Biostar TPower i55 – Super Middle Weight Contender
by Rajinder Gill on November 25, 2009 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup -
We utilized a wide variety of memory kits from Corsair, OCZ, Patriot, GSkill, and Kingston to verify memory compatibility on our test boards. Our OS and primary applications are loaded on the Kingston 80GB SSD drive and our games operate off the WD 300GB VRaptor drive. We did a clean install of the OS and applications for each motherboard.
We chose the ASUS GTX275 video card and Corsair’s 750HX power supply. Our air cooler of choice is Thermalright’s Ultra 120 eXtreme, primarily for its exceptional performance during our overclocking tests. We also tested with the retail cooler and those results along with direct CPU comparisons can be found here.
Our 790FX/X58 results are provided for comparison only. For our test results we setup each board as closely as possible in regards to memory timings. Otherwise all other settings are left on auto. The P55 and 790FX motherboards utilized 8GB of DDR3, while the X58 platform contained 6GB. The P55 and X58 DDR3 timings were set to 7-7-7-20 1T at DDR3-1600 for the i7/920, i7/870, and i7/860 processors at both stock and overclocked CPU settings.
We used DDR3-1333 6-6-6-18 1T timings for the i5/750 stock setup as DDR3-1600 is not natively supported in current BIOS releases for this processor at a stock Bclk setting of 133. We had early BIOS releases that offered the native 1600 setting but stability was a serious problem and support was pulled for the time being. Performance is essentially the same between the two settings.
The AMD 790FX setup is slightly different as trying to run DDR3-1600 at CAS 7 timings on the 1:4 divider is extremely difficult. Without resorting to some serious overvolting and relaxing of sub-timings, we set our AMD board up at DDR3-1600 8-8-8-20 1T timings but with NB speed at 2200. The difference in performance between C7 and C8 DDR3-1600 is practically immeasurable in applications and games on this platform.
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treesloth - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
I first used the internet when the main protocol was IP over smoke signals, so keep your fancy "flexibility" off my lawn!Seriously, though, good points. I also have to compliment Anandtech on basing their article layouts on visitor convenience, as opposed to the many sites that seem to try to herd as many visitors as possible into as many page views (and ad impressions) as possible.
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - link
Yes, the summary/conclusion is on the first page. For the exact reason that Bull Dog mentions. We've had a lot of requests from people that want 'bare all' on the first page, so here it is. Saves you having to trundle through every page picking up tidbits here and there of what the board can or cannot do. We know it won't appease everybody, but then appeasing everybody is impossible anyway..lolregards
Raja
poohbear - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - link
I think it doesnt make sense. who says u hafta "trundle" through every page to get to the conclusion?? u just click the drop down menu & go to the conclusion. A site for computer enthusiasts & the readers can't even figure out how to use a drop down menu????Devo2007 - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - link
I agree - the new layout is confusing.What I'd suggest is a small summary of the article (either Pros/Cons, or small highlights of the product being reviewed. That way, people can get a quick overview of the product, and delve into the article more if they wish.
Putting the full-fledged conclusion on the main page just doesn't seem to fit right.
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - link
I'll try and find a happy medium that does not confuse people too much..loltreesloth - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
Put the conclusion right in the middle-- page 10 of a 20-page review. Oh, and since programming languages can't seem to settle whether indexing should start at 0 or 1, we'll compromise and start at .5.Seriously, though, I think people will get a little confused exactly once, figure it out, and never have another problem. I like the new way.
sonci - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - link
Its called abstract,its used on medical articles..
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, November 26, 2009 - link
Whichever way you look at it; you click on the review, read the first page for everything relevant and then if it interets you to lo at the figures, read on. Can't get much simpler than that.later
Raja
Bull Dog - Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - link
First/second page conclusion.Kinda wierd but I like it over the standard "go through 11 gazillion pages of nearly meaningless numbers."