| ASUS Sabertooth P67 B3 TUF Motherboard |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Motherboards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Hank Tolman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 02 May 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Intel P67 Express ChipsetThe Intel P67 Express chipset is the top-performing desktop version of a new range of "Cougar Point" mobile and desktop chipsets (10 in all). It's an evolutionary development of the P55 chipset, as this architecture diagram shows: 
If this diagram looks familiar, it's probably because it's pretty much identical to all the P55 architecture diagrams you saw when the P55 chipset was introduced last year. In fact, there seem to be only three differences between the P55 and P67 chipsets:
That's it as far as the functional changes go. For enthusiasts, the most significant feature is that the chipset PCIe lanes are now full 2.0 lanes with 5 Gb/s bandwidth instead of the older 1.0 lanes which were limited to 2.5Gb/s. Since PCIe lanes are used to support other subsystems than just the graphics card slots (USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s, for example), having more, faster lanes is always better, especially if you plan to run other PCIe cards like RAID or sound cards (see our review of the ASUS P7H55D-M EVO motherboard for the difference PCIe 2.0 lanes can make in USB 3.0 performance). Combined with the 16 PCIe lanes on a Sandy Bridge processor, a Cougar Point-based system has a total of 24 PCIe lanes, which is far short of the 40 provided by an X58 system or the 42 on an AMD 890FX system. Enthusiasts should think carefully about their current and future system configurations and determine if the available PCIe lanes on a P67 system will be sufficient. The P67 Express chipset is one of four total desktop Cougar Point chipsets, the other three being the Q67, B65, and H67. The main difference between the P67 and the other desktop chipsets is that the others support the integrated video feature of Sandy Bridge CPUs, and add associated features such as content protection and on-chip 3D support. According to Intel, the P67 Express chipset is the only one that support processor core overclocking, so it's definitely the one you'll want to get. Intel's Sandy Bridge processor architecture replaces the aging Nehalem series introduced back on 3 November 2008 for the X58-Express platform, and extended to the P55 platform some months later. Housing a new LGA1155 socket, Intel P67-series motherboards are compatible with the following Sandy Bridge processors:
Fortunately, Intel did not change the CPU cooler mounting holes for the new Socket 1155; existing 1156 coolers will work fine.
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Comments
It seems like they could have easily saved a good bit of money not adding it to the motherboard. Additionally, I agree with ChrisH, that the "plastic divider" will act more as a thermal insulator, and drive component temps up. Luckily Sandy Bridge has a low thermal load.
The one thing that I do like about TUF armor, is that it might serve to protect the motherboard against small objects that could accidentally fall on it.
The in-depth review was greatly appreciated.
As far as the Military Grade components, the reason they are limited to a few boards, I believe, is due to the cost inherent in using those components. ASUS still has to offer low-end motherboards and even higher-end motherboards at competitive prices. If they maintained all the features of those boards and used the higher grade components, the costs would be quite a bit higher.
Besides, even with the 25% better quality and longer life-span, nearly any motherboard made by the major manufacturers will long outlast it's usefulness to you.
-Hank
However, before I can go playing with all the latest & greatest features, I am stuck with my Sabertooth's waking up from sleep problem. Which is a common problem among many users and there is an extensive discussion on the matter at vip asus forum. Even inconclusive, the current Sabertooth board has compatibility issue with many models of power supply. Thus after into sleep mode, the system can no longer wake up.
I just wonder that if you have the time and resources to try Sabertooth + i7-2600k with different PSUs to see if the bug exists on your board. FYI, I have 10 fans in total, 5 case fans, 2 cpu fans, 2 vga fans, and 1 assistant fan. If I move the power source of all five case fans and one cpu fan to a seperate power supply, the wakeup works, but not stable. If pc sleeps too long (few hours), it won't wakeup.
I've heard those options prevent system from recovering after sleep.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time or PSUs to try the different combinations. Also, I don't use the sleep function. Ever. So I haven't experienced this problem. That being said, I will certainly look into the issue and even try it out. If I find out anything that helps I will post back here.
Thanks!
Hank
It's too bad that Asus doesn't provide the needed fan and instructions. In another forum they indicated that they don't include the fan since they they can't warrant electromechanical stuff for as long as the mobo itself. But without the fan exhausting air, the armor makes no sense.
I also fault Asus support for not knowing or explaining how the armor is designed to be used. Blowing hot air down into it would clearly be ridiculous. I'm sure that whoever championed the armor idea back in the design groups is chagrined at how it has worked out when finally named, logo'd, stickered, sold, and supported.
Multi-GPU Support: Supports NVIDIAŽ Quad-GPU SLI? Technology
##asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/SABERTOOTH_P67/#specifications
on the Assist fan, its location is poor, it tends to block the top pci-e slot. Asus recomends a 50mmx50mmx10mm fan for this assist slot, a fan of that size is nearly useless, and is very noisy, if you get a 15mm thick fan or a 20mm thick fan it will be much better and quieter. the problem is this, the screws are two short for the 20mm fan, so you will need longer screws, Asus does not identify the thread pitch so you don't know what size screws to buy, The ability to control the assist fan speed is limited, and not mentioned in the manual at all.
The manual sucks big time, the pictures and line drawings are so small you can not even read it without a powerful magnafier. It leaves out critical info.The fan connector picture identify the pins with different anacronyms and does not explain what those mean. The 3 pin fan is id as gnd, 12v, and rotation, (define rotation), the 4 pin fan headers are id as gnd, cpu fan pwr, cpu fan in, cpu fan pwm, (define, fan pwr, and cpu fan in) well as I said the manual sucks.
There is a Green 20 pin connector thats supposed to provided for the front usb 3.0 ports, this cable is not provided, and I have no Idea where to get it, Asus doesn't seem to know. The Asus user forum is not monitored relying on mystified users to supply all help to users. Scan this forum to see a real review of this product. Severe Bios issues, Severe temp issues, Wake on lan issues, RMA issues. BBB has given Asus an F rating for failure to respond to complaints. I own one, I would not recommend this company or product. When the forum is filled with questions about overclocking, things are good, when its filled by complaints of RMA and feature that don't work, things are bad, don't accept my word for it, read the forums for yourself