Gigabyte P55-UD6 & P55M-UD4 Review --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

Gigabyte's P55 Lineup

Today for the P55 launch we have two of Gigabyte's 11 P55 motherboards up for review. The GA-P55-UD6 is their high-end P55 motherboard with every feature known to man crammed onto an ATX motherboard. Ok, maybe not a every feature but close. The GA-P55M-UD4 is their high-end P55 mATX motherboard featuring the vast majority of the options on the GA-P55-UD6 albeit laid out on a compact mATX canvas. The only thing missing on the GA-P55M-UD4 is the TPM security module, the onboard LED debug reader, half(12) of the power phases, and a few expansion slots which might sound like a lot but in reality isn't nearly that much.

Intel's LGA1156 is a new socket with new processors and a new chipset. Codenamed Ibex Peak, Intel's P55 platform consists of the LGA1156 processor and a platform controller hub(PCH) which contains the SATA and USB controllers. Since the PCI Express controller has been removed from the chipset and placed on the CPU, the processor now communicates to the PCH via a direct a direct media interface in a similar fashion that the X58 north-bridge communicates with the ICH10R south-bridge on LGA1366 boards. This also means that the chipset now consists of just the PCH chip, making board design all that easier. Below are the specification lists for the two motherboards we will be reviewing today.

Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4

CPU

Support for an IntelÂ® Coreâ„?i7 series processor/IntelÂ® Coreâ„?i5 series processor in the LGA1156 package
(Go to GIGABYTE's website for the latest CPU support list.)
L3 cache varies with CPU

Chipset

IntelÂ® P55 Express Chipset

Memory

4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

Audio

Realtek ALC889A codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for DolbyÂ® Home Theater
Support for S/PDIF In/Out
Support for CD In

LAN

1 x RTL8111D chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8) (The PCIEX16 and PCIEX8 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
1 x PCI Express x4 slot
1 x PCI slot

Multi-Graphics Technology

Support for ATI CrossFireXâ„?NVIDIA SLI technology (The PCIEX16 and PCIEX8 slots only.)

Storage InterfaceIntelÂ® P55 Express Chipset:

5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s connector (eSATA/USB Combo) on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:

1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD

iTE IT8720 chip:

1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

USB

Integrated in the Chipset
Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (10 on the back panel, including 1 eSATA/USB Combo, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

IEEE 1394

T.I. TSB43AB23 chip
Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)

Internal I/O Connectors

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
7 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
2 x system fan headers
1 x power fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x CD In connector
1 x S/PDIF In header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x IEEE 1394a header
1 x power button
1 x clearing CMOS button
1 x reset button

Back Panel Connectors

1 x PS/2 keyboard or PS/2 mouse port
1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
9 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x eSATA/USB Combo connector
1 x IEEE 1394a port
1 x RJ-45 port
6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/ Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

I/O Controller

iTE IT8720 chip

H/W Monitoring

System voltage detection
CPU/System temperature detection
CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
CPU overheating warning
CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
CPU/System fan speed control

BIOS

2 x 16 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
Support for DualBIOSâ„?
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b

Unique Features

Support for @BIOS
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue
Support for Download Center
Support for Xpress Install
Support for Xpress Recovery2
Support for EasyTune
Support for Dynamic Energy Saverâ„?2
Support for Smart 6â„?
Support for Q-Share

Bundle Software

Norton Internet Security (OEM version)

Operating System

Support for MicrosoftÂ® Windows 7/Vista/XP

Form Factor

Micro ATX Form Factor; 24.4cm x 24.4cm

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6

CPU

Support for an IntelÂ® Coreâ„?i7 series processor/IntelÂ® Coreâ„?i5 series processor in the LGA1156 package
L3 cache varies with CPU

IntelÂ® P55 Express Chipset

6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 2600+/2200/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules