Review: ASUS P8B WS
Category : Z68
Published by Marc Büchel on 26.08.11
The ASUS P8B WS is based on Intels C206 server chipset. It comes with features especially designed for small and medium companies. Therefore it is possible to monitor engery consumption as well as dissipating power. Furhtermore the chipset also features vPro which allows comfortable and efficient management within a corporate network.
With the P8B WS, ASUS uses Intel's C206 chipset which derives from their C200-series. The C206 is the only one out of the three C200-chipsets which supports Intel's HD graphic unit which can be found in todays Sandy Bridge based CPUs and latest Xeon SKUs. Back in January we reviewed the ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution. This board is intended to be used in consumer PCs whereas the P8B WS lacks all the overclocking features normal ASUS boards are equipped with. Instead the C206 offers support for ECC memory which is a sophisticated addition to a reliable workstation motherboard. Regarding memory one can put PC-1066 as well as PC-1333 modules into the DIMM slots and that's it.
If you take a closer look at the PCI-Express x16 expansion slots you'll see that the first two slots share a total of sixteen lanes which means that when both slots are being used the operate in x8/x8-mode. PCI-Express x16 slots number three and four can operate a x8 when only one is being used. If you should decide to use both slots they will work at x4/x4.
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[pagebreak]
Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang
| CPU | Intel Socket 1155 Core i3, i5, i7, E3-1200 |
| Chipset | Intel C206 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 1333 / 1066 ECC, Non-ECC,Un-buffered |
| Multi-GPU | AMD Quad GPU CrossFireX |
| Slots | 4 x PCIe x16 (x 16, x4, x4 / x8, x8,
x4, x4) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 1 x PCI |
| Sound | Realtek ALC892 8-Channel HD Audio Codec |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6 Gbit/s 4 x SATA 3 Gbit/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Internal connectors | 2 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 2.0 port(s) 2 x Vertical USB 2.0 port(s) 1 x TPM connector(s) 1 x COM port(s) connector(s) 1 x IEEE 1394a connector(s) 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) 1 x Power Fan connector(s) 1 x S/PDIF out header(s) 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s) 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s) 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP) 1 x System panel(s) 1 x MemOK! button(s) |
| External connectors | 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s) 1 x DVI-I 1 x IEEE 1394a 2 x LAN (RJ45) port(s) 2 x USB 3.0 6 x USB 2.0 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF out 1 x Optical S/PDIF out 6 x Audio jack(s) |
| LAN | 2 x Gigabit LAN (Intel 82574L) |
| Fan connectors | 5 |
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 32 Mb flash ROM, EFI AMI BIOS) |
- Manual
- 1 x ATX I/O bezel
- 4 x SATA 6.0 Gbit/s cable
- 2 x SATA 3.0 Gbit/s cable
- 2 in 1 Q-connector
- 1 x Adaptor cable HDD to SATA
- 1 x Driver CD, Antivirus software, ASUS Update, ASUS Utilities
Regarding the delivery you'll find everything you need. Under certain circumstances you might wish there was a CrossFire bridge in the delivery but the fact that this is an aggressively priced product makes it understandable why they didn't do that.
Features
| EPU | If you activate the EPU this chip monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds and automatically sets them to guarantee an energy efficient operation of you system. |
| Digital Power Design | Meanwhile ASUS also provides its boards with digital power designs. Using the the right software, in this case ASUS DIGI+ VRM Utility it is not only possible to adjust voltages whilst being in Windows on can now also control impedances. |
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[pagebreak]
Layout
Already at a first glance the ASUS P8B WS looks very good with it harmonic design. The colors look suite nicely and the different blue tones on a black PCB are calming. Generally the P8B WS looks very similar to the ASUS Desktop boards. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers.
ASUS provided the P8B WS with a 8+2 phase current supply whereas the CPU can rely on eight phases and the memory gets its own two phases. Furthermore ASUS implemented a digital power design which should emit less electromagnetic radiation than its analogue counterpart. Therefore ASUS claims that the system stability can be enhanced even further, especially during extreme overclocking.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the P8B WS. Officially supported are DDR3 1333 as well as DDR3 1066 with up to 32 GByte capacity. The DIMM-slots aren't too close to the CPU socket which makes it easy to install big air coolers.
Southbridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive cooling solution. The aluminium blocks around the CPU socket are quite small. Installing big air coolers therefore is very simple because there is plenty of space.
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[pagebreak]
Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally ASUS provided the P8B WS with six angled SATA ports which should be sufficient for workstation PCs such as DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) or rendering PCs. You wont find practical onboard power and reset buttons. Nevertheless there is a small diagnosis card which also carries a two digit debug display. Furthermore you'll also find a mem OK! button which lets you boot even if you chose memory settings which didn't work.
