There is no chipset existing anymore on the NorthBridge location; the heat sink here mainly increase the cooling surface of the heat pipe. P55 chipset, with bigger heat sink, is located on the SouthBridge location. Direct phase design, whose cost and quility are higher than those of common materials, is adopted for CPU power supply. For both LGA 1336 and LGA 1156, only by installing the second DIMM can system boot successfully. This is a different design that the memory controller is integrated in CPU. Boot logo, emphasising SLI support. Over-Clocking Navigator Setting DDR3Timing Configuration Voltage Control CPU Vcore +0.00625~0.78750V CPU VTT Voltage 1.100~2.030V CPU PLL Voltage 1.800~2.730V DRAM Voltage 1.600~2.530V PCH Voltage 1.100~2.030V Disable CPU Load Line can avoid the situation when CPU voltage becomes lower. |
Intel PPM Configuration This function can directly view DRAM SPD information from BIOS. Upon the condition that CPU is 133MHz and is not overclocked, DDR3 Frequency item provides the following choices: 800/1066/1333 for i5; 800/1066/1333/1600 for i7. CPU information and related functions. Hardware Health As for LGA 1156 platform, increasing CPU frequency is the main way to overclock, and adjusting VTT Voltage is the key point. Since memory controller is integrated in CPU, the memory voltage therefore has much to do with CPU itself. The following is my setting: CPU/DDR3 is 210/2000 as steady arguments for BIOS. Because of different CPU and DDR3 conditions, clock rate and voltage need to be adjusted further. I spend several days getting the proper setting, and I hope the setting can help those who are interested in overclocking. Testing Platform CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Motherboard: BIOSTAR TPOWER I55 DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GBX2 DDR3 1866C9D VGA: MSI R4890 CYCLONE DDR5 1GB CrossFireX HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0) POWER: Antec TruePower New TP-750 Cooler: Mega Shadow(Deluxe Edition) BIOSTAR professional software feature: “Toverclocker”. Its functions are similar to CPUZ, but it provides more functions as tools. System voltage can be viewed from here. System temperature can also be viewed. Currently, the temperature of LGA 1156 CPU, with overclocking above 3.6G, would be highly possible to be over 99 degrees Centigrade. Therefore, if you want to overclock, having a high quality cooler is strongly recommended. In testing I used Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition, which is a new product from PROLIMATECH. |
This is the black version, whose buttons supports LGA 1156, being an excellent cooler that can remove heat effectively. Performance Test CPU default clock rate 133 X 20=> 2666MHz DRAM DDR3 1333 CL6 6-6-21 1T C1E/Turbo Boost Tech closed Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 14m 00.266s CPUMARK 99=> 434 CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 3975 x CPU=> 13995 PCMark Vantage=> 12043 DDR3 1333 CL6 6-6-21 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-16928 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-12924 MB/s Core i5, although without HT technology, still perform outstanding. Compared with dual channels of LGA 775, LGA 1156 improves performance gain about 30%~40%. Generally enabling Turbo Boost Tech will make CPU multiplier run with X20~X22. Overclocking Test CPU default clock rate 210 X 20=> 4200MHz Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 9m 28.047s CPUMARK 99=> 653 CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5988 x CPU=> 20939 PCMark Vantage=> 15802 |
DDR3 2103 CL9 9-9-25 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-25815 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-19078MB/s Overclocking ability of TPOWER I55 follows the tradition of TPOWER X58, but in general, overclocking has become more users friendly. If CPU itself is good enough, setting 200/2000 is feasible; there is no need to set other settings of the motherboard. Needles to say, with better CPU and DDR3, the system can run with 210/2100~220/2200 or higher overclocking ratio. As for the design of BIOSTAR TPOWER I55, overclocking ability is really one of the best among all the P55 motherboards. BIOSTAR TPOWER I55 Merits 1. The main characteristic of BIOSTAR product is easily overclocking with plain price. The price of I55 is about US$200. 2. The design of CPU power supply is Direct phase. BIOSTAR software also can monitor system temperature. 3. P55 supports both ATI CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI technology. 4. Japanese solid capacitors, debug indicators, and built-in Power/Reset buttons are adopted on the motherboard. 5. BIOS provide a lot of items, with wide rage of voltage, so that overclocking ability is splendid. 6. The motherboard is built in 6 SATA II; as to I/O, 2 eSATA is for expansion. 7. The motherboard provides dual LAN, one of which is Intel 82578 LAN chipset. Drawbacks 1. Both matching colour of the motherboard and art designing of the package leave something to be desired. 2. IC of power supply can be welded more ordered. 3. Only increasing voltage items are provided for CPU; decreasing voltage items are not. Performance Rate ★★★★★★★★★☆ Material Rate ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specification Rate ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Appearance Rate ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Price Rate ★★★★★★★★☆☆ In testing process, the overclocking ability on Core i5 750 is quite good. CPU (4G) can run steadily with only about 1.35V. Compared with CPU temperature with OEM cooler, the temperature with large cooler is much lower. When CPU (4G) is full loading, the temperature is about 65~70 degrees Centigrade; when CPU (overclocking to 4.2G) is also full loading, the temperature is about 70~75 degrees Centigrade. However, when CPU (overclocking to 3.6G) with OEM cooler executes PI 32M, the CPU temperature goes over 99 degrees Centigrade, the situation that explains CPU (4G) cannot perform stability. In conclusion, using a better cooler is one of the most important measures to overclock. BIOSTAR TPOWER I55 still shows great overclocking ability and tradition of “King of Overclocking” followed by TPOWER I45. Although many records of high frequencies of CPU/DDR3 can be viewed from the Internet, I still prefer air cooling. My goal is to suggest users using air cooling to overclock, the arrangement can make the system run with greater stability over a longer period of time. Before Intel releases Dual-core Core i3, the price of LGA 1156 should belong to high-intermediate level. At present, it is a good matching for this platform that buying US$200 P55 mobo and US$200 Core i5 750 processor. TPOWER I55 is BIOSTAR’s highest level P55 based motherboard, and its price is also competitive; moreover, consumers also can choose other P55 boards with lower prices. Compared with the fact that the prices of other brands are over US$300, the price of BIOSTAR is reasonable with wonderful overclocking abilities. |
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