Improved attributes for overclocking Haswell-E. Any enthusiast worth their salt will know the Intel X99 platform will remain the go-to solution for some time to come. No other setup can offer you eight cores and 16 threads in a single chip. Said processor is the Core i7-5960X, available for a cool £800, but the six-core, 12-thread Core i7-5820K, priced at a more palatable £300, is undoubtedly a better value bet.

Eking out the best from these processors requires overclocking them by a healthy degree. But pushing these 140W TDP beasts by adding extra voltage and frequency brings the motherboards' circuitry into focus. Stealing a march on others in this regard was Asus, whose 'OC Socket' was the first to tap into the chips' voltage rails to offer, potentially, more stable performance at the bleeding edge.

Gigabyte is also looking to woo the enthusiast with a new range of P-suffixed boards that offer its own version of a special socket. A case in point is the X99-UD4P, in for review today.