Feature Table And Test Setup
| Manufacturer | ASRock | Foxconn | Gigabyte | MSI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | P55M Pro | P55MX | P55M-UD2 | P55M-GD45 |
| Socket | LGA 1156 | LGA 1156 | LGA 1156 | LGA 1156 |
| Voltage Regulator | 5-phase | 5-phase | 6-phase | 5-phase |
| Chipset | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express |
| RAM | 4 x DDR3, no ECC | 2 x DDR3, no ECC | 4 x DDR3, no ECC | 4 x DDR3, no ECC |
| Ethernet I | RTL8111DL gigabit LAN | RTL8111DL gigabit LAN | RTL8111DL gigabit LAN | RTL8111DL gigabit LAN |
| Panel connectors | 1 x Ethernet 6 x USB 1 x FireWire 2 x eSATA/USB 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x PS/2 Mouse | 1 x Ethernet 6 x USB 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x RS232 | 1 x Ethernet 10 x USB 1 x FireWire 1 x eSATA 1 x PS/2 for Keyboard or Mouse | 1 x Ethernet 10 x USB 1 x FireWire 2 x eSATA 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 1 x PCIe x16 (x4 mode) 1 x PCIe x1 1 x PCI | 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 1 x PCIe x1 2 x PCI | 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 1 x PCIe x16 (x4 mode) 2 x PCI | 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 1 x PCIe x16 (x4 mode) 1 x PCIe x1 1 x PCI |
| Onboard Connectors | 4 x SATA 1 x PATA 1 x Floppy | 6 x SATA 1 x Floppy | 7 x SATA 1 x PATA 1 x Floppy | 6 x SATA 1 x PATA 1 x Floppy |
| Pin-Header | 3 x USB 1 x FireWire 1 x IR 1 x LPT 1 x RS-232 | 3 x USB 1 x FireWire 1 x IR 1 x RS-232 | 2 x USB 1 x FireWire 1 x RS-232 | 2 x USB 1 x LPT 1 x RS-232 |
| Fan | 1 x CPU, 2 x Sys | 1 x CPU, 2 x Sys | 1 x CPU, 1 x Sys | 1 x CPU, 2 x Sys |
| Audio | Via VT1708S 7.1 Channel 6 x RCA Jack S/PDIF Optical + Electrical 1 x Front Panel Audio | Realtek ALC888S 7.1 Channel 6 x RCA Jack S/PDIF Optical 1 x Front Panel Audio | Realtek ALC888B 7.1 Channel 6 x RCA Jack S/PDIF Optical + Electrical 1 x Front Panel Audio S/PDIF In Header | Realtek ALC889 7.1 Channel 6 x RCA Jack 1 x Front Panel Audio S/PDIF In Header |
| Accessoires | 2 x SATA 1 x SATA Power 1 x PATA 1 x Floppy | 2 x SATA 2 x SATA Power | 2 x SATA 1 x PATA | 2 x SATA 1 x SATA Power 1 x PATA |
Test Setup
| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Details |
| Performance Benchmarks | |
| Motherboard I (LGA 1156) | ASRock P55M Pro (Rev. 1.02) Chipset: P55 BIOS: 1.9 (11/06/2009) |
| Motherboard II (LGA 1156) | Foxconn P55MX (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: P55 BIOS: P05 (10/30/2009) |
| Motherboard III (LGA 1156) | Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: P55 BIOS: F5 (11/20/2009) |
| Motherboard IV (LGA 1156) | MSI P55M-GD45 (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: P55 BIOS: 1.3 (11/12/2009) |
| CPU Intel | Intel Core i5-750 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 4 x 256KB L2 and 8MB L3 Cache, TDP 95W, Rev. B1) |
| RAM DDR3 (dual-channel) | 2 x 2GB DDR3-1600 (Corsair CMD4GX3M2A1600C8) |
| Graphics | Zotac Geforce GTX 260² GPU: Geforce GTX 260 (576 MHz) Graphics RAM: 896MB DDR3 (1998 MHz) Stream Processors: 216 Shader Clock: 1242 MHz |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital VelociRaptor, 300GB (WD3000HLFS) 10,000 RPM, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB Cache |
| Power Supply | PC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750W |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Enterprise Version 6.0 x64 Service Pack 2 (Build 6000) |
| Drivers and Settings | |
| AMD Chipset Drivers | Radeon 9.4 |
| Intel Chipset Drivers | Chipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.1.1019 |
| Intel Storage Drivers | Matrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.8.0.1009 |
| Nvidia GeForce Drivers | Forceware 185.85 |
| 3D-Games Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| Far Cry 2 | Version: 1.0.1 Far Cry 2 Benchmark Tool Video Mode: 1280x800 Direct3D 9 Overall Quality: Medium Bloom activated HDR off Demo: Ranch Small |
