Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by windwithme

The New 12” into CULV Notebook Mix–MSI Wind12 U200

windwithme — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:06:14 +0800

Intel’s Ultra Low Voltage CPU has already been on the market for several years
and the previous generation 65nm ULV CPU’s have most commonly been used on high-end business models that are priced over US $2,000.
The latest 45nm CPU’s from Intel from the past two years are also slowly making their way into the PC/NB market.
Since the start of 2009, Intel is also introducing their 45nm ULV products to the next generation of budget notebooks.

The first ever CULV notebooks introduced at the beginning of May are from ACER and MSI.
In July, Lenovo and ASUS followed suit; with HP and DELL debuting their CULV products since October.
This market segment is clearly expanding and will most probably follow the steps of Atom,
where all major companies will feature the CPU with their products.

However, CULV is initially focused on the 13.3~ 14” notebooks and will then lead to the 15.6” product lines.
It is not until recently that we have seen 12” notebooks featured with CULV CPU’s.
My personal guess is that the Atom CPU used in 11.6” and smaller netbooks is slower by more than half compared to CULV,
and rushing out the 12” versions will eat into the current Atom market.

MSI’s first generation netbook, Wind U100, from last year stood head-to-head with products from other NB manufacturers,
and was well accepted by the market. This also helped build the brand recognition of MSI.
This time, MSI is introducing the 12” CULV notebook following its predecessor, the product we are reviewing today, MSI Wind12 U200.

First is the product packaging, there are black/white U200 to choose from

MSI Wind12 U200 main unit

Accessories
Windows Vista Home Premium, product warranty, driver CD, and instruction manuals

U200 carry bag with MSI logo on the outside

Power adapter is not the commonly seen mini version but is even smaller.
This size is less common and is convenient for travel.
DELTA is a longstanding and trusted brand that makes quality products.
The adapter is warm during charging but is not too hot, which is quite acceptable in this regard.

Included is the MSI mouse that has a compact design with hidden wires.

6Cell battery, 5200mAh and 58Wh
U200 with 6Cell battery weighs approximately 1.5kg, or 1.4kg with 3Cell.

View of the bottom
Matte surface design of the outer shell

Battery installation slot

GIGABYTE P55-UD3P Parity Version OC Guide

windwithme — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:17:28 +0800

It’s been almost 2 month since Intel launched LGA1156 socket on 8th Sep
The new platform product line and market position are clearer
As my previous review, LGA1156 is still focus in between high end and middle end

CPU has 3 models so far. The highest is i7-870 and middle is i7-860
They both support HT which make Quad core CPU can simulate 8 cores
i5-750 doesn’t support HT and it’s the most entry model now. The price is around 200USD

MB Chipset is P55 and all MB makers also launched the products at the same time
Currently, the P55 MB price is between 160~280 USD
If you want to buy LGA 1156 platform, i5-750 plus 160USD P55 MB is the best C/P
Certainly, if you need HT and also affordable, you also can consider i7-860
Merely, i7-860 price is very close to LGA1366 platform

The MB this time is GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3P, price is 5200NTD
This is entry price level for P55 MB so far
First of all, it’s the package. UD3P is not GIGABYTE high end series, so the box is not so big

Accessories
Product Manual、Smart6/Smart TPM Guide、Driver CD and IO Shield.
SATA cables are 2 standard and 2 vertical head

GIGABYTE P55-UD3P Body

Lower Left Corner
2 X PCI-E support CrossFire and SLI technology and the bandwidth is X8+X8
1 X PCI-E X1
4 X PCI
Realtek 8111D LAN Chip
Realtek ALC888 supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio

Lower Right Corner
6 X Blue SATAII supports RAID 0， RAID 1， RAID 5 and RAID 10
2 X White SATAII supports RAID 0， RAID 1 and JBOD
Dual BIOS, dual protection

Upper Right Corner
4 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600. The maximum DDR3 capacity is 16GB
DD3 2200 is after overclocking spec. DDR3 has extra 2 phase PWM and 24-PIN head near by
1 X IDE, GIGABYTE SATA2

Upper Left Corner
LGA 1156 CPU Socket
UD3P CPU PWM is 8 phase and VTT is 2 phase

IO
10 X USB 2.0
1 X RJ-45 LAN
2 X eSATA/USB 2.0 Shared
1 X S/PDIF Fiber /Coaxial output

Close look to the components surround by CPU

Lenovo ThinkPad X200s experience

windwithme — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:34:42 +0800

The Lenovo ThinkPad X200s itself

1.33Kg(4-cell battery)

The carry bag bundled

Included accessories

The transformer is the usual small form-factor version

View of the underside

The I/O ports on the left side of the machine

The I/O ports on the right side of the machine

OC tutorial with Intel C2D E7500&DFI BI-P45 Elite

windwithme — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:56:36 +0800

Core 2 Duo series are the first CPU with LGA775 socket; after launching C2D for few months,
Intel released the hi-end LGA775 solutions “Core 2 Quad”.
Currently, Core 2 Quad is still expensive. It costs more than USD $170 even you buy the cheapest one.
However, after price competition between AMD & Intel in mainstream market, the price of C2D is more acceptable.

