ASUS P8P67 Pro vs. Maximus IV Extreme

January 24, 2011 9:58:58 PM

I'm looking for a board to use with the i7 2600k. It comes down to these two for me.

I don't know if I'd take advantage of all of the features on the maximus, so I wanted to go with the pro as I'll be running 2 GTX480s in SLI on it (rather than the vanilla p8p67), however all I've been reading about the pro is all the issues it has with cold booting and overclocking, etc. I almost feel like the extra $150 or so for the maximus would be worth it just to have a stable board that I can possibly hit 5GHz on that I won't have to be messing with constantly to get it to work.

The only thing I can vaguely remember reading bad about the maximus was, and I don't have the source for this, I believe someone said something about issues with SLI on the maximus.

Other than that, could I get some opinions on this situation? I'd rather save $150 and get the pro, but I don't want to be spending hours resetting cmos and messing with the jumper and whatnot just to get it to work. And then the possibility of it having issues overlocking after that. Worth the $150 to jump up to the maximus?

More about : asus p8p67 pro maximus extreme

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

tecmo34

Motherboard Master

January 24, 2011 10:58:41 PM

Why not go in the middle and pick up the ASUS Sabertooth P67?

| Report abuse

Leaps-from-Shadows

Motherboard Master

January 24, 2011 11:50:37 PM

All of the P67/H67 boards will have problems right now, as they are all brand new to the retail channel. No board is perfect right away, no matter what users or manufacturers might say.

Give the manufacturers a month or two to stabilize the BIOSes and board designs, and things will be looking much different.

And make sure you get a D1 stepping CPU if you really want the possibility of hitting 5GHz. I'm sure some suppliers are willing to let you request them.

| Report abuse

darkside_gamer7

January 25, 2011 4:22:58 AM

whats a d1?

| Report abuse

Leaps-from-Shadows

Motherboard Master

January 25, 2011 4:38:06 AM

The "stepping' of a CPU is kind of like the revision number. In this case the D1 stepping is better for overclocking than the D2 stepping. However, the D1 stepping chips are more rare and harder to get.

| Report abuse

chicagohawk

January 25, 2011 6:46:31 AM

The sabertooth looks like a nice board, but I wouldn't think it's fit for heavy overclocking?

And Leaps, are you recommending I hold out on buying a board all together right now, or are you saying go with the Pro and I'll probably see it develop into a better board over time? I also just found out the Maximus has 0 PCI slots, and I own an XtremeGamer (PCI) that is awesome in helping me hear in CoD:BO (I play competitively). I just would love a stable board that I can SLI and OC to a good degree on...

Also, thanks for the tip on the stepping! Will definitely have to request it when I buy the 2600k

| Report abuse

ortoklaz

Motherboard Expert

January 25, 2011 1:15:22 PM

chicagohawk said:

The sabertooth looks like a nice board, but I wouldn't think it's fit for heavy overclocking?

And Leaps, are you recommending I hold out on buying a board all together right now, or are you saying go with the Pro and I'll probably see it develop into a better board over time? I also just found out the Maximus has 0 PCI slots, and I own an XtremeGamer (PCI) that is awesome in helping me hear in CoD:BO (I play competitively). I just would love a stable board that I can SLI and OC to a good degree on...

Also, thanks for the tip on the stepping! Will definitely have to request it when I buy the 2600k

hey chicagohawk..if you are a gamer and into OC i would recommend i5 2500K (you won't benefit from HT on 2600K)
as for MB's look in to GA UD4 or P8P67 pro (best bang for your buck)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
batch#L040B671

| Report abuse

asantesoul

January 25, 2011 1:51:37 PM

I would recommend the UD7 from gigabyte..that's one of the boards I got paired with a 2500k..slightly cheaper than the maximus iv and performs better than the maximus when it comes to overclocking! The only difference are the efi bios (but gigabyte will be implementing the bios down the road).

| Report abuse

Leaps-from-Shadows

Motherboard Master

January 25, 2011 4:11:07 PM

chicagohawk said:

And Leaps, are you recommending I hold out on buying a board all together right now, or are you saying go with the Pro and I'll probably see it develop into a better board over time? I also just found out the Maximus has 0 PCI slots, and I own an XtremeGamer (PCI) that is awesome in helping me hear in CoD:BO (I play competitively). I just would love a stable board that I can SLI and OC to a good degree on...

First-adopters are guinea pigs for manufacturers and end up doing the final rounds of beta testing in the first months after release. You can buy now and live through any problems that you may find, and hope Asus gets them fixed quickly ... or you can wait a month or two while others get tortured with those problems. Sometimes it takes even longer to get things worked out.

So it's all up to you and how excited you are about the new shinies. Normally I can't afford to get things at or near launch, but my income tax refund was deposited earlier today. I think I might be doing some beta-testing for ASRock in a few days...

| Report abuse

frenetic

January 26, 2011 12:50:36 AM

My call would be any of the Asus boards starting with the P8P67 PRO and up. All of them sport the much better Intel 82579 LAN chipset. Newegg currently shows both the Pro and Sabertooth with free shipping.

| Report abuse