Enthusiast P55: Eight LGA 1156 Boards Between $150 And $200

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]apache_lives[/nom]USB floppys with legacy mode support in the bios work as a full FDD so its pointless[/citation]

USB floppy drives cost a load of cash while onboard Floppy is free, so you're pointless. I don't even use a floppy drive and I can see it...

 

[Zerk]

Man, I want that Mobo behind the Toms logo!

What is that, 9 mobo's welded together? lol!

Great review as always!

 

[liquidsnake718]

BAH ....... X58 will be able to facilitate 6 core intel CPUs. Next year we will see the folly of those who chose P55 when they clearly could have gotten an X58 future proof motherboard. This will be utilized for at least the next 5 years rather then the P55 which will probably last for until3-4 years max.....coupled along with new Sata and USB3.0 connectors or cards, perhaps larrabe onboard gpus on the next gen X58's, we are seeing next gen parts come out for X58...

 

[Guest]

USB floppy drives are less than $20 at Newegg. That's definitely not "a load of cash". One USB floppy serves my occasional needs for four computers at less than $5 per computer and will work with any future systems I build. There's no internal floppy cable to get in the way and restrict airflow.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]o t g[/nom]USB floppy drives are less than $20 at Newegg. That's definitely not "a load of cash". One USB floppy serves my occasional needs for four computers at less than $5 per computer and will work with any future systems I build. There's no internal floppy cable to get in the way and restrict airflow.[/citation]

I don't need a floppy, but $20 is more than 10% of the price of the board, so it would still a load of cash to me if I did.

 

[apache_lives]

[citation][nom]terr281[/nom]Quote: "Begone PS2, FDD, IDe, PCI - too old"Except in the business world, where applications are written to run on specific hardware.Example from my employer: Our helpdesk recently had to purchase a new Laptop with an integrated Parallel Port for use at one location. Why? A certain piece of software running at the site requires a parallel port dongle for any system to access it, and the data from the software is written locally then transferred to the network. (Interference in the area removes the ability for any type of wireless internet to work, and the site is in a "no cell" coverage by any vendor area.) The software, for legal reasons, cannot be changed to a newer version.Also, we recently had to rollback several users from Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2003 due to software incompatibilities, and the hardware (and user training) cost to upgrade all users to "Vista capable" systems was too high until next year's budget. The result? We all still run Windows XP.At home, many older games refuse to run on Vista/7, even when in compatibility mode. (The same reason I keep a Win 98 SE machine running for games that refuse to run properly in Win XP.)In short, just because something... even technology... is old, doesn't mean it should be gotten rid of permanently.[/citation]

For my older crap that requires older crap i use older crap systems, for my new systems i use new EVERYTHING

If your older stuff works on older rigs then keep the older rigs for the task is was ment to do, because thats all it will ever need.

New rigs should be NEW.

 

[apache_lives]

[citation][nom]liquidsnake718[/nom]BAH ....... X58 will be able to facilitate 6 core intel CPUs. Next year we will see the folly of those who chose P55 when they clearly could have gotten an X58 future proof motherboard. This will be utilized for at least the next 5 years rather then the P55 which will probably last for until3-4 years max.....coupled along with new Sata and USB3.0 connectors or cards, perhaps larrabe onboard gpus on the next gen X58's, we are seeing next gen parts come out for X58...[/citation]

doubt the 1366 platform will have anything to do with onboard video, especially larabee as its a high end platform

as atm theres no wat to tell which platform will last longer, but an all integrated platform usually sticks around the longest because of the common use in the business sector etc

 

[HDValium]

How about telling us what CPU sockets these boards are using? Until the Foxconn/Lotes socket problem is addressed, this article is useless! Your Gigabyte winner, does it still use Foxconn? If so, only a fool would buy it.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]HDValium[/nom]How about telling us what CPU sockets these boards are using? Until the Foxconn/Lotes socket problem is addressed, this article is useless! Your Gigabyte winner, does it still use Foxconn? If so, only a fool would buy it.[/citation]

These all use Foxconn and Lotes sockets. In fact, if you click on the image to go to the gallery view, then click on the gallery image to see it at full size, you'll be able to see exactly which two motherboards use Lotes and which six use Foxconn.

 

[VVV850]

I wonder why Tom's decided to launch two articles talking only about Intel gaming rigs and Intel based motherboards (when Intel is in trouble with the Dell and IBM payments not to buy AMD chips). I wonder.....

LE: an now the third article regarding RAM

PS: I double posted because my first post is all the time hidden

 

[bigballinggpr]

[citation][nom]VVV850[/nom]I wonder why Tom's decided to launch two articles talking only about Intel gaming rigs and Intel based motherboards (when Intel is in trouble with the Dell and IBM payments not to buy AMD chips). I wonder.....LE: an now the third article regarding RAMPS: I double posted because my first post is all the time hidden[/citation]

Not its not, you're just trying to start a flame war = lame. No one cares that you're an amd fanboy, the truth is that there have been no interesting AMD mobos recently so what would they write on? plz stop trying to turn this into some stupid A** argument of Intel v AMD.

 

[VVV850]

I have always been an Intel fanboy for your information. My only AMD product was an Athlon T-bird at 700MHz a long time ago. This isn't a comparison between AMD and Intel but how long a stretch of arm does Intel have to get their products in front of the competition by any means necessary.
If you are comfertable paying more for the same product thats fine by me. But i'm not and this is affecting me and other consumers directly. Maybe you should read the post again and maybe try to understand that posting isn't always flaming.

 

[JeanLuc]

Just as Biostart done with it's P45 board they have once again produced the best mainstream overclockers board for the P55. It looks like Biostar are cutting a nice little niche market for themselves by offering the best overclocking mainstream value for money boards on the market.

