Enthusiast P55: Eight LGA 1156 Boards Between $150 And $200
Features
published
Features Overview
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Sub-$200 Core i5/i7 Motherboard Features | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ASRock P55 Deluxe | Asus P7P55D EVO | Biostar TPower I55 | EVGA P55 SLI | |
PCB Revision | 1.06 | 1.06G | 5.1 | 1.0 |
Chipset | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express |
Voltage Regulator | 18 Phases (16+2) | 14 Phases (12+2) | 12 Phases (8+4) | 10 Phases (8+2) |
BIOS | 1.70 (09/15/2009) | 0711 (09/24/2009) | 080015 (09/05/2009) | 080016 (10/02/2009) |
133.3 MHz BCLK | 139.6 MHz (+4.7%) | 133.7 MHz (+0.28%) | 133.3 MHz (+0.0%) | 133.2 MHz (-0.10%) |
Clock Generator | ICS 9LPRS140CKLF | ICS 9LPRS140CKLF | RTM85N-914 | ICS 9LPRS139AKLF |
Internal Interfaces | ||||
PCIe 2.0 x16 | 3 (x16/x1/x4, x8/x8/x4) | 3 (x16/x1/x4, x8/x8/x4) | 2 (1 x x16 or 2 x x8) | 3 (x16/x1/x4, x8/x8/x4) |
PCIe x1/x4 | 1/0 | 2/0 | 1/1 | 1/0 |
Legacy PCI | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
USB 2.0 | 3 (6 ports) | 3 (6 ports) | 3 (6 ports) | 3 (6 ports) |
IEEE-1394 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
SerialPort | 1 | 1 | None | None |
ParallelPort | None | None | No | No |
Floppy | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Ultra-ATA 133 | 1 (2-drives) | 1 (2 drives) | 1 (2 drives) | None |
SATA 3.0Gb/s | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
4-Pin Fan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
3-Pin Fan | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
FP Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CD Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
S/PDIF I/O | Output Only | Output Only | Output Only | Both |
Power Button | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Reset Button | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CLR_CMOS Button | Jumper Only | Jumper Only | Jumper Only | Yes |
Diagnostics Panel | Numeric | Pass/Fail LEDs | Numeric | Numeric |
I/O Panel Connectors | ||||
P/S 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
USB 2.0 | 8 (1 Shared w/eSATA) | 8 | 8 | 6 |
IEEE-1394 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Network | Dual (with teaming) | Dual (with teaming) | Dual | Dual |
eSATA | 1 (Shared with USB) | 1 | 2 | 2 |
CLR_CMOS Button | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Digital Audio Out | Optical+Coaxial | Optical+Coaxial | Optical+Coaxial | Optical+Coaxial |
Digital Audio In | None | None | None | None |
Analog Audio | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Mass Storage Controllers | ||||
Chipset SATA | 6 x SATA 3.0Gb/s | 6 x SATA 3.0Gb/s | 6 x SATA 3.0Gb/s | 6 x SATA 3.0Gb/s |
Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 |
Add-In SATA | JMB363 PCIe 1 x eSATA 3.0Gb/s | JMB363 PCIe 1 x eSATA 3.0Gb/s 1 x SATA to JMB322 JMB322 to 2x SATA | JMB363 PCIe 2 x eSATA 3.0Gb/s | 88SE6121 PCIe 2 x eSATA 3.0Gb/s |
Add-In Ultra ATA | JMB363 PCIe | JMB363 PCIe | JMB363 PCIe | None |
IEEE-1394 | VT6308S PCI 2 x 400Mb/s | VT6308P PCI 2 x 400Mb/s | LSI L-FW3227-100 PCI 2 x 400Mb/s | TSB43AB22A 2 x 400Mb/s |
Gigabit Ethernet | ||||
Primary LAN | RTL8111DL PCIe | RTL8112L PCIe | Intel WG82578DC PHY | 88E8057 PCIe |
Secondary LAN | RTL8111DL PCIe | RTL810SC PCI | RTL8111DL PCIe | 88E8057 PCIe |
Audio | ||||
HD Audio Codec | ALC890B | VIA VT1828S | ALC888S | ALC889 |
Setting a 133 MHz base clock on the ASRock P55 Deluxe enables the firm's Intelligent Overclocking Technology function, even when that function has been disabled. Instead choosing a 134 MHz base clock disables I.O.T., but gives ASRock a slight speed advantage in the benchmarks. We’ll keep that slight advantage in mind when discussing result charts.