Totally you'll find five fan header on the P8B WS which is enough, to provide a well equipped workstation with fresh air. The fanheaders are located around the CPU socket as well as on the right edge of the board.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS provided the P8B WS with a PS/2 mouse/keyboard connector, six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a firewire port, two Intel gigabit ethernet ports, an optical and coaxial audio out as well as an analogue audio panel a DVI port.
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[pagebreak]
BIOS
What you're meanwhile getting with every single board is the feature to save and afterwards reload different BIOS profiles. Once again ASUS succeeded in creating yet another very well structured BIOS. The UEFI BIOS awaits you with a graphical user interface throughout which you can navigate using a mouse. Although this board is a for workstation usage you only find very few settings which are related to this sector. More or less the BIOS is almost identical to the one you can find on a P8P67 Deluxe.Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]Test setup
Hardware |
|
| Motherboard |
- ASUS P8B WS (Memory
@ 1'333 MHz) - Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 - Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 - ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z - Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 - ASUS P8Z68-V Pro - ASUS P8H67-M Evo - ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional - ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe - Intel DH67BL - Intel DP67BG - MSI P67A-GD65 - MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 - ASUS Sabertooth P67 - Gigabyte P67A-UD4 - ASUS Maximus IV Extreme - ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution - ASUS P8P67-M EVO - Gigabyte P67A-UD7 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5 2500K |
| Memory | 2 GB Kingston PC3 16'000 9-9-9-27 |
| Graphic card | Asus 5850 |
| Hard disk | Samsung Spinpoint F1 320 GByte |
| Power supply | bequiet! Dark Power Pro 1000Watt |
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[pagebreak]
Futuremark
3DMark11
3DMark 11 is Futuremarks latest benchmark for the entire graphical subsystem. The benchmark uses DirectX 11 and it supports all recent features which can possibly generate high load on a GPU. Therefore you find tessellation, compute shader calculations, divers lighting effects and different depth of filed animations. Following we publish values regarding the performance preset of 3DMark 11.
Total
| 3DMark 11 Total | Percent | |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 3'854 | 104.67 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 3'853 | 104.64 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 3'852 | 104.62 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 3'831 | 104.05 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 3'740 | 101.58 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 3'719 | 101.00 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 3'714 | 100.87 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 3'709 | 100.73 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 3'709 | 100.73 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 3'709 | 100.73 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 3'707 | 100.68 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 3'707 | 100.68 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 3'705 | 100.62 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 3'704 | 100.60 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 3'702 | 100.54 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 3'688 | 100.16 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 3'682 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu) | 3'678 | 99.89 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 3'632 | 98.64 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 3'620 | 98.32 % |
| more is better | ||
Physic
| 3DMark 11 Physic Score | Percent | |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 6'461 | 102.65 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 6'421 | 102.02 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 6'399 | 101.67 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 6'391 | 101.54 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu) | 6'317 | 100.37 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 6'300 | 100.10 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 6'294 | 100.00 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 6'274 | 99.68 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 6'271 | 99.73 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 6'269 | 99.60 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 6'268 | 99 59 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 6'244 | 99.21 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 6'201 | 98.52 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 6'188 | 98.32 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 6'193 | 98.40 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 6'142 | 97.59 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 6'040 | 95.96 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 6'020 | 95.64 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 6'004 | 95.39 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 5'827 | 92.58 % |
| more is better | ||
3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage is able to squeeze nearly everything out of a recent system. Therefore the feature liste is also pretty long: DirectX10, FP16-HDR, motion blur, parallax occlusion mapping, GPU-physics simulation and different shader effects are being used to even make recent high-end systems struggle.
Total
| 3DMark Vantage Total | Percent | |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 16'569 | 106.58 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 16'500 | 106.14 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 16'482 | 106.02 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 16'438 | 105.74 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 16'348 | 105.16 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 16'153 | 103.90 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 16'107 | 103.61 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 16'075 | 103.40 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 16'069 | 103.36 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 15'924 | 102.43 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 15'835 | 101.86 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 15'776 | 101.48 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 15'710 | 101.05 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 15'760 | 101.38 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 15'757 | 101.36 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 15'749 | 101.31 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 15'605 | 100.38 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 15'546 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu) | 15'485 | 99.61 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 15'157 | 97.50 % |
| more is better | ||
CPU
| 3DMark Vantage CPU | Percent | |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 17'181 | 100.20 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 17'379 | 101.35 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 17'354 | 101.21 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 17'347 | 101.17 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 17'261 | 100.66 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 17'186 | 100.23 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 17'179 | 100.19 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 17'167 | 100.12 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 17'164 | 100.10 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 17'147 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 17'126 | 99.88 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 17'121 | 99.85 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 17'118 | 99.83 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 17'101 | 99.73 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 17'043 | 99.39 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 17'017 | 99.24 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 16'979 | 99.02 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 16'941 | 98.80 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 16'873 | 98.40 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu) | 15'055 | 87.80 % |
| more is better | ||
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[pagebreak]
SiSoft Sandra 1
SiSoft Sandra is a theoretical multi purpose benchmark suite which is able to show differences in CPU architectures. We split the tests with SiSoft Sandra into two parts. Therefore on this page you'll find Arithmetic-, Multimedia- and Cryptography-benchmarks.
Arithmetic Benchmark
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Dhrystone | GIPS | Percent |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 68.00 | 101.12 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 67.83 | 100.86 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 67.77 | 100.77 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 67.73 | 100.71 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 67.70 | 100.67 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 67.67 | 100.62 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 67.62 | 100.55 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 67.60 | 100.52 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 67.59 | 100.51 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 67.58 | 100.49 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 67.39 | 100.21 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 67.37 | 100.18 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 67.26 | 100.01 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 67.25 | 100.00 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 67.25 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 67.19 | 99.91 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 67.13 | 99.82 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 67.00 | 99.63 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 67.00 | 99.63 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Whetstone | GFLOPS | Percent |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 49.00 | 100.51 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 48.81 | 100.12 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 48.80 | 100.10 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 48.80 | 100.10 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 48.78 | 100.06 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 48.76 | 100.02 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 48.75 | 100.00 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 48.71 | 99.92 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 48.70 | 99.90 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 48.69 | 99.88 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 48.43 | 99.34 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 47.77 | 97.99 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 47.52 | 97.48 % |
| more is better | ||
Multimedia
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Integer | MPixels/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 120.84 | 100.34 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 120.70 | 100.22 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 120.68 | 100.21 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 120.62 | 100.16 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 120.43 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 120.41 | 99.98 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 120.41 | 99.98 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 120.36 | 99.94 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 120.34 | 99.93 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 120.34 | 99.93 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 120.33 | 99.92 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 120.30 | 99.89 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 120.23 | 99.83 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 120.19 | 99.80 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 120.10 | 99.73 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 120.00 | 99.64 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 120.00 | 99.64 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 120.00 | 99.64 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 120.00 | 99.64 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - floating point | MPixels/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 71.37 | 100.22 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 71.37 | 100.22 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 71.21 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 71.20 | 99.99 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 71.20 | 99.99 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 71.20 | 99.99 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 71.19 | 99.97 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 71.19 | 99.97 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 71.18 | 99.96 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 71.17 | 99.94 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 71.16 | 99.93 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 71.00 | 99.71 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 71.00 | 99.71 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 71.00 | 99.71 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 71.00 | 99.71 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 70.87 | 99.52 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 70.65 | 99.21 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 70.57 | 99.10 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 69.83 | 98.06 % |
| more is better | ||
Crytography
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - AES 256 | GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 7.39 | 117.30 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 7.38 | 117.14 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 7.30 | 115.87 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 7.00 | 111.11 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 7.00 | 111.11 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 7.00 | 111.11 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 7.00 | 111.11 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 6.87 | 109.05 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 6.85 | 108.73 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 6.30 | 100.00 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 6.30 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 6.30 | 100.00 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 6.26 | 99.37 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 6.25 | 99.21 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 6.00 | 95.24 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 5.78 | 91.75 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 5.77 | 91.59 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 5.74 | 91.11 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 5.70 | 90.48 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - SHA 256 | MB/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 552 | 101.85 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 552 | 101.85 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 551 | 101.66 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 550 | 101.48 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 550 | 101.48 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 550 | 101.48 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 550 | 101.48 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 550 | 101.48 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 550 | 101.48 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 549 | 101.29 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 549 | 101.29 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 549 | 101.29 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 549 | 101.29 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 549 | 101.29 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 549 | 101.29 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 548 | 101.11 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 542 | 100.00 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 530 | 97.79 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 510 | 94.10 % |
| more is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
SiSoft Sandra 2
At this point we deliver the values regarding Memory Bandwidth, Memory Latency as well as Memory and Cache Access.
