Anyone try an Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 build yet?

[soarwitheagles]

So after a little digging around I found http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/HELP-Fresh-Build-with-C300-64GB-Low-WEI-Score/m-p/32562

on the Crucial forums of a person with similar circumstances as me with regards to the C300 rating. They changed the drivers that were the default installation by Win 7 from msahci to intel RST ones.

The link is in the last post of that thread to the Intel drivers. It's made a big differnce as far as I can tell, things seem to be a lot smoother and boot time is now under 25 secs. The Windows rating is 7.8 and I couldnt be happier.

Oh and I've overclocked the CPU to 4.4 Ghz at the moment and this thing is blazing fast even with the stock cooler.

faizoff, so glad to hear your were able to resolve the Crucial SSD issue!  Also glad to hear your processor the MB is overclocking well!  My I ask what temps/settings your CPU is running at the 4.4 Ghz on stock cooler?

Thanks,

Soar

[faizoff]

Hey Soar, I used the same settings as suggested by Peter T on the 2nd page of this thread. I have to thank him for those settings.

CPU Ratio left at 33
Real Time Ratio Change in O/S Disabled
Turbo Boost Tech Enabled
Turbo Ratio 1 & 2 core 45
Turbo Ratio 3 & 4 core 43
Turbo Power Limit 120 watts

[faizoff]

I just checked the temps of the OC'd CPU and it looks like it's running a bit hot. The temp went up to 47 C on idle. Looks like I'll have to get a better cooler if I have to OC.

[Dark Mantis]

I would think that would be advisable even though they are much cooler running chips that the previous generation. Thing is that performance of the cooler will only degrade as time goes on anyway because of dust build up, etc.

[Slider]

I'm a little off topic, but I too am seeing a Windows Performance score of 5.9 on the hard drive scores with my GA-P55A-UD4P based system.  With the RAID 0 on the Intel SATA controller using two fast single platter Seagate 500 GB drives I was expecting higher.  According to HD Tune, HD Tack, PC Wizard, etc. the average read/write speed is over 245 MB/s (some report as high as 270 MB/s).  Timing a large file copy it works out to about 150 MB/s (reading and writing 150 MB/s so about 300 MB/s "in theory" in total).  It is running Windows 7 64-bit.

I built two PCs for my children using GA-P55A-UD3R boards with only one hard drive in each (140-155 MB/s read/write speeds - measured) and even though they have 1/2 the speed, Windows still reports a 5.9 for disk performance.  There is a huge difference in real world performance and the P55A-UD4P with dual drives in RAID 0 boots and loads programs and games roughly twice as fast.

I also have an extremely fast workstation that I use for finite element analysis using a Tyan motherboard, dual Xeon quad core processors, 64 GB of RAM and 4 of those high speed single platter hard drives in a RAID 0 (measured read/write speeds of about 450-480 MB/s) and that system also reports a 5.9 performance rating.  The RAID 0 is configured to only use the first 1/2 of the drives to maximize performance (there is a RAID 10 that I use for hourly archive on the slower back 1/2 of the 4 drives).  It also is using two more in a RAID 0 for the boot and to keep the speed maxed the RAID 0 only uses the first 1/2 of the hard drives.  This boot drive setup results in a 270-290 MB/s average so they aren't exactly slow either.  There are two more slower drives also for longer term storage.

Our Media Center PC (that we use for all of our TV) also has a 5.9 disk score.  It has 4 Seagate LP drives in a RAID 0 and  produces roughly 320-350 MB/s read/write performance, although the boot drive is just a regular single platter 500 GB drive (around 110-120 MB/s).  It is using an older Gigabyte P35-UD4R (if I recall correctly) motherboard and a quad core Q6600 processor.

What does it take to get higher than 5.9?  Is the score related to seek time and not throughput or something?  From what I can tell, anything from about 130 MB/s to 480 MB/s will get you a 5.9 score with "spinning" hard drives.  I don't have any SSD's so I can't comment on the rating, nor how much faster (or slower) they are in the "real world" compared to multiple high speed "spinning" drives.

[Dark Mantis]

It is part of the toy known as WEI. It doesn't matter how fast your hard drive is or even if you have a RAID0 with a couple of WD velociraptors you won't get more than 5.9 awarded. It is the ceiling for magnetic drives. You have to have a SSD to get a score any higher.

[soarwitheagles]

Hi again DM!

I was at our local super computer store tonight and the tech guy told me the GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4's are selling like hotcakes compared to the GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3's.  Something about Dual BIOS and a couple of other goodies as well.

I picked the last one up and was walking to the counter to pay for it and I met a guy who wanted the same MB.  I gave him mine because I really do not need it immediately whereas he did.

