| DFI P55 MI-T36 | |
| Market Segment | P55 General Use/HTPC |
| CPU Interface | LGA-1156 |
| CPU Support | LGA-1156 i5/i7 Series of Processors |
| Chipset | Intel P55 Express Chipset |
| BCLK Speeds | 100-500MHz in 1MHz increments |
| DDR3 Memory Speed | 800, 1067, 1333 Frequency Ratios |
| Uncore Frequency | Fixed at 16x or 18x according to CPU model class |
| Core Voltage | 1V ~ 2V in 0.0125V increments |
| CPU Vdroop Compensation | On/Off (Super VID) |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Dependant on Processor, all available multipliers supported |
| DRAM Voltage DDR3 | Auto, 1.20V ~ 2.60V in 0.1V ~ 0.02V increments (1.50V base) |
| DRAM Timing Control | tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, + 9 Additional Timings |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1N, 2N & 3N |
| PCH Voltage | Auto, 1.05V ~ 1.35V in .15V increments, 1.05V Base |
| CPU VTT (Uncore) Voltage | CPU Default ~ +0.697V in 0.05V ~ 0.06V increments |
| CPU PLL Voltage | 1.8V ~ 2.1V in 0.1V increments, 1.80V Base |
| Memory Slots | Two 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered DDR3 Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1X PCIe 16X Slot |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 3x SATA 3.0Gbps Ports - Intel Chipset Hot Plug and NCQ Support, RAID 0, 1, 5 RAID 0+1 Support & Intel Matrix Technology Support |
| Onboard USB 2.0 | 10 USB 2.0 ports (6) I/O Panel, 4 via brackets |
| Onboard LAN | Intel 82578DC X1 (PCI/e) |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC885 High Definition Audio Codec, 7.1 Channel, with Creative X-FI support via drivers. |
| Power Connectors | ATX 24-pin, 8-pin EPS 12V |
| I/O Panel | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1X PS/2 Mouse 1 x RJ45 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 (1 X eSATA combo) 1X Coaxial S/PDIF, 1X Optical Toslink 6 Audio I/O jacks |
| Fan Headers | 1 CPU + 1 Additional Header |
| Fan Control | Full temp/speed fan control for both headers via BIOS or OS software. |
| Package Contents | SATA Cable X4, SATA Power Cable X2, I/O Panel X1, 1X User Manual, Driver DVD X1, Creative X-Fi Driver CD X1, 2 X Smart connectors for front panel I/O. |
| BIOS Revisions Used | P55MIB02 |
| Warranty | 3 year standard (location dependant) |
DFI includes the Realtek ALC 888 HD audio codec, Intel 82578DC LAN (PCI-E), JMicron JMB363 eSATA, and full support for the Core i7/i5 S1156 processor series. Creative X-FI drivers are included in the package, but you don't get any kind of Dolby Surround sound processing features in the bundled software.
DFI bundles the following with the board:
4 X SATA Cables
2X SATA Power Cables
1X I/O Panel
1X User Manual
1X Driver DVD
1X Creative X-FI Driver CD
2 X Smart connectors for front panel I/O
One of the software tools bundled with the board is a very basic overclocking utility called EZ Tuner.
EZ Tuner allows on the fly changes to processor VCore and also changes to BCLK within the OS as well as monitoring primary voltage rails and processor power monitoring. There are no options for changes to VTT or VDimm unfortunately, although the MI-T36 is limited in the overclocking department anyway.
AS with all DFI boards you also get Smart Guardian.
Smart Guardian offers temperature and power monitoring as well as comprehensive fan speed control for both fan headers.
The BIOS layout is generally good and offers a significant number of settings for overclocking although some of the settings seem out of place on this board given the power delivery limitations. You get fine control over DRAM reference voltage settings as well as options for adjusting compensation levels to critical signal lines. The latter is a feature we've only seen available on the more expensive EVGA boards.
BIOS flashing is taken care of within the OS only, DFI include a little tool called EZ-Flash. We prefer BIOS level utilities personally, especially when there's no redundancy, as you've only got a single BIOS chip on this board.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
38 Comments
View All Comments
Mini Motherboard - Monday, January 11, 2010 - link
Thanks for great review. I have been waiting for someone to write about it. I have linked to your article on my blog at my [url=http://www.minimotherboard.com">http://www.minimotherboard.com]Mini-ITX blog[/url]Saosin - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
Mini-ITX review and no power consumption tests? :(Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
Page 2Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
Check page 2 in the performance summary :)ScavengerLX - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - link
I have my 860 on a MI P55 at 150bclock with HT on. While gaming core temps usually get up to the mid-60s. So far so good! Thats about as far as I can push it safely.ScavengerLX - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - link
Did you observe the PWM temps at 4.0GHz?Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - link
Hi,Not sure if you read the review in depth, but the 4GHz benches were for fixed frequency compare purposes only. I used a 120MM fan to blow air across the board just for the sake of running the game benches where the CPU loads are very light (only around 50 Celsius). If you're running the board in a case or stress testing (OCCT, Linpack etc), keep it at stock with HT enabled CPU's and at a max of say 3.6GHz with a 750 in a case.
later
Raja
LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - link
Any version on what Creative chip DFI is actually using?I'm guessing it's the cheapie they use on their gimped X-Fi XtremeAudio cards, since I haven't seen a real X-Fi chip on any board, but I was just curious.
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - link
Hi,the X-FI features are purely software/drivers from Creative, supported by the Realtek ALC885. So no Creative hardware I'm afraid (I did mention software support in the feature table on page 3).
regards
Raja
ScavengerLX - Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - link
Rajinder-Thanks for the great review. I have this motherboard so I appreciate the insight into the finer details.
Josh