titleBeing a car guy when I first saw the P8P67 EVO from Asus I couldn’t help connect the EVO name with a Mitsubishi Evo. I can’t imagine that Asus would somehow manage to get the boxy styling and sharp lines of the Lancer Evo, but maybe it has the raw power that the Evo is known for. Either way, I know that by the end of this review I will be drifting sideways in DIRT 2 ether way. Before that I will go over ASUS’s standard P67 product lineup and the P8P67 EVO’s feature set. While we are in there we will also test its performance and take a close look at the include software.

Product Name: Asus P8P67 EVO

Review Sample Provided by: ASUS

Review by: Wes

Pictures by: Wes

Specifications (from Asus’s website)

CPU 

Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
Support Intel® 32nm CPU
* The Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 support depends on the CPU types. 
* Refer to www.asus.com for Intel CPU support list

Chipset 

Intel® P67 Express Chipset

Memory 

* The Max. 32GB memory capacity can be supported with DIMMs of 8GB (or above). ASUS will update QVL once the DIMMs are available on the market. 
* Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs. Some hyper DIMMs only support one DIMM per channel. Please refer to Memory QVL for details. 
* Due to CPU behavior, DDR3 2200/2000/1800 MHz memory module will run at DDR3 2133/1866/1600 MHz frequency as default.
4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB, DDR3 1866(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/2200(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL.
Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)

Expansion Slots 

(single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode) 
x PCIe 2.0 x16 2 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 * [Black] (max. at x4 mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices) 
2 x PCIe 2.0 x 1 
2 x PCI
*The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, ESATA3G & PESATA3G and USB3_34. The PCIe x16_3 runs at x1 mode by default for system resource optimization. (PCIe x1_2 will be disabled.)

Multi-GPU Support 

Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology 
Supports ATI® Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology

Storage 

Intel® P67 Express Chipset
2 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports 
(gray)
4 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports (blue) 
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10

Marvell® 9120 controller
2 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (navy blue)* 
JMicron® JMB362 SATA controller
2 xExternal SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports* 
* These SATA ports are for data hard drives only. ATAPI devices are not supported.

LAN 

Dual Gigabit LAN controllers- 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) appliance 
Intel® 82579 Gigabit LAN- Dual interconnect between the Integrated LAN controller and Physical Layer (PHY)
Realtek® 8110SC Gigabit LAN

Bluetooth 

Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR 
ASUS BT GO! Utility

Audio 

Realtek® ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC 
- Absolute Pitch 192khz/24bit True BD Lossless Sound 
- BD Audio Layer Content Protection 
- DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC 
- Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-Retasking 
- Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O

IEEE 1394 

VIA® 6308P controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (one at mid-board; one at back panel)

USB 

NEC USB 3.0 controllers
- x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 at mid-board for front panel support, 2 at back panel (blue))
4 Intel® P67 Express Chipset
- x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
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ASUS Unique Features 

ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 2 with DIGI+ VRM:
ASUS EPU 
- EPU, EPU switch 
ASUS TPU 
- Auto Tuning, TurboV, TPU switch 
ASUS Digital Power Design
- Industry leading Digital 12+2 Phase Power Design 
- ASUS DIGI+ VRM Utility 
ASUS BT GO! (Bluetooth)
- Folder Sync, BT Transfer, Shot & Send, BT to Net, Music Player, Personal Manager, BT Turbo Remote 
ASUS Exclusive Features
- MemOK! 
- AI Suite II 
- AI Charger 
- Anti Surge 
- ASUS EFI BIOS EZ Mode featuring friendly graphics user interface 
ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution
- ASUS Fanless Design: Heat-pipe solution 
- ASUS Fan Xpert 
ASUS EZ DIY
- ASUS Q-Shield 
- ASUS Q-Connector 
- ASUS O.C. Tuner 
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 
- ASUS EZ Flash 2 
ASUS Q-Design
- ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED) 
- ASUS Q-Slot 
- ASUS Q-DIMM

Overclocking Features 

Precision Tweaker 2
- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.005V increment 
- vCCIO: Adjustable I/O voltage at 0.00625V increment 
- vCCSA: 144-step system agent voltage control 
- vDRAM Bus: 160-step Memory voltage control 
- vPCH: 90-step Chipset voltage control 
- vCPU_PLL: 160-step CPU & PCH PLL voltage control 
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
- BCLK/PEG frequency tuning from 80MHz up to 300MHz at 0.1MHz increment 
Overclocking Protection
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)

Back Panel I/O Ports 

2 x USB 3.0/2.0 (blue)
1 (purple)
x PS/2 Keyboard 1 (green)
x PS/2 Mouse 2 (1 x Power eSATA)
x External SATA 2 x S/PDIF Out (1 for Coaxial, 1 for Optical) 
1 x IEEE 1394a 
2 (1 x Intel® LAN)
x LAN(RJ45) port 6 
x USB 2.0/1.1 8 -Channel Audio I/O 
1 x Clr CMOS switch

Internal I/O Connectors 

4 x SATA 6.0Gb/s connectors (2 x gray; 2 x navy blue)
1 x Mem OK! Button
8-pin EATX 12V Power connector 
1 x TPU switch
1 x EPU switch
1 x Power-on switch
1 x Reset switch
1 x USB 3.0/2.0 connector(s) supports additional 2 USB ports (19-pin)
3 x USB 2.0/1.1 connector(s) support additional 6 USB ports
1 x System Panel (Q-Connector)
1 x IEEE 1394a connector 
1 (4-pin)
x CPU Fan connector 2 (1 x 4-pin; 1 x 3-pin)
x Chassis Fan connector (1 x 3-pin)
1 x Power Fan connector 1 x S/PDIF Out connector 
24-pin EATX Power connector 
Front panel audio connector

BIOS 

32 Mb Flash ROM , EFI AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3

Manageability 

WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE

Accessories 

2 x SATA 3.0Gb/s cables
2 x SATA 6.0Gb/s cables
1 x Q-Shield 
User's manual
2 in 1 Q-connector 
1 x ASUS USB 3.0 Bracket 
1 x ASUS SLI bridge connector

Support Disc 

ASUS Utilities
Drivers
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
ASUS Update

Form Factor 

ATX Form Factor 
12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )



Packaging

Being our first Asus motherboard review I really wasn’t sure what to expect with the packaging. The P8P67 EVO came in a black box with a design on the top using small circles. More importantly on top in large easy to read logos you have the boards name. Taking up almost the same amount of space is a logo showing of the boards DIGI+ VRM. Along the bottom ASUS has included smaller designs for a few of the EVO’s other features (features that we will go into more depth on later in the review. Around back its obvious they packed as much information as possible for you to learn more about each of the boards features. Under a small photo of the EVO you can also find a small specifications listing in case you need to make sure it will have enough SATA ports for your planned build (8 between both the SATA 3 and SATA 6 ports if you were wondering).

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Inside the box the board sits right on top in a static protectant bag. Under the EVO you can find all of the included accessories. It’s interesting to see ASUS include two SATA 6 cables, something most other manufactures don’t include. The cables themselves have white trim to help them stand out from the standard cables. Along with four total right angle SATA cables you also receive a USB 3.0 adapter, a crossfire ribbon cable, a black rear I/O panel, and two connectors for your front connections and a USB header.

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The USB 3.0 adapter gives you two more USB 3.0 ports at your PCI slots for someone who needs more USB 3.0 connections but don’t have a case that supports 3.0. The Crossfire cable is the standard unexciting gold color that we see with almost every board. For the amount of time everyone spends giving each motherboard a cool style, they sure do ignore that crossfire cable. The rear I/O panel plate it labeled on each of its ports, but other than the two USB 3.0 ports in white there is no other color coordination. I do love the black style, but at least using blue on the 3.0 ports would make them easier to spot. The two header adapters help make it easy to plug in all of your front panel connections leaving you to only have to plug one connection in when you get your hand down into the tight confines of a small case.

