Performance Summary
It's the same old story on the performance front; all P55 boards perform about the same during fixed frequency tests.
For the next test we measured AC power consumption from the wall while using the same set of components on all boards. All power saving features were turned on, with OS software installed where necessary to give maximum power saving at stock operating frequency on our i7 870 CPU. Real power consumption will probably be a few percent lower than what the AC wall meter reports but as we're going apples to apples here, the percentage of change is the important factor.
DFI's MI-T36 produces respectable power consumption figures during idle and full load scenarios, bettered only slightly by MSI, who are the class leaders when it comes to power saving features and software.
As part of the performance summary, we also include a DPC latency screenshot for the audio aficionado's out there;
Overclocking
DFI offers plenty of overclocking features within the current BIOS. However, the VRM for processor VCore is limited to 150w max (110w in the near future). Although we managed to pass our gaming tests at 4GHz, 860/870 CPUs are best left near stock operating frequency to avoid catastrophic board failure during heavy load tests.
We overclocked our 750 CPU to 3.6GHz with a 1800MHz memory speed at 7-8-7-20 timings (180BCLK x 20). Voltages were 1.25V CPU VCore, 1.25VTT and 1.65VDIMM. All other voltages were left at stock. On the DRAM side, we only needed to set the primary timings; the board defaults were perfectly adequate for this speed. We must add that we were using an open test bed and pointing a high speed fan directly over the PWM area. Within a PC case, we think you're going to be limited to stock operating frequencies on the CPU. S3 Sleep mode recovery is limited to around 150 BCLK on the current BIOS too, anything higher and the board gets caught in a reboot loop.
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DigitalFreak - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
If DFI provides the BIOS update, you can use the new Clarkdale Cire i3 & i5 CPUs with this board. You obviously can't use the onboard video, but the CPU should work fine.I would expect to see H57 / H55 mini-itx boards in the next couple of months.
ScavengerLX - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
I'm using this board with a 5770 and a 860 in a Silverstone SG-06 case. I love it! I overclocked the bclock to 150 (w/ HT on) while leaving all of the voltages on Auto and its perfectly stable. Pushing beyond 150 bclock causes system instability. With 8 threads running in prime95 Vcore is at 1.15V (3.3GHz on 4 cores, 3.7GHz on 2 cores). Idle temps are in the upper 20s with all of the power saving features on. I'm using a Coolermaster GeminII S with a 120x20mm Yate Loon and it barely fits.I'm running all of this on the stock 300w PSU!
stefi - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
Great, I was thinking of using SG-06 with HD 5750 and i5-750 :)) Do you have some pics to post? What brand of 5770 do you have? Is it quiet enough when idle? Do you have any aditional fans on the case?Mr Perfect - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Nice build! That's about what I'm eyeing myself, assuming nothing new pops up at CES. :)It's impressive to see someone push the 300watt supply too. 1KW+ PSUs have been the norm for so long, that everyone automatically assumes you can't do jack with anything lower then 600 or so. That said, hopefully the 450(http://www.sffclub.com/index.php?option=com_conten...">http://www.sffclub.com/index.php?option...amp;cati... replaces the 300 in Silverstone's cases.
fr500 - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
How!!!I mean, the GeminII does not have mounting options for 1156 chips
I'm waiting for the 450w psu for the SG05, anyway my Zotac 9300-D-E with an e8500@3.7Ghz and a GTS250 overclocked is enough for most console ports :D and HTPC duty
fr500 - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Edit: Duh I just realized you said GeminII S. My badGeorgeH - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
On the board features page, it lists 6x SATA ports from the chipset and 4x from a JMB322. If there are only 4 ports on the board, what's the point of the JMB322? And isn't the JMB322 a 1 or 2 port part?Also, did DFI say who the target market was? Without an IGP and with limited SATA ports I'm having trouble thinking of any good usage scenarios for this board.
Rajinder Gill - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Hi George,That was my mistake on the SATA ports. I used a template XLS and forgot to delete some of the cell data. It's fixed now.
thanks!
Raja
tomoyo - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
I was really hopeful for some good clarkdale mini-itx mobos, with only one chip in addition to the processor, it makes for better board layouts. I hope we'll start getting more case choices also, especially a few in server config. I'd love to make a mini-itx Raid box that can outdo the pre-built raid machines out there.zer0sum - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
That is already possible using ion 330 based boards like the POV.4 x sata and 1 x esata, 1Gb NIC supports jumbo frames with 7200 MTU under linux
Then just add a Chenbro ES34069 chassis with 4 x hot swap sata bays.
I can't seem to get Freenas working with jumbo frames as I suspect the NIC driver is not quiet up to speed under FreeBSD.
Ubuntu works perfectly though and I can easily get 80-100Mb/s off a 2 disk mirror.
Just waiting on more disks to see how raid 5 speed works out.
It is an expensive little chassis but it is also damn cool
Z