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- Date:
- Friday , October 28, 2011
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS P8P67 EVO REV 3.0 Motherboard Review
Through the P8P67 EVO, ASUS brings a board to the table that raises the bar on its other offerings. Not only does this motherboard perform like a champ, it is packed to the gills with features and integrated functionalities. At less than $165 after MIR, it shows to be a solid value.
Introduction
ASUS is in a class of its own, outlasting many of its competitors in this tough market space without having to compromise on quality and performance standards. The company quickly won over the critical enthusiast crowd with its dedication to bringing the highest performing products to market, with an inspired mix features and technological wizardry enabling its boards to outclass the competition without impeding product stability. ASUS continuously updates its products, using cutting edge technology and innovations to push the performance envelope beyond established limits. ASUS' latest line of Intel LGA1155 motherboards continue this trend nicely.
The ASUS P8P67 EVO motherboard utilizes the power of the Intel P67 chipset to offer support for the following: the Intel LGA1155 Core i3, i5, and i7 processor lines; DDR3 memory operating in Dual Channel memory mode up to 1333MHz officially; and either NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossFireX graphics mode using matched video cards. ASUS chose to integrate the following devices in to the board's design: 4 SATA II 3Gb/s ports and 2 SATA III 6Gb/s ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel P67 controller; 2 SATA III 6Gb/s ports on the Marvell controller; 2 e-SATA 3Gb/s ports on the JMicron controller; 12 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 in rear panel, and 3 onboard header supporting 2 ports each); 4 USB 3.0 capable ports (2 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 ports (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header support 1 port each); 1 Intel GigE Ethernet port and 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; an integrated Bluetooth antennae in the rear panel; Realtek 8-channel HD audio codec with integrated S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports; Power, Reset, and MemOK! buttons; and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in the rear panel.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
Packaging
ASUS kept to a simple box art design with the P8P67 EVO, with the board name and technologies featured on a black stippled background. Bundled in with the motherboard, you find the following accessories: locking connector SATA drive cables; a 2-way NVIDIA SLI connector; rear panel bracket with USB 3.0 ports; the Q-Connector modules; the rear panel shield; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs. The Q-Connector modules allow for an easy interface for connecting in to the motherboard headers. You simply plug in your front panel jumpers in to the white connector and the USB 2.0 jumpers in to the blue connector block, and then plug both blocks in to the motherboard headers. It makes for a much easier install for those typically hard to reach header areas.
Board Layout
The P8P67 EVO features an uncluttered design, with an inspired layout that appears to minimize the tight areas you would normally expect to find on such a feature rich board. One of the more notable features is a usable PCI-Express x1 slot to the right of the primary PCI-Express x16 slot even with the primary video card slot occupied. The board revision is silk-screened to the its surface in between PCI-Express x16 slot 2 and PCI slot 1. The board revision shown and used in test was a 1.03 model. The board's serial number is located on a white sticker along the front edge of the box, along with other versioning information about the board. As is common practice with higher end boards, ASUS chose to implement the board's power regulation circuitry using a mix of high quality polymer solid-electrolyte capacitors and Ferrite core chokes. Additionally, ASUS chose to integrate their digital VRM controller for power regulation oversight purposes.
ASUS cleared the area surrounding the CPU socket with a use of low profile heat sinks covering the power regulation circuitry as well as low profile components. For CPU cooler hold-down needs, the board uses the standing Intel LGA1155 style design, which is very similar to the LGA1156 mechanism. The CHA_FAN1 header and 8-pin ATX12V power connector are located to the upper right of the socket area, while the CPU_FAN header is located to its lower right.