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For literature you have a user guide for both the board and DIGI and BT GO!. The user guide is both easy to read and filled to the brim with photos and drawings to help you with any questions you may come across while you have the P8P67 EVO. You also get a one page notice that the first 6 of the 8 SATA ports are set to default to AHCI mode. They include instructions on installing it on XP if you decide to go old school. You also get an ASUS case sticker and a DVD with your P8P67 Series drivers included on it.

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Board Layout

The EVO is a full ATX motherboard with a whole selection of different PCI slots to work with, but as with most of the other P67 motherboards bandwidth is limited making for a few weird exceptions. Here is a breakdown of the PCI slot locations.

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On the chart above there are a few slots with multiple speeds, the lack of overall bandwidth is where those number come into play. When running in SLI both of the PCI express x16 slots will run at x8 each. If you are running just a single card you will get a full x16 out of the individual card. Where it gets tricky is the grey PCI express x16 slot at the bottom. This slot shares bandwidth with the eSATA connections, one of the USB 3.0 ports, and both of the PCI Express x1 slots. When trying to run this at the x4 speed its rated at you will see problems with one if not all of the items listed. This could be a bad situation if you needed or wanted a third card and couldn’t figure out why now one of your USB 3.0 ports stops working.

Down under the PCI slots you can find the SPDIF, Firewire, and three USB 2.0 connections. Along with all of the USB 2.0 connections you also have a small switch with the label TPU next to it. The TPU switch is for the Turbo Processor, an on the board way to quickly overclock your CPU. I will cover it a little more in our overclocking section later in the review.

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Next to the three USB 2.0 headers you have power and reset buttons, a fan header, and the front panel header. The power and reset buttons are easy to access if needed. It’s not always really needed but when running tests on an open air test bench they are a blessing.

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The front panel header was also surprisingly easy to deal with. Rather than pack each of the connections in next to each other making it impossible to access unless you have baby hands. They spaced each of the connections out making this the easiest front panel header I have ever worked with!

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Up top you have four blue and black DDR3 slots. To make things a little easier ASUS used clips on the top only making swapping out ram a little easier in confined spaces. Up top you have multiple fan plugs on the off chance you need them.

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Next to the ram slots you have your 24pin power connection along with another USB 3.0 port

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Also on the top right you also have the MemOK button. If you haven’t seen it before, this is a wonderful feature. If you have a memory incompatibility the light will light up. You press and hold the button and it will test and set the ram to a setting that will allow you to boot. The EPU switch next too it is a manual switch for power saving, although important, we are gamers I doubt we will be putting it too much use.

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Behind the rear I/O panel you have  another 4 pin fan connection and this is also where you can find the 8pin CPU power connection.

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For the EVO Asus really packed the rear I/O panel with features. You receive two legacy PS2 ports, digital and optical audio connections, and on the far right you have the typical 6 port audio in/out. In the middle you have a whole collection of USB ports, four black USB 2.0 ports, and two blue USB 3.0 ports. Two red USB 2.0 ports that have extra power, and below them a combination USB 2.0 and powered eSATA connection.  That’s not all though, you have a second eSATA port, firewire, two 10/100/1000 ethernet connections (one being Intel ethernet as you can see the sticker on it), and a Bluetooth dongle. With 24 different ports on the rear I/O panel I seriously doubt that you will be without what you need with the EVO.

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For internal SATA connections you have a total of 8. With three different colors it can be a little confusing, let me help.

-First four on the left (light blue) SATA 2 on Intel chipset

-Two light grey connections SATA 6 on Intel chipset

-Last two on the right (dark blue) are SATA 6 on the Marvell® 9120 controller

In the end you have four SATA2 and four SATA6, it should be enough for anything you need.