For example, there are E8X00 (FSB 333MHz/ 6MB L2), E7X00 (FSB 266MHz/ 3MB L2),
E5X00 (FSB 200MHz/ 2MB L2) and E6300 (266MHz/ 2MB L2) for mainstream & extreme performance.
Or, you can also choose entry level solutions like E1X00 (FSB 200MHz/ 512K L2). All above CPU are based on C2D micro-architecture,
there are only different in L2 cache & frequency.

One of the leading roles today: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500/ 2.93GHz/ FSB 266MHz/ 3MB L2 cache.
E7500 CPU and cooler by Intel

There is no cooper basement in this cooler; you can see it only in Quad core processors.

E7500

P45 is the latest chipset which supports LGA775 CPU, the potential of overclocking is very good.

DFI usually adopts ”Red” PCB into Blood-Iron series.
There is a sticker near north bridge to remind “Warranty avoid if you remove the cooler”
(as you see, there is no metal cover to protect Intel P45 chip).
In my experience, if you change the cooler without damage the chipset, DFI will cover the warranty.
So, please be careful when changing north bridge cooler.

P45 motherboard is the best OC platform for LGA775 CPU.
To get higher performance, you have to fine tune some options for E7500 (R0 stepping).

BIOS setting for 500 x 8 => 4000MHz
CPU clock0 Skew: choose 100 or 200ps

GTL is key option for R0 stepping when OC FSB
The suggested number is 0.63/ 0.67/ 0.58X

If you want higher DRAM frequency, you can try 3/3/1 as the picture below.
If the DRAM quality is not good enough, you can ry 4/4/1.

Testing platform
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500
MB: DFI LANParty P45-Elite
DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator TWIN2X4096-8500C5D
VGA: MSI R4890 CYCLONE DDR5 1GB
HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0)
POWER: CORSAIR 400W Power Supply
Cooler: Thermaltake BigTyp VP

Default stting
CPU 266 X 11=> 2926Mhz
DDR2 1064 CL5 5-5-15 2T

Hyper 2 X PI 32M=> 18m 44.029s
CPUMARK 99=> 442

Core i5 750 & Biostar TPOWER I55 OC instruction

windwithme — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:23:05 +0800

September 8th, is the day that Intel official release its new mid-level LGA 1156 socket processors.
After higher-level Core i7 introduced, based on brand new structure LGA 1366 which has become available in the market at the end of last year,
consumers have been waiting for this new mid-level platform.

As for motherboard chipset, Intel P55 is a single chipset for LGA 1156, the design that Intel seldom used before.
As for CPU, Core i7 is the structure, and currently there are two series: Core i7 8XX series with HT, and Core i5 7XX series without HT.
Basically, Core i7 8XX series of LGA 1156 and Core i7 9XX series of LGA 1366 are with the same technology and specification;
the difference of these two series is clock rate.

P55 is also a hot product for motherboard manufacturers.
The related product information is shown on Internet and everywhere.
Within 6 months, motherboard manufacturers, adopting the same way of selling X58,
would release various versions of P55 for consumers to choose.
Concerning its price point, entry-level P55 is about US$150, mid-level P55 from US$150 ~ 210, and highest-level P55 is US$ 210 ~ 270.

This time the protagonist is BIOSTAR TPOWER I55.
This brand might be a little bit unknown in Taiwan because it’s not been sold here.
Last year, BIOSTAR P45, with excellent overclocking ability, has become the focus on the Internet, but later X58 was comparably quiet.
This time we are curious about the performance of BIOSTAR P55 series boards.

First let’s take a look at the product packing.
Gold is the main colour, but a bit too strong.
The matching colour and matching quality should leave something to be desired.

Accessories:
User’s Manual, Full Setup Driver CD, SATA and Power Cables, Rear I/O Panel for ATX Case, SLI Bridge,
CFX Bridge. BIOSTAR provides more cables, so it can be sure that the quantity is enough.
But personally I do not understand why BIOSTAR provides so many 4-Pin to SATA power cables.

BIOSTAR TPOWER I55 itself

The matching CPU is Intel Core i5 750, whose clock rate is 2.66GHz and which does not support HT technology,
and is also the basic CPU of LGA 1156. The price is about US$200.

