bad, just that i'll skip it. The P55 has always looked weak, and if it is true about USB3 and SATA3 being bottlencked on a P55, then its clear those technologies were an afterthought more than they were in the forefront. Bring on P65.

**Zorlac** · 10-01-2009, 11:05 AM

Yeah..no thx. I will wait until Intel builds in support in their own chipsets.

**Etihtsarom** · 10-01-2009, 02:25 PM

A refresh of X58 in the pipeline? Any one know?

**Computurd** · 10-01-2009, 04:12 PM

maybe not right atm, but it will be there!

**MpG** · 10-01-2009, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Ozzfest05

What I dont understand p55 performance penalty over x58? Lets compare system P55 Formulla III I870 8 gigs of ddr3 2000 ram compared to lets just say
Gigabyte UD4P 920 6gigs of 2000 ram.

How does p55 have a performance penalty over x58?

The bandwidth penalty the article is likely referring to refers to the DMI link between the CPU and the PCH, which is only equivalent to PCI-E x4, but has to handle all the data coming through the SATA and USB controllers, plus whatever you've got on the single PCI-E slots.

**HamidFULL** · 10-01-2009, 04:31 PM

haha we have fun all days! another vote for X58!

**Computurd** · 10-01-2009, 05:19 PM

The P55 bus issue rears its ugly head fellas>>.LOL
That board is an OEM chipset, i don't care what you do to it or whatever, it has no future. I repeat. No future.
They can slap big labels on it, "Enthusiast!" "Overclocking!!" "FTW Edition!" "CLASSIFIED!" they can do that all day long. They are as a matter of fact.
But it doesn't change the very inherent issue with this chipset in the first place.
It is not designed to do what people who are true enthusiasts want to do. It does not have the bus bandwidths required for this. There are articles out there already pointing to issues with bandwidth strangulation and these new cards from ati. However it is downplayed as ONLY a 7% performance drop. ONLY! what about when even newer and more bandwidth hungry cards come out? What about these new specs, sata 6/gbs and usb 3.0?
You will see this become a serious issue on this chipset within a years time. The limitations of this chipset will become more and more prominent, regardless of marketing hype, spin and PR.

**Ket** · 10-01-2009, 05:30 PM

Thats why I haven't jumped on P55 or X58. Their the first generations of a new socket, both need a little maturing time

**annihilat0r** · 10-01-2009, 11:13 PM

P55 / Lynnfield still don't make much sense to me actually. I think at Anandtech I had read that it wasn't selling as good as Intel hoped. As long as there's the mighty 920 and a good X58 mobo that can be had for $200 I still can't justify going the Lynnfield way.

**Frank M** · 10-01-2009, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by [XC] gomeler

What about.. X58.

Originally Posted by RagzaroK

A refresh of X58 in the pipeline? Any one know?

First post

Obviously, X58 boards which can harness the new standards without a performance penalty, will also be beefed up with USB 3.0 and SATA 6.

**FischOderAal** · 10-02-2009, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by Computurd

That board is an OEM chipset, i don't care what you do to it or whatever, it has no future. I repeat. No future.

How's that? Why should there be a bandwith issue when you're using a single GFX and maybe one PCI-card (sound)?

But yes, if you're using a RAID-card and whatelse, DMI just doesn't cut it. I really wonder how Intel could be that "dumb" to not beef it up.

And that's why I don't see any sense in USB3.0 and SATA3 on P55.

**G.Foyle** · 10-02-2009, 02:26 AM

I don't understand why is everyone talking about P55 being flawed, while it's the CPU, too. Replacing P55 would improve nothing, DMI would still be limited on CPU side. The solution would be to use regular PCI-E lanes for the SATA 6G controller, but that leaves you with less lanes for video cards. That's the way it has always been: top end chipsets (X58 in this case) had enough PCI-E lanes to have broad connectivity options.

