Gigabyte P55 UD5 review - Introduction

Hey ya'll  ! Guess what .. another P55 review. We know you love these motherboards and rest assured, this will not be the last one we test either.

As you guys know we already did a preview on the P55 UD4P from Gigabyte, but there is an even more advanced version out there and it's called the P55 UD5 which ironically comes with UD3 technology. But in very simple terminology, this is the snazzy one, the motherboard with the best components, features, overclockability and sure ... a little pricy as well. But if you like to take it to the extreme this certainly will be one of the top motherboards available.

The Intel P55 chipset, what is that all about some of you might ask ? Here's the thing, Intel launched three new processors. These processors come from the Nehalem family of processors and are classified with the codename 'Lynnfield'. To make some sense out of that, the 1st generation Core i7 processors had the codename Bloomfield.

Lynnfield processors are a small step down from that uber-high end Bloomfield based processor architecture. The three most significant changes can be found in dual-channel memory, locked multipliers and lower TDP. Please read all about that in our Lynnfield processor review. Unfortunately the difference in-between Bloomfield and Lynnfield also entails a socket change, as such the really high-end Bloomfield processors like Core i7 920, 950 and 975 will be based on a Socket LGA 1366 design whereas the new Core i7 870, 860 and Core i5 750 processors will have to be seated onto Socket 1156. Chipset wise Bloomfield processors are paired with the X58 chipset from Intel, Lynnfield processors however will be paired with P55 chipset based motherboards. Overall the benefit of the P55/Lynnfield combo should be a better price performance ratio. Features wise on the motherboard side it all looks and feels fairly similar.

So to facilitate the new Lynnfield architecture processors Intel has been working on (amongst others) the P55 chipset, this chipset will replace P45. Lynnfield processors feature an integrated memory controller, like current Core i7 processors, and they're outfitted with sixteen lanes of embedded PCI Express connectivity, there's no need to pair the processors with a second chip (Southbridge). Instead, the processor will connect only to the one P55 chip.

Today we'll look at Gigabyte's offering with their P55 UD5 motherboard, have a peek, take in that blue ... and then head on over to the next page.