P67 Motherboards

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/s JMicron 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

Motherboard Features
	Intel DP67BG	Jetway HI08	MSI P67A-GD65
PCB Revision	01	0.1	2.0
Northbridge	Intel P67 Express	Intel P67 Express	Intel P67 Express
Voltage Regulator	Eight Phases	14 Phases	Eight Phases
BIOS	1780 (11/29/2010)	T07 (11/30/2010)	1.5B2
100.0 MHz BCLK	99.8 MHz (-0.20%)	99.8 MHz (-0.20%)	99.8 MHz (-0.20%)
Clock Generator	P67 Integrated	P67 Integrated	P67 Integrated
Internal Interfaces
PCIe x16	2 (x16/x0 or x8/x8)	3 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4)	2 (x16/x0 or x8/x8)
PCIe x1/x4	3/0	1/0	3/0
Legacy PCI	2	2	2
USB 2.0	3 (6-ports)	2 (4-ports)	1 (2-ports)
USB 3.0	None	None	1 (2-ports)
IEEE-1394	1	None	1
Serial Port	None	1	1
Parallel Port	None	1	None
Floppy	No	No	No
Ultra-ATA 133	None	None	None
SATA 3.0 Gb/s	4	4	4
SATA 6.0 Gb/s	2	2	4
4-Pin Fan	4	1	1
3-Pin Fan	0	1	4
FP-Audio	Yes	Yes	Yes
CD-Audio	No	Yes	Yes
S/PDIF I/O	Output Only	Output Only	Output Only
Power Button	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reset Button	Yes	Yes	Yes
CLR_CMOS Button	Config Mode Jumper	Jumper Only	Jumper Only
Diagnostics Panel	Numeric	Numeric	None
I/O Panel Connectors
P/S 2	None	1	1
USB 2.0	8	8	8
USB 3.0	2	2	2
IEEE-1394	1	None	1
Network	Single	Single	Single
eSATA	1	None	2
CLR_CMOS Button	Back To BIOS	Yes	Yes
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	Marvell 6111 PCIe 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s	None	Marvell 9128 PCIe 2 x SATA 6Gb/s (RAID) JMicron JMB362 PCIe 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s
Add-In Ultra ATA	None	None	None
USB 3.0	NEC D720200F1	ASMedia ASM1042	2 x NEC D720200F1
IEEE-1394	TSB43AB22A PCI 2 x 400 Mb/s	None	VIA VT6308P PCI 2 x 400 Mb/s
Gigabit Ethernet
Primary LAN	Intel WG82579V PHY	Intel WG82579LM PHY	RTL8111E PCIe
Secondary LAN	None	None	None
Audio
HD Audio Codec	Realtek ALC892	ALC888	Realtek ALC892
DDL/DTS Connect	Unspecified	None	None

Intel X68 motherboards being tested by Intel and partners

Intel will launch its first family of Sandy Bridge processors starting next year, but only mid-range models and not until Sandy Bridge E and the Intel X68 chipset we will see the new architecture in the enthusiast and high-end segment.


The Intel X68 chipset has according to sources to NordicHardware started its journey toward the store shelves. Motherboards using the chipset starts their R&D phase (research and development) next week. Intel are more or less ready with its Sandy Bridge E processors, but the chipset and motherboards to accompany them have just started to take form.

Intel X68 and Sandy Bridge E has a planned launched date in Q4 2011, which means that the current enthusiast platform, LGA 1366 and the X58 chipset has more than a year to left to live. Longer than we had expected.

We have received information that several major motherboard manufacturers will actually launch a new wave of Intel X58 motherboards during this period and we can conclude that even if Intel launches new sockets and processor platforms all too often it is actually the LGA 1366 users that can sit safe and feel good about their purchase. The platform launched back in 2008 and will thus live almost three years. This was uncounted for at launch, since we Intel usually replace high-end platforms faster than the rest.

Intel X68 is a part of Intel's new Patsburg platform where the LGA 2011 socket will be used to hold Sandy Bridge E processors, which in turn houses a quad-channel DDR3 memory controller but no graphics. The processors supports 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes and is geared toward enthusiasts and workstations with demands for maximal performance.



the above pic is of the current 1366 socket

Until Sandy Bridge E launches Intel will keep updating the selection of processor for the LGA 1366 platform. The next model will be Intel Core i7 990X that is based on Gulftown and six processor cores clocked at 3.4 GHz each. The launch is slated for early 2011.