Down-left of the motherboard
2 X PCIE X16(Support ATI CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI technology，bandwidth is X8+X8)
1 X PCI-E X4
2 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
Dual LAN Intel 82578/Realtek RTL8111DL, support 2Gb LAN Teaming.
Sound codec is ALC888S, and supports HD Audio and 7.1 channels.

Down-right of the motherboard
6 X SATAII (P55 provides and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, and RAID 5)
Power/Reset buttons and debug indicators; 1394a adopts LSI chipset.

Up-right of the motherboard
4 X DIMM DDR3, support 800/1066/1333/1600/2000+
Besides, 1600 will be available when Core i7 is used; 2000+ needs overclocking condition.
1 X IDE
24PIN power source connector; DDR3 uses 2phase power supply.

About power supply, 8 phase CPU Power and 4 phase CPU NB are used.

IO
8 X USB 2.0
2 X eSATA
2 X Gigabit LAN(supports Teaming function)
1 X 1394a

14" CULV Notebook - MSI X-Slim X400 Review

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 07:30:00 +0800

MSI X-Slim X340 Open Box Review

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 07:30:00 +0800

14" CULV Notebook - MSI X-Slim X400 Review

windwithme — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:59:34 +0800

This year Intel released a new 45nm single-core, ultra low voltage CPU referred to as the CULV.
By comparison, the earlier Atom 512K's low CPU performance limited it to basic word processing tasks.
Intel had also insisted that the Atom processor only be used on NetBook products under 11.6".
Ordinary notebooks are usually between 12~13.3".
Compact models that weigh 1.3~1.7kg or less are often very expensive.

The introduction of the new CULV architecture has brought about a significant price drop in the notebook market.
The CULV has also put a lot of pressure on high-end compact notebooks for business users.
Although the new CULV CPU lacks the performance of a dual core CPU in a high-end business notebook
it has turned the tables on the conventional notebook market view that a lighter weight means a higher price.

Right now, CULV notebooks cost between US$700 ~ 900, or about half the price of a business notebook.
They are a lot lighter than US$1500 ~ 2000 business notebooks or even the average US$700 ~ 900 for a dual-core notebook.

The X-Slim series launched by MSI this year is based on CULV architecture.
The X-Slim is available in three models: X340 (13.3"), X400 (14.1") and X600 (15.6").
MSI has kept the price under US$900 for all three models and the version with the CM 723 CPU can be had for less than US$700.

In this hands-on review, we take a look at the MSI X-Slim X400.
What really makes this model stand out is its official weight of 1.5kg.
This is a lot lighter than your standard dual-core 14" Notebook weighing around 2.2 ~ 2.6kg.
It's also lighter than 14" CULV notebooks of other brands that weigh in at around 1.9kg.
When it comes to weight loss, the MSI X-Slim series really does it better than any other.

X400's product box

Included accessories
Windows Vista Home Premium, product warranty, driver CD and user manuals

The MSI X-Slim X400 itself

The carry bag bundled with the X400 has a leather-like texture on the outside and the MSI logo is inside.
It feels really nice and is quite thin so it doesn't take up space.

The transformer is the usual small form-factor version.
This is good, because it's easier to carry around.
However, it is my experience, with some other brands of Netbooks, that small transformers tend to heat up a bit in use.
In a trial of the MSI X-Slim charger, I found it did not heat up too much but took longer to give a full charge.
DELTA is a well-established brand so you can count on the quality.

The included mouse is the compact type with internal cabling and is the same pearl white color as the machine.

The 4-cell battery is rated at 2150mAh 32Wh

Opening the cover shows the inside is fully protected.
The screen and keyboard are all covered in transparent plastic film.
There is also a protective cotton pad in the middle with the MSI logo.

Foxconn Inferno Katana first look

windwithme — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:32:59 +0800

The launch of Intel latest LGA1156 platform shows user the i5-750, i7-860 and i7-870 brand new processors.
I heard that the price of 1156 platform will be much competitive than 1366.
It sounds like a high-performance product but in a mid-range cost.

So many motherboard manufacturers have exposed their P55 products around worldwide media.

Foxconn started their own brand motherboard almost 4 years.
And the High-end series ”Quantum Force”, I remember they launched the OC boards since 2 years.
But, since P45 last year, the rumor about Foxconn was going to stop their channel business, which was everywhere.

After all, Foxconn still launch several high-end and entry level products, now is P55 Mobo.

Now, what I have in hand is the latest Intel product.
Based on P55 platform, the model name called “Inferno Katana” the Quantum Force series likes to pick up a very special name for their product.
That’s so “gamer-centric”.

FOXCONN Inferno Katana, a total look

Red and Black is the theme color for Foxconn Quantum Force series.