In its normal placement directly below the CPU socket area, the onboard DDR3 memory slot array is arranged in a 2-by-2 bi-colored configuration. The primary memory slots are the blue colored slots, with Dual Channel mode active with modules placed in matched colored slots across the slot sets. To the lower left of the DIMM slots are the USB 3.0 header and the 24-pin ATX power connector. The EPU switch and its associated O2LED2 LED, the MemOK! button and its associated LED, and the PWR_FAN header are located to the lower right of the DIMM slots. To the upper left of the DIMM slots is the CPU_LED LED, which illuminates when CPU related issues are detected during system initialization. The EPU switch activates the onboard EPU controller for EPU chipset moderated power consumption, with the O2LED2 LED illuminating when the EPU chipset is enabled. The MemOK! button is used to reset memory settings to default system fail-safe settings in the event of a non-booting system due aggressive memory settings. Note that the DRAM _LED LED illuminates when the BIOS detects memory related startup issues, necessitating the use of the MemOK! button.
The integrated Intel P67 Express chipset, located underneath a massive low profile standalone heat sink, is placed below the primary and secondary PCI-Express x16 slots. All SATA ports are directly below the chipset, with the light blue SATA 3GB/s ports and the white SATA 6GB/s ports tied to the Intel P67 controller. The dark blue SATA 6GB/s ports are controlled by the Marvell controller. The front panel header and CHA_FAN2 header are in the board's lower left corner. Just above these are the onboard Power and Reset buttons, as well as the USB 2.0 headers. The Power button illuminates with an active power source connected to the board, while the RESET button illuminates when the board is powered on. The LED labeled BOOT_DEVICE_LED, located to the left of the chipset heat sink, illuminates when a bootable drive is connected to the board at startup and goes dark once BIOS initialization has been completed. If this LED remains illuminated, it indicates boot device problems were detected during system initialization.
The P8P67 EVO comes standard with a total of 7 device slots: 3 PCI-Express x16 slots, 2 PCI-Express x1 slots, and 2 PCI slots. The primary PCI-Express x1 slot remains usable even with a video card populating the primary PCI-Express x16 slot. Along the board's edge and to the left of PCI-Express slot 3 lay the USB 2.0 headers, the TPU switch and its associated O2LED1 LED, the IEEE 1394 header, the S/PDIF output header, and the front panel audio header. The VGA_LED LED is located to the upper right of the primary PCI-Express x16 slot, and illuminates when problems are detected with seated video card devices during system initialization. The TPU switch activates the board's chipset controlled overclocking system, without the need for BIOS or the Windows based TurboV application interaction. The O2LED1 LED illuminates when the TPU switch and associated functionality is active.
ASUS designed the P8P67 EVO with the following rear panel ports: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; 6 USB 2.0 ports (red or black colored USB style ports); 2 USB 3.0 ports (blue colored USB style ports); 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port located to the inside of the rear panel assembly; 1 Intel GigE Ethernet port located to the outside of the rear panel assembly; 2 e-SATA 3Gb/s ports (green colored port is powered); Bluetooth module; CMOS reset button; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical and RCA component audio output ports.
TurboV EVO
ASUS provided their TurboV EVO applet for overclocking the P8P67 EVO board from within windows. This applet integrates seamlessly into their AI Suite utility, with version 1.01.14 of the AI Suite installed to the local system.
The TurboV EVO applet can be access via the Tool button after opening the AI Suite application. The TurboV EVO screen is broken in to two separate tabs - TurboV and Auto Tuning. Notice the CPU bar along the right side of the app window as well. The TurboV tab displays current system voltage and bus speed settings, allowing for configuration of all displayed settings. Within the Advanced Mode tab are other adjustable system voltages, while the CPU Ratio tab allows for manual configuration of the current CPU multiplier setting. For all settings listed in the applet, the configurable settings shown mimic the settings available through the BIOS menus. Note that the SpeedStep and TurboMode options must be enabled within the BIOS for the CPU Ratio tab to display. The Auto Tuning tab houses a BIOS controlled overclocking interface through the use of pre-defined overclocking levels - Fast and Extreme.
DIGI+ VRM
ASUS also chose to include their DIGI+ VRM applet, also accessed using the Tools menu in the AI Suite utility.
The DIGI+ VRM applet is used to configure the board's power regulation circuitry, with the same options available as shown in the BIOS.