P55 motherboard advice por favor

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PinkFloyd

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I've got pretty much everything else finally chosen for my new i5 750 based gaming/home desktop, but I'm still a bit undecided when it comes to the P55 mobo. I've kind of narrowed it down to four choices. Either MSI or Gigabyte is what I'll likely go for in the end. I've had the MSI P6N SLI Platinum for almost 3 years now and it's been solid (with an E6400 mildly OC'ed to 2.67).

I'd like (if possible) something that----

1) Is CF compatible and with room enough for a pair of 5850s (I've got an XFX on backorder at Amazon and may eventually get a second one down the road).

2) Has all it's DIMM slots accessible even with a decent CPU cooler installed.

3) Has a user-friendly BIOS that allows for a not-so-sophisticated guy like me to do a mild/moderate OC (probably 3.0-3.2 on the i5 750) with ease.

Finally, if anyone can explain the practical differences and/or the advantages/disadvantages between the following boards, I'd really appreciate it:

GA-P55-UD3R ($140)

GA-P55-UD4P ($160)

MSI P55-GD65 ($150)

MSI P55-CD53 ($140)

Thanks!
 
Of those 4, I'd certainly narrow it down to the Gigabyte UD3R and UD4P. Personally, I would pay the additional $20 for the UD4P, but you should compare them side-by-side to decide if the features are worth the extra $20.
 
I could well be missing something but the only difference I can see between the UDR3 and UDRP is TPM support. I'd rather save the $20.

Re the MSI boards, I'm pretty sure that use of the x4 PCI-E slot disables the two x1 slots. Probably won't be an issue for most though.
 
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Thanks for the help guys.

That EVGA board is tempting due to its alternate hole setup for 775 socket fans, but it would put my build over-budget (and there are good fans now out with 1156-compatible mounting).

I'll probably go UD3R.

Now if that darn XFX 5850 would hit the shelves again, I'd be all set.:cool:
 
My P55 UD3R has been a pleasure to use. Plenty of options in the bios and I've had no problems with it. I haven't even resinstalled Windows 7 since I upgraded my computer (upgraded from Athlon XP 2500) and it's incredibly solid, though I don't recommend doing that
 
Another recommendation for the UD3R.

Built a system for myself as well as a friend the same week with that board and we are both happy campers with it!
 
Just curious any problems with OCing and S3 sleep on your UD3R. I am going to avoid gigabyte p55 boards until I know that has been resolved.
 
rekd0514 said:
Just curious any problems with OCing and S3 sleep on your UD3R. I am going to avoid gigabyte p55 boards until I know that has been resolved.
Click to expand...

I've been looking around some about these boards and haven't yet run across any reference to the problem you just mentioned. Can you provide a link?
 
rekd0514 said:
Just curious any problems with OCing and S3 sleep on your UD3R. I am going to avoid gigabyte p55 boards until I know that has been resolved.
Click to expand...

That's a BIOS issue and it will be resolved eventually with one of the beta or final BIOS releases. The same thing happened with my Gigabyte EX58-UD5 when it first came out.
 
PC_User said:
That's a BIOS issue and it will be resolved eventually with one of the beta or final BIOS releases. The same thing happened with my Gigabyte EX58-UD5 when it first came out.
Click to expand...

I still wouldn't want to buy it until the BIOS has update is available on them. I use sleep all the time, so I would like it working with an OC.
 
PC_User said:
Of those 4, I'd certainly narrow it down to the Gigabyte UD3R and UD4P. Personally, I would pay the additional $20 for the UD4P, but you should compare them side-by-side to decide if the features are worth the extra $20.
Click to expand...

I have the UD4P. It is a solid board. http://vodpod.com/watch/2257982-gigabyte-p55-ud4p-motherboard ..I have my 860 with a Prolimatech Megahalems and 4gb's of Gskill Ripjaws DDR3 2000 ram running 24/7 at 4ghz. It's very much at home and everything installed just fine. I am very pleased..

4ghz-Everest.jpg
 
I ask this in another thread and no one replied.

Did you have any problems putting the cooler backplate on top of the factory CPU backplate?

I just do not see how that is going to work, longer screws? hell one board I saw had the screws for backplate over long and sticking out


ps hope you post a pic or 2 of your setup. I have a true cooler I am pulling off my 8400 I think its smaller I hope its tall enough to clear the parts.
How far are the ram sockets from the cooler?
 
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rekd0514 said:
Just curious any problems with OCing and S3 sleep on your UD3R. I am going to avoid gigabyte p55 boards until I know that has been resolved.
Click to expand...

I'm running @ 180bclk with speedstep enabled and sleep works fine on my board. Are there any problems I should be noticing?
 
sparks said:
I ask this in another thread and no one replied.

Did you have any problems putting the cooler backplate on top of the factory CPU backplate?

