P67 Motherboard Round-up: Asus, Fatal1ty, GB, MSI

Next up, we have a couple of P67 boards from Asus. The first one happens to be the least expensive model in this particular round-up, the P8P67 Pro. Although it doesn't command a hefty price tag, the Pro still packs plenty of features and eye-catching heat sink designs. It sports a black PCB, with blue expansion slots and memory sockets for a clean look that gets our nod of approval.

Asus P8P67 Pro Motherboard

Model P8P67 Pro  Layout and Features

Processor LGA-1155 i3 / i5 / i7 Processors Memory Four 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM DIMM sockets Supports DDR3 2200 / 2133 / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz Up to 32 GB max     Expansion Slots 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot 2 x PCI slots

Form Factor ATX 12 x 9.6 inches ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm ) LAN Intel 82579 Audio Realtek ALC892 Warranty 3 years based on serial number Price $174

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At $174, the Pro is located in the middle of an extensive P67 line up from Asus. Add or subtract $10 or $20 and you'll find another model to choose from. Nevertheless, this product is aimed toward the mainstream user and has a price tag that puts it within reach of many .

Here are a few of the features found on the P8P67 Pro motherboard:

	Dual Intelligent Processors 2 - "Dual Intelligent Processors" from ASUS make use of two onboard chips - the EPU (Energy Processing Unit) and TPU (TurboV Processing Unit). This board's "Dual Intelligent Processors 2" with DIGI+ VRM give users control over a number of power related features.
	Digi + VRM - Voltage regulator modules are considered among the most crucial motherboard components. They supply the voltage demanded by the CPU and other integrated peripherals, and a good VRM must intelligently detect actual CPU power draw to provide precise power accordingly. ASUS DIGI+ VRM is a digital VRM design that meets the Intel VRD12 specifications on and offers better efficiency than analog designs.
	TPU - The Asus TPU chip offers precise voltage control and advanced monitoring through Asus' Auto Tuning and TurboV functions. Auto Tuning offers a user-friendly way to automatically optimize the system for faster, yet stable clock speeds, while TurboV enables fine grained control for frequency and voltage manipulation.
	EPU - The Asus EPU offers system-wide energy optimization by automatically detecting workloads and intelligently moderating power consumption. The EPU also intelligently controls fan speeds, which can help reduce noise.
	UEFI BIOS - The new ASUS UEFI BIOS, or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, offers a user-friendly GUI that goes beyond traditional keyboard-only BIOS controls to enable more flexible and convenient mouse input. It natively supports hard drives larger than 2.2TB in 64-bit OSes, with full storage space utilization. The exclusive EZ Mode displays frequently-accessed setup info, while the Advanced Mode is for experienced performance enthusiasts that demand more intricate access to system settings.

 

 

Asus offers an accessory bundle that includes documentation, rear I/O shield, drivers disk, USB bracket, Q-connector, SLI bridge, and four SATA cables.

A look at the rear I/O panel reveals PS/2 connections for both a keyboard and mouse, six USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, Firewire, two eSATA connectors, an optical S/PDIF out, a coaxial S/PDIF out, one RJ-45 LAN jack, and 6 audio connections.