Test System

Initial Setup

The initial setup proved simple and easy, with the BIOS automatically setting a default speed of 3.5 GHz under Turbo mode, and defaulting the memory to JEDEC standard 1333 MHz CAS 9. We ran several rounds of Memtestx86+ to verify stability, and then installed Windows 7 64-bit. We then enabled the 2133 MHz XMP profile for our Corsair memory, and ran Memtestx86+ again. While Memtestx86+ proved to pass with flying colours, we found that when in Windows, we encountered some stability issues, which were remedied by increasing memory controller voltage from a default 1.05 V to 1.124 V. After several hours of stability testing with various programs over the course of two days, we found sweetspots for both CPU and memory speeds when overclocked, and then reset the BIOS to default speeds and JEDEC timings, in preparation to begin our usage and performance testing.

PWM Power Consumption

Since one of our first tasks was to truly verify system stability, while doing so, we measure CPU power consumption. We isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings, as well as total wattage passed through it. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. We immediately noticed that due to Gigabyte's BIOS implementation that allows overclocking while Turbo is disabled, CPU power consumption was a tiny bit higher than with other products in our test lab. A difference of a couple of watts is no big deal, but curiosity got the best of us, and we enabled the D.E.S. software interface to see if those numbers would drop, and they did, to fall in line with what we've seen on other products. While we can get similar performance, the requirement of running the D.E.S. software to notice power savings is not our favorite method, and we would much rather have a setting in BIOS that would provide the same function.

At this point, we were left a fair bit disappointed in the Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3, as we were really expecting a bit more from this product, and with our preliminary testing, the P67A-UD4-B3 did not prove to sit at the top of the pile of boards we have here. Not expecting much, we started our performance compare, and our opinion quickly changed. Hit the next page to find out why.