Page 12 - Overclocking and Conclusion
Before Sandy Bridge, overclocking your CPU involved changing half a dozen settings to try to obtain the highest clock speed. This was because there were so many different ways to obtain your maximum frequency; things were a bit complicated even if you are an experienced computer enthusiast. Since Intel locked down the base clock on their latest products, tuning your processor now only involves changing the multiplier with K-series CPUs -- making this process intrinsically simple. With my Core i5-2500K, I was able to attain 4.5GHz at reasonable voltages on the P8P67 WS Revolution; just like what I have done with my P67A-UD5. The best way to attain this is to set an offset voltage to +0.055V with Load Line Calibration set on High, Phase Control set to Optimized, and Duty Control set to T.Probe. I understand some are completely against enabling Load Line Calibration, while others are completely for it. The deal here is there is still tons of room for the Core i5-2500K to receive voltage spikes when during load transition, so if you want lower idle voltages, my advice to you is just leave this setting enabled and you will be good to go.
It seems there is a wall at 4.5GHz for my particular processor -- but ASUS claims there are ways around this to achieve higher clock by enabling PLL Overvoltage. With that set in conjunction with CPU Voltage bumped to 1.400V, Load Line Calibration set to Ultra High, VRM Frequency to 370, Phase and Duty Control to Extreme, and CPU Current Capability to 130%, we were able to get a whole 200MHz out of my i5-2500K before becoming unstable in Prime95 again. It's not a whole lot, but there you go. For normal operation, I just left my CPU at 4.5GHz. If you have a better chip that overclocks better, the P8P67 Revolution gives you quite a bit of headroom. At no point did my motherboard fail to start compared to the P67A-UD5, which failed to start occasionally until a complete power cycle is executed. I would say it is definitely a better experience when using the ASUS board in question.
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When I said Gigabyte built a better ASUS motherboard than ASUS themselves in my GA-P67A-UD5 review a couple months ago, you can probably guess who strongly disagreed with my assertions. I didn't believe them at first. Everyone thinks their products are better than their competitor's. While Gigabyte has indeed built a better ASUS motherboard than ASUS themselves of the last generation (I have had limited experience with current generation ASUS motherboards when I wrote that review), after testing out the P8P67 WS Revolution through and through for the past three weeks, it is clear to me ASUS has outdone themselves once again. Their words did nothing to convince me. It is simply the product that speaks for itself. I don't know how they manage to do this year after year of making motherboards, but ASUS' unstoppable train of technological innovation and practical implementation never ceases to amaze me. Once again, this ASUS motherboard has won me over. It is now installed in my main computer. Conventional wisdom tells us a more expensive motherboard is probably the better motherboard, but when we compare this one against the P67A-UD5 with both priced at around $260 at press time, I can tell you without a second of delay which one is the one to buy. The ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution is the unquestionable winner by a very big margin. It has a better layout, better BIOS, better features, better experience... well, it is just... better. This matchless combination of true excellence does come with a few minor flaws in various small areas covered throughout this review (I highly recommend you to read over Page 2 and 3 for the details), but in the end, to loosely quote my colleague Jeremy, the ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution, in all its glory, will remain true to its word -- Inspiring Innovation, Persistent Perfection.
ASUS provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Recommended Award
Since April 30, 2007, Number Ratings have been dropped for all CPUs, motherboards, RAM, SSD/HDDs, and graphics cards. This is to ensure the most appropriate ratings are reflected without the inherent limits of using numbers. Everything else will continue using the Number Rating System.
More information in our Review Focus.
Has ASUS built a better motherboard than Gigabyte, whom I said built a better motherboard than ASUS themselves? Oh, yes. ASUS has outdone themselves (And their competitor) once again. The P8P67 WS Revolution takes what we call 'brilliant' to a completely different level.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Features, and Specifications
2. Bundle, Chipset, BIOS
3. A Closer Look, Board Layout, Test System
4. Benchmark: AIDA64 CPU
5. Benchmark: AIDA64 FPU
6. Benchmark: AIDA64 Memory
7. Benchmark: PCMark Vantage
8. Benchmark: 3DMark 11
9. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 7.0
10. Benchmark: SuperPI 1M, Cinebench R11.5
11. Onboard Sound (RMAA 6.2.3) Analyzation
12. Overclocking and Conclusion
