Gigabyte shows P55 board: socket is much smaller than Core i7

Motherboard partners have been finding CeBIT a hard sell, not helped by the lack of really new hardware on the market. There are a few AMD AM3 boards dotted around the show floor, sure, but the most-anticipated mainboards remain the P55 chipset, providing support for Intel's next-generation Nehalem-derived desktop chips.

Here's the Gigabyte GA-IBP, based on said chipset. The board should be available to buy around the June/July time-frame, just when the Core i5 chips are out, according to the representatives we spoke to.

Core i5 can be thought of as incumbent Core i7 on a diet; stripped of the QPI interconnect and the third memory-channel, for starters. That should make supporting motherboards cheaper to produce, and we were quoted a price of $150 (US) for a mid-range P55.

Note the one-chip I/O and DVI output on the back? This board will be compatible with 45nm Lynnfield and 32nm Clarksdale (w/IGP), we were told, so expect some reasonable chipset longevity out of P55.

We hadn't seen an LGA1156 socket up close and personal before, so here it is, and it's a fair chunk smaller than the Core i7 equivalent. Not too sure about how it secures into the socket area, though.

Cheap Core i5, plus board, plus 4GB dual-channel DDR3 should set you back just over £300 in August. Sound tempting?

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So Intel have the rip of X58 with the rip of i7 core…. Now they are given the so called budget line a new socket…..

Rise up AMD, its now your time to strike as Intel have got too cocky like 10 years ago….

Is it just my eyes at silly o'clock in the morning or is there no northbridge on that motherboard? Is it all under where the southbridge would normally be, or just missing altogether? Surely they'd have just stuck a (stupidly elaborate and hopeless inefficient) heatsink on there for show.

Is that what Tarinder is referring to with “Note the one-chip I/O and DVI output on the back?”?

Have we finally arrived at a point where we have combined the north and southbridges?

Yup, just a single chip this time around.

stripped of the QPI interconnect and the third memory-channel, for starters.

Cheap Core i5, plus board, plus 6GB tri-channel DDR3

I'm confused. Will it be 3 physical slots of dual channel? Or is tri-channel available in some ‘reduced bandwidth’ way?

That should make supporting motherboards cheaper to produce, and we were quoted a price of $150 (US) for a mid-range P55.

should set you back just over £300 in August. Sound tempting?

£300? That's the price of the full Core i7 boards, surely?
Is that a mis-print? I'm not being picky, but these boards sound interesting, just not at those prices.

Both the Graphics and memory controller moves into the processor. :)
Today's motherbaords have a 3-chipset solution, this on is a 2-chipset solution.
Based on the new Lynnfiled processores, I hear that havendale will also be supported on this board.
LGA 1156 and DDR3 support only and I am under the impression that it is Dual-Channel DDR3.

Here is an overview: like anything else, specs can change at any time :rules:

- Available Q3’09
- Supports Lynnfield1 and Havendale1,2 Processors
—- Discrete graphics support – 1x16 or 2x8
- New single chip architecture
- Pin compatible with future Intel® 5 Series Chipsets allows for scalable motherboard design
- Integrated Clocking Buffer Through Mode
- Provides Thermal Sensor Data via SMBUS for discrete Fan Control Solutions
- Intel® Matrix Storage Technology 9.0
—- New User Interface is central point for managing all storage tasks
—- RAID 0/1/5/10
—- Intel® Rapid Recover Technology
—- FIS based port multiplier support on 2 SATA ports

Gigabyte shows P55 board: socket is much smaller than Core i7

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