ASUS P8P67-LE - Performance & Features Aplenty
Pros: P67 Chipset, Solid Built MB, Support for K (unlocked) CPUs
Cons: Crossfire Limited to x16 / x4 - No USB 3.0 Headers on board
I purchased this board to get the most out of my i5-2300 processor, and to try and be a little more future proof than with an H61 chipset board.
This board supports, internally, 4 Sata II devices and 3 Sata III devices, has 3 USB 2.0 headers at mid board, 6 USB 2.0 ports at the rear panel and IEEE1394 support at the rear panel and at midboard. The board also boasts a rear Esata Port, rear Digital Optical Output and a SPDIF header on board as well. There are three seperate system fan headers as well, offering a plethora of cooling options.
Performance wise, this board is excellent - the AI suite is an easy to use facility for overclocking your CPU, offering BCLK, Voltage and Multiplier adjustments for the enthusiast. My own settings of BCLK @ 103mhz and multiplier of 35 (max) saw my peak core output rise to around 3.5 - 3.6 ghz - an increase of 800mhz on the 2.8ghz offered by the i5-2300 stock core speeds or nearly 30%..
Overclocking the RAM on this system can be done through the AI suite also, supporting DIMM speeds up to DDR3 2133mhz, the Maximum RAM this board can support is 32GB spread over 4 DIMM sockets
P67 chipset motherboards ignore the Sandybridge's GPC, offering no support or visual outputs, instead, two PCIe 2.0 graphic card slots are offered as expansion, with one at x16 and the other at x4 - for Crossfire or multi GPU systems.. a feature i have not tried as yet.
Overall i'm very happy with this motherboard, the increase in performance i have gleaned is worth every penny I spent on the board, bring my system in performance terms into line with an i7 950 @ stock.
Recommended board for enthusiasts on a budget, or to the newcomer who wants to learn at the deep end!
This board supports, internally, 4 Sata II devices and 3 Sata III devices, has 3 USB 2.0 headers at mid board, 6 USB 2.0 ports at the rear panel and IEEE1394 support at the rear panel and at midboard. The board also boasts a rear Esata Port, rear Digital Optical Output and a SPDIF header on board as well. There are three seperate system fan headers as well, offering a plethora of cooling options.
Performance wise, this board is excellent - the AI suite is an easy to use facility for overclocking your CPU, offering BCLK, Voltage and Multiplier adjustments for the enthusiast. My own settings of BCLK @ 103mhz and multiplier of 35 (max) saw my peak core output rise to around 3.5 - 3.6 ghz - an increase of 800mhz on the 2.8ghz offered by the i5-2300 stock core speeds or nearly 30%..
Overclocking the RAM on this system can be done through the AI suite also, supporting DIMM speeds up to DDR3 2133mhz, the Maximum RAM this board can support is 32GB spread over 4 DIMM sockets
P67 chipset motherboards ignore the Sandybridge's GPC, offering no support or visual outputs, instead, two PCIe 2.0 graphic card slots are offered as expansion, with one at x16 and the other at x4 - for Crossfire or multi GPU systems.. a feature i have not tried as yet.
Overall i'm very happy with this motherboard, the increase in performance i have gleaned is worth every penny I spent on the board, bring my system in performance terms into line with an i7 950 @ stock.
Recommended board for enthusiasts on a budget, or to the newcomer who wants to learn at the deep end!