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BIOS

Being our first experience with an Asus board in a long time I was impressed right away by Asus’s implementation of an EFI BIOS. First, you are greeted with their “EZ Mode”. This is the first time I think I have been into a bios screen that I really wouldn’t have any problem with looking at all of the time. All of your important information like temperature, voltage, and fan speed are in front of you and easy to read. You even have a nice clock up in the top left corner! OZ Mode only consist of this main page, making it easy for someone without any knowledge to do what they need to do without doing much damage. I love how they did the boot priority even though you can’t see it in the photo below(we only had our OS drive installed at the time). You can see all of the hard drives and disc drives installed and just drag them into the order needed. This is a perfect example of a EFI interface being helpful without using a mouse just to use a mouse.

bios_1

Clicking on the top right of the EZ BIOS will get you to the Advanced Mode. It may not be as simple and easy as the EZ mode, but it is still easy to dig through for any enthusiast.

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The Ai Tweaker tab is where most of you will spend most of your time. Your BCLK, CPU Ration, and memory frequency are all that you will need to mess with when doing a mild overclock.  Asus has put those options right at the top to give you easy access to them. Below them you have options for more detailed timing control of your ram, voltage management, and their OC turner.

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The advanced tab brings you multiple folders of options for configuring onboard devices, USB, SATA, PCH, and even another CPU configuration page. Oddly enough they even included an option to adjust the CPU multiplier in this tab as well.

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The monitor tab does just what the title says, allow you to monitor your temperatures and voltages. You can play with the CPU and Chassis fan profiles and even their minimum speed.

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The boot options are not nearly as simple as what you get in the EZ Mode but you also get a few more options as far as booting up with the full screen logo, numlock on bootup, and even an option to turn off that pesky wait for F1 to be pressed error that drives me crazy on one of our headless servers.

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To top it all off you also have a tool box tab that gives you access to the OC profiles and their BIOS flash utility. All in all this has to be one of the best BIOS I have ever worked with, bar none!

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Cooling

Every manufacture has a signature or style that they use on their motherboards, specifically in the cooling department. When it comes to the cooling, its performance is important, bit if it doesn’t have style no one will buy the board. ASUS uses a blue anodized pin design that looks very efficient and also has a unique style that only ASUS has.

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All of the heatinks are secured using spring loaded fasteners to keep them snug but not too snug. Man that blue anodized color looks good!

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The two heatsinks around the CPU socket are in place to keep each of the 12+2 power phase’s running cool. Without good cooling you are going to have trouble pushing the power limits of the board while overclocking. Lucky for us Asus’s cooling design is perfect for keeping it all cool.

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Down below the CPU you have another heatsink that is attached to the others with a heatpipe. The heatsink has a few groves in it but it isn’t enough to dissipate all of the heat on its own due to the low profile design. The heatpipe pulls the heat from this heatsink to a better performing one on the left of the CPU.

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Last but not least you have another low profile heatsink next to the PCI Express x16 slots. This is where you will find the P67 chipset or for those who remember the problems earlier this year cougar point. This is the only heatsink with Asus’s logo on it ironically. Odd considering this is also the heatsink that is most likely to be covered up by long high performance video cards.

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Our Test Rig

Intel Sandy Bridge i5-2500K CPU

Crucial Ballistix Tracer Ram 1600Mhz 2x2Gb

OCZ Agility 60Gb SSD

Noctua NH-C14 heatsink

Cooler Master Silent Pro M 850Watt PSU

Sapphire HD6970 BF:BC2 Edition for AMD testing

Two Nvidia GTX580’s for SLI testing

Microcool Banchetto 101 Test bench



Software

Our past experiences with included software from manufactures have been hit and miss in the past. Rarely do I ever install everything they suggest and leave it be. Typically I feel like half of it is unneeded or just difficult to use and go back in and uninstall it later. You also typically see the same software from motherboard to motherboard when coming from the same manufacture; it’s rare that we see anything that we haven’t seen 10 times over. That’s where covering a new manufacture can be interesting, unsure what to expect I dropped the included disc into our test bench and ran it.

