星期一, 10月 12, 2009

"BIOSTAR TPOWER I55 - Intel LGA1156" ROCK



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


The lacquered quality of heat pipe is great, with amazing design of finned plates and cooler area.


LGA 1156 platform is becoming available in the market in less two months. According to more and more news from the Internet,
Intel is going to categorise its products into three kinds of platforms— LGA 775, i3/i5/i7(LGA 1156), i7/i9(LGA 1366).
As customers, they may think there are too many product series and different sockets; hence, they easily feel confused and do not know how to choose. All in all,
the launch of new products can renew the old product series faster.

Since LGA 1366 is deemed as high-level products, it is inadequate for LGA775 for non high-level products.
So, the coming of LGA 1156 can make Intel platforms more complete, and customers, depending upon their budget, therefore have more choices.
Let’s look forward to waiting MB manufacturers’ products, and price of Intel LGA 1156 CPU.

Intel upcoming performance platform w/ LGA1156-sneak peek of MSI P55-GD65



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.



North bridge function is integrated on CPU. The function of P55 chipset is only South bridge.
The MSI heatsink on P55 chipset looks quite nice. There’s MSI OC Genie controlling chip on the left.


OC Genie is spontaneous overclocking chip. Users only press the bottom to overclock very conveniently.
Black +/- button named Direct OC, used for switching CPU Base Clock directly as well as instant hardware overclocking.


MSI named the heatpipe Superpipe this time.
Heat transferring with 8mm thickness Superpipe is supposely better than traditional heatpipe, of which the fact needs to be confirmed by testing.




I perceived that in recent X58 and P55 chipsets, mainboard are more and more user-friendly on material and design.
Every manufacturer desires to present new technology, new material, or new function to reinforce competitiveness of its brand as well as animating the market.

Web news says that CPU on socket 1156 will hit retail market after September.
Every main motherboard players are so hot to trot for P55 product launch.
Hopefully, new platform with socket 1156 for middle-to- high end market is ideal for those who look for high C/P products.

用料再升級之豪華版本-be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER DELUXE 550W拆殼實測



歐洲德國的Power Supply品牌be quiet!,印象中此品牌進入亞洲市場也有兩三年之久
be quiet!在產品品質以及保固規範在網路上的評價一向都還不錯
近幾年來,PC市場上出現的Power Supply品牌越來越多的狀況下
如何選擇一個好的Power Supply是一個選購前必做的功課

目前be quiet!,主要的產品分為三大類
DRAK POWER PRO 450~1200W,屬於高階模組化版本,市場價位也較高的定位
STRAIGHT POWER 400~650W,非模組化版本,價位比DRAK POWER PRO低一點
power4 350W,入門版本,價格較為超值,適合裝機或是需求不高的消費者。

STRAIGHT POWER系列在最近幾個月推出新改版的產品,型號多了一個DELUXE
比前自家先前的版本加強某些地方,搭配全日系電容、更新的FDB液態軸承風扇或效能轉換率達87%。
此回入手的主角也就是be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER DELUXE 550W

首先看到be quiet!產品外包裝
外盒右上角強調全日系電容,另外也有DELUXE的字樣


內容物
簡易說明書.束線帶.螺絲


STRAIGHT POWER DELUXE 550W本體
尺寸為15cm W X 14cm H X 8.6cm D


外殼使用消光黑色,特殊的設計不會沾上指紋


12cm散熱風扇,FDB液態軸承設計
噪音值為18dBA,屬於相當靜音的版本


Active PFC規格,適用於110~240v室電
後方外殼設計為蜂巢式散熱孔


產品規格
型號為BQT E6-550W
+12V有4路,一共41A,最高可達492W


550W接頭方面
8 X SATA
4 X 4 PIN
1 X Floppy
2 X Fan connectors
這部份是be quiet! PSU特色之一,讓使用者選擇大4PIN或是3 PIN外接風扇接頭
Power Supply會偵測"電源供應器"內溫度,再控制這2條外接風扇的轉速。


1 X ATX 20/24 PIN
1 X ATX 4 PIN
1 X ATX 8 PIN
2 X 4+2 PIN PCI-E


直接拆開看內部構造






永立的FDB液態軸承風扇
號為MGA12012MG-O25  12V 0.38A


測試平台
CPU: Intel Core i7-870
MB: MSI P55-GD80
DRAM: CORSAIR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8
VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC SLI
HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0)
POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER DELUXE 550W
Cooler: Mega Shadow(Deluxe Edition)