The lower right parts of the board.
3 X PCIE X16
(Supports both ATI CrossFireX & NVidia SLI technology, the bandwidth is X8+X8)
2 X PCI-E X1
1 X PCI
The LAN chip is by Realtek’s RTL8111DL; also, the board features their ALC888 as the audio codec too.
Intel’s X series chipset provides dual PCIe X16 bandwidth, but P series they only gives you Dual PCIe X8...

The lower right parts
6 X SATAII(P55，Supports Raid 0/1/5/10)
1 X IDE
Dual BIOS、POWER/RESET button、Debug LED diplay function

The Upper right parts.
4 XDIMM DDR3, Supports DDR3 1333/1600/1800, Max reach 16GB
Fuzzy Equalizer, a design that shows you the loading of the PWM parts.
The left is 24PIN power connector, The red button is the Force Reset, a real force the system to be Reset.

The upper left parts
The LGA1156 socket, the cooler’s mounting holes are a bit different to 1336.
They feature total 14-phase Hybrid PWM for processor and memory parts.

IO parts
8 X USB 2.0
1 X IEEE 1394a
1 X Gigabit LAN
2 X eSATA
That black button is for clearing CMOS.

The “Core Nerve”
This is a LED device for telling you how heavy the system loading is, fast tempo twinkle means heavy,
slow twinkling tempo means the loading is light.
I heard that this have 5 different speed level to show your loading. A new interesting stuff.

Where the QF logo covered is the P55 chipset location.
Then, where the “i-Tweaker” covered is the advanced OC controller.
I think the heat pipe design is not bad at this board.

MOSfet’s heat sink, red + black striped.

GIGABYTE P55-UD6 with Intel Core i7-870

windwithme — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:54:52 +0800

LGA 1156socket is Intel main product in 2nd half 2009.
The core technology is same as hi-end product LGA1366 which launched last year and make minor modification.
It will replace current mid-high product line.

Currently, LGA 1156 Chipset is P55, is Intel single chipset MB.
Some MCH functions are built in CPU. This is the key difference between P55 and X58.
Also, X58 is triple channel and QPI design. P55 is dual channel design.

Not hard to see that all MB manufacturers has announced their P55 products.
Same as hi-end X58, P55 also separate into hi-end, mid-end and entry price level.
This is GIGABYTE most hi-end one. The model name is P55-UD6.
Product package is big color box. It’s also the usual size for hi-end product.

GIGABYTE P55-UD6 Body

Ultra Durable3 is the key feature

Now the first launch LGA1156 CPU are i5-750, i7-850 and i7-870 3 models. The i7 support HT technology.
This article is retail version LGA 1156, the most hi-end one, Intel Core i7-870, clock 2.93GHz, L3 8MB.

Intel quad core CPU all bundle with copper bottom Cooler.
However, for i7 with HT, the original cooler cannot suffer for OC.

Back to GIGABYTE P55-UD6 detail
Lower left corner
3 X PCI-E (X16、X8、X4), support CrossFire and SLI Technology at X8+X8
2 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
Realtek 8111D dual LAN ships support Teaming
Realtek ALC889A supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio/Dolby Home Theater technology.
PCB is MADE IN TAIWAN

Lower right corner
6 X blue SATAII, support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10
2 X white SATAII, support RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD
1 X IDE
Dual BIOS means dual protection. SB position is GIGABYTE SA and JMB362TA2 chip.
Blue button is Reset, black one is Clear CMOS and also built-in Debug LED.

Upper right corner
6 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600. The highest DDR3 capacity is 16GB.
Not same as the others P55 with 4 DIMM. UD6 is 6 DIMM slots and provide more expansion capability.
DDR3 has 2 phase PWM and next by is 24-PIN power in.

Upper left corner
LGA 1156 CPU Socket
UD6 use 24 phase PWM which is the most hi-end spec in the market now.
For phase numbers, there are many discussions in the internet. Some think it’s good and some don’t.
I think if the energy saving design is good, and change phases by utility rate. More phase design is good.

IO
8 X USB 2.0
2 X RJ-45 LAN
2 X eSATA/USB 2.0 combo
1 X S/PDIF fiber/coaxial output
1 X 1394a

CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GBG2D PC/NB dual platform test

windwithme — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:49:04 +0800

SSD ramp up very fast in the past 2 years.
It started from built in NoteBook which was small capacity and average speed (around 30~50 MB/s).
Till now, most brands have 2.5”/1.8” individual SSD products for customers to use in PC or NB.
This year, the SSD market competition is very hard, especially performance.

The competition of capacity has stopped recently. 64GB SSD is around 200USD.
As performance, MLC SSD is around 100 MB/s.
So far, some SSD can reading over 200 MB/s and writing 150 MB/s, which as new generation MLC high performance SSD.
Higher performance 64GB is over 200USD and lower performance one is lower 200USD.