I have some questions on comparing the two:

1. What are the major differences?
2. Why would the P67A-UD4's be outselling the P67A-UD3's on a 10-to1 ratio?
3. I can pick up the P67A-UD4 at a reduced price [nearly the same retail price as the P67A-UD3].  Would you recommend it?
4. Both boards seem to be somewhat limited on how many SATA ports.  My two other boards appear to have many more.  Can I install more than one SATA device per port?
5. How's the BIOS's been on this P67A-UD4?
6. Will you still be my friend if I sell the P67A-UD3 and pick up the P67A-UD4?  

Ok, I am waiting to here from you!

It's me,

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar

There are not many differences between the boards other than hte obvious colour  and I think people just like the look of the new black design.

As you say they both seem a little shy on SATA ports but I guess six is enough for most people.

The UD4 boasts support for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology whereas the UD3 only supports Crossfire.

The UD4 also has two more USB ports bringing it up to 14 in total for the USB2 and 2 USB3.

The UD3 doesn't have any ESATA ports on the back panel but the UD4 has 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports

As far as I know they all suffered with the same glitch at first with the BIOS and upodate procedure but that is all fixed so no problem now.

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar

There are not many differences between the boards other than hte obvious colour  and I think people just like the look of the new black design.

As you say they both seem a little shy on SATA ports but I guess six is enough for most people.

The UD4 boasts support for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology whereas the UD3 only supports Crossfire.

The UD4 also has two more USB ports bringing it up to 14 in total for the USB2 and 2 USB3.

The UD3 doesn't have any ESATA ports on the back panel but the UD4 has 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports

As far as I know they all suffered with the same glitch at first with the BIOS and upodate procedure but that is all fixed so no problem now.

DM,

Thanks for the info.  The techie at Fry's also mentioned something about the P67A-UD4 having better over clocking abilities.  Do you know if this is true?

Geez, for $60 difference in retail price, it sure doesn't seem as if there is all that much of a difference.  Why pay so much more for a couple of extra USB ports, ATI crossfire, 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports, and black instead of giggly blue?

I don't mean to sound negative but the additional bells and whistles do not appear to justify the increase in price.

Soar

[faizoff]

Soar I was debating between the UD3 and UD4 as well, here's a comparison list from newegg which DM pretty much listed them all.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-128-463^13-128-463-TS%2C13-128-460^13-128-460-TS

I couldn't justify the extra $60 for the few features the UD4 offered. I wasn't going for a Nvidia card so I really didn't need SLI. So I opted to save the money towards an SSD.

[soarwitheagles]

Soar I was debating between the UD3 and UD4 as well, here's a comparison list from newegg which DM pretty much listed them all.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-128-463^13-128-463-TS%2C13-128-460^13-128-460-TS

I couldn't justify the extra $60 for the few features the UD4 offered. I wasn't going for a Nvidia card so I really didn't need SLI. So I opted to save the money towards an SSD.

faizoff,

That sure is a cool comparison chart.  How did you do that?  I've shopped using New Egg for years but never saw that utility!

Yes, I hear you on the savings when choosing the UD3.  I already got the UD3 for $99.  Fry's has the UD4 for $175 AMIR.  I suppose it just is not worth it.  I had one in my hand, but as I headed to the cash register I met a guy who really wanted it.  I gave it to him because he was desperate for it.  

I suppose I should be happy with my UD3.

I can't figure out why the UD4's are outselling the UD3's at such a bizarre rate.  All the Fry's near me are OOS today on the UD4's and have piles of the UD3's.  When I looked at their sales charts, the UD4's are kicking butt on the UD3's.  They will have more UD4's later this week for the same sale price.

I too just picked up one more SSD for the OS on this new build.

Which SSD will you select?

I just received my second OCZ Agility 2 60 GB.  The price dropped to $90 so I thought it was a good price.  The first one I used works well after I flashed the Gigabyte 890XA-UD3 v.1 motherboard BIOS correctly.  Until the MB flash, the firmware for the OCZ firmware would not update. 

Soar

[faizoff]

In Newegg for the comparison chart just click on the compare button thats below the product that's listed when you search in categories. You'll see almost at the top of the page a box that fills up with the product you just checked, you can compare up to 5 products at a time. Once you've selected them all just click on the compare button beside the 5 products and you'll get that chart.

I am not really sure what the reason is for the popularity of the UD4 board. One reason could be the support for SLI if people are set on buying an Nvidia card. I didn't get the board as cheap as you did but it may have come to the same with the combo offer Newegg has with the i5 2500K + P67 UD3 for $320 + Civilization V for free.

