Shootouts

Intel P67 Shootout - The Top Guns

By Vincent Chang - 28 Mar 2011

BIOS Settings & Test Setup

BIOS Settings

By now, you should know that the ideal (and Intel sanctioned) way of overclocking a Sandy Bridge processor is firstly to get the right processor, which means one of the two 'K' SKU processors in the market now. While you can try to push the base clock on a non-K processor, the limited allowance will likely lead to more frustration than success.

The five high-end P67 boards here all allow users to tweak the voltages, with some having more detailed options than others. Generally however, unless you know what you're doing, the basic ones listed here are sufficient to get a decent overclock.

 

Model CPU Voltage DRAM Voltage Other Voltage Settings
ASRock P67 Extreme6
0.6 to 1.52V 
(0.005V steps)
1.2 to 1.8V 
(0.005V steps)
  • CPU PLL: 1.586 to 2.349 (0.008V steps)
  • PCH Voltage: 0.78 to 1.646V (0.009V steps)
  • Vtt: 0.661 to 1.87V (0.013V)
ASUS Maximus IV Extreme
0.800 to 2.155V
(0.005V steps)
1.20 to 2.20V
(0.00625V steps)
  • CPU PLL: 1.20 to 2.20V (0.00625V steps)
  • PCH Voltage: 0.80825 to 1.70925V (0.01325V steps)
ECS P67H2-A -200mv to +630mV
(10mV steps)
-200mV to +630mV 
(10mV steps)
  • PCH Voltage: Default, 1.13, 1.18, 1.23V
  • IMC Voltage: +15mV to +375mV (15mV steps)
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 0.750 to 1.70V 
(0.005V steps)
0.90 to 2.60V 
(0.02V steps)
  • PCH Core: 0.84 to 1.94V (0.02V steps)
  • QPI/Vtt: 0.80 to 1.70V (0.02V steps)
MSI Big Bang-Marshal 0.80 to 2.155V 
(0.005V steps)
1.108 to 2.464V 
(0.007V steps)
  • CPU I/O Voltage: 0.95 to 1.75V (0.02V steps)
  • CPU PLL: 1.40 to 2.43V (0.01V steps)

 

Test Setup

We used the same test configuration as our mainstream P67 article, which we have listed below: 

  • Intel Core i7-2600K @3.4GHz
  • 2 x 1GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1333 (CAS 7-7-7-20)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX (ForceWare 260.99)
  • WD Caviar Black 1TB, SATA 6G (Intel 6G)
  • Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)
  • Intel INF 9.2.0.1015

The following benchmarks were used:

  • BAPco SYSmark 2007 (version 1.05)
  • Futuremark PCMark Vantage (1.0.3.1)
  • Futuremark 3DMark Vantage (1.0.3.1)
  • SPECviewperf 9.0
  • Far Cry 2 
Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.