USB 3.0 chipset uses NEC D720200F1 Second USB 3.0 chipset, designed as a front USB Port The motherboard’s southbridge is an Intel P55 chipset, a single chip design that combines Intel Southbridge and Northbridge. The silver heat sink below is a PLX PEX 8608, with an additional PCI-E bandwidth, allowing SATA3 and USB 3.0 to gain increased bandwidth. The motherboard’s northbridge is an NVIDIA nForce200, whose major function is improving PCI-E bandwidth and supporting 2~3-way SLI technology. The Black Series is ECS’ high-level motherboard, with Qooltech III design dual heat conductors. Startup Screen BIOS Main Page M.I.B X functions to adjust timing, parameters and power supply In this page you can adjust the CPU multiple frequency, CPU/DRAM frequency divider and DRAM parameters More detailed DRAM parameters, CPU external clock adjustment and other overclocking functions Voltage Page CPU Core Voltage -0.900~+0.945V CPU VTT Voltage -0.800~+0.630V DRAM Voltage -0.800~+0.630V PCH Voltage -0.800~+0.630V |
Settings include two user profiles so that users can save their overclocking settings. CPU-related Technology Options C1E is a power-saving, frequency reduction function; when CPU usage is not high, it will automatically lower frequency and power PC Health Status The power supply functions and number of options in the P55H-AK’s BIOS isn’t bad, though if they added some power supply options it would be even better. The above was my personal opinion, as I am using the CPU/DDR3 set at 210/1682; those consumers with good constitutions or similar hardware sets could consider using these settings. I hope this helps those of you who need to overclock. Testing Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-875K MB: ECS Black Series P55H-AK DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC 3-way SLI HD: Intel X25-V 40GB RAID 0 POWER: CORSAIR TX950W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64-bit eBLU is a kind of BIOS that can update online, and is a relatively common addition to motherboards nowadays. eOC is an overclocking software that allows you to set up power options and the external clock within the OS, providing faster overclock functions. This software also allows you to see the motherboard’s current status CPU with Intel Core i7-875K Clocking at 2.93GHz, supports Turbo Boost, and can reach 3.6GHz Four physical cores and Hyper-Threading technology can achieve eight simultaneous executions, called 4C/8T 45nm manufacturing with a L3 Cache that possesses 8MB; the above is currently the LGA 1156 platform’s best CPU specs Overclocking Settings CPU 210 X 21 => 4200MHz 1.308V DDR3 1680 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper PI 32M X8=> 14m 35.068s CPUMARK 99=> 652 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 285653 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 7.13 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.43 pts |
PCMark Vantage => 16381 P55H-AK takes the CPU overclocking to 4.2GHz after passing numerous kinds of software stability testing, while the power requirements are about the same as other P55 products. In conjunction with the i7 875Kexternal clock, 210MHz can be achieved stably, which is a pretty good performance for the P55 level. In terms of CPU voltage, we can only get statistics for default voltage during standby mode, and can only achieve the voltage values of user-set BIOS settings at full speed. During relatively larger overclocking, some negative effects was still seen; I hope ECS can improve this in the future. DRAM Efficiency Testing DDR3 1680 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 21889 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 20980 MB/s DDR3 2000 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 25067 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 21868 MB/s DDR3 bandwidth testing showed better results than other P55 motherboard products, perhaps because the default parameters were tighter, or perhaps because the OEM fine-tuned it better. The P55H-AK DDR3 bandwidth performed about as well as the LGA 1366 three-channel bandwidth tested. 3D effects Testing Three GTX 260 were used for testing, P55H-AK is one of the few that support NVIDIA 3-way SLI P55 products 3DMark Vantage => P28536 CPU SCORE => 52795 GPU SCORE => 24746 Street Fighter IV Benchmark 1920 X 1200 8XAA => 132.97FPS Devil May Cry 4 DX10 1600 X 1200 8XAA => 109.63/97.68/108.19/125.07 fps Final Fantasy XIV 1920 X 1080 => 4008 Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty Settings at High - 62 Lost Planet 2 DX9 1920 X 1200 TEST A - 44.9 fps DX9 1920 X 1200 TEST A - 40.1 fps 3DMark Vantage and Final Fantasy XIV both support 3-way SLI, so the numbers are much higher than the single-chip GTX260. However, the testing of other games, which did not support SLI, showed that they were unable to take advantage of its functions. For many games, not only is there the problem of GPU SLI/CF support, but there is also a great deal of room for improvement for supporting four-core (or more) CPUs. |
ECS Black Series P55H-AK Advantages 1. High-level P55 motherboard products are rare in the market, and the external appearance and packaging are both well-done 2. Internal NVIDIA NF200 chip, 3D expanded to 3-way NVIDIA SLI / ATi CrossfireX 3. Uses newest USB 3.0 and SATA3 chips, improving the highest bandwidth for motherboard transmission interfaces 4. Added PLX PEX 8608 chip, increasing PCI-E overall bandwidth 5. DDR3 bandwidth performs better, excellent CPU external clock overclock range Disadvantages 1. CPU voltage values are at default during standby mode 2. DDR3 2000+ stability has room for improvement 3. USB 3.0 performance sometimes drops Efficiency ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Materials ★★★★★★★★★☆ Specs ★★★★★★★★★☆ Appearance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Price ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ The ideal CPU to match the LGA 1156’s P55 chipset would be the i5 750/760 or i7 860/870/875K. After Intel lowers the price of CPUs, this platform’s C/P numbers will exceed that of the highest level X58. In addition, every motherboard manufacturer is releasing quite a few P55 motherboard products, giving consumers many options. Prices range from around NT$3500 (around US$110) to around NT$10,500 (US$330). I suggest that before buying the LGA 1156 you look at your budget, and then buy a P55 motherboard product that suits your needs. In terms of design and components, the P55H-AK meets the standards of major three-channel motherboard products, which is something that is definitely worth noting. Motherboards being sold for around NT$9500 (US$298) now are high-level P55 motherboards. If the prices can be pushed down a little, I believe it will increase C/P values, and could become more acceptable to more consumers. Since ECS has not entered the field of high-level overclocking products for very long, there are a few details that could be done better. For example, increase BIOS options, or strengthen BIOS stability during extreme overclocking; this would increase the level of performance. ECS is a major global motherboard manufacturer; if they can establish themselves in high-level overclocking products; this would greatly improve their brand image. When purchasing a motherboard, many consumers look for an option outside the major three manufacturers, and ECS is certainly worth consideration. I hope that for future high-level products, like the modified X58 or the yet-to-be-released P67 chipset, ECS will be able to produce even better products. This article is also posted in my blog: WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C fans to drop by. |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:03. |
Powered by vBulletin® - Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO