ASRock P67 Pro3

When it comes to Intel's Sandy Bridge, lately we have been looking a lot at the Linux graphics performance with the H67 chipset as it has been an interesting journey but now at least the OpenGL performance is good and VA-API video acceleration is working. Now that the B3-stepping Cougar Point motherboards are beginning to ship that address the original SATA issues for this chipset that led to a recall, we are back to looking at this magical CPU, the supported motherboards, and its overall Linux performance. In this review we are taking a Linux look at the ASRock P67 Pro3.

The ASRock P67 Pro3 is a mid-range Sandy Bridge motherboard that costs less than $150 USD but offers all of the core functionalities for the P67 Chipset plus extras like an eSATA 3.0 connector, high-quality capacitors, extra cooling options, and easy overclocking support.

Features:

Processor
- Supports 2nd Generation Intel Core i7 / i5 / i3 in LGA1155 Package
- Advanced V8 + 2 Power Phase Design
- Supports Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology
- Supports Intel K-Series unlocked CPU
- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology

Chipset
- Intel P67

Memory
- Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology
- 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots
- Supports DDR3 2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB*
- Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)

BIOS
- 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
- DRAM, PCH, CPU PLL, VTT, VCCSA Voltage Multi-adjustment

Audio
- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)
- Premium Blu-ray audio support

LAN
- PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Realtek RTL8111E
- Supports Wake-On-LAN
- Supports LAN Cable Detection
- Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az

Unique Features
- ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU)
- Instant Boot
- ASRock Instant Flash
- ASRock AIWI
- ASRock APP Charger
- SmartView
- Hybrid Booster:
- CPU Frequency Stepless Control
- ASRock U-COP
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
- Combo Cooler Option (C.C.O.)
- Good Night LED

Form Factor
- ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
- All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)

Contents:

Included with ASRock's P67 ATX motherboard was the motherboard manual, a separate UEFI setup guide, I/O panel, two Serial ATA cables, and Windows software CD. This is the usual light quantity of accessories that accompany most ASRock motherboards to avoid inflating the price with often useless extras. The P67 Pro3 is targeted as one of their mid-range Sandy Bridge desktop offerings.