However, owing to the greater integration of things on the CPU die, like PCI Express lanes and other tasks previously managed by the Northbridge, LGA1155 CPUs really don't like the motherboard BCLK being changed. Hardcore overclockers HAVE done it, but it's more effort than it's worth in our opinion. Overclocking is supposed to be fun, and relatively not impossible.

Gigabyte's GA-P67A-UD4-B3 motherboard offers a full range of CPU overclocking controls so PCSTATS made a half hearted attempt to push the board past a 105MHz BCLK. No dice, at 106MHz the system just crashed and the best we could overclock it was 104.8MHz.

Starting from the default x33 multiplier, PCSTATS pushed things to x45 without any effort. Usually the Intel Core i5 2500K chip PCSTATS tests can do x47 out of the gate without any voltage tweaking... but not on the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 motherboard. In the end we settled for a max overclock of x45, or 4.5GHz

Test System Hardware

PCSTATS has relied on Crucial memory for its servers for years, so it was only logical to install 4GB's of high end Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24 memory into the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 test system. This is some good quick DDR3 RAM and it features thermal monitoring too!

Storage devices have changed dramatically in recent years, you'll notice PCSTATS to retired the faithful old Western Digital Raptor's for a super quick OCZ Vertex 2 SSD (120GB, SATAII). The effect on system-wide benchmarks is dramatic!

Thanks to Crucial Memory, OCZ Technology and Intel for help outfitting this test platform.

Details on how the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 motherboard was configured for benchmarking - including specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions - is listed in the Test System Spec chart below. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results.

PCSTATS Test System Specs

test system processor: intel core i5 2500k (32nm) amd fusion a8-3850 (32nm) intel Core i5 750 (45nm) AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (45nm) Intel Core i7 920 (45nm) Clock Speed: 33 x 100 MHz = 3.3 GHz 29 x 100 MHz = 2.9 GHz 20 x 133 MHz = 2.66 GHz 16 x 200 MHz = 3.2 GHz 20 x 133 MHz = 2.67 GHz Socket: Socket LGA1155 Socket FM1 Socket LGA1156 Socket AM3 / AM2+ Socket LGA1366 Motherboard: - Intel Z68 - Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD - Intel P67 - Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 ASUS P8P67 Pro MSI P67A-GD65 ECS P67H2-A - Intel H67 - ASUS P8H67-M Evo Biostar TH67XE ECS H67H2-M Intel DH67BL - AMD A75 - Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H - Intel P55 - Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6 Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R ASUS P7P55D Premium ASUS P7P55D Deluxe ASUS P7P55D-E Pro - AMD 990FX - Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7* - AMD 890FX - ASUS Crosshair IV Formula Biostar TA890FXE MSI 890FXA-GD70 Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 - AMD 790FX - Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P - AMD 785G - MSI 785GM-E65 - Intel X58 - Gigabyte G1.Assassin* MSI Eclipse Plus Videocard: Gigabyte GV-N470SO-13I (Geforce GTX470) ASUS ENGTS250 DK (Geforce GTS250) Memory: 2x 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 8.8.8.24 2x 2GB Corsair XMS3-1600C9 2x 2GB Corsair XMS3-1600C8 3x 2GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3 Memory Speed: DDR3-1333 DDR3-1333 DDR3-1333 DDR3-1066 *DDR3-1333 DDR3-1066 120GB OCZ Vertex2 SSD (3GB/s SATA II) Intel SRT Tests: 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740 & 20GB Intel Larson Creek 311 SSD 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740 (3GB/s SATA II) *120GB OCZ Vertex2 SSD (3GB/s SATA II) Optical Drive: Plextor PX-B310U Blu-Ray ASUS BC-1205PT-BD Power Supply: Seasonic SS-760KM (760W) PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 750W Heatsink: Intel Reference LGA1155 Heatsink AMD Reference Heatsink Intel Reference LGA1156 Heatsink AMD Reference Heatsink Intel Reference LGA1366 Heatsink Monitor (1080p): ASUS MK241 24" HD LCD Software Setup: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Intel 9.2.0.1025 nVIDIA 266.58 Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit AMD Catalyst 8.86RC2 nVIDIA 266.58 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit Intel 9.1.1.1019 nVIDIA Forceware 190.62 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate AMD Catalyst 9.12 nVIDIA Forceware 195.62 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Intel INF 9.1.0.1012 nVIDIA Forceware 182.08 Benchmarks: System Benchmarks: SYSmark 2007 PCMark Vantage SiSoft Sandra 2011 Gaming B/M: 3DMark 11 3DMark Vantage 3DMark 06 FEAR