BIOS Features

The Gigabyte P55-UD6 uses an Award Software International BIOS. The BIOS version is F3, which is the first release of this BIOS. There is a newer version called F5a, but it was released after the testing phase of this review.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 74

After entering the BIOS, we pushed Control + F1 to access all the advanced features available in this BIOS. This is how Gigabyte separates the basic and advanced features. In the main menu, users can access all the overclocking, CMOS, advanced BIOS, integrated peripherals, and power management features available with the P55-UD6.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 75

I’m pleased to see that the MB Intelligent Tweaker menu has been made the first menu on the main BIOS screen. This is usually where I do most of my work in the BIOS anyways, so it’s a logical choice as the first menu option. In the M.I.T. menu, users can adjust every aspect of their system that relates to getting the highest overclock possible from key hardware components like the CPU, memory, and chipset.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 76

Under the M.I.T. current status submenu, Gigabyte created a dashboard of information that enthusiasts and even hardcore overclockers will absolutely enjoy and use during overclocking. This screen includes all the critical information users will need to know about the CPU, QPI (DMI technically with LGA 1156), Uncore, and memory frequencies as well as the turbo/non-turbo ratios and frequencies.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 77

Under the Advanced Frequency Settings submenu we still the typical overclocking options that come with almost all mid-range to high-end Gigabyte motherboards. Users can adjust the CPU clock ratio, advanced CPU core features, QPI (DMI) clock ratio, base clock, and even some of the system memory settings all from this screen above.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 78

 The Advanced CPU Core features submenu has many key features that users will want to adjust on their CPUs to get the highest stable overclock like Intel Turbo Boost, C1E, and CPU EIST (SpeedStep). All of these functions are available to modify the CPU’s core usage and power options, which are key components to overclocking your LGA 1156 processor.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 79

The Advanced Memory settings submenu gives users full access to every aspect of their system memory’s timings, voltages, and the Extreme Memory Profile that allows the BIOS to read the SPD data on select XMP memory modules to enhance memory performance.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 80

Another important submenu for overclockers is the Advanced Voltage Settings tab. This screen is another “one-stop shop” for all the important voltage information including the CPU, QPI/Vtt, PCH, CPU PLL, and DRAM.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 81

CPU Vcore voltages can be adjusted in .0625v increments to ensure even novice overclockers don’t attempt to fry their newly-purchased Lynnfield processors.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 82

The DRAM voltages can also be modified in .1v and .04v increments, but we recommend never going over 1.65v on any combination of system memory for the LGA 1156 platform.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 83

The Miscellaneous settings tab is where users can enable and disable isochronous support and virtualization technology.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 84

One of the last tabs that used to be the first tab on many Gigabyte BIOS offerings is the Standard CMOS features menu. This is where users update the date and time as well as review what IDE and SATA devices are connected to the motherboard.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 85

The Advanced BIOS features menu allows users to set the hard disk boot priorities, and enabled or disable the full screen logo and HDD S.M.A.R.T. capability.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 86

The Integrated Peripherals menu has the usual suspects, except for one option I haven’t seen on any motherboards yet called GSATA. I assume this option is for the new SATA 6GB/s spec, which is available with the newer P55A boards from Gigabyte.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 87

The Power Management Setup menu hasn’t changed much either from other previous BIOS versions that were used with the LGA 1366-based motherboards. Suffice to say, there are plenty of power options available with this board to feed the appetites of any enthusiast or extreme overclocker.

 

Gigabyte P55-UD6 P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Review - Motherboards 88

Finally, the PC health status menu includes all of the important voltage information as well as temperature information users will need to monitor the overall health of their systems. I use this screen quite frequently, and Gigabyte also has a software-based utility for monitoring these temperatures and voltages in their SMART 6 utility suite.

« PreviousNext »