Tweaktown put up a review of the GIGABYTE Brix PC sporting the new Core i7 5500U.

Steven goes through the full unboxing and tweardown, including individual chip identification and functions for those that like to know the full detail. It was also great to see NFC being tested and used. Interesting way to launch Netflix heh.

The new Brix PCs based on Intel Broadwell are pretty good performers in all tests including 3D:

The Intel NUC and this GIGABYTE BRIX both use Intel's 5th generation Core I series processors. The BRIX uses the i7 5500u, and the NUC uses the i5 5250u; they are almost identical except that the BRIX's 5500u has much higher stock and turbo frequencies than the NUC's 5250u, and it also has 4MB of L3 cache as opposed to 3MB on the NUC. Both have the same TDP, but it does seem the 5500U is the clear winner in the CPU and even some GPU benchmarks.

There is also another difference: the NUC's 5250u has three graphics cores (Intel's HD6000), and the 5500u has only two graphics cores (Intel's HD5500). What is interesting is that the 5500u does better in the gaming benchmarks because of its greater cache and higher CPU speed, even though its specs define it as having lower performance graphics.

Read more at: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7051/gigabyte-brix-bxi7h-5500-ultra-compact-mini-pc-review/index5.html

Our technical marketing guru, Sofos, has put together an advanced overclocking guide based around uncore and memory overclocking using the GIGABYTE X99 SOC Champion motherboard and chipset so make sure you check this out if you are on X99 platform and need a few pointers.

1. Adjust the OC switch the position 2, otherwise you won’t have the voltages you need for Uncore and memories.

2. Voltages for Uncore
In the CPU Advanced Voltages, when you have the OC switch in the 2 position, you will see some extra voltages. VL1 to VL6.
You only have to change VL4, VL5 and VL6 as below.

The voltage you have to change to get higher uncore is mostly the VL6. Almost all the CPUs can do 1.45V, most of the CPUs can do 1.5V but some CPUs can do even higher Voltage. There are few CPUs that boot with lower than 1.45V though. If the CPU can do high VL6 then probably it can do and high Uncore but not all the times. It depends on the CPU. In the OS through GTL all you have to do is to raise the VRING to 1.45V-1.5V in able to get high Uncore.
Temperature also helps with VL6 and uncore. If you are using subzero cooling try to find ideal temperature for max VL6 value and then see how high the uncore will clock. VRING is another voltage option that helps some CPUs. Try 1.35v and if going subzero, test up to 1.55 to see if there is any scaling.

3. RTLs
You can change the RTLs but not manually only changing the IOLs manually. IOLs to 1 will bring the RTLs all the way down to what the board is capable of until now. You need to change the IOLs at every channel. Set the option at manual mode and change the primary and secondary timings only for channel A and then change the IOLs to each channel manually.

4. Use both 8pin and 4pin cables for CPU Power otherwise with heavy load the system maybe will be shutting down.

5. You don’t need extremely high VSA and VDIMM. VSA between +0.25-0.35V should be enough to drive the mems high. +0.25-+0.3V should max your mems on most cases. VDIMM 1.55-1.65V is ok. I was able to do even C11 with 1.6V.

6. Few times you will see codes like 72, 74, 50, 51, 60, 8A. Try to press the reset button few times. There’re times that doing it it passes the training. Especially when you change the RTLs and you get 8A try it for sure. It doesn’t happen on latest bios so often.https://www.dropbox.com/s/g46ggra2mtkvv4z/F4f.rar?dl=0

7. X99 MemTweak, GTLhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/546fstudskrtpb8/GTL%202.1%20B15.0129.1.rar?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/op86rsq2ikubgcl/MemoryTweak-X99%20B14.1218.1.rar?dl=0
Highest bootable VL6 cannot be overridden through software. Same value that your CPU won’t boot from bios if you set it through software it will shut down.

8. Please be careful! The VLs can affect your CPU cold bug so make sure that when you change you don’t hit the cold bug earlier than before. If you have this problem try higher or lower VL3 (usually higher helps). If VL3 doesn’t fix your problem then try the same for VL6.
Also, different bclk affects the cold bug too, so try this as well. Almost all the CPUs are ok with 127.5 bclk and PCI3.

9. Make sure that you’re using proper insulation around the memories area and also put some paper towel around the PCH cooler. The way that worked best for us was a layer of plastidip, then a layer of Vaseline and paper towel.

10. Always save a profile before you save and exit cause most of the times the only way to go back is the CMOS button.

11. For memory voltage we used up to 1.9V on single sided dimms on LN2 without a problem. But it doesn’t mean that all the dimms can handle it so be careful in case you don’t want to degrade or kill your memories. Dino was benching with 1.8V without any issue.

Enjoy!

John Cleese has been the funny guy for quite a bit, but did you know about his Compaq computer commercials?

Here is a bit of laugh for you on this Friday.

Source: http://io9.com/hilarious-tv-ads-from-the-dawn-of-the-home-computer-era-1693791663

Aussie overclocker Newlife has hit a pretty sweet frequency with a low end, dual core, CPU at 7862.83MHz. He used the GIGABYTE F2A88XN-WIFI board and froze the AMD A6-6420K with liquid nitrogen to hit the big numbers. Awesome stuff, congrats!

How do you feel about having your biometrics used as a security system? The idea to use iris, finger prints or face recognition to log into accounts instead of passwords is not a new one, but the tech behind it is getting better and better, which is very promising. One of the concern some people may have is that hackers are extremely innovative, and replicating this very personal information is certainly scary! What could a malevolent person do with that kind of information…

But what if it could be more secure than ever before? According to the presentation video bellow from Windows, such technology could be ready with Windows 10. With Passport and Hello, Microsoft claims to be able to provide a more secure and personal experience to the user, and to make it “very very very” difficult for hackers to hack they way through.

 

Hot off the press, GIGABYTE X99 SOC Champion makes a significant mark in the latest issue of The Overclocker magazine. Also an important thing to note is that stocks are shipping out worldwide this week so make sure you keep an eye out on your local retailer, or even better send them a reminder you’re waiting impatiently for one of these beauties!

HWBOT spotted we’ve been busy with the X99 SOC Champion and taking all the scores down!

“When it comes pushing Intel’s Haswell-E platform to its absolute limit, there’s little doubt that GIGABYTE have done their homework. At this point in time the company’s flagship X99 motherboard, the X99-SOC Champion, is totally cleaning up in the area of 2D, multi-threaded benchmarking with the efforts from Sofos1990 and Dinos22

Utilizing the full capability the Intel Core i7 5960X and its 8 Haswell-E cores, the X99-SOC Champion currently holds top spot in no less than all six 2D benchmarks which receive global points: wPrime 32M, wPrime 1024M, Cinebench R15, Cinebench R11.5, XTU and HWBOT Prime. Hats off to Sofos1990 and Dinos22!

Here are the benchmarks and scores in full:

• wPrime 32M - Sofos1990 - 1sec, 937ms
• wPrime 1024M - Sofos1990 - 58sec 327ms
• Cinebench R15 - Sofos1990 - 2363 cb
• Cinebench R11.5 - Sofos1990 25.74 cb
• XTU - Dinos22 - 3039 marks
• HWBOT Prime - Sofos1990 - 9753.29 pps”

Source: HWBOT

Author: SDougal

I got these new GIGABYTE BRIX i7 5500U PCs in and wanted to share a simple unboxing as well as a “How to do” guide on memory & hard drive installation as well as installing the latest operating system from Microsoft (Windows 10). This is really simple, even your grandmother can do this!