News - Gigabyte shows P55 board: socket is much smaller than Core i7

[HEXUS]

Ibex Peak boards are here, but when will the chips be?

Read more.

[Brewster0101]

So Intel have the rip of X58 with the rip of i7 core.... Now they are given the so called budget line a new socket.....

Rise up AMD, its now your time to strike as Intel have got too cocky like 10 years ago....

[this_is_gav]

Is it just my eyes at silly o'clock in the morning or is there no northbridge on that motherboard? Is it all under where the southbridge would normally be, or just missing altogether? Surely they'd have just stuck a (stupidly elaborate and hopeless inefficient) heatsink on there for show.

Is that what Tarinder is referring to with "Note the one-chip I/O and DVI output on the back?"?

Have we finally arrived at a point where we have combined the north and southbridges?

[Tarinder]

Yup, just a single chip this time around.

[MSIC]

stripped of the QPI interconnect and the third memory-channel, for starters.

Cheap Core i5, plus board, plus 6GB tri-channel DDR3

I'm confused. Will it be 3 physical slots of dual channel? Or is tri-channel available in some 'reduced bandwidth' way?

That should make supporting motherboards cheaper to produce, and we were quoted a price of $150 (US) for a mid-range P55.

should set you back just over £300 in August. Sound tempting?

£300? That's the price of the full Core i7 boards, surely?
Is that a mis-print? I'm not being picky, but these boards sound interesting, just not at those prices.

[GigaMan]

Both the Graphics and memory controller moves into the processor.
Today's motherbaords have a 3-chipset solution, this on is a 2-chipset solution.
Based on the new Lynnfiled processores, I hear that havendale will also be supported on this board.
LGA 1156 and DDR3 support only and I am under the impression that it is Dual-Channel DDR3.

Here is an overview: like anything else, specs can change at any time

- Available Q3’09
- Supports Lynnfield1 and Havendale1,2 Processors
---- Discrete graphics support – 1x16 or 2x8
- New single chip architecture
- Pin compatible with future Intel® 5 Series Chipsets allows for scalable motherboard design
- Integrated Clocking Buffer Through Mode
- Provides Thermal Sensor Data via SMBUS for discrete Fan Control Solutions
- Intel® Matrix Storage Technology 9.0
---- New User Interface is central point for managing all storage tasks
---- RAID 0/1/5/10
---- Intel® Rapid Recover Technology
---- FIS based port multiplier support on 2 SATA ports

[koocha]

£300? That's the price of the full Core i7 boards, surely?
Is that a mis-print? I'm not being picky, but these boards sound interesting, just not at those prices.

Cheap Core i5, plus board, plus 6GB tri-channel DDR3 should set you back just over £300 in August. Sound tempting?

Board, RAM and CPU for £300...

[Breezey]

Why the hell have gigabyte gone with the crayola colour scheme again after the really nice i7 boards that were all different shades of blue

[this_is_gav]

Both the Graphics and memory controller moves into the processor.
Today's motherbaords have a 3-chipset solution, this on is a 2-chipset solution.

Yes of course... but why does the very real X58 northbridge exist if P55 is essentially without one?

[CK_1985]

Board, RAM and CPU for £300...

My hope is, given that DDR3 prices are still falling and these boards are only dual-channel (soonly need 4GB instead of 6GB), that by about October I should be able to upgrade for closer to £250. If the performance makes it worth upgrading to, of course...

[MrMyst]

(...) crayola colour scheme again after the really nice i7 boards that were all different shades of blue

i hope this is just only for the sample and final models will be back in blue as we can see in currect X58 ones

[matty-hodgson]

where's the northbridge?
is that completely gone now?

[MSIC]

Board, RAM and CPU for £300...

Yup, i mis-read that.
£300 for all that lot now does sound tempting, although it's worth pointing out that i built my brother a Core2Duo setup over the weekend.
Board, RAM and CPU cost just over £100....

[Funkstar]

where's the northbridge?
is that completely gone now?

As has been said many a time: yes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i7

[j.o.s.h.1408]

glad i got a i7 and diddnt wait for this

[matty-hodgson]

As has been said many a time: yes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i7

so what's this thing in place of the NB on my motherboard then?
with a huge heatsink and fan stuck on top too.