software1

Asus’s installation utility was easy to use and broke down everything in an easy to use way. You have drivers and software on different tabs along with an InstALL button that installed everything all at once for you. After going through the drivers I went to the software page and was surprised by only four options, one being Adobe Reader 9.  The AL Charger option is a simple utility to help you take advantage of the extra charging power on a few of the select USB ports.

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I don’t have any good photos of it, but Asus’s BT Turbo Remote is an interesting piece of software for smart phone users. It’s a simple utility that runs on your iPhone or Android based smart phone while connected to your Asus motherboard via Bluetooth. When connected you can overclock, power down or restart your pc, and monitor hardware temperatures and voltage. I would like to see this work beyond Bluetooth and give you the ability to power down a pc you left on at home, but I know that in order to do that you would open yourself up to the possibility of being hacked. I think Asus did the best job they could considering that limitation.

If you need your manuals in a PDF format it’s all on the installation disc. This is a nice bonus for anyone who may have misplaced their manual or if you are just too lazy to get up and grab it(my option)

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Asus’s Al Suite II is where you are going to find everything else you are looking for. The software itself starts with a simple toolbar with 5 tabs and a shortcut. Each tab breaks things down into a category; for the most part you will spend most of your time in the tool and monitor tabs. Everything else you should only have to visit once or twice.

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Diving into the tabs, under the tool tab you have the following.

TurboV EVO

Digi+ VRM

EPU

FAN Xpert

Probe II

Sensor Recorder

BT GO

TurboV EVO

All of the manual overclocking options in the Al Suite II are packed into the TurboV EVO option. To make things easy they have tucked all of the more advanced settings under the More Settings option. BCLK and CPU/RAM voltage are left for even the most timid tuner to play around a little bit. It is a little odd that the easiest overclocking option of them all is missing from the page though, you will have to dig a little deeper to get to the multiplier to really push your CPU.

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The DIGI+ VRM option allows you to control the EVO’s load line calibration and VRM CPU current capacity. Basically this page is dedicated to controlling the Evo’s 12+2 power phases. You also can adjust the VRM’s frequency and set your phase and duty control. To make things a LOT easier for those who may not know what each of these settings does, ASUS included a small area on the right that changes depending on what you are clicked on, breaking down everything you need to know.

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The EPU Control Panel follows the same easy to use format as the others with an easy to understand graph that shows your balance of convenience, performance, tranquility, reliability, and energy saved.

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The FAN Xpert tool lets you adjust how each of the EVO’s fan headers reacts as your PC heats up. This is great for finding a balance of performance while still not feeling like your sitting in a wind tunnel just because you’re worried about your overclocked CPU warming up a little. You can have the fan spin up as it heats up. You can do this manually or by just using one of the included presets also.

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The ASUS Probe II tool gives you a look at every voltage, temperature, and fan speed on your EVO. On top of that you can also adjust voltage settings to help inch every ounce of performance out of your build. To go along with that you also have a Sensor Recorder tool that can monitor those same variables and record for minutes, hours, or even days. Setting to watch your temperatures at a long interval for a long period of time could ive you an idea of how your FAN Xpert settings are working out. Or you could watch for voltage drop when you are running a benchmark. This is a powerful tool that ASUS has included in their software, all you have to do is put it to use.

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ASUS BT GO! Is an integrated Bluetooth utility to help you take advantage of the built in Bluetooth in the EVO and all of their P67 based boards.

