Gigabyte P55-UD6 LGA1156 Motherboard Review‏

Overclocking Results

If you are buying or building a Lynnfield/P55 system chances are that you don't already own a Core i7/X58 system. Many of you will likely be transitioning over from Intel Core 2-based systems and you have to realize that overclocking Core i5/i7 processors is quite different than with the previous Core 2 architecture. There are now four important clock speeds (CPU/BCLK/MEM/QPI) and three multipliers (CPU/MEM/QPI) to tweak, as well as five different voltages. Put simply, there are lot of new variables and potential limitations that an overclocker must now take into consideration. At the moment, no one is an expert when it comes to Lynnfield overclocking, and we are all learning new tricks and tweaks on a weekly basis. At this point in time, for our overclocking tests we have a imposed a few relatively conservative voltage limits, namely vCore up to 1.40 vCore, VTT/IMC up to 1.35V, and vDIMM up to 1.70V. It is our estimation that these voltages can be safely used 24/7 without seriously shortening the lifespan of any components...with proper cooling of course.

Highest Stable BCLK Overclock

As we have mentioned in previous reviews, we are quite familiar with the limits of our two Lynnfield processors on air cooling. As a result of this familiarity, we know that it is the chips and not the motherboards that have thus far proven to be the limiting factor when it comes to BCLK overclocking. Therefore, we know not to expect one P55 model from greatly distinguishing itself from the others.

The P55-UD6 was able to push our i5-750 chip to 215.0Mhz BLCK, which is a hair behind our best result, a 215.5Mhz that was achieved on the MSI P55-GD80. The UD6 just eeked by the Maximus III Formula's 214.6Mhz. The only difference is that while we only needed approximately 1.21V VTT/QPI (or VTT/IMC) to reach the limits on our other P55 motherboard, the UD6 need 1.26V. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Our voltage-hungry i7-870 was able to hit 202.0Mhz at 1.36V VTT/IMC, which is a middle of the road result. It is slightly better than the 201.5Mhz achieved with the P55-GD80, but behind the ASUS P7P55D Deluxe's 202.7Mhz. The Maximus III Formula still reigns supreme with the 203.6Mhz at 1.35V VTT/IMC result. The difference behind all four models is quite insignificant.

Highest Stable CPU Overclock

Much to our surprise, the Gigabyte really pulled ahead of the pack when it came to the pushing processors to new heights. We were able to achieve two personal records on our chips, 4157.8Mhz at 1.40 vCore on the i5-750, and 4104.1Mhz at 1.35 vCore on the i7-870. Respectively, these results are 51Mhz and 37Mhz ahead of the previously class-leading Maximus III Formula, 70Mhz and 60Mhz better than on the P7P55D Deluxe, and a full 94Mhz and 82Mhz better than what we achieved with the P55-GD80. Pretty darn impressive, and perhaps a testament to Gigabyte's new 24-phase power design.

Highest Stable Memory Overclock

While searching for the highest stable memory overclock, we pushed aside our i5-750 due to its weak IMC and focused on the i7-870. In doing so, we were able to achieve a solid DDR3-2184 9-9-9-24-1T with 1.65Vdimm and our self-imposed 1.35V VTT/IMC voltage limit. This is not quite as good as the two ASUS boards, both of which managed to hit a little DDR-2200, but it is better than the DDR3-2167 that we achieved with the MSI P55-GD80.

Auto Overclocking Results

Now automatic overclocking solutions are nothing new, most of us have encountered them in one way or another for quite a few years now. However, they have historically been shockingly ineffective. They either a) didn't work as advertised and locked up your system, or b) worked as advertised and locked up your system. Either way, they were not a joy to use and the results were inevitably disappointing. Gigabyte's Quick Boost solution is by no means new, and as far as we can tell it hasn't really received much of an overhaul for the P55 platform. However, whether and how it works is our main focus, so let's see what we were able to achieve.


It is always pedal to the metal here at Hardware Canucks, so we went straight for the Level 3, which promised a 3.8Ghz core clock frequency and 200Mhz BCLK on both the i5-750 and i7-870. The process is as simple as clicking on the 3 button and rebooting the system.


Quick Boost delivered as promised on both processors. However, as you can see by the identical CPU multiplier BCLK, vCore, and memory settings (timings notwithstanding), this not really what we would call a 'smart' auto-overclocking solution. It doesn't adjust the overclock based on the individual capabilities of your components. Instead, it uses presets that Gigabyte engineers have determined would work on every 750/860/870 manufactured. Having said that, when it comes to the actual overclock, the results are quite a bit better than what we achieved on ASUS and MSI boards. ASUS's smart overclocking solution can occassionally achieve superior results, but it is quite a bit slower at doing so and you often have to run the utility several times before achieving an optimal result.

Overall, we are impressed by the results that Quick Boost achieves and we like how user-friendly it is, so we can overlook the fact that it's not new or 'smart'.