SSD has 2 technical spec. which are high stability SLC and fair price MLC.
In the beginning, we could see most SSD were SLC, but now SLC products become less.
The main reason is SLC price is over double of MLC in the same capacity, and the MLC performance is catching up SLC.
Besides, the MLC stability issue also can be solved by new technology.

CORSAIR is one of the Memory leading brand. For SSD products, they have launched some models recently.
CORSAIR SSD has 2 product lines: 1 is Performance and the other is Extreme.
CMFSSD-64GBG2D I got this time is 64GB in Performance series.
CORSAIR provides 2 years warranty.

SSD Looks
2.5”, ID is P64, 2 years warranty, official spec is 220/120 MB/s
For higher capacity, CORSAIR P128/P256 official spec is 220/180 MB/s

The case is metal material with brushed aluminum. Looks great.
It’s only 80g which is lighter than standard 2.5” HDD (about 100g.

SATA interface can be used with PC or NB.

CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GBG2D internal structure.

It’s 64GB version, SAMSUNG 4 channel design and performance is little bit lower than 128GB.
Because of 128GB is 8 channel design, so reading/writing can reach 220/180 MB/s

SAMSUNG K4X1G323PD-8GC6
128MB DRAM is for cache buffer

Left upper side IC is SSD controller chip.
Basically, whole CORSAIR P64 is SAMSUNG structure.

DT PC platform uses GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P
SB is Intel latest ICH10R and I believe the performance can reach very high standard.

Configuration
CPU: Intel Core i7 950
MB: GIGABYTE EX58-UD4P
DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GBX3 DDR3 1866C9D
VGA: MSI N9600GT Diamond
HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GBG2D
POWER: CORSAIR HX1000W Modular Power Supply
Cooler: Thermaltake V1 AX

MSI X-Slim X600 in-depth review

windwithme — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:34:36 +0800

MSI has made great inroads into the notebook market in the past two years.
With the launch of the Atom-equipped U100 last year, MSI successfully boosted its brand profile and consumers' confidence in the MSI brand.
In 2009 MSI released a new line of CULV based notebook products – the X-Slim series.

The first were two 13.3" CULV products in May – the X-Slim X340 and X340 Pro.
At this time, the only other product in this segment was the ACER 3810T.
But the X340 weighed just 1.33kg and had the advantage over the 1.68kg ACER 3810T.
There were also differences in their design and materials.

As new CULV notebooks came on the market, it became apparent that Atom Netbooks with small 10” screens were no longer enough for some users.
It also meant that business Netbooks that provided slimness at a premium were not under threat from the lower-priced CULV systems.

In August, MSI released another two X-Slim products, the 14" X400 and the 15.6" X600.
This review looks at the X600 with the discrete graphics card. Although this is a large notebook, it weighs a mere 2.1kg.
This is a breakthrough compared to the 3 ~ 3.6kg weight range of the earlier 15.6 ~ 16" models.

First, we have the X-Slim X600's outer packaging with its standard X graphics.

The X600 comes out of the box with a protective film over the top cover.

On opening the top cover you will find protective cotton fabric over the keyboard and another protective film on the LCD.

The backpack included with the X600 looks good and has the feel of quality.

The inside is lined with blue cloth.

The power supply is the compact type now in common use and made by DELTA.
It's good to see that it does not heat up too much during charging.

A manual, warranty card and bundled software are included in the box.

The wired mouse has stow-away cabling and is compact and handy to use.

Unlike X340, the mark on the X600 is not back-lit but standard printed graphics.

The glossy top cover has a special coating that is resistant to finger prints.

MSI X58M Micro-ATX OC Review

windwithme — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:16:14 +0800

X58 chipset has been introduced to the market for 9 months, and is still on top-of-the-range of Intel product line.
For some main board manufacturers, Micro ATX is no longer a low-priced product.
Ever since DFI released its first Micro ATX X58 in January, MSI and Asus started to include Micro ATX in high performance product category.

As we analyzed the OC performance of DFI JR X58 in last episode, I believe most of you have basic understanding of X58 Micro ATX.
This time, we have MSI X58M which is a rare X58 Micor ATX in the market.
The lowest price for X58 ATX is around US$200, X58 Micro ATX will lower than that price.
We would like to introduce you MSI X58M which is a price-valued Micro ATX.

The spec of X58M changes the concepts of cheap, less function, just enough performance, and low grade for Micro ATX.
X58M allows Micro ATX users to experience high grade computer structure, in the meantime, the expandability and support have greatly improved.

Let’s take a look at the package

User’s manual. Driver and software CD. Cords. CrossFire connector.

