For our second review of 2011 we thought we would take a look at a P67 board (despite all the drama). We chose the Asus P8P67 WS Revolution. This board (like you did not know) is part of Asus’ workstation line up, but that does not mean that it is boring. In fact the WS Revolution is anything but boring. It has been built with the professional enthusiast in mind. You get items like an NF200 chip to help support three way SLI and Crossfire, a 92% power efficiency rating, multiple SATA 3.0 ports (supported by Intel and Marvell), and dual Intel GBe LAN ports. But there is more to it than just the sum of its features. You also get an improved VRM (voltage regulation module), thicker traces for better signal transfer and quite a bit more. With all of this waiting to be tried out, let’s quit the intro chatter and dive into the P8P67 WS Revolution.
Value -Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item.I am not sure how to approach this one. We all know that the Cougar Point MCP has a SATA II issue. It is an issue that has impacted the market in a very negative way. The flaw (which may or may not show up over time) has caused many people to pull these products from the shelves. This was a foolish and kneejerk reaction in my opinion. They did this even after Intel had stated that they would fix the issue. We now have almost every vendor stating they will cover the replacement costs of these products if the issue arises. Boutique dealers are extending the warranty on systems that have a P67 board in them just for this reason. I think the market has overreacted greatly on this one. If you look at the performance to be had from your average P67 + Sandy Bridge system it is still a good choice and really a good value if you know that Intel and your manufacturer is going to stand behind it. Speaking of RMAs Asus has made a formal announcement on what they are doing with the affected P67 motherboards. You can read all about it on their website. To sum things up, Asus is going to take care of you if you have a P67 board with the Rev2 Cougar Point MCP. Conclusion -The Asus P8P67 WS Revolution is a great board. The clean layout combined with the feature set really makes it stand out. I like the way that Asus is bringing the features and technology that have made their ROG line so popular to their mainstream and consumer products. It shows a level of consumer commitment that is often lacking. Even with the current issue I would recommend this board, it is not hard to imagine Asus dropping in the fixed MCP and rolling these back out in the March-April time frame with the same (or better) level of performance and stability we see here today. After all with Tri SLI/Crossfire, Dual Intel LAN, good cooling, solid overclocking potential and everything else how could you go wrong?