OS系統設定值
CPU 200.5 X 20 => 4010Mhz
DARM 8GB DDR3 1604 CL8 8-8-24 1T


OCCT V3.1.0


新版OCCT測試時可以讓CPU與VGA同時運作,達到此平台設定中的最高耗電量


以此規格平台,顯示測試過程中耗電狀況
這部份採用Power Angle為數據參考

進入系統桌面下 - 190~191W


執行OCCT中Power Supply測試項目
i7-870 OC 4GHz 四核心滿載加上VGA也同步運作 - 640~660W


之前看到網路上討論,提到有關Power Angle測出來的數據再換算成有效轉換功率才是實際的瓦數。
不過依小弟使用的經驗,同樣的平台搭配不同轉換功率的PSU所測出的瓦數也不相同
加上最近看到有網友說他使用傳統PSU測出來150W,改用Active PFC產品測出來只有120W左右。
Power Angle測的數據僅供參考使用

CPU溫度變化


系統溫度變化


CPU電壓變化
待機時約1.31V,全速運作時幾乎都停在1.34V
另外CPU電壓跳動範圍部份與主機板比較有關


3.3V
3.32~3.34V
變化不大,大部份時間都停在3.34V


5V
大約落在5.05~5.13V,電壓落差在1.56%左右


12V
大約落在11.62~11.97V,電壓落差在2.92%左右


在高負載的全速運作下,Power Supply本體的溫度並不高,用手摸不超過50度左右,溫度表現優秀
另外風扇所發出的噪音也幾乎聽不到,在超越規格的高耗電狀況下,be quiet! DELUXE 550W這兩方面表現都很好。

以上電壓是主機板測壓時所顯示的電壓數據,不同品牌的主機板在3.3V/5V/12V所測的電壓中,有些會偏高有些也會偏低。
所以測試中的電壓值不一定是代表實際電壓,若要測出PSU 3.3V/5V/12V較精準的電壓請使用電表測量
OCCT僅能以高負載運作下,電壓上升或下降產生的變化值為參考依據

be quiet! DELUXE 550W在3.3V表現不錯
5V方面的跳動落差也在1.56%,在可以接受的範圍內
12V方面是跳動較大的部份,達到2.92%,這比起一般Power Supply允許誤差值5%還是較低。


把CPU降到3.32GHz,讓耗電量壓在525~543W再測試數據


3.3V


5V


12V
大約落在11.70~11.97V,電壓落差在2.26%左右


把全速耗電量降到525~543W,12V的表現比起上一個OOCT的落差已經從2.92%壓到2.26%


最後是電表測量,耗電量是640~660W的狀態
待機時
5V測出來為5.15~5.16V,比起主機板測出來的5.09V還要高一些


OCCT全速運作時
電壓範圍5.17~5.18V,電壓升到比待機時還高一些


待機時
12V測出來為12.02~12.03V,比起主機板測出來的11.97V還要高一些


OCCT全速運作時
電壓範圍11.84~11.86V,電壓降到比待機時低,但落差範圍沒有OCCT大


在電表的測試部份,電壓升降的狀況與OCCT測試表現圖相同
差別在於電表的數據比較精準,另外使用電表量出來的結果,12V掉壓狀況只有1.58%
所以沒有像在OCCT中調壓範圍達到2.92%那麼多


be quiet! DELUXE 550W使用心得總結
優點
1.外包裝質感佳,所附電源線材厚實
2.通過80PLUS高效率節能認證,另外具備Active PFC規格
3..轉換功率高達87%,支援能源之星4.0
4.標榜使用全日系電容,FDB液態軸承風扇
5.超過規格負載測試中PSU本體溫度不高,散熱風扇也相當地的靜音


缺點
1.4 PIN接頭可以再多兩個擴充會更有DELUXE的規格
2.非模組化版本如果價格可以再低一點,C/P值會更佳

效能比 ★★★★★★★★★☆
用料比 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
規格比 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
外觀比 ★★★★★★★★☆☆
性價比 ★★★★★★★★☆☆

也許有人會覺得奇怪,網路上常會看到Power Supply的測試出現12V一直線漂亮的數據圖
小弟此回也花更多時間重覆比較與測試這方面的差異,後來發現是因為LGA 1156平台的架構特殊
不同於以往的LGA 775或是AMD平台的耗電特性,LGA 1156在12V上的耗電量較高不少。
所以在此測試平台上,小弟也試過不少款Power Supply,發現12V的跳動依然是不小
也代表日後要搭配LGA 1156平台的話,挑選Power Supply的12V供電需要更優秀

be quiet! DELUXE 550W的產品一向在品質與用料上都有水準之上的表現
在這次測試中,以550W的產品規格,be quiet!這樣的測試表現已經很不錯。
因為耗電640~660W下硬是可以在12V高耗電的LAG 1156上可以穩定跑完
同時間試過其他款較平價的Power Supply產品,650W的產品在600W耗電量時就已經會自動關機
可見在LGA 1156測試平台下,12V的規格不但要較嚴格,並且用料也需要更好才可以撐住高耗電的狀態。

be quiet!產品在用料與品質都屬於中上水準,當然價位也會偏高一些
保固規範也訂的不錯,故障品在540天內可換新,總共有5年產品保固
如果預算較高的消費者,在選購品質與服務都不錯的Power Supply品牌時,不妨可以將be quiet!列入考慮的品牌之一 :)