Intel’s launch of the P55 chipset and LGA-1156 CPUs to support the new chipset has taken the CPU and chipset world by storm. Virtually every motherboard manufacturer has released several boards based upon the new chipset. Intel has also released three new CPUs to fit on that architecture including the Intel Core i7 870, the Core i7 860 and the Core i5 750.
Power Phase design has come a long way since the institution of 8-phase power design in early motherboards. The GIGABYTE P55-UD6 is the first motherboard with 24-phase power offering smooth power delivery to the CPU. Another benefit of 24-phase power VRM is the reduction of heat by spreading the load between the power phases resulting in a cooler and more stable platform. Ultra Durable 3 is GIGABYTE’s latest trademark for their durable components. The P55-UD6 has Japanese Solid Capacitors, allowing for longer lifetime of these capacitors compared to regular capacitors. Lower RDS (on) MOSFETs provide cleaner power and the 2oz Copper PCB layers in the Power and Ground layers lowers system temperatures by delivering a more efficient spreading of heat from critical areas of the motherboard.
The P55 chipset supports NVIDIA’s SLI technology and the GIGABYTE P55-UD6 supports both CrossfireX and NVIDIA’s SLI technology. These technologies are the multiple-GPU solutions for ATI and NVIDIA respectively. The LGA-1156 CPU has access to 16 PCI Express 2.0 lanes which are split into x8/x8 mode if two video cards are installed on the motherboard. The third PCI Express slot on a motherboard operates at x4 mode. Video cards have not saturated the PCI Express bus and a x8 connection is perfect for most video cards on the market today.
GIGABYTE has bundled their P55-UD6 in a very large box with their usual coloring white. The upper left corner of the box has the 24 phase power logo. Ultra Durable 3, 2oz of copper layer, Smart 6, and the various supported features are on the front of the box. The rear of the box goes into the main features of the motherboard in detail. GIGABYTE has given new meaning to features with their new board. Features like SMART 6, 24-Phase Power and much more bring this board to one of the most feature-rich P55 motherboards on the market today. The inclusion of a external SATA kit with all the wires and cables needed adds additional value to the board. GIGABYTE is serious about the enthusiast crowd with a fully featured BIOS and lots of overclocking options that some other manufacturers can’t match. They offer a 3-year Warranty on the P55-UD6 board, with excellent support and great performance rounding out the board, giving a most of the appealing boards, more likely a standard to most motherboards today.