P8P67 vs. P8P67 PRO

[highpsi]

Hello all!

Just a quick question about comparison of these two models for those of you familiar with them. I am a major noob, but I've done tons of research in the last few months and just don't see a huge difference in these two that I think I will notice in my new build. For a noob that will be using the rig for a fair amount of gaming and multimedia, I am hoping the basic model would be all I really need.

I will be building with a 2500k i5 CPU and I may decide to overclock but either board should overclock fine if I choose to from what I've read so far.

For the most part, I know the non-pro board is a cheap-o model but it seems the major difference is in the fact that it does not have NVIDIA's SLI capabilities, and it doesn't have the Intel LAN controller. The last of these two is what would concern me most. Would the non-pro model with the Realtek LAN controller be much slower with internet connections and downloads? The GPU support doesn't concern me as I am going to be using a Radeon 6850 GPU.


THanks in advance!

 

[jaquith]

The BIG difference is SLI/CF with the P8P67 {x16 + x4} vs. P8P67 PRO CF/SLI {x16, x8/x8, + x4}. While you can run CF on an x4 it's not recommended with 'current' mid-end or higher ATI/AMD GPUs.

While I prefer Intel LAN, Realtek vs Intel for 99.9% won't make ANY differences and ZIP differences for internet.

The MOBO's marked as 'cheap' are lacking expandability feature and/or lacking good OC.

ASUS:
Maximus IV Extreme {2~3WAY, x8...x8, Marvell 9182 [ASUS typo? 9128] RAID 0/1, eSATA, BT, Dual Intel LAN}
P8P67 WS Revolution {2~3WAY & 4-WAY Quadro only, x8...x8, Marvell 9128 RAID 0/1, Dual Intel LAN}

P8P67 DELUXE {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 open, Marvell 9128 RAID 0/1, eSATA, BT, Dual Intel/Realtek LAN, USB3 Ft Panel}

P8P67 EVO {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 open, Marvell 9120 no RAID, eSATA, BT, Dual Intel/Realtek LAN, BT}
P8P67 PRO {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 open, Marvell 9120 no RAID, eSATA, BT}

SABERTOOTH P67 {2-WAY, x8/x8, Marvell 9120 no RAID, eSATA}
P8P67-M PRO {cheap} {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 covered, eSATA}
P8P67 LE {cheap}
P8P67 {cheap}
P8P67-M {cheap}

 

[highpsi]

Best answer selected by highpsi.

 

[highpsi]

Thank you Jaquith.

I've been reading your replies to other posts, and saw your breakdown lists of the new p67 ASUS boards attached. Now I know what the {cheap} warnings consist of too.

I will go with the basic non pro since my single Radeon 6850 will be staying as is for years. I will learn a lot with my first build, and this $1200 system I am starting out with is nothing fancy, but it should do the trick nicely for some minor gaming and multimedia. Now I am not as worred about the LAN type either.

Much appreciated!

 

[jaquith]

I guess I could reword as 'Basic' so I don't offend people, but my concern is leaving options open for people so they don't get disappointed later on. I'm fine with OP's being upset with me today, but they'll thank me later.

Example - today's game requires/works fine with a single HD 6850 - but in a year the e.g. 'Crysis 3 or 4' requires 2 X HD 6850; slow frame rates. The choices then are replacing a Major component {MOBO or GPU}. However, it's EASY to add a 1/2 future/price GPU. Clearly, it's a PITA to replace/trash a MOBO or GPU. In addition, today the insanely fast PCIe SSD {1+GB/s} is very expensive, but in a year or two they're cheap...same dilemma; TODAY they're 2X faster than SATA3 600 MB/s limit.

I just 'see' where things are heading...

Good Luck!

 

[highpsi]

I guess I could reword as 'Basic' so I don't offend people, but my concern is leaving options open for people so they don't get disappointed later on. I'm fine with OP's being upset with me today, but they'll thank me later.

Example - today's game requires/works fine with a single HD 6850 - but in a year the e.g. 'Crysis 3 or 4' requires 2 X HD 6850; slow frame rates. The choices then are replacing a Major component {MOBO or GPU}. However, it's EASY to add a 1/2 future/price GPU. Clearly, it's a PITA to replace/trash a MOBO or GPU. In addition, today the insanely fast PCIe SSD {1+GB/s} is very expensive, but in a year or two they're cheap...same dilemma; TODAY they're 2X faster than SATA3 600 MB/s limit.

I just 'see' where things are heading...

Good Luck!

I wouldn't see any cause for changing your wording, you're right Jaquith - they're CHEAP! (I certainly am not offended either) I'm pretty confident though that my new PC will be insane compared to what I've been dealing with for 8 years now - two low end off the shelf laptops!

I used to do some minor gaming back in the early 90's (ha- isn't "minor gaming" sort of redundant when describing 90's gaming!?) It was on a 386 33mhz and boy did I think it was the cat's meow because I could get SPEECH with wing commander 2! :lol:

To be honest, I doubt I will dig too terribly deep into cutting edge brand new games out there, I'll probably do lots of retro gaming and even games currently popular now and a few years ago. As I get more educated and capable with PC knowledge, I might jump up to dual cards and other new technology.

I really like the way you laid out the pricing examples though and how fast things get outdated and how you need to be mindful of potential upgrades.

Heck, I gotta be honest though and say that much of my decision is based on the fact that the P8p67 is the only darn board I could get my hands on at the moment and I am sick of waiting for a nervous system for all my new PC parts!

 

[jaquith]

Now or later you might want to look at SSD; consideration couple GB/$ + speed:
$200:
100GB OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGT100G http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227532
120GB OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX120G http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227395
Side-by-side http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120%204018%20600038484&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=636|20-227-532^20-227-532-TS%2C20-227-395^20-227-395-TS%2C20-227-551^20-227-551-TS%2C20-233-125^20-233-125-TS%2C20-227-593^20-227-593-TS
An SSD 'does' make all the difference, and I generally recommend 100GB+ {OS & Apps} and a HDD for the DATA.

--

Yep, you'll be thinking of all the time you've been waiting to things to happen and now they're click there... Things have been changing quickly over the past year or so. A year ago people were arguing SATA3 was a waste because the ports were too fast ... now they're too slow -- snap of a finger!

Have Fun & Good Luck!!!