ASUS P8P67 Review
by Brendan van Varik on September 8, 2011 10:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Asus
- Motherboards
- P67
Dirt 2
Dirt 2 came to the PC in December 2009, developed by Codemasters with the EGO Engine. Resulting in favorable reviews, we use Dirt 2’s inbuilt benchmark under DirectX 11 to test the hardware. We test two different resolutions at two different quality settings using a discrete GPU, and an appropriate integrated GPU setting.
At 1680x1050, the results are all fairly similar from what we have tested in the past. At 1920x1080, the results portray a different story. When you use a single GPU, the results are all fairly similar but when you use a dual GPU configuration, the x4 secondary PCIe lane becomes apparent. Whilst all of the other motherboards manage between 100 and 105 frames per second, the P8P67 only manages to get just under 76. Due to the testing methodology being exactly the same, the only explanation is that there is not enough bandwidth.
Metro 2033
Metro 2033 is a challenging DX11 benchmark that challenges every system that tries to run it at any high-end settings. Developed by 4A Games and released in March 2010, we use the inbuilt DirectX 11 Frontline benchmark to test the hardware.
The single GPU results are remarkably similar to all of the other results which we have on record. There is one thing that did differ to the DiRT2 testing though - In Metro 2033, the dual GPU scaling is almost as good as with any other motherboard in 1920x1080.
Conclusions
Overall, when you look at the results as a whole, they are neither good nor bad for a single GPU. However, with the second PCIe lane being limited to 4x, the results are quite a bit slower in some of our tests when compared to a board which utilizes x8/x8 rather than x16/x4. This may be enough to deter people away from this motherboard but in order to bring a board to the market with a budget price in mind; you have to cut down on a few features here and there.
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ryedizzel - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
@Impulses: Saying they might be paid to review an older product is COMPLETELY different than saying they were paid to give it a favorable review.@Etern205: No you don't have the right to spit on their work just because you factory tours and home theater setups more interesting. They do a great job and everything here is free for you, so if you don't like it then gtfo.
Etern205 - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
If a site is going down hill then it's going down hill, why are you kissing @ss?!I have my right to express my opinion/complaint as I wish because this site was uber awesome back in the old days. I've entered this field back in 99 and been reading here ever since (Anandtech started back in 97) because it's filled with interesting and fun to read articles that fills every one of my neurons with technical knowledge.
This site became what it is today because of articles that attract enthusiast and power users. If they review consumer based product for the average Joe and Jane, will they ever be here today? I don't think so!
About those tours they're leisure articles and yet still attracts
enthusiast and power users. For Anand's home theater, you should actually take a look at that awesome article before telling others to GTFO.
If you like to read on smartphones and other nonsense products, then there are plenty like Cnet or PCWorld.
Etern205 - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
Yep, I yawn at SSD reviews because the main purpose of getting one is to speed up your apps or for those who thinks the sky is falling when they can't wait even a single second!You see reviews on SSD and are amazed by it's blazing speed, is it within your reach? Sure the price of SSD has dropped as you can get a 120GB Crucial M4 for less than $200. While sub $200 is quite a price drop for SSD and it's larger than 64GB, the price is still too high for some.
And who says I can't complain? You work for Anand for what?
This site use to have the most awesome articles, I hope their articles on BullDozer will turn this site around.
Some of the articles I enjoy were the factory tours and especially Anand's personal home theater setup.
JonnyDough - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
That's why if you're money savvy you bought a 60GB Vertex II when they were hovering $100 after rebate. :)Amazing2u - Friday, September 9, 2011 - link
Geez... Stop yawning, you're putting me to sleep.I'm happy that Anandtech and it's writers have more diversified articles then "other" hardware sites that only publish boring stuff you see everywhere else.
I happen to like those Smartphone and whatnot reviews.
Keep up the great work! :)
Sim
RussianSensation - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
While it's doubtful anyone with a $1500 GPU setup (HD6990 CF) will be using this board, there is nothing wrong with running say HD6870 / 6950 CF on this board. In fact PCIe 2.0 4x produces about a 7-8% penalty for a faster GPU like the GTX480:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_...
Not only that but HD6950 2GB setup in CF is more useful at 2560x1600 too, where PCIe limitation is only around 5% (see link above).
LegitReviews even performed CF testing on this board to show that the difference is not as much as people believe: 2x HD6950s in CF tested in P8P67 (16x/4x) vs. P8P67 Deluxe (8x/8x):
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1500/9/
The performance difference at 1920x1080 was:
- 5.3% in AvP
- 8.5% in Metro 2033
- 2.9% in STALKER: cop
Certainly not 30-50% less as some people probably imagine. For a budget board around $135, there weren't many boards better.
However, I feel that Asrock has really stepped up their game with:
1) Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 - $125 on Newegg
2) Asrock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 - $154 on Newegg
I agree with you that AnandTech stopped focusing on motherboard reviews which is a real shame since if you review CPUs, you should also review motherboards since CPUs have to be inserted somewhere :)
Cheers.
Impulses - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
Problem with this particular model is there's other equally economic models from other manufacturers that will do 8x/8x... I love ASUS, last three mobos before my current one were ASUS, but lately I think they've been allowing prices to creep up too much and/or introducing too many damn models. Everyone's guilty of the latter, but ASUS is the worst.As far as mobo reviews in general... Meh. I agree that they're a staple of sites like AT, but if it weren't for the P67 recall and the late introduction of Z68 almost every review of this generation of Intel boards would've read the same.
There's just not anything all that exiting about mobo introductions anymore imo, just find a model with the integrated components that you need from your preferred manufacturer amongst the top 4 and look up one or two reviews to make sure it runs and OC reliably. Nothing really earth shattering or new to it... They're almost a commodity now like HDDs for data.
RussianSensation - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
Ya, like I said the Asrock Extreme3/4 series are very attractive. But again in the marketplace this board goes for $135 (Newegg) and I am sure it will be below that shortly. For someone who wants to run a single GPU, this $135 board has a lot to offer vs. the competition. You get 12+2 power phases, Bluetooth, the best UEFI imo, and 3 year warranty (of which the 1st year is advanced replacement so they send you a new board first).If you want to run 2 GPUs though, the Asrock Z68/P67 Extreme Gen3 series is far superior for $130-155.
Metaluna - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
And that 7-8% performance hit will be on only one of the two GPUs, so it will be even less significant to the overall graphics performance. And, if you put the lower-performing GPU in that slot, the impact is even lower.People really get way too hung up on abstract specs like PCIe lanes without taking time to evaluate what they actually mean in the real world.
gramboh - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
This board can be found for about $135CAD right now, really cheap compared to higher end P67/Z68 boards which are $180-220ish.Thanks for posting this, I was interested to see that it could hit 4.7+ GHz overclock.