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Sub-$200 Core i5/i7 Motherboard Features | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Foxconn Inferno Katana GTI | Jetway HI05 | Gigabyte P55-UD4P | MSI P55-GD65 | |
PCB Revision | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Northbridge | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express | Intel P55 Express |
Voltage Regulator | 10 Phases (8+2) | 8 Phases (7+1) | 10 Phases (6+4) | 7 Phases (6+1) |
BIOS | 080015 (09/17/2009) | 080015 (09/04/2009) | F4r (09/18/2009) | 1.3 (09/03/2009) |
133.3 MHz BCLK | 133.7 MHz (+0.28%) | 133.3 MHz (+0.0%) | 132.9 MHz (-0.32%) | 133.7 MHz (+0.28%) |
Clock Generator | ICS RS4105BL | ICS 9LPRS919HKL | ICS 9LPRS914EKLF | MSI LRS4116AL |
Internal Interfaces | ||||
PCIe 2.0 x16 | 3 (x16/x1/x4, x8/x8/x4) | 2 (1 x x16 or 2 x x8) | 2 (1 x x16 or 2 x x8) | 2 (1 x x16 or 2 x x8) |
PCIe x1/x4 | 2/0 | 2/0 | 3/0 | 2/1 |
Legacy PCI | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
USB 2.0 | 3 (6 ports) | 3 (6 ports) | 2 (4 ports) | 3 (6 ports) |
IEEE-1394 | None | 0 | 1 | 1 |
SerialPort | None | 1 | 1 | 1 |
ParallelPort | None | 1 | 1 | None |
Floppy | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Ultra-ATA 133 | 1 (2 drives) | 1 (2 drives) | 1 (2 drives) | 1 (2 drives) |
SATA 3.0Gb/s | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
4-Pin Fan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
3-Pin Fan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
FP Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CD Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
S/PDIF I/O | Output Only | Output Only | Both | Output Only |
Power Button | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Reset Button | Yes | Yes | No | No |
CLR_CMOS Button | Jumper Only | Yes | Jumper Only | Jumper Only |
Diagnostics Panel | Numeric | Numeric | No | No |
I/O Panel Connectors | ||||
P/S 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
USB 2.0 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 (1 Shared w/eSATA) |
IEEE-1394 | None | None | 2 | 1 |
Network | Single | Dual | Dual (with teaming) | Dual |
eSATA | None | 1 | 2 | 1 (Shared with USB) |
CLR_CMOS Button | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Digital Audio Out | Optical+Coaxial | Optical+Coaxial | Optical+Coaxial | Optical+Coaxial |
Digital Audio In | None | None | None | None |
Analog Audio | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Mass Storage Controllers | ||||
Chipset SATA | 6 x SATA3.0Gb/s | 6 x SATA3.0Gb/s | 6 x SATA3.0Gb/s | 6 x SATA3.0Gb/s |
Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 |
Add-In SATA | None | JMB363 PCIe 1 x eSATA3.0Gb/s | JMB363 PCIe 2 x SATA3.0Gb/s JMB362 PCIe 2 x eSATA3.0Gb/s | JMB363 PCIe 1 x SATA3.0Gb/s 1 x eSATA3.0Gb/s |
Add-In Ultra ATA | 88SE6111 PCIe | JMB363 PCIe | JMB363 PCIe | JMB363 PCIe |
IEEE-1394 | None | None | TSB43AB23 PCI 3 x 400Mb/s | VT6315N PCIe 2 x 400Mb/s |
Gigabit Ethernet | ||||
Primary LAN | RTL8111DL PCIe | WG82578DC PHY | RTL8111D PCIe | RTL8111DL PCIe |
Secondary LAN | None | RTL8111DL PCIe | None | None |
Audio | ||||
HD Audio Codec | ALC888S | ALC888 | ALC889A | ALC889 |
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Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
60 Comments
Comment from the forums
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skora There's two market segments. Once you get the features you need, there's overclockers, and stock users. I've never seen a mobo recommended based on its application performance and all thats looked at is how well it OCs. Hopefully, people read the article and don't just go buying biostar expecting the regular quality of gigabyte or asus though the asus is a little overpriced here for my taste. That $25 can go towards a better GPU, but I'm a gamer.Reply -
Crashman enzo matrixinterestingReply
Gigabyte had some additional interesting news about the new P55A-UD4P, where the addition of the letter "A" supposedly means "Advanced" and refers to the addition of SATA 6.0 Gb/s and USB 3.0 controllers. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready when the comparison was written. The "A" also cost slightly more. -
ibnsina For $15 more is best to go for the newly released Giga-byte GA-P55A-UD4P, the extra’s you get are:-Reply
2 x USB 3.0
2 x SATA 6Gb/s.