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Outside of the Tools tab you also have monitor. This only brings up a small tab on the right side. It may seem small when compared to this software suite’s other features but everything you need to know as far as voltage, temperatures, and fan speeds is all there. You can also go to the CPU tab and take a peek at your CPU Frequency, usage, and a breakdown on how you got to your frequency (BCLK x Ratio)

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There are also a few features built in to tune and tweak the look of your PC and ASUS’s software suite. You have MY Logo, a simple tool to help you change the boot logo to something a little more interesting (I suggest a LanOC logo) and under the settings tab you can adjust the Contrast, Brightness, Saturation, Hue, and Gamma to give the software any color you would like. As you can see below I went with an orange, what a shocker! That covers everything on the Asus’s Al Suite II other than the auto overclocking function. I will cover it more in our overclocking section. Asus has won me over based on their software alone. They packed everything you need into just a few applications, and the main application (Asus’s Al Suite II) is just spectacular in every aspect.

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Our Testing Procedures

All of our in game performance testing was run at 1920x1080, you can see the exact settings below. Here are the details for each of our tests.

Call Of Duty Black Ops (1920x1080 – high settings, first scene starting after the cut scene, recorded using fraps)

Battlefield Bad Company 2 (1920x1080 – high settings, first scene starting after the cut scene, recorded using fraps)

Dirt 2 (1920x1080 – 4x MSAA – high settings, in-game benchmark)

Metro 2033 DX11 test (built-in benchmark, 1920 x 1080; DirectX: DirectX 11; Quality: Very High; Antialiasing: MSAA 4X; Texture filtering: AF 4X; Advanced PhysX: Enabled; Tessellation: Enabled; DOF: Disabled)

Metro 2033 DX10 test (built-in benchmark, 1920 x 1080; DirectX: DirectX 10; Quality: Very High; Antialiasing: MSAA 4X; Texture filtering: AF 4X; Advanced PhysX: Enabled; Tessellation: Enabled; DOF: Disabled)

Mafia 2 (built-in benchmark, 1920x1080, PhysX on, high settings)

Synthetic Benchmarks For motherboards our synthetic benchmarks are limited to 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark Vantage 2011, PCMark 7,and PC Mark Vantage. 3DMark Vantage is run with PPU turned off with results from both the performance and high settings. In 3DMark Vantage 2011 we run both performance and extreme benchmarks. PC Mark Vantage is set to its default setting.


In Game Performance Numbers

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3DMark Vantage

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3dmarkvantageperformance6970wm

3dmarkvantageperformancesliwm

3dmarkvantagehigh6970wm

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3DMark 11

3dmark11

3dmarkvantage2011performancewm

3dmarkvantage2011extremewm

 


PCMark Vantage

PCmarkvantage

pcmarkvantage6970wm

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PCMark 7

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PCMark76970wm

pcmark7sliwm

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Performance

Most of our benchmarks have he the P8P67 EVO matching performance with all of the P67 motherboards that we have tested. Surprisingly it did a great job when it comes to SLI testing, outperforming on almost every test. The only thing that stood out in testing was our PCMark7 results. Being a new test we have only tested the EVO and the last MSI motherboard we tested. Somehow we still saw a large jump in performance. Until we get results from more motherboards I won’t call it conclusive, but PCMark7 does a good job showing real world performance with its browser, video, and office tests. We included the full breakdown per item on the PCMark 7 page if you would like to compare the results yourself.

Beyond benchmark performance the P8P67 showed itself to be a well-rounded motherboard. I love the inclusion of the Intel network card, we had no network issues during all of our testing. The 8 Channel audio was also more than adequate, although in fairness not as good as an aftermarket solution or integrated Creative like we saw on the Assassin.



Overclocking

To start my overclocking testing I jumped into Asus’s Al Suite II, my experience with it during our software testing was great. Jumping to TurboV EVO and the auto tuning tab I was greeted with two options, Fast and Extreme. To start things off I went with Fast, keep in mind at this time I was still running Intel’s stock Sandy Bridge heatsink. The software runs through an internal benchmark and then steps up to the next multiplier until it fails the test or the PC reboots. At that time it will take it down a notch, retest, and if it passes, move on to the BCLK. In this case it capped out at a multiplier or 42. BCLK testing is the same with the small step ups and retesting. The software edged out a BCLK of 103, giving us a 4326MHz. The test was painless and a little exciting to watch. I also like how they show you a percentage of increase along with the other numbers.