I just do not see how that is going to work, longer screws? hell one board I saw had the screws for backplate over long and sticking out


ps hope you post a pic or 2 of your setup. I have a true cooler I am pulling off my 8400 I think its smaller I hope its tall enough to clear the parts.
How far are the ram sockets from the cooler?
Click to expand...


The Megahalems mounts just fine. No clearance issues on the Antec Nine Hundred Two case.. As for getting to the ram, everything is easily accessible (you won't have to remove the entire CPU cooler, just to get to the ram). As for pictures of my backplate, I don't have one of those.. It was really a non-issue with the mounting on the Gigabyte board. The backplate for my Rev B Megahalems accepts the current (3) Intel Sockets / Chipsets: 775, 1156 and 1366.


DSCN1823.jpg
 
FoxhoundOp said:
I'm running @ 180bclk with speedstep enabled and sleep works fine on my board. Are there any problems I should be noticing?
Click to expand...

This is the post I am refering to from another forum.


"This appears to be a fantastic overclocking combo, but I'm quite a bit disappointed with the lack of S3 sleep support. I've researched and realize that resuming from S3 is spotty at high overclocks across many motherboards, particularly Gigabyte, but after playing around I will usually settle for a mild overclock so didn't think this to be an issue.

But I encountered an issue I haven't found mentioned on the web yet. Even at mild overclocks, after resuming it will lose your bclock (FSB equivalent) setting completely and go back to stock. However, it will still cap your Turbo mode due to the initial overclock. So your speed after resume is actually worse than if you just ran default settings. For example:

Default (before and after S3): 133 bclock x 24X Turbo = 3.19 GHz
Overclock before S3: 155 bclock x 21x capped Turbo = 3.25 GHz
Overclock after S3: 133 bclock x 21x capped Turbo = 2.79 GHz

And I can't use hibernate because I'm it doesn't mix well with the SSD I'm putting in for my boot disk.

As a rig to play around for overclocking limits, it's great - 172 bclock so far at stock voltage with just the stock fan (didn't have a chance to get a better fan) and stable under load. But I only reboot my machine every 2 months, so for daily use with S3 sleep mode, I may as well use the default, which will be faster. I've tried the F2 and F3f beta BIOS, both have the same issue... "

so basically is your board changing you bclk after s3 resume?
 
thanks big time for the pic officermartinez.
lots of room to work with
Nice and clean looking. Very good cable management


which fans are you running on the cooler
 
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rekd0514 said:
This is the post I am refering to from another forum.


"This appears to be a fantastic overclocking combo, but I'm quite a bit disappointed with the lack of S3 sleep support. I've researched and realize that resuming from S3 is spotty at high overclocks across many motherboards, particularly Gigabyte, but after playing around I will usually settle for a mild overclock so didn't think this to be an issue.

But I encountered an issue I haven't found mentioned on the web yet. Even at mild overclocks, after resuming it will lose your bclock (FSB equivalent) setting completely and go back to stock. However, it will still cap your Turbo mode due to the initial overclock. So your speed after resume is actually worse than if you just ran default settings. For example:

Default (before and after S3): 133 bclock x 24X Turbo = 3.19 GHz
Overclock before S3: 155 bclock x 21x capped Turbo = 3.25 GHz
Overclock after S3: 133 bclock x 21x capped Turbo = 2.79 GHz

And I can't use hibernate because I'm it doesn't mix well with the SSD I'm putting in for my boot disk.

As a rig to play around for overclocking limits, it's great - 172 bclock so far at stock voltage with just the stock fan (didn't have a chance to get a better fan) and stable under load. But I only reboot my machine every 2 months, so for daily use with S3 sleep mode, I may as well use the default, which will be faster. I've tried the F2 and F3f beta BIOS, both have the same issue... "

so basically is your board changing you bclk after s3 resume?
Click to expand...

Nope, I just tested it right now and bclk is still at 180.

aftersleep.png


It may have something to do with Turbo. I don't have that enabled.
 
rekd0514 said:
I still wouldn't want to buy it until the BIOS has update is available on them. I use sleep all the time, so I would like it working with an OC.
Click to expand...

I use sleep all the time as well, and understand your concern. Fortunately, a beta BIOS was released about a week after I purchased my UD5 and it resolved the issue.
 
Well good I would feel comfortable buying one now. It may have just been a problem on his board or a settings problem who knows.
 
I love the UD4P as well. A beta bios just released also fixes the iPhone sync issue.
 
Good to hear.. I don't have an iPhone but if I get one, I'll be sure to install the newer BIOS. In the mean time, I'll keep my factory shipped BIOS in place (what's that old saying, if it's not broke don't fix it).. LOL.

@ FoxhoundOp - You may be correct. But I disabled all of my C1E, C3, Turbo, etc.

@ sparks - No problem. Oh, and thanks for the compliment!
 
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