Core i5 Mobo First Look

[Bodaggit23]

May 27, 2009

Gigabyte is slated to announce it's Intel P55 mainboard next week at the Computex Taipei 2009 exhibition.

The Gigabyte P55-UD5 supports the Intel Core i5 processor (LGA1156) with a dual channel memory architeture.
It has a 24 phase design so you should have more stability with higher clocks. it comes with 3 full length slots supporting CrossFireX.
It is unsure if it will run SLI.

As with Intel P55, it supports SATA 3 (SATA III) 6.0Gb/s.
The chipset is is a Marvell hybrid chip which supports 4 SATA-3 ports and 6 SATA-2 ports with RAID 0/1 support.

At the rear panel, we can find the usual USB ports, 1394 ports,, audio, coaxial and Digital S/PDIF.
One thing that is different is that is now comes with power over eSATA. Power over eSATA is not a new feature.
It was already available on the ASRock X58SuperComputer. This feature makes it on the Gigabyte P55-UD5 mainboard.
Now you can just plug in your eSATA hard drives without worrying about your power cable for your device.

The board also features a Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) slot which allows you to speed up system access.
It works similarly to the ReadyBoost in Vista.

This board's design is subjected to changes and we should expect the final design to surface by August as the
retail processors should come in September or later.

http://my.ocworkbench.com/2009/computex-taipei-2009-coverage/gigabyte/p1.htm

 

[Aastii]

LGA1156...so they are changeing the pins AGAIN!! Intel need to just make up their mind on a processor chain and stick to it. That is something AMD have manage to get right, it seems that intel DO have some stuff to learn from them.

I like the look of the rear of the mobo, the amount of slots you have is awesome, and i like how much cooling they have put on the mobo chips. You should have to push it real far to get that the overheat, or run it in the middle of a desert with no fans.

Should be good SO LONG AS INTEL DONT CHANGE THE CHIPS AGAIN

 

[StrangleHold]

I wonder why they used photos of the UD4 with the 12 phase power setup.

UD5

 

[WeatherMan]

What is that northbridge heatsink doing there

Are some boards coming with them and some not ?

 

[StrangleHold]

Northbridge heatsink? All boards have had a Northbridge heatsink for years now. Are you talking about the Mosfets heatsink, most upper end ones have them.

 

[WeatherMan]

Apparently newer i5 boards wouldnt come with a northbridge, like the other Gigabyte board shown at Cebit, Seems strange that one doesnt have one whilst the other does, Let me find a link.

Does that mobo have onboard vga included?

 

[Jamin43]

LGA1156...so they are changeing the pins AGAIN!! Intel need to just make up their mind on a processor chain and stick to it. That is something AMD have manage to get right, it seems that intel DO have some stuff to learn from them.

Agree,

I like my i7 - but it'd be nice if they weren't jumping around sockets within a year's time period like this. Oh well - it'll give me something to keep an eye on for the next couple of years to see how things play out.

 

[WeatherMan]

The i5 motherboards should be cheaper as there is no northbridge on i5 motherboards as it is basically part of the cpu package.

Is the board up top for an i5 without igp? Maybe there will be motherboards for chips with and without?

 

[Aastii]

Will they not have the nb and sb combined? That is what some which have no visable nb, like the boards posted by bootup, have.

Also, how could it have the nb in the chip at all? The nb is a core logic chip linking the sb and processor, without the nb how would you control the memory and video card and how would you link everything to the peripherals and storage? That is a mothboard job, not the processor. Will have to be drastically different technology to make the nb in the processor surely

 

[WeatherMan]

Theres a big thread over on XS about it somewhere, i've been digging around trying to find it without luck

 

[Bodaggit23]

Also, how could it have the nb in the chip at all? The nb is a core logic chip linking the sb and processor, without the nb how would you control the memory and video card and how would you link everything to the peripherals and storage? That is a mothboard job, not the processor. Will have to be drastically different technology to make the nb in the processor surely

Did you read this?
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3570&p=1

 

[StrangleHold]

Apparently newer i5 boards wouldnt come with a northbridge, like the other Gigabyte board shown at Cebit, Seems strange that one doesnt have one whilst the other does, Let me find a link.

Does that mobo have onboard vga included?

Theres a big thread over on XS about it somewhere, i've been digging around trying to find it without luck

They are just combining whats left of the Northbridge (since the memory controller is on the processor) with the Southbridge. Nvidia has done it in the past. Surprised AMD/ATI didnt do it years ago since the memory controller has been on the processor since the Athlon 64 was released.


With AMD the processor can talk directly to the southbridge bypassing the northbridge.

It has its ups and downs. If they upgrade the chip with a single chip you have to replace it as a whole. Where with dual chips like AMD does, you can just upgrade the southbridge. It would seem to me they would run cooler with them in two different chips.


Edit. I figured it out. The ones with what looks like a Southbridge is really a Nvidia chip with extra SLI support.