| GTA IV | Version: 1.0.3 Video Mode: 1280x1024 - 1280x1024 - Aspect Ratio: Auto - All options: Medium - View Distance: 30 - Detail Distance: 100 - Vehicle Density: 100 - Shadow Density: 16 - Definition: On - Vsync: Off Ingame Benchmark |
| Left 4 Dead | Version: 1.0.0.5 Video Mode: 1280x800 Game Settings - Anti Aliasing none - Filtering Trilinear - Wait for vertical sync disabled - Shader Detail Medium - Effect Detail Medium - Model/Texture Detail Medium Demo: THG Demo 1 |
| Audio Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| iTunes | Version: 8.1.0.52 Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min. Convert to AAC audio format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min. convert WAV to MP3 audio format Command: -b 160 --nores (160 kbps) |
| Video Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| TMPEG 4.6 | Version: 4.6.3.268 Video: Terminator 2 SE DVD (720x576, 16:9) 5 Minutes Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-channel, English Advanced Acoustic Engine MP3 Encoder (160 Kbps, 44.1 KHz) |
| DivX 6.8.5 | Version: 6.8.5 == Main Menu == default == Codec Menu == Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading Enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search == Video Menu == Quantization: MPEG-2 |
| XviD 1.2.1 | Version: 1.2.1 Other Options / Encoder Menu - Display encoding status = off |
| Mainconcept Reference 1.6.1 | Version: 1.6.1 MPEG-2 to MPEG-2 (H.264) MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec 28 sec. HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2) Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2-channel, 16-bit, 224 Kbps) Codec: H.264 Mode: PAL (25 FPS) Profile: Settings for eight threads |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 | Version: 4.0 WMV 1920x1080 (39 sec.) Export: Adobe Media Encoder == Video == H.264 Blu-ray 1440x1080i 25 High Quality Encoding Passes: one Bitrate Mode: VBR Frame: 1440x1080 Frame Rate: 25 == Audio == PCM Audio, 48 kHz, Stereo EncodingPasses: one |
| Application Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 8 | Version: 8.5.287 Virus base: 270.12.16/2094 Benchmark Scan: some compressed ZIP and RAR archives |
| Winrar 3.9 | Version 3.90 x64 BETA 1 Compression = Best Benchmark: THG-Workload |
| Winzip 12 | Version 12.0 (8252) WinZip Commandline Version 3 Compression = Best Dictionary = 4096KB Benchmark: THG-Workload |
| Autodesk 3d Studio Max 2009 | Version: 9 x64 Rendering Dragon Image Resolution: 1920 x 1280 (frame 1-5) |
| Adobe Photoshop CS 4 (64-Bit) | Version: 11 Filtering a 16MB TIF (15000x7266) Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar) |
| Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional | Version: 9.0.0 (Extended) == Printing Preferenced Menu == Default Settings: Standard == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu == Encrypt all documents (128 bit RC4) Open Password: 123 Permissions Password: 321 |
| Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 | Version: 2007 SP2 PPT to PDF Powerpoint Document (115 Pages) Adobe PDF-Printer |
| Deep Fritz 11 | Version: 11 Fritz Chess Benchmark Version 4.2 |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| 3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.02 Options: Performance Graphics Test 1 Graphics Test 2 CPU Test 1 CPU Test 2 |
| PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.00 PCMark Benchmark Memories Benchmark |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2009 | Version: 2009 SP3 Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwith |
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Intel should have made a universal socket so you could put a i3 or an i7 in the same board. Just want to throw that out there.
