Motherboards often find themselves on the line of pro’s and con’s. The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 manages to cross over temporal barriers and place itself in a category that is well deserved. With a 2oz copper PCB design, the Ultra Durable 3 technology of the Gigabyte P55-UD6 provides stability while also giving PC enthusiasts a level of security in terms of design and power. Through great design in the 24 Phase Power VRM, incredible I/O support, and Windows 7 compatibility, the Gigabyte P55-UD6 is a must buy for anyone looking to get the most out of their dollars spent and not burn their pockets.

For those enthusiasts who find themselves with their latest Lynnfield processor and are looking forward to Windows 7 for a smooth transition, the Gigabyte P55-UD6 provides an amazing design to get you started. With a blue design with variations of a metallic, the Gigabyte P55-UD6 shows off the very impressive 24 Phase Power VRM design. With the latest phase power design, Gigabyte allows for lower temperatures, better overclocking by quite a few hundred MHz as tested, and not to mention better protection against ESD. 2 phases for CPU VTT and memory powers each allow for a more stable overclocking, despite any configuration problems that might occur to increase transient loading times for CPU operations. With an incredible number of tests performed for transient load on the motherboard alone on a compatible test system, load times actually decreased by a factor of two times per second. The Gigabyte P55-UD6’s design is incredibly well done for the phase power, but the 50,000 hour capacitors and ferrite core layout provide that ultimate shine when compared to other ‘high-end’ brands that are seen in the market at an overpriced expense of brand name. The Gigabyte P55-UD6 gives value for the money every inch of design, and over encompasses many of the other P55 high-end boards on the market.

The Gigabyte P55-UD6 finds a way to provide core I/O features on the main board that cater to extreme-PC fans and enthusiasts alike. The Dolby HD Audio is the highest class component of audio even past the Intel HD Audio specification. There is also an included SPD/IF for audiophiles that prefer the DTS or full Dolby quality to a receiver capable of supporting the channel capability of the audio. Other features include tons of USB ports, eSATA, and plenty of onboard SATA for RAID configuration for heavy storage units. While the I/O units are great, the provided software also gives a lot of options for ‘QuickBoost’ and tuning in a fashionable setting. All the software features and loaded I/O features are a great addition to an already fortified board when it comes to design and overclocking capabilities due to more thermal dissipation measured by enthalpy.

The GA-P55-UD6 features tremendous options that challenge a lot of high-end X58 motherboards, but the X58 motherboards still retain the ability to provide three memory channels and other PCI-e options.  Regardless, with a better price point than most X58’s and a set of the same robust features with better component parts, the GA-P55-UD6 will manage to find a place in any PC enthusiast’s heart.

Feel the rush of blood to your head. That’s you enjoying yourself on a high powered gaming experience. But what’s the thing helping to throw you asunder in this reality from the one you live in? Designed chiefly (but not just) to bring the definitive performance from your Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, Intel’s graceful Desktop Board DX48BT2 creates a rush those charged electrons in your circuitry have always been thirsting for. As star of the show to support a bursting 1600 MHz front side bus, to hail the astonishing DDR3 memory that brings the future closer, to gift extremely dependable overclocking dowry, the Intel DX48BT2 delivers on everything from intense and vibrant multimedia experiences to the gaming core that knocks your pants off.

As you look at the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe the first thing you focus on is heat. They placed some on the memory, which is a first.

This board is a full sized ATX board that is built on a black colored PCB (a personal favorite of mine) and includes high-quality conductive polymer capacitors. The top right of the board is where the DIMM slots lie. The Asus M3A32-MVP supports 4 DIMMs up to 8GB of DDR2 memory at speeds of DDR 1066/800/667/533. 1066 given the currently high end AM2+ CPUs. When looking at it there’s one key problem. Cluttered. The bottom right is really damn cluttered and anyone can tell. On this part of the board, we have our one IDE connector as well as our SATA connectors. The southbridge controls the IDE and the four black SATA controllers and supports SATAII and RAID in 0,1 and 0+1 configurations. The two red connectors and eSATA port are controlled by the Marvell 6121 and 6111 controller, which also supports RAID 0 and 1.

Test Setup

· Windows XP2

· ASUS Board (Obviously)

· 3 gigs RAM DDR2 Corsair

As you look at the results of the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe motherboard compared to the AMD 690G chipset, we see that overall it performs better in most of our testing. There was not a huge difference in any of the scores, other than the ScienceMark benchmark where the Asus board shows a 14% increase over the 690G board. Overall, the Asus 790FX board looks to be a decent board for an upgrade of your system. We will have to see how this plays out with a Phenom CPU on each board.

Overall:

If: You like good spacing, Great I/O Slots, Decent BIOS settings

BUY IT

If: You hate limited capability in flexibility clocks.

MOVE ON

]]> http://whatifgaming.com/asus-m3a32-mvp-deluxe-review-bring-another-one/feed 0 http://whatifgaming.com/xfx-780i-review-how-does-780i-do http://whatifgaming.com/xfx-780i-review-how-does-780i-do#comments Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:26:47 +0000 Usman Ihtsham http://whatifgaming.com/?p=999

NVIDIA originally claims the 680i SLI chipset will support all 45nm dual-core and quad-core processors, but that came to an end when Intel made some changes on their latest stepping on their 45nm quad-core Yorkfield processors. NVIDIA has refined their BIOS for overclocking as they have added half multipliers to the mix, which allows you to better dial in your overclock. They have also some newer software revisions for NVIDIA control panel and system monitor. The new hardware features include 3-way SLI support with 3 full x16 lanes, which is great for those that have $1500+ to spend on three GeForce 8800 GTX or Ultra graphics cards. Finally the 780i is here.

Sadly, the NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI motherboard is an evolutionary advancement, not a revolutionary one. It adds features like support of 45nm Intel quad-core processors, which are not optional when you make a high end enthusiast board. NVIDIA is sure to sell many of these boards because they have an ace in their pocket that they love to have. When it comes to performance between the 680i and 780i our testing showed that a significant difference couldn’t be seen , but the 780i has the edge.

Long Simple Test

Sandra XII SP1 64-bit showed that the 780i motherboard held it’s own when compared to the Intel X38 Express and NVIDIA 680i SLI chipsets. The 780i SLI was king of the hill when it comes to memory bandwidth thanks on the 45nm Yorkfield based QQX9650 quad-core processor. When it came to the 680i and the 780i with a Core 2 Duo processor a significant difference could not be found.

When it comes to the actual chipset, it is amazing that NVIDA has been able to use the 680i/780i for so long. The NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI MCP is built on TSMC’s 90nm process technology, and contains the same exact micro-architecture as the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP. Eventually NVIDIA will have to design a new chipset to support even more features like 1600MHz FSB processors, DDR3 memory modules, and native PCI Express 2.0 graphics. Either way, let’s see what happens.

If: I like Speed..Decent Overclocking…Price

BUY IT

If: I hate slower clock times…lesser quality components

MOVE ON