MSI X58M

Lower left of the main board
2 X PCIE X16 supports CrossFire and SLI, bandwidth X16+X16
1 X PCI
There is a power button down below.

Lower right of the main board
7 X SATAII(ICH10R, Raid 0/1/5)
1 X Floppy
1 X IDE

Upper right of the main board
6 X DIMM DDR3, DDR3 800/1066/1333(OC)
power input

Upper left of the main board
6 phase power supply. Active Power Switch
Cooling device also provides LGA775 which only can be found on FOXCONN X58 before.
This will save consumers’ money on purchasing high-end cooling device.

IO
6 X USB 2.0
1 X 1394a
1 X eSATA

MOSFET material

Foxconn Flaming Blade GTI Indepth review

windwithme — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:39:40 +0800

At this half year, the Intel’s core i7 is the key promoted product of the high-end product line.
The users are really easy to run out their budget while the CPU is still not cheap at all….

But the pricing of X58 motherboard is a bit “flexible” than the CPU’s.
So, some of the manufactures have already launch their entre-level X58 mobos.
The price of them are around USD200 ~ 200.
It’s much cheaper that compares to the highest-end models.

Recently, Intel is going to launch their Core i5 (LGA1156) processor. It’s around the corner.
For the different segment of the market, Intel will place Core i3, Core i5 & the Core i7 as the value, mid-range and high-end product.

After the launch of Flaming Blade, FOXCONN releases a step-lower model, called Flaming Blade GTI version.
The price is around USD183.

First, take a look at the package design.
Although it should be a value X58 board, but FOXCON still make it as a high-end product design. Looks like a high-end product.

A big box package and some details in the back for the spec too.

FOXCONN Flaming Blade GTI, the board.

In this market segment, the ordinary capacitors are the reasonable choice.

The bundling:
User Manual, Easy guide, Drivers and Utility CD, IO shield….etc.

The lower-left part:
2 X PCI-E X16 slots
(supports2 X 16X之ATI CrossFireX)
1 X PCI-E X4 slot
2 X PCI slots
The LAN chip: Realtek RTL8111C
The audio codec: Realtek ALC888，supports 7.1 channels HD audio.

The lower right part:
6 X SATAII (ICH10)
1 X IDE
The debug light

The upper right part:
3-channel DDR3, support 1333/ 1600/ 1800, max support up to 12G
The left plug is the 24pin power input.

The upper left
This is LGA1366 socket, but Foxconn keep the 775 cooler’s mount hole.
A real smart design for users
The CPU power supply parts, the board put 6-phase PWM on.
I think it’s enough for i7 normal usage.

"BIOSTAR TPOWER I55 - Intel LGA1156" ROCK

windwithme — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:52:01 +0800

With the coming of September, the latest Intel LGA 1156 platform of high-intermediate level is also coming.
On this platform, Intel recently added the support of Core i7 processor, so in future both Core i5 and Core i7 processors can be used,
the successful development that can improve the efficiency more effectively.

At present, the sale of LGA 1156 platform is not available before September,
but, despite of the fact that the economic is still depressed,
there have been a lot of MB manufacturers planning promotion for more attractive products based on this new platform.
Currently, the price of X58 is at US$ 200~300; the price of P55 motherboard of LGA 1156 is expected to be sold at about US$ 100~300;
and the price of most products of P55, at about US$ 120~200, the same product level as P35 and P45 before.

Why is the price of P55 as almost high as that of X58? Actually, X58 is deemed as a high level product;
P55, higher than intermediate level and lower than high one.
Therefore, the price of P55 and of X58 is nearly the same; as for X58, for several months there have been many product series based on this chipset,
and they are priced at about US$ 200. At first, the price of P55 should be probably the same as that of P45,
with intermediate level at US$ 150~200, or with high level at nearly US$ 300.

We are going to introduce BIOSTAR P55 product, the highest level version, the price of which is at about US$ 200.
The most important feature of BIOSTAR products is easy to overclock, and supplies at reasonable prices.
The price of highest-level P55 is the same as that of elementary-level X58.

Full view of BIOSTAR TPOWER I55

BIOSTAR’s design and material are much better than ever. It is also one of the best MB manufacturers.
My favourite blue and big heat pipe make the quality excellent.

Down-left of the motherboard
2 X PCIE X16(support ATI CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI technology， X8+X8 bandwidth)
1 X PCI-E X4
2 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
Dual LAN Intel 82578/Realtek RTL8111DL, support 2Gb LAN Teaming
For multi VGAs, X series chipset uses X16+X16 bandwidth,
but P series chipset, limited X8+X8 bandwidth.

