Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R - Amazing Value!

[alacheesu]

Thanks for the review. I can't seem to find the -R version locally. Is there a big difference between the UD3R and the UD3? I see some minor differences on Gigabyte's site, and I also read that the -R has 8 phase vs the UD3's 4 phase. The former is irrelevant to me, but does 4 vs 8 phase really matter if you're just looking for a decent OC for 24/7 operation? I'm clueless about these things. Would I be better off getting the UD4 instead, even though I need none of the other extra features it provides.

[miahallen]

The jump from 4 to 8 phases is a big one for 24/7 overclocking stability. 8 phases is generally considered the minimum for a good overclocking board

[alacheesu]

I see. Thank you.

[dctokyo]

Very nice review miahallen, was that the same board that I saw that Saturday when you warming up? Any chance to see some bench's with the i7 860?

Also please repost the pictures, they are not working now.

[miahallen]

OK, pictures are back up. Thanks for the heads up Dan
I don't have an 860 ATM, and seeing how few of them are any good, I'm hesitant to spend my money on one...

[dctokyo]

I don't have an 860 ATM, and seeing how few of them are any good, I'm hesitant to spend my money on one...

Are you saying that the 860 is not good at benching or for use on the P55 boards compare to the 750 or 870?

I was thinking of going the P55 route but I was hoping to save money and get the 860 over the 870

[punx223]

very nice writeup mia... that is an amazing chip and an even nice board you got there. looks like p55's are turning into some very decent performers.

[miahallen]

Are you saying that the 860 is not good at benching or for use on the P55 boards compare to the 750 or 870?

I was thinking of going the P55 route but I was hoping to save money and get the 860 over the 970

860 is a great buy for an everyday user. But most have not been great overclockers under extreme cooling. Same problem with the 870s...but for you they should be fine

very nice writeup mia... that is an amazing chip and an even nice board you got there. looks like p55's are turning into some very decent performers.

Thanks dude

[miahallen]

While I was working on the earlier benchmarking, I could not get CPU-Z to validate any of my speeds. I tried again tonight with the leftover 3 liters of LN2 that I had, just enough to get me a bronze cup for my suicide shot. Really wish I could have done it in XP the other night though, as I was able to reach 5290MHz at that time

[SubZero.it]

While I was working on the earlier benchmarking, I could not get CPU-Z to validate any of my speeds. I tried again tonight with the leftover 3 liters of LN2 that I had, just enough to get me a bronze cup for my suicide shot. Really wish I could have done it in XP the other night though, as I was able to reach 5290MHz at that time

and that's a 100€ board!!great work!!

[miahallen]

Stay tuned...I have an i7 870 on the way

[Buckeye]

I have to agree on the 860's, mine is running pretty much like the 750 but I can boot on Cascade with the 860 so its not cold buging at the sight of an ice cube, but the extra cold doesn't seem to be buying me much in OC.

Retail chips might be better like your 750 is vs ES.

Its nice to have HT tho.

[WaterFlex]

Impressive work, well done

[miahallen]

Thanks WF

In case anyone wanted more info on the cooler I user, here is a shameless spot for my favorite air cooler to date.

I used the Prolimatech Megahalems unit...it's one of the best air coolers on the market...it performs somewhere in between the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (aka "TRUE") and the TRUE Copper. And it's reasonably priced. It also has the best mounting system of ANY air cooler to date.

Prolimatech - Megahalems CPU Cooler - 775 / 1366 / 1156 - Rev B
Shown with older 775/1366 bracket


New black version:
Prolimatech Mega Shadow - Deluxe Edition 775 / 1366 / 1156
Shown with new 775/1156/1366 compatible bracket


They also have the 775/1156/1366 hold-down bracket available for those who already have the original version:
Prolimatech Megahalems Socket LGA 1156 mounting kit

[Zaxis01]

Does the Gigabyte EX58 UD3R 1.6v perform the same as this one?

[miahallen]

Totally different platform...this is a socket 1156 platform...you're talking about socket 1366.

[dctokyo]

Thanks WF

In case anyone wanted more info on the cooler I user, here is a shameless spot for my favorite air cooler to date.

