The Future Of Mid-Priced Performance

Before you buy a new Sandy Bridge-based platform, check out the recent news about Intel's recall of its Cougar Point chipsets.

Right now, anyone who just bought anything with an LGA 1156 interface is probably kicking themselves. Intel’s new Core i3/i5/i7-2000-series processors have the highest per clock, per-core performance we’ve ever seen. And better yet, the unlocked K-series models support the highest air-cooled overclocks we’ve ever seen. Within “normal” cooling limits, these processors even stand a chance of outgunning Intel’s ultra-expensive six-core chips, and the performance picture isn't even a contest in games that cannot use more than four cores.

The need for a new motherboard might be a slap in the face for anyone who sank significant cash into an LGA 1156-based platform thinking it might be upgradable for a while. But those who chose to wait, holding on to an older Core 2 Quad or a slower Phenom II, did so for good reason.

Nine products will make this a long review, so rather than discuss those things already covered by Chris and Patrick, let's jump straight to a features comparison.

Motherboard Features ASRock P67 Extreme4 Asus P8P67 Pro Biostar TP67XE PCB Revision 1.07 1.01 5.0 Chipset Intel P67 Express Intel P67 Express Intel P67 Express Voltage Regulator Ten Phases Twelve Phases Ten Phases BIOS M1.20A (12/14/2010) 0803 (11/23/2010) A2 (11/12/2010) 100.0 MHz BCLK 100.4 MHz (+0.4%) 100.0 MHz (+0.0%) 100.1 (+0.1%) Clock Generator P67 Integrated P67 Integrated P67 Integrated Internal Interfaces PCIe x16 3 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4) 3 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4) 2 (x16/x0 or x8/x8) PCIe x1/x4 2/0 2/0 (Shared with x4) 2/0 Legacy PCI 2 2 2 USB 2.0 3 (6-ports) 3 (6-ports) 3 (6-ports) USB 3.0 1 (2-ports) 1 (2-ports) None IEEE-1394 1 1 1 Serial Port 1 None 1 Parallel Port None None None Floppy Yes No No Ultra-ATA 133 None None None SATA 3.0 Gb/s 4 4 3 SATA 6.0 Gb/s 4 4 2 4-Pin Fan 2 2 1 3-Pin Fan 4 2 2 FP-Audio Yes Yes Yes CD-Audio No No No S/PDIF I/O Output Only Output Only Output Only Power Button Yes No Yes Reset Button Yes No Yes CLR_CMOS Button Jumper Only Jumper Only Jumper Only Diagnostics Panel Numeric Pass/Fail LEDs Numeric I/O Panel Connectors P/S 2 2 2 1 USB 2.0 6 6 6 USB 3.0 2 2 2 IEEE-1394 1 1 1 Network Single Single Single eSATA 1 2 1 CLR_CMOS Button Yes No No Digital Audio Out Optical + Coaxial Optical + Coaxial Optical + Coaxial Digital Audio In None None None Analog Audio 6 6 6 Other Devices None Bluetooth Transceiver None Mass Storage Controllers Chipset SATA 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 4 x SATA 3Gb/s 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 4 x SATA 3Gb/s 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 3 x SATA 3Gb/s 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s Chipset RAID Modes 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 Add-In SATA Marvell 9120 PCIe 1 x SATA 6Gb/s 1 x SATA/eSATA shared Marvell 9120 PCIe 2 x SATA 6Gb/sJMicron JMB362 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s None Add-In Ultra ATA None None None USB 3.0 2 x EtronTech EJ168A 2 x NEC D720200F1 1 x NEC D720200F1 IEEE-1394 VT6315N PCIe 2 x 400 Mb/s VT6308P PCI 2 x 400 Mb/s VT6315N PCIe 2 x 400 Mb/s Gigabit Ethernet Primary LAN RTL8111E PCIe Intel WG82579V PHY RTL8111DL PCIe Secondary LAN None None None Audio HD Audio Codec ALC892 ALC892 ALC892 DDL/DTS Connect None None None

Motherboard Features ECS P67H2-A2 Foxconn P67A-S Gigabyte P67A-UD4 PCB Revision 1.0 1.0 1.0 Chipset Intel P67 Express Intel P67 Express Intel P67 Express Voltage Regulator Nine Phases Four Phases 14 Phases BIOS 101022BS (10/22/2010) AF46F1016 (11/22/2010) F2 (10/22/2010) 100.0 MHz BCLK 99.8 (-0.2%) 99.8 (-0.2%) 99.8 (-0.2%) Clock Generator P67 Integrated P67 Integrated P67 Integrated Internal Interfaces PCIe x16 2 (x16/x0 or x8/x8) 2 (x16/x0 or x8/x8) 2 (x16/x0 or x8/x8) PCIe x1/x4 1/0 3/0 3/0 Legacy PCI 2 2 2 USB 2.0 3 (6-ports) 3 (6-ports) 3 (6-ports) USB 3.0 1 (2-ports) None 1 (2-ports) IEEE-1394 None None None Serial Port 1 1 1 Parallel Port None None None Floppy No No No Ultra-ATA 133 None 1 (2-drives) None SATA 3.0 Gb/s 4 4 4 SATA 6.0 Gb/s 4 2 2 4-Pin Fan 1 3 2 3-Pin Fan 2 0 2 FP-Audio Yes Yes Yes CD-Audio No No No S/PDIF I/O Output Only No Output Only Power Button Yes Yes No Reset Button Yes Yes No CLR_CMOS Button Jumper Only Jumper Only Jumper Only Diagnostics Panel Numeric Numeric None I/O Panel Connectors P/S 2 1 1 1 USB 2.0 8 6 8 USB 3.0 2 2 2 IEEE-1394 None None None Network Dual (w/Teaming) Single Single eSATA 2 2 2 CLR_CMOS Button Yes No No Digital Audio Out Optical Optical + Coaxial Optical + Coaxial Digital Audio In None None None Analog Audio 5 6 6 Other Devices None None None Mass Storage Controllers Chipset SATA 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 4 x SATA 3Gb/s 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 4 x SATA 3Gb/s 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 4 x SATA 3Gb/s Chipset RAID Modes 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 Add-In SATA 2 x Marvell 9128 PCIe 2 x SATA 6Gb/s 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s 2 x RAID 0, 1 Marvell 6121 PCIe 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s Marvell 9128 PCIe 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s 2 x RAID 0, 1 Add-In Ultra ATA None Marvell 6121 PCIe None USB 3.0 2 x EtronTech EJ168A 1 x NEC D720200F1 2 x NEC D720200F1 IEEE-1394 None None None Gigabit Ethernet Primary LAN RTL8111E PCIe RTL8111E PCIe RTL8111E PCIe Secondary LAN RTL8111E PCIe None None Audio HD Audio Codec ALC892 ALC888S ALC892 DDL/DTS Connect None None Dolby Digital Live