Down-right of the motherboard
6 X SATAII(ICH10R，support Raid0，1，5)
Power/Reset button and debug LEDs
1394a uses LSI chipset

Up-right of the motherboard
4 X DIMM DDR3，support 800/1066/1333/1600/2000+
1 X IDE
24PIN power input，DDR3 uses 2phase

Power supply uses 8 phase CPU Power，4 phase CPU NB

IO
8 X USB 2.0
2 X eSATA
2 X Gigabit LAN
1 X 1394a

Although north and south bridge are combined in P55, BIOSTAR still add a big heat sink on the traditional north bridge location,
the design that makes not only the appearance more attractive, but also cooler area bigger.

Picture of LGA 1156 with Core i7 870

Intel LGA1156 platform-sneak peek of MSI P55-G

windwithme — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:17:33 +0800

Core i7, new CPU platform, featured as socket 1366, was launched by Intel last year.
Nevertheless based on this structure, it has been positioned as high-end product until now and even in the future.
During this period, market demand below high-end served by socket 775 old structure needs to be fulfilled as well.

There’s a rumor saying socket 1156, applicable for CPU marked as Core i5 will replace those between high and middle end.
However, recently the classification of product line has slightly changed.
Socket 1366 remains the high-end platform.
Besides Core i7, another platform featured as 6 cores, 12MB cache, will be launched.
They call it- i9 Regarding socket 1156,
no only Core i5 but also Core i7 supports 1156 pins meaning users have to distinguish by LGA 1366 or LGA 1156 instead of Core i5 or Core i7.
Back to our spotlight, MSI P55-GD65, socket 1156 mainboard, is not ranked as MSI’s highest-end by telling from its Marketing name.

Panorama of MSI P55-GD65

Bottom Left
2X PCIEX16(Supports ATI CrossfireX and Nvidia SLI Technology, bandwidth X8+X8)
1 X PCI-E X4
2 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
The same market position as former product line.
X series chipsets have X16+X16 bandwidth with multi-VGA while P series are still limited with X8+X8 bandwidth.

Bottom Right
7 X SATAII
1 X IDE

Top Right
4 X DIMM DDR3
1 X Floppy
24-pin Power Input
Blue area is V-Check points, for users who need to measure system voltage by ammeter which indicate CPU Vcore/CPU VTT/DDR VCC/PCH.

Top Left
6+1 phrase CPU Power supply, support Dr.MOS Technology.

IO

What socket 1156 differs from 1366 is that it doesn’t have DDR3 trial channels and QPI Technology.
P55 platform principally has DDR3 dual channels.
Although the performance is behind X58 trial channel structure, P55’s support range is enhanced to DDR3-1333.

Hook’s slightly different from other socket platforms.

DFI LANParty JR X58-T3H6 Extreme power with mATX

windwithme — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:20:48 +0800

From early 2008, there were a new member joined LANParty family, it was “JR series”.
The significant difference between JR & DK is form factor; the smaller board brings OC performance as well as other ATX products.

The first two models were based on P45 & 790GX chipset.
In early 2009, DFI LANParty launched the JR X58, which based on Intel LGA 1366 platform.
Rely on Core i7’s performance and LANParty technology, microATX won’t mean “low performance” anymore.

Let’s see the package of LANParty JR X58-T3H6, it adopt the same style with JR P45/ JR 790GX.
You can only see difference in product name.

Accessories: User manual, Driver & utility DVD, ABS manual, cables, I/O shield, bridge for SLI & CrossFireX.

DFI LANParty JR X58-T3H6

Bottom left
2 PCIe x16
1 PCIe x4
1 PCI
GbE LAN: Marvell 88E8053
Audio Codec: Realtek ALC 889 (7.1 channels HD audio ready)

Buttom right
6 X SATAII(ICH10R，RAID 0， RAID 1， RAID 0+1 and RAID 5)
On-board POWER/RESET buttons & Debug LED.

Upper right
6 X DIMM DDR3，support 1066/1333/1600/1800(OC)
DFI is conservative in marking specification. Actually, if you can find good DDR3 module, it’s easy to OC to 2000MHz.

Upper left
6-phase digital PWM; each phase PWM provides 30W~40W, it’s quite enough to any Core i7 CPU
(according to Intel official information, the TDP of Core i7 965 is 130W).

Rear I/O
6 X USB 2.0
1 X Optical S/PDIF-out port
1 X Coaxial RCA S/PDIF-out port
1 X RJ45 LAN port
Red jumper for clearing CMOS

Pentium E6300 and Quad Q8400 performance review

windwithme — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:25:28 +0800

It’s been 3 years as Intel launched Core 2 Duo.
Core 2 Duo CPU got very good reputation as announcing and Intel launched Core 2 Quad CPU later to pull up the multi-tasking performance.
Last year, Intel announced Core i7, has higher performance, for hi-end market. And you will see i5 CPU soon.
For the Intel 3 socket structures, LGA775 is the oldest one and for mainstream market. However, the C/P value is still high.

