Conclusions and Award

On the arrival of new technology of this magnitude it is sometimes hard to sit back and gather thoughts after witnessing some pretty remarkable performances being produced.   After all that we have collated today; the results speak very clearly, this is without doubt a winner that Intel has brought to the fore. 

After many years of paying premiums for mid entry level workstations we have solutions that are affordable and have the power within to provide the end-users a substantial stable workstation that will last for sometime to come.   We have over these last few months completely stressed this unit to it's fullest without any problems.   The platforms are realistically aimed at Windows 7 but under XP Pro 64-bit never faltered once - in todays bleeding edge technology with such early samples - this is without doubt a significant first.

The results shown within demonstrate that there most certainly is the power within and this simple example we have shown today has verified many should and will be on the immediate uptake.  Could this just be the boost in Intel's arsenal that they needed to combat AMD's current new offerings.   On a cross comparison, we cannot exactly comment.   Time will tell when somebody else revisits these tests utilising AMD's latest offerings.   For now, factually these results articulate volumes.

The mainboards offer plenty of room for expansion in which ever way they are utilised as a home gamer, SoHo Workstation.  Or, and more probable within the corporate market place as a stand alone desktop unit as there is so much power within.  More probable the studios, CAD/CAM and DCC market as the system shown within fully combined and once more reiterating, a sound solid fast system.

Onboard Audio replay was very good producing a crisp pleasant sound back to the ear.  The onboard LAN, fast and efficient as we did not encounter any problems whatsoever hooked up within our tasking units here.

Each of the professional graphic's card performed well above everyone's  expectations returning results from the SPEC tests some very impressive results.  The driver optimisations from both ATI and NVIDIA has embraced the new technology marvellously.    Though once more we have to take into consideration the whole systems I/O as without this we would not be seeing such excellent performing scores from both companies supplying the professional graphic cards.  How much more added benefit will be seen when Direct X 11 comes along, time will soon tell.  Though it should be good.

Consequently and once more we have to reiterate the objectivity of choice.  Choice to the budget user that sees the complete unique benefits the mainboards have to offer - Firewire and Bluetooth on the same mainboard.  This novel concept we see normally upon notebooks therefore the beneficial choice to the end-user means more simplistic productivity.  Choice in CPU, whether budget entry or a more upscale CPU that brings them in close proximity to to the high-end i7 chips.  We must recount just how much Turbo boost is hidden under the hood at default.   So once more "bang for buck" is here without spending a fortune for those on a budget.  Those wishing to move up a gear but have not got the funds to reach the high-end i7 CPU's then without doubt the Intel® Core™ i7 870 2.93GHz CPU is tremendously powerful and will last the end-user for many years to come.

We also see choice within our graphic cards.  Whether ATI's CrossFire or NVIDIA'S SLI both multi card scenario's will keep many a gamer happy for hours.  Though those wishing to use a single GPU solution from either of the latter companies will see huge differences in performance uptake.  Which ever way this is perceived the purchaser is on a "win win" solution as importantly we have to remember that the Dual Channel memory choice means a upgrade path when the timing and budget is right as the baseline memory bandwidths shows a very respectable result.

Penultimately we come back to the vogue "need for speed".  Previously this was for the few who could afford, now it is within the reach of the many.

Finally we return for one last recount.  We have fast affordable CPU's, Mainboards with a whole remit of functionality which will flummox many.   Upgrades are easily achievable and, the "need for speed" is there now for everyone to enjoy.  An exceptional piece of pre Christmas marketing by Intel.   Overall Intel has surpassed itself with this technology upgrade allowing many to have what they could only read about or place on their wish lists.   Father Christmas has come early.

Page 1 - Introduction
Page 2 - The New Intel® P55 Mainboards
Page 3 - System Build Pictures
Page 4 - System Set-Up and Software Used
Page 5 - SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP4 64-bit tests  Part 1
Page 6 - SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP4 64-bit tests  Part 2
Page 7 - SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP4 64-bit tests  Part 3 Memory Tests
Page 8 - Hard Drive Benchmarks
Page 9 -  HD Tach Ver. 3.0.4.0 and EVEREST ULTIMATE Ver. 5.03
Page 10 - PC MARK 2005 ADVANCED
Page 11 - ATI FirePro® V5700 Professional Graphic Card Tests
Page 12 - NVIDIA Quadro® FX1800  Professional Graphic Card Tests
Page 12a - Conclusions and Award