Gigabyte's GA-P67A-UD7-B3 motherboard offers a full range of CPU overclocking controls so PCSTATS only made a half hearted attempt to push the board past a 105MHz BCLK. We tried, but no luck.

Starting off with a default x33 multiplier, PCSTATS pushed the Intel Core i5 2500K CPU to x46 without any effort. Usually the Intel Core i5 2500K chip PCSTATS tests with can handle x47 out of the gate without any voltage tweaking. As we've seen with a couple other Intel P67 based motherboards the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7-B3 motherboard managed to hit a maximum overclock of x46, or 4.6GHz.

In case something goes awry during overclocking, the onboard Port 80 card helpfully displays an error code. In addition to the Port80 card, Gigabyte have built in custom overclocking controls such as Easy Tune 6 which allows novice overclockers to adjust BCLK, CPU multiplier, voltages, etc. from within Windows. Overclocking profiles can bet set up and initialized with the tap of a key for certain applications.

Cloud Computing for Overclockers

CloudOC is another neat Gigabyte overclocking tool which allows you to manage the overclocking profiles of your computer from a networked device (ie iPhone, iPad), but I have to admit I'm not a fan of such techniques. Never the less, if you've ever wanted to manage overclock settings during a benchmark run, or while in full screen game mode you can now overclock your PC via an iPad app.

Other overclocking revisions with the board include finer voltage controls (down to 0.00625V increments), hardware over voltage control, hardware and linear real time voltage control.

Removing the custom heatpipe heatsink for the CPU VRM reveals the special 3-in-1 board mounted MOSFETs that Gigabyte selected for a variety of power quality, space conservation and temperature reasons. The system comes from the Gigabyte X58A-UD9 board originally, it delivers 24-phases of power to the Sandy Bridge processor. This can translate into more stable power during intense overclocking situations.

According to Gigabyte, while 24-phases are not really necessary at all, though it does help spread the electrical load and that dissipates heat buildup between the devices. This in turn decreases operating temperatures.

The 3-in-1 driver MOSFET combines the functions of a SOP-8 driver, LFPAK H-side MOS and LFPak L-side MOS into one compact board mounted IC package. According to Gigabyte PR reps, the benefits of this are lower power loss, higher power efficiency and reduced CPU VRM temperatures. Gigabyte claims that this component choice is more efficient with higher switching frequencies than previous circuit designs.

The Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7-B3 motherboard is also Intel VRD12 qualified.

Under normal power loading, about half of the 24 power phases are active on the GA-P67A-UD7-B3 motherboard. The system will automatically shift to the full compliment of 24 phases under heavy loading situations to ensure the processor received consistent quality power, provided Gigabyte DES2 is active on the host PC.