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ASUS P6T

The ASUS P6T Intel Core i7 motherboard is one of the less expensive in the marketplace. While the board itself does not have all the bells and whistles of the others in the ASUS lineup, the P6T’s performance rivals that of the best boards in the bunch. Does 8+2 phase power make a difference? How does it overclock for the dollars spent?

Introduction

ASUS is a highly regarded computer component manufacturer throughout the world, known for its high performance yet stable products. The company’s deserved reputation comes from years of catering to the performance needs of enthusiasts as well as the quality and stability needs of the mainstream user. ASUS continues to push the technological envelope with each of their new releases, using cutting edge hardware design techniques and software driver innovation to further drive quality. Their Intel Core i7 board lineup is a true testament to this fact.

The ASUS P6T motherboard offers support for Intel’s latest processor line, the Core i7. The Intel X58 Northbridge chipset forms the backbone of the board, supporting the following technologies: Intel LGA1366 Core i7 processors, DDR3 memory operating in Triple Channel memory mode up to 1333MHz officially, and either NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFireX graphics mode using matched graphics cards. The P6T motherboard is feature complete, meaning that the board itself requires a minimal numbers of components in addition to itself for an operating system including an Intel LGA1366 Core i7 processor, DDR3 memory, a video card, drives, and a PSU. ASUS integrated the following devices in to the P6T: 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel ICH10R controller; 2 SATA II ports (RAID 0 and 1 capable), 1 eSATA port, and 1 ATA-133 IDE port on the JMicron controller; 12 USB 2.0 capable ports (6 in rear panel, and 3 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header supporting 1 port each); a Realtek GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; Realtek 8-channel HD audio codec with S/PDIF optical and RCA output ports; onboard power and system reset buttons; and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in the rear panel.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

The P6T’s box is simply designed, with the motherboard name and supported technologies featured on the box front on a tiled blue background. ASUS chose to include the following accessories in the with board: IDE drive ribbon cables; SATA drive cables and dual header power adapters; the rear panel shield; 2-way and 3-way SLI connectors; the Q-Connector modules; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs. The Q-Connector modules allow for an easy interface for connecting in to the motherboard headers. You simply plug in your front panel jumpers in to the white connector and the USB 2.0 jumpers in to the blue connector block, and then plug both blocks in to the motherboard headers.

Board Layout

The P6T board’s design holds no surprises, adhering to the expected quality associated with an ASUS designed board. All components on the board are spaced well, with more than adequate space provided around critical component areas such as around the CPU socket and the PCI-Express x16 slots. While all critical power components are covered by heat sinks, the onboard heat pipe cooler only connects the Northbridge chipset and the heat sink covering the CPU power circuitry located in between the CPU socket and the rear panel. The board’s serial number is located just above the primary PCI-Express x16 slot on a white sticker, while the board’s revision is silk-screened to the surface in between the secondary PCI-Express x16 slot and PCI slot 1. The board used for testing was a revision 1.01G version. In a surprising move given the board’s base model status, ASUS chose to use all aluminum based solid-state capacitors for the board’s power needs.

The CPU socket area is relatively clear of components, with low profile capacitors used for those in close proximity to the socket. The CPU cooler is held firm via the standard LGA1366 based 4 hole style mechanism. The board’s Intel X58 Northbridge is located to the left of the CPU socket, covered by a large thin finned heat sink. This heat sink also acts as a termination point for the onboard heat pipe cooler. The heat pipe’s other end terminates with the thin finned cooler covering the CPU power components just above the CPU socket. The 8-pin ATX12V power connector is located to the upper right of the CPU socket, with a thin finned standalone cooler just below it covering more of the CPU’s power circuitry.

The P6T board comes standard with a total of 6 DDR3 style memory slots, arranged in a single block with a dual colored scheme. Triple Channel memory mode becomes activated with matching DDR3 memory modules in like colored slots. Below the DIMM slots are the 24-pin ATX power connector, the PWR_FAN header, the onboard power and system reset buttons, and the OV_CPU jumper. The OV_CPU jumper controls the overvoltage settings for the CPU, with additional voltage settings showing in the BIOS when the jumper is enabled.

The ICH10R Southbridge chipset is situated directly below the secondary and tertiary PCI-Express x16 slots, covered by a low profile heat sink. Just under the Southbridge and along the edge of the board are the ATA-133 IDE port and the 2 JMicron controlled SATA 2 ports, which are colored orange. The ICH10R controlled SATA 2 ports are red colored, and are to the lower right of the Southbridge chipset. The front panel header, CHA_FAN1 header, and CMOS reset jumper are located in the lower left corner of the board. Just above are the onboard USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 headers, with the CHA_FAN2 header, the chassis intrusion header, and the OV_DRAM_BUS and OV_QPI_DRAM headers just to their right. The OV_DRAM_BUS header unlocks additional voltage settings in the BIOS for the DRAM voltage, while the OV_QPI_DRAM header unlocks additional BIOS voltage settings for the board’s QPI voltage.

The P6T board comes standard with 3 PCI-Express x16 slots, 1 PCI-Express x1 slot, and 2 PCI slots. The onboard floppy port, CD_IN header, S/PDIF output header, and front panel audio header are located along the outside of the secondary PCI slot. The CMOS battery is located in between the lower edges of the primary and secondary PCI-Express x16 slots, while the 4-pin CPU_FAN header is to the upper right of the primary slot.

The P6T’s rear panel contains the following integrated ports: 2 PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports; 6 USB 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port; 1 eSATA port; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical and RCA style audio output ports.

TurboV

Included on the installation DVD is an ASUS designed overclocking applet named TurboV. From the main screen, you have the ability to manually control board voltage settings as well as the BCLK bus speed setting. While the TurboV application will allow you to overclock on-the-fly to some extent, it simply is not as robust as using the tried and true BIOS adjustment techniques.