Mainstream P55 Motherboard?

I know there's a couple P55 threads floating around, but most of them ask about the higher end stuff. I cringe at the thought of spending $150+ on a motherboard. Only a few years ago, the best motherboards were only selling for $125.

My budget is $140 or less, of which there are several options. One in particular I was looking at is the ECS P55H-A, but an initial review published that the voltage options only went to +0.15v, which seems rather limiting to me.

I have the choice of the following:
Foxconn P55A-S
Biostar TP55
MSI P55-CD53
ASUS ASUS P7P55D
Biostar T5 XE
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R

Any suggestions?

does the board have to be ATX? my first pick would prolly be the DS3R...

Comparatively speaking "best" has most desired features for the price.

Foxconn P55A-S lowest price + rebate(choice if budget limits)

Both ASUS P7P55D & Biostar T5 XE have 2 pcix16 slots (choice for gaming).

These 3 have ASUS P7P55D, MSI P55-CD53, GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R all allow memory standard over 2000+oc (choice for over clocking).

MSI P55-CD53 is the only one up to 8 SATA (choice if you have a lot of drives).

Both have these have the most USB ports, MSI P55-CD53 & GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R: 10 x USB 2.0 (choice if you have USB everything)

Both have 8 phase power ASUS P7P55D & GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R (choice if power hungry.)

Gigabyte most desired features but most in price. MSI or ASUS second but if gaming ASUS is 2nd choice.

u realize that there are 5 different versions of the asus P7P55D?

LE
regular (just P7P55D)
PRO
EVO
Deluxe

In that order of price and features.... SLI starts on the PRO version. NOT ALL p55 boards that have 2x physical pcie 16x slots support SLI or 8x 8x configuration.

And only a few years ago boards were going for much more.... bought my Asus p5wdh for 240 bucks.

But it really comes down to the layout you want, i would try and stick with asus or gigabyte IMO.

nd4spdbh2 said:

But it really comes down to the layout you want, i would try and stick with asus or gigabyte IMO.

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<3 RE II Gene but so want to give the P55 Gene a spin... Gonna be messing with Asrock P55M Pro, GA-P55M-UD2, and GA-P55M-UD4. in case you cant tell they are all MATX, just cant wait!

if i were to go with a p55 setup it would be the Asus P7P55D pro, has the best layout and is the cheapest of the SLI boards that i would consider made by a good company

I'm not looking for SLI or anything out of the ordinary. Just something that performs and overclocks well.... The Gigabyte board looks interesting.

How does one tell how many phases of power a board employs, and what exactly is the benefit?

adelphia83 said:

How does one tell how many phases of power a board employs, and what exactly is the benefit?

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let me see if i have that pic i made.... ok well looks like it got lost some how... well any way look near the cpu socket, you see the chokes? they will look different depending on the target market. Generally though when you hit the mid range segment the chokes are all enclosed vs lower end ones with the coils exposed. now some manufacutres use only two voltage regulators per phase some use three. i think i saw one board use 4, though i cant recall what brand/board that was. if you look at the GA-P55M-UD2 that has 6 phases and the P55M-UD4 packs a whoping 14phases on a MATX platform. impressive to say the least, i just hope the UD4 oc's like its big brother.

lol Dr. Evil. M3G looks very sexy though

Can one tell the number of phases simply by counting the number of inductors near the CPU socket?

ChinStrap said:

lol Dr. Evil. M3G looks very sexy though

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hey whats so FuNnY? i cant help it im MATX addicted now..... hmm M3G is that from Asus?

adelphia83 said:

Can one tell the number of phases simply by counting the number of inductors near the CPU socket?

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yes, that is how count the number of phases for a board. sorry i forgot to cover your other question about that... with quad core cpus it really does help with ocing. as well the more phases helps with keeping the it energy efficeint and more phases the better up to a point. as it ensures the cpu gets the current it needs and run cooler. the more phases the more spread out the load is for providing the cpu with voltage/current. the cooler they run the longer they last. with either LGA1156 or LGA1366 you want to get a board with at least 6phases. this IMO is the min number you want to do some mild ocing. while 8 phases would be better not all boards sport 8. most now sport more then 8 in the mid range ocing boards. now if you dont oc the 6phases is really the max you need and 4phases is here agian IMO the min. though looking at LGA1156 boards i see a Intel based one only has 3 phases. intel knows best in (well depending on who you ask) so 3 phases for min for stock running cpus. now you do have to be care full though. as looking at intel board you might think it has 4 phases but it is 3. now you will notice a difference in the chokes 3 are the same and one is different. that one phase that is different is for the onboard IMC. which is why you see some say 6+1 phases and so on...

ya you also have to take into account that there are two core voltages, thus two completely different circuit sets now adays.

nd4spdbh2 said:

ya you also have to take into account that there are two core voltages, thus two completely different circuit sets now adays.

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DOH!! thats right core and uncore voltage. i guess that makes the 6phase board a 3+3,hmm... either that or your talking about split plane voltage like on AMD's new motherboards. i wasnt aware they started doing that for intel boards...

Evilsizer said:

hey whats so FuNnY? i cant help it im MATX addicted now..... hmm M3G is that from Asus?

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Asus Maximus III Gene

as soon as i can find one, i'm buying it

^ I'll be right beside you my friend Sweet little board

ChinStrap said:

Asus Maximus III Gene

as soon as i can find one, i'm buying it

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Brolloks said:

^ I'll be right beside you my friend Sweet little board

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lol makes three of us then, i think R2G is lonely..

Evilsizer said:

DOH!! thats right core and uncore voltage. i guess that makes the 6phase board a 3+3,hmm... either that or your talking about split plane voltage like on AMD's new motherboards. i wasnt aware they started doing that for intel boards...

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Now id imagine they would devote more to core voltage then uncore, as uncore is no where near as power demanding compared to core.

nd4spdbh2 said:

Now id imagine they would devote more to core voltage then uncore, as uncore is no where near as power demanding compared to core.

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making me think/wonder here alot now! lol
we could almost say the 6+1 board could have that last phase devoted to both uncore/IMC. though we dont know the demands of either... im also starting to wonder if the DIMM voltage regulators supply the IMC with voltage then. instead of coming from the cpu voltage phases or the +1 phase.

ahha so very true.... the uncore / imc could be supplied by the dimm regulation!

in the case of the UD2 gigabyte p55 mobo, you got 4 vregs and 2 chokes over there.


ANYWAYS op i would either go with the Gigabyte p55-ud3r or the asus p7p55d LE... just depends on what feature set you want and layout.

although the Foxconn P55A-S looks like a pretty sweet board for the price, and foxconn is a well known name. I would definitely not go with the Biostar TP55 as it has NO vreg cooling, as well as the really small heatsink on the MSI p55-cd53... id steer clear.

I just stumbled upon the Asrock P55 Deluxe (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157169) and it looks like the board I'm getting.

It's over what I wanted to spend, but I just realized it has LGA 775 HSF mounting holes, so that's $40 I don't have to spend. The features are excellent, 16+1 phase power, and good reviews online.