Core 2 Duo product line can be divided by frequency and L2 cache.
Most hi-end is E8 series, 333 FSB and L2 6MB, then is E7 series, L2 is 3MB, belongs to mid-hi market.
The cheaper one is E5 series, 200 FSB and 2MB cache. Power consumption is 65W, Code name is Pentium.
Pentium is quite confusing user it’s Pentium4 structure.
It’s not so, E5 series is Core 2 Duo, just only cache different.
Of course, we cannot forget the most entry E1 series with 512K cache. The code name is Celeron. As it is Core 2 Duo structure, the performance is still good.

This time I buy is Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6300
E6300, very familiar ID, is Intel 65nm mid-hi product, and in fact it’s Pentium Dual-Core E6300 to replace E5 series.
L2 is 2MB and the FSB is 266MHz, the clock is 2.8GHz.
The current price is 2650NTD, around 80USD.

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6300 CPU and bundled Cooler

Intel CPU all use thinner cooler after 45nm manufacturing process.

CPU is R0 stepping. In the forum, as E5200/E5300 transfered to R0, the OC ability is worse.
I hope E6300 can have better performance in R0 stepping.

This time I use MB-GIGABYTE GA-EP45T UD3R
DDR3 price has been dropping for several months. As the current market price, DDR3 platform becomes much cheaper.

SB heatsink shows it supports DDR3.

6 phase PWM, 2oz copper PCB and all Japanese solid capacitors.

System configuration
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6300
MB: GIGABYTE GA-EP45T UD3R
DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GBX2 DDR3 1800C8D
VGA: MSI N9600GT Diamond
HD: Intel X25-M 80GB
POWER: Corsair 400W Power Supply
Cooler: Thermaltake V1 AX

OS is Windows7 64bit

Defalut
CPU 266 X 10.5 => 2800Mhz
DDR3 1066 CL5 5-5-15

Hyper PI 32M => 19m 24.792s
CPUMARK99 => 404

CrystalMark

Foxconn’s Flaming Blade locked and loaded!

windwithme — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:24:54 +0800

It’s almost 5 months that Intel launched their Core i7 CPU into market.
Almost all the motherboard manufactures are so earnest to make X58 platform for the brand new Core i7 processor.

Intel is positioning i7 as a high-end product, consumers think the same too.
Before the new mainstream –LGA 1156 with P55 MB coming out,
currently it will still be LGA 755 to dominate the Intel CPU’s middle-to-entry level segment market.

Foxconn launched an X58 model earlier, named BloodRAGE. Based on current available X58 MBs out there with the price range from USD 200 ~ 300,
BloodRAGE is the highest priced one. Therefore, Foxconn’s strategy is to make up their high end product line with lower-priced X58 MBs.

This time the man in the spotlight is Foxconn’s latest X58 with a more affordable price under USD200: Quantum Force Flaming Blade.

Quite a great bulk for a product package.
Every new product comes with a different key image. Foxconn has given mush thoughts to it.

Accessories inside.
Manual, easy guide, software CD ROM, bridge, IO shield and cables.

Flaming Blade in the flash.
The components on the MB nicely collocated with color red or black, creates a strong gaming image.

MB bottom left
2 X PCI-E X16
( support 2* 16X ATI CrossFire & Nvidia SLI 2* 16X multi VGA technology)
1 X PCI-E X4
1 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
Networking chip - Realtek RTL8111C
Audio chip - Realtek ALC888，support 7.1 Channel HD

MB bottom right
6 X SATAII(ICH10R，suuport Raid 0/1/5/10)
1 X IDE
POWER/RESET button、DeBug LED… etc.

MB upper right
3 x DIMM DDR3，supports 1333/1600/1800 with up to 12GB.

Foxconn adopts a different 3 DIMM design from other X58 MBs, which is exactly what Intel recommended for the most optimized design.

3 DIMM design will get higher performance on basic confirgurations. Beside, it also helps enhance the overclocking capability.

MB upper left
LGA 1366 CPU socket. Foxconn provides additional LGA775 CPU cooler socket to reduce the hassles of changing between coolers.

CPU uses 6 phase PWM, it’s enough for all Core i7 available currently.

IO
8 X USB 2.0
2 X Gigabit LAN，supports Teaming Function
2 X eSATA
The black button in the center is clear CMOS.

windwithme ComputeX 2009 DAY 2

windwithme — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:18:02 +0800

Intel

Intel Server MB

GIGABYTEXeon 5500 Series

Intel P57

GIGABYTE GOOC

GIGABYTE PSU

MIB PC

MSI Mirco ATX X58