Cool! So far that's only 26 P55 motherboards tested. You're only about 1/3 of the way through testing every P55 board available at Newegg. Keep up the good work.
Theres a mistake about the MSI board, SLI certification is NOT given to this hardware . From what I've read, its a minimum of 8x 8x to qualify.
http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=p [...] =1890#menu
SLI certification also adds to the cost of the board.
Wow an MSI low end board that didn't die. If they can keep this up they will be ASUS's main competitor.
woot for gigabyte..too bad they didn't test the ud4 a while ago, with the budget boards >
Intel should have made a universal socket so you could put a i3 or an i7 in the same board. Just want to throw that out there.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
I know what you meant but still, technically you were wrong.
I see that the max power requirement with overclocking was 256w.
Does this mean that the 750w psu used was a overkill?
Or more importantly- could this setup work with a 400w psu with sufficient
amp. on 12v rail?
Very nice, keep up de good work. But it would be nice to see some h55/h57 motherboards tested in the near future.
Good point icerock
+1
Another win from Gigabyte. Awesome!
I helped my computer illiterate cousin set up a relatively affordable computer but with decent components and brand new technolgy running a brand new Core i3 530 and the motherboard of choice was this Gigabyte model being reviewed here.
And although the board is only supposed to support the new new dual-core Core i3's and i5's from Bios version F6, I was able to boot it using the factory F3! So no hassles in trying to get the neighbours i5 750 to boot it up and upgrade the bios.
I know articles like this are normally written sometimes weeks in advance, but I wonder if Bios F6 or even F7c have any impact on lowering power consumption ?
Anyway, I find it a very good board for the money, very nice touches like eSata, lots of internal Sata ports, and all the Ultra Durable 3 quality features; it's got everything a person could want (except if you have lot of add-on cards and/or want to run Crossfire or SLi.)
But I'm left with a question: the first photo that shows all the motherboard bozes on top of each other has and Asus model, but you didn't review it. What happened ?
Good article. Looks like we are heading toward a more complete form of standardization. As usual, thanks for inlcuding mainstream benchmarks.
It's about time. Now I can start looking at a PC update... my mini p180 case awaits Windows 7! I feel like I need to get with the times
As others have said, what happened to the Asus board you have pictured?
Also, on page 6 you have the ASRock listed as having 2 PS/2 Mouse ports.
i just wait for NVIDIA NEW CHIPSET
i 'll just wait for new nvidia chip also new nvidia GPU card ...like it or not
Out of all these boards, I would pick the MSI GD-45. It has a lot of features from it's big brothers GD-65 and GD-80. I'm currently using the GD-65 and it's pretty stable. Although, if I were to build another P55 board, I would choose the ASUS Maximus GENE III. The onboard sound on that board is pretty good.
i 'll just wait for new nvidia chip also new nvidia GPU card ...like it or not
me too usually the ati's prices drop by 25% after nvidia releases there new cards and ive had my heart set on a 5870.
I've owned 4 MSI board and none of them have died.
I own an MSI board and video card too. I love them, but I also accept the fact MSI hasn't been known for their board quality. Its been increasing in recent years.
They are able to cram all these in this small form factor but they cannot make a BIOS that post in less than 10 seconds.
With Windows 7 and SSD the BIOS is becoming the bottleneck in the system, since it takes more time in the BIOS than loading the OS.