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Fast is never fast enough so we moved on to the “Extreme” setting. Running through the same procedure as before we ended up with a 4635MHz same 103 BCLK but with a multiplier of 45 this time, giving us an increase of 40%.

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This is about the time that I realized that I was doing all of this with the stock heatsink. Swapping it out with a Noctua heatsink was quick and painless and should prevent heat from being an issue. Running Extreme a second time, but with adequate cooling I was shocked as it jumped past the multiplier of 45 from before and went all the way to 49. Our BCLK was again 103, giving us a whopping 5047Mhz overclock! I have hit similar numbers using the BIOS on other boards but I have never seen a software come anywhere near this type of overclock.

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After doing my testing in windows my BIOS overclocking was a lot less exciting. Using our results as a base I wasn’t able to edge anything else out of the CPU other than more heat with increased voltages. Asus clearly did a great job with their TurboV EVO, to the point where I really didn’t need to spend any more time in the BIOS.



Overall

After diving into the P8P67 EVO and throwing everything we could at it, I came out extremely impressed. This good looking board has the performance to back it up and a strong feature set including an Intel NIC, Bluetooth v2.1, and 8 internal Sata ports. SLI and Crossfire support is icing on the cake for those of you looking to have top notch gaming performance. Not only is the board feature rich, but I also found the EFI BIOS to be both easy to use and packed full of features. The same can be said for the included software, packing almost all of their programs into one integrated program was a breath of fresh air. Hats off to their software team, this is what pushes a good product to the top. My only complaint is the bandwidth limitations on the PCI lanes, if you plan on using the third PCI Express x16 slot you may be surprised to find out that one USB 3.0 port. Your eSATA slots, and the PCI Express x1 slots all stop working. Even with that issue I would highly recommend this motherboard.  I can’t wait to get our hands on Asus’s next offering, if the EVO is any indication it should be a pleasure.

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Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

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garfi3ld replied the topic: #16071 07 Jun 2011 07:25
also for the record guys I think this is by far my longest review
Lersar's Avatar
Lersar replied the topic: #16072 07 Jun 2011 07:34


That's all pages, wow. Great coverage man, this is impressive.
garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #16073 07 Jun 2011 07:35
your going to have to zoom in a little bit, i can't read any of that text!
Nacelle's Avatar
Nacelle replied the topic: #16076 07 Jun 2011 15:07
That's the one bad thing about Sandybridge, the shortage of PCI-e. Anyone wanting to use a Revo Drive had better be prepared to sacrifice a bunch of stuff to get it to work. Hopfully someone will make a board with a NF200 chip on it, adding more lanes.
Wingless92's Avatar
Wingless92 replied the topic: #17007 26 Jul 2011 01:05

Nacelle wrote: That's the one bad thing about Sandybridge, the shortage of PCI-e. Anyone wanting to use a Revo Drive had better be prepared to sacrifice a bunch of stuff to get it to work. Hopfully someone will make a board with a NF200 chip on it, adding more lanes.


I agree Chris but those Revo Drives are not cheap. I am fine with my ol' Intel SSD.
Nacelle's Avatar
Nacelle replied the topic: #17009 26 Jul 2011 02:05
The new Revo drives average 1330mb/sec transfere. If I didn't have this motherboard and had the money for one of the smaller ones, I'd get it. Maybe with the Christmas bonus, unless there's new GPUs out that need buying.
Nacelle's Avatar
Nacelle replied the topic: #17471 02 Aug 2011 01:35
:huh: About what?
garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #17473 02 Aug 2011 01:57
im guessing spam lol

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