Biostar deserve credit for this as it keep competition fierce and stops the larger companies from forming an oligopoly (a market controlled by a few companies).

 

[apache_lives]

ill stick to gigabyte and asus thanks, and VVV850 the current Intel products are quicker and offer HT so there more usefull to me atm, but yes you are right - pointless spending more $$$ on the same performance, but they dont perform the same currently.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]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.[/citation]
Offering a selection of boards, one all modern (SATA, eSata, PCIe etc.) and still offering a old school version (IDE, PS/2, PCI, floppy etc.) does make sense. As much as we try to kill them, they aren't dead yet, and some people still use them.

Honestly, it's Foxconn Bloodrage for LGA 1366 boards for me (awesome boards for the $$), and a Foxconn P55MX for a LGA 1156 build (For only $90, it's a decent board, also microATX, which is nice). Mixed with a i5 750, 4GB of RAM, and a 4670, you got one hell of a budget gamer for el cheapo.

Sorry, but I just can't imagine building a LGA 1156 performance rig...
Nice article regardless.

 

[coolkev99]

[citation][nom]Gedoe_[/nom]paying $150 for a mobo haha o wow what a joke. I would spend my money at the CPU or GPU, where it matters.[/citation]

I have 9 hard drives and a multitude of USB devices to connect, no lil "budget" MB is going to support that many devices. Not all of us have the same hardware requirments you do.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]VVV850[/nom]I double posted because my first post is all the time hidden[/citation]

That's because your fellow readers voted you down. When your post gets voted down enough, it gets hidden. Please try one of the web's many "Moon Landing Conspiracy" communities if you're looking for a sympathetic ear.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]coolkev99[/nom]I have 9 hard drives and a multitude of USB devices to connect, no lil "budget" MB is going to support that many devices. Not all of us have the same hardware requirments you do.[/citation]

Bloodrage was one of my favorite boards too, but the Inferno Katana unfortunately doesn't offer similar value, relative to other products.

 

[avatar_raq]

Nice Roundup.
One question: Which one of those motherboards has the correct position for the FP audio connector?

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]avatar_raq[/nom]Nice Roundup.One question: Which one of those motherboards has the correct position for the FP audio connector?[/citation]

By "Correct Position" do you mean the "traditional" position? Because that would be the bottom rear corner, and its a horrible place to put it even if it's on some specification sheet.

Gigabyte has the easiest-to-reach FP connector, placing it directly forward of the I/O ports. Other boards vary, so you'll have to look at the images.

 

[RIKHOLLIS]

Thanks for the roundup, been waiting weeks for something like this. Couple of questions though; what's your final take on the MSI entry, and in general, what's the best overclock that still allows safe Turbo mode on the I7s?

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]rikhollis[/nom]Thanks for the roundup, been waiting weeks for something like this. Couple of questions though; what's your final take on the MSI entry, and in general, what's the best overclock that still allows safe Turbo mode on the I7s?[/citation]

MSI had a good motherboard, but it didn't stand out anywhere and wasn't a particularly good value. Now that people are finding it for less than $150 at Newegg, it's worth reconsidering. Unfortunately, that's too late for the review.

Getting a reliable high-speed overclock typically requires disabling Intel's automatic voltage controls, but you could try +0.200 volts as an "offset voltage" and overclock the base clock without disabling the high C states required for Turbo mode to be active. I'd keep an eye on voltage and temperature using CPU-Z and RealTemp, use Prime95 with eight threads as a load, and make sure the system never goes over 1.45V or 90C. If the last two numbers become problematic, you can use a lower offset voltage.

 

[rubberjohnson]

BAH ....... X58 will be able to facilitate 6 core intel CPUs. Next year we will see the folly of those who chose P55 when they clearly could have gotten an X58 future proof motherboard

Future proof is a falacy, there is no such thing! What do you do with your current CPU when the 6 core comes out? sell it at a loss? Then you can spend $1000 on your 6 core and not notice one iota of speed increase in everyday tasks. Not to mention the P55 system uses much less power.

. This will be utilized for at least the next 5 years rather then the P55 which will probably last for until3-4 years max.....coupled along with new Sata and USB3.0 connectors or cards, perhaps larrabe onboard gpus on the next gen X58's, we are seeing next gen parts come out for X58...

So if i buy an X58 over a P55 right now how is that going to help when next gen parts are released? are you saying dont buy anything now cause new stuff is coming? well dont buy the six core next year folks the 12 core is only another 12-18 months away!

 

[zaiusphd]

Can anyone speak to the issue with Foxconn 1156 sockets as reported by Anandtech and others (http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661)?

Come purchase time, I may switch from the UD4P to EVGA's offering because, for me, OC'ing is the only reason to spend for this tier of mobo. While EVGA's OC numbers in this report aren't the best, at least their LOTES/Tyco AMP socket won't scorch my i5. What say you, Tom's?

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]zaiusphd[/nom]Can anyone speak to the issue with Foxconn 1156 sockets as reported by Anandtech and others (http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661)?Come purchase time, I may switch from the UD4P to EVGA's offering because, for me, OC'ing is the only reason to spend for this tier of mobo. While EVGA's OC numbers in this report aren't the best, at least their LOTES/Tyco AMP socket won't scorch my i5. What say you, Tom's?[/citation]

Lotes, Tyco, and AMP are three different socket manufacturers. Lotes is probably the cheapest, but it appears that some Foxconn sockets have inadequate contact pressure for use under extremely high-amperage conditions, such as LN2 overclocking.

So, how is that LN2 system working out for you? Any records to report?