$184.99 on newegg. -
Crashman ibnsinaFor $15 more is best to go for the newly released Giga-byte GA-P55A-UD4P, the extra’s you get are:-2 x USB 3.0 2 x SATA 6Gb/s.$184.99 on newegg.Reply
$15 for all that sounds great, unless those features are useless to you. SATA 6.0 Gb/s will remain completely useless until long after the board is outdated, and USB 3.0 is nothing more than an eSATA substitute at the moment. -
apache_lives Why do we bitch about IDE and FDD connectors? If your using windows xp and IDE hdd/dvd drives your should be ashamed, and even then you can get USB floppys etc, and if you are using those fittings you are not getting the true performance out of your modern system, and IDE also makes boot times longer thanks to detection and legacy delays - cudos to those who ditch those ports in an effort to modernise modern systems, and to those who keep them - its like adding ISA ports to the board - times up.Reply -
cahl The new P55A-UD4P has better power phasing, 12+2 vs 8+2 on the old gigabyte UD4P, and probably more stuff aswell, like the LOTES socket, well worth the extra $15 to me.Reply -
bigballinggpr You don't bring up MSI's board at all in the conclusion. . . i'm a little curious as to what your final thoughts are on it.Reply -
Crashman apache_livesWhy do we bitch about IDE and FDD connectors? If your using windows xp and IDE hdd/dvd drives your should be ashamed, and even then you can get USB floppys etc, and if you are using those fittings you are not getting the true performance out of your modern system, and IDE also makes boot times longer thanks to detection and legacy delays - cudos to those who ditch those ports in an effort to modernise modern systems, and to those who keep them - its like adding ISA ports to the board - times up.Reply
You mean complain? Like you're complaining right now? It's all a matter of logic: There are probably more Windows XP users carrying over their old OS into a new build than there are Ultra ATA users carrying over their ancient hard drives. Therefor, the floppy interface, as outdated as it is, is more useful than the Ultra ATA interface.
The problem as described is that you PAY for an Ultra ATA controller. Why bother? Even if you're an XP devotee you probably don't WANT to pay for an Ultra ATA connector.
But for most motherboards, the floppy interface is free. It doesn't slow down boot times or performance either, if you don't need it you can ignore it.
Well, maybe you can't ignore it, but a logic dictates over emotion in reviews.
THG has no reason to love or hate the floppy connector, no stake in the legacy OS game, but anyone reader who wants to play the hater deserves to be called out for it. As for the manufacturers, honest reporting is Tom's Hardware's goal. Personally, I like the fact that some manufacturers provide legacy features and others don't, both types of products work well. -
doomtomb with only a single PS/2 port left behind to support the older mice occasionally preferred by seasoned gamers
This is from the page on the EVGA P55 but you can clearly see it is a purple PS/2 port which is for keyboards... lol