**~~Xoulz~~** · 10-02-2009, 02:52 AM

Originally Posted by Computurd

The P55 bus issue rears its ugly head fellas>>.LOL
That board is an OEM chipset, i don't care what you do to it or whatever, it has no future. I repeat. No future.
They can slap big labels on it, "Enthusiast!" "Overclocking!!" "FTW Edition!" "CLASSIFIED!" they can do that all day long. They are as a matter of fact.
But it doesn't change the very inherent issue with this chipset in the first place.
It is not designed to do what people who are true enthusiasts want to do. It does not have the bus bandwidths required for this. There are articles out there already pointing to issues with bandwidth strangulation and these new cards from ati. However it is downplayed as ONLY a 7% performance drop. ONLY! what about when even newer and more bandwidth hungry cards come out? What about these new specs, sata 6/gbs and usb 3.0?
You will see this become a serious issue on this chipset within a years time. The limitations of this chipset will become more and more prominent, regardless of marketing hype, spin and PR.

What chipset do your suggest? As all others have their limitations, as well!

**Marios** · 10-02-2009, 05:18 AM

The move isn't very surprising, as many punters complained about the lack of SATA 6 on recently introduced P55 boards.

Quite strange...
There are no SATA 6Gb/s devices yet in the market for anyone to complain.
Most P55 mobos do have two SATA 6Gb/s ports already.
On the other hand we knew there were some problems with both - the first Sata3 controllers and the bandwidth on P55 platform.

Something is fishy here.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=42690
Intel® BD82P55 Platform Controller Hub
There are two different steppings of Intel's BD82P55 Platform Controller Hub.
The initial B2 with spec code SLGWV and a newer B3 spec code SLH24.
No further info about those two versions.
Any differences between the two?
Why is there a newer stepping of P55?

Possible explanations
- A bug on P55
- New USB3 support from P55 stepping B3
- A bug on existing SATA3 controllers
- New and better SATA3 controllers
- Whatever else

**kl0012** · 10-02-2009, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by Marios

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=42690
Intel® BD82P55 Platform Controller Hub
There are two different steppings of Intel's BD82P55 Platform Controller Hub.
The initial B2 with spec code SLGWV and a newer B3 spec code SLH24.
No further info about those two versions.
Any differences between the two?
Why is there a newer stepping of P55?

Possible explanations
- A bug on P55
- New USB3 support from P55 stepping B3
- A bug on existing SATA3 controllers
- New and better SATA3 controllers
- Whatever else

Or just some quality fixes to increase yield. At least, according to the errata there are no bugs in P55 which Intel plans to fix (except one causes audio artifacts on USB audio cards).
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/specupdate/322170.pdf

**Frank M** · 10-02-2009, 05:39 AM

Originally Posted by Marios

Quite strange...
- A bug on existing SATA3 controllers
- New and better SATA3 controllers

P55 doesn't have integrated SATA6Gbps or USB3.0 support.
On the mobos that have SATA6Gb ports, it's through external chips.

**Marios** · 10-02-2009, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by Frank M

P55 doesn't have integrated SATA6Gbps or USB3.0 support.
On the mobos that have SATA6Gb ports, it's through external chips.

It is obvious. "Controllers" is in plural meaning external chips from different vendors.
In case of P55 integrated SATA3 support all mobos would have it. Not most of them as I said.

Originally Posted by kl0012

Or just some quality fixes to increase yield. At least, according to the errata there are no bugs in P55 which Intel plans to fix (except one causes audio artifacts on USB audio cards).
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/specupdate/322170.pdf

This is about the initial B2 stepping.
There is no mention about B3 stepping on this pdf file.

**R31Nismoid** · 10-02-2009, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Ozzfest05

For p55 I have no clue because I havent used them but for X58 this is false.
Classified.
No midrange X58 product comes close to delivering the clocks it can attain.

Ye under extreme conditions (read not air/water)

For the 99.9% of people out there a midrange will perform and clock the same as a classified for X58.
It is only the select few chasing that .001% that it matters too.

110% agree with Ket on those points.

**Marios** · 10-02-2009, 08:28 AM

Compare
Intel Core i7-920 (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz) PLUS Intel X58 Express Chipset (ICH10R) 158.6 Watts $339
Intel Core i5-750 (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz) PLUS Intel P55 Platform Controller Hub 95 Watts $236

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