As far as overclocking goes, I think the UD3 offers a really good range of options, I'm sure it must be very close to the BIOS options as the UD4 for OC. I'm not a serious overclocker but with the BIOS settings offered here it's given me tons and tons of things to explore. I found a fairly good guide on OC the Sandy Bridge CPUs and have followed most of the steps. It also helps when they explain what each step does so that makes it easier to experiment.

http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01/04/3-step-overclocking-guide-%E2%80%93-sandy-bridge-v0-1beta/

I'm upto 4.2 Ghz on the OC with very decent mid 30s C temp on stock cooler. I'm planning to get the Hyper 212+ soon and once I upgrade the BIOS to a full version of F6 I'll experiment more.

As I explore more and read across forums of many manufacturers I see many higher end mobos that seem to be having issues. Of course my view may be skewed as an owner of a lower end board. I'm glad with the choice I made so far and hopefully things do stay stable and that this build lasts me a very long time.

My SSD purchase was the only component I splurged on without doing adequate research though I'm very happy with the purchase. I didn't think much about it when I chose to buy it other than it supporting SATA III. I figured if I'm buying a board with SATA 6Gbps support I might as well take advantage of it now rather than later.

 I got the Crucial 64 GB RealSSD C300. After I bought it the price went up by $20 so I sorta saved some money on it in a way. As you'll see in the previous pages in this thread I had to do some searching for an alternate driver for optimal performance.

The default drivers by Win 7 'msahci' didn't give the smoothest of functionality. Once I got the Intel RST drivers the ratings went up, the drive seemed to work much smoother. Before, the drive would stutter whenever there was a write being performed. I thought it was normal but then it got annoying. Things are a lot better now and have never had the stutter after installing the Intel drivers.

Good luck with your build Soar and post away once it's all built.

[Dark Mantis]

I don't think there is very much difference between the two boards either and apart from the looks and the extra ports there is nothing really that would induce me to pay more for the UD4. If you can get it for a knockdown price then that is different.

I haven't heard anything regarding the overclocking potential of the two boards being different and would have thought it would be negligable.

[Slider]

Snipped quote

The UD4 boasts support for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology whereas the UD3 only supports Crossfire, has two more USB ports bringing it up to 14 in total for the USB2 and 2 USB3.

The UD3 doesn't have any ESATA ports on the back panel but the UD4 has 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports

There is another significant (to me at least) difference between the boards and that is the UD4 includes Dolby Home Theater certification which includes Dolby Digital Live (hardware encoding to Dolby Digital 5.1 for any and all audio sources), while the UD3 does not.  The on-board analog outputs produce relatively poor audio quality compared to hardware encoded Dolby 5.1 output through an SPDIF port.  With the UD3 there is no way to get high quality audio with more than two channels (stereo) unless the source contains Dolby Digital or DTS and it is configured to be passed, unaltered out the SPDIF port.  Note I have my computers either connected to Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speaker sets (with SPDIF inputs supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 hardware decoding) or for my Media Center PCs the SPDIF audio currently goes to an older Yamaha V-2400 amplifier (one day I'll replace it with one that supports HDMI audio for 8-channel sound) for the main system and the other uses a Pioneer amplifier (again using SPDIF).  Note if you plan to use HDMI audio on a video card, the lack of Dolby Home Theater becomes a non-issue (since HDMI includes support for 8-channels of uncompressed PCM audio which is far superior to Dolby Digital 5.1).

In addition to Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Home Theater also includes other advanced multi-channel up-mixing (converting stereo to 5.1, etc.) as well as numerous other advanced audio features (that I don't tend to use)

For me I would be picking up a decent sound card if I had the UD3 and that alone covers the price difference.

Another option is the P67A-UD3P.  The "Plus" includes Dolby Home Theater.

Also the PCIe bandwidth for the second video card slot is much better with the UD4. The UD3 uses a bottlenecked x4 slot for the second video card, while the UD4 provides PCIe 2.0 x8 for each slot (and today's single GPU video cards do require at least a PCIe 2.0 x8 connection in order to get full video performance).  To make matters worse, if any other PCIe x1 card (such as an audio card) is used in the UD3, the second video card slot drops down to an almost unusable PCIe x1 speed (and if I'm not mistaken the second video card slot only supports PCIe 1.0, not 2.0 so you lose another 50% of the bandwidth).  If you plan to use two video cards, the UD4 will perform MUCH better.

Personally if I was to be building a new system today, I would use the Gigabyte P67A-UD4 motherboard.

[Dark Mantis]

What you have said is perfectly correct and it's really just a matter of "horses for courses". If you cna use the extra features then I suppose the UD4 is worth the extra.