I used the Prolimatech Megahalems unit...it's one of the best air coolers on the market...it performs somewhere in between the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (aka "TRUE") and the TRUE Copper. And it's reasonably priced. It also has the best mounting system of ANY air cooler to date.

Many thanks miahallen, after reading about it I just got one

PM, me if your going to be down in the Tokyo area again.

[dinos22]

wow great writeup there mate
nice clocking as well

[Benny Lodewijk]

wow.. amazing write up Mia.... also impressive result

[miahallen]

Thanks guys...just popped the i7 870 in...same batch (L928B) and it seems to have similar capabilities as the 750 on H2O...hopefully I'll test under LN2 on Sunday night

[miahallen]

OK...wanted to provide a brief update with more stability testing on the i5 750, as well as my first thoughts on the i7 870 that arrived today.

First I'd like to point out something interesting I found when I swapped CPUs today. Apparently, "socket burn" may have effected me as well. Time will tell, but I believe I do show some indication of an issue here...hopefully it does not get any worse I'd really like to know if this is a mobo/CPU/design problem:











The board is still fully operational at this time, and does not seem to be suffering any negative performance effects. (See i7 870 results below)

So, a quick update to my stability testing on the i5 750. After hooking up my basic custom water cooling system...I was able to achieve slightly better results. I was stable for about 15 minutes at 4.45GHz, but impatient as I am, wanted to try to hit 4.5GHz...so I pushed up the slider a knotch and crashed it immediately. Luckly, I got a quick screen here:



Since I knew I was at the edge of Prime95 stability, and I wanted to let it run a bit longer for you diehard stability testing guys...I backed it off a hair and did about 100 minutes at 4.4GHz...not to shabby for a $200 quad



When I got home from work tonight, I found a nice new retail i7 870 waiting for me...thank you Gigabyte Japan While I was hoping for some sweet cherry picked ES or something...what I got was a retail CPU off the shelf...a quick glance at the box showed this thing is a very close relative of the golden i5 I've been playing with



So, out came the 750, and in went the 870....right off that bat, I'm impressed. Stable at 3840MHz WITH ALL STOCK VOLTAGES forced in the BIOS (auto overvolting is normal when Turbo mode is enabled)



A quick run at 4.2GHz shows that this one should also be a pretty decent clocker I'll be putting it under my F1EE in a few days.



To be continued....

[railmeat]

nice combo for the $ !!!!! wow...

[BSGOLD]

miahallen, impressive results.
Did you use bios f3f for your tests?
Also can you tell me your settings for bclk 210 mhz, as I'm using the same board and would like to run 20x210 for 24/7 with watercooling.
Thank you very much in advance.

[miahallen]

No, I used F2...I upgraded to F3f for my last LN2 session (only 3 liters) to get my CPU-Z validation.

210MHz Bclock? Look in the 2nd screen shot in post #46 above...all the voltages and speeds are listed

[miahallen]

Sorry to report, but it looks like the i7 870 I recieved doesn't fair so well with extra cooling. I could not even get it stable enough over 5GHz to run SPI1M. It appears that this CPU is only strong in more typical setups like 99% of you out there, and in that respect it truly shines.

I'm dissappointed I was unable to do better with extreme cooling, but the best Lynnfield based CPUs seem to be very elusive. In my humble opinion, extreme users are best off sticking to LGA1366.





For the rest of you, this platform is what you've been waiting for. If you're not a heavy multitasker or power user, than the 750 should work wonders for you. If your regular usage includes more intensive applications or if you multitask a lot...than the i7 860 is a perfect choice for you. It would be difficult for me to reccomend the i7 870 to anyone but Bill Gates. If you have money to burn, by all means. But for the rest of us, the i7 860 will be fine.

A few people have asked me about fitment for the Promitech Megahalems. Here is a quick guide:















I think the moral of the story here is that if you plan to use the Megahalems on this board, then do not get memory with tall heat-spreaders.

If you do have tall memory heatspeaders and you're inside a case, then you're probably best off using the fan in a "pull" orientation.

If you plan to use the top PCIe slot, you're better off mounting the HSF in a horizontal orientaion, or mount vertically with the fan on top in a "pull" orientation.