Memory bandwidth
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - Integer | GB/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 21.53 | 111.67 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 21.52 | 111.62 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 21.30 | 110.48 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 22.68 | 117.63 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 22.40 | 116.18 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 21.54 | 111.72 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 21.46 | 111.31 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 21.27 | 110.32 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 21.13 | 109.60 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 19.36 | 100.41 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 19.30 | 100.10 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 19.28 | 100.00 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 19.22 | 99.69 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 19.16 | 99.38 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 18.84 | 97.72 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 18.00 | 93.36 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 17.82 | 92.43 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 17.75 | 92.06 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 17.70 | 91.80 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - floating point | GB/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 21.53 | 111.79 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 21.53 | 111.79 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 21.35 | 110.85 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 22.69 | 117.81 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 22.40 | 116.30 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 21.53 | 111.79 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 21.47 | 111.47 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 21.25 | 110.33 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 21.14 | 109.76 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 19.36 | 100.52 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 19.35 | 100.47 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 19.26 | 100.00 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 19.22 | 99.79 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 19.20 | 99.69 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 18.83 | 97.77 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 17.82 | 92.52 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 17.75 | 92.16 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 18.00 | 93.46 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 17.72 | 92.00 % |
| more is better | ||
Memory latency
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory latency | ns | Percent |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 59.0 | 90.91 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 59.3 | 91.37 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 64.7 | 99.69 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 64.7 | 99.69 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 64.7 | 99.69 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 63.5 | 97.84 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 64.5 | 99.38 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 64.5 | 99.38 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 64.8 | 99.85 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 64.9 | 100.00 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 64.9 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 65.1 | 100.31 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 65.2 | 100.46 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 65.3 | 100.62 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 68.9 | 106.16 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 70.8 | 109.09 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 73.0 | 112.48 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 73.0 | 112.48 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 73.3 | 112.94 % |
| less is better | ||
Memory and cache access
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory and cache access | GB/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 102.51 | 107.08 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 103.13 | 107.73 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 102.66 | 107.24 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 102.44 | 107.01 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 102.20 | 106.76 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 101.83 | 106.37 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 101.65 | 106.18 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 101.60 | 106.13 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 101.50 | 106.03 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 96.00 | 100.28 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 96.64 | 100.95 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 96.00 | 100.28 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 95.73 | 100.00 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 95.62 | 99.89 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 95.00 | 99.24 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 95.00 | 99.24 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 95.31 | 99.56 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 94.45 | 98.66 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 93.45 | 97.62% |
| more is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
Super Pi 1M - 32M / wPrime 32M
Meanwhile Super Pi even in its latest version has become pretty old. Never the less it is able to show scaling to the clock speed nicely.
Super Pi 1M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 1M | sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 11.295 | 99.74 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 11.310 | 99.87 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 11.325 | 100.00 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 11.325 | 100.00 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 11.341 | 100.14 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 11.341 | 100.14 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 11.341 | 100.14 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 11.347 | 100.19 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 11.356 | 100.27 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 11.356 | 100.27 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 11.357 | 100.28 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 11.357 | 100.28 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 11.372 | 100.42 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 11.372 | 100.42 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 11.373 | 100.42 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 11.404 | 100.70 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 11.404 | 100.70 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 11.435 | 100.97 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 11.466 | 101.25 % |
| less is better | ||
Super Pi 32M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 32M | sec | Percent |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 606.295 | 97.40 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 607.120 | 97.53 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 608.978 | 97.83 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 609.976 | 97.99 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 609.992 | 97.99 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 610.959 | 98.15 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 611.115 | 98.18 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 613.299 | 98.53 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 615.530 | 98.89 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 623.877 | 98.88 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 620.803 | 99.73 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 620.928 | 99.75 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 621.552 | 99.85 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 621.942 | 99.91 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 622.473 | 100.00 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 623.002 | 100.08 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 623.143 | 100.11 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 623.252 | 100.13 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 623.549 | 100.17 % |
| less is better | ||
wPrime 32M
wPrime is based on a multithreaded algorithm to calculate the square root to up to 32 billion digits. Therefore it is possible to put 100 percent load on every core or thread and to see differences between architectures.
| wPrime - 32M | sec | Percent |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 9.263 | 100.00 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 9.264 | 100.01 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 9.268 | 100.05 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 9.280 | 100.18 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 9.298 | 100.38 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 9.298 | 100.38 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 9.314 | 100.55 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 9.469 | 102.22 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 9.595 | 103.58 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 9.642 | 104.09 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 9.657 | 104.25 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 9.658 | 104.26 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 9.733 | 105.07 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 9.748 | 105.24 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 9.766 | 105.43 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 9.779 | 105.57 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 9.812 | 105.93 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 9.953 | 107.45 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 9.966 | 107.59 % |
| less is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
Games
Crysis 800 x 600, low details
Crysis is still one of the games which has very high system requirements. Therefore developer Crytek implemented Direct3D-10-API, High-Dynamic-Range-Rendering, Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Soft Shadows, Motion Blur, Depth of Field as well as Soft Particles. We test Crysis by using DirectX9 to show CPU-sacaling especially which low resolutions. If we look at the high resolutions we are able to spot that the CPUs influence compared to the graphic card becomes much less important.
| Crysis DirectX9 (800 x 600 low details) | fps | Percent |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 90.16 | 104.04 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 90.16 | 104.04 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 89.80 | 103.62 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 89.75 | 103.57 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 89.05 | 102.76 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 89.01 | 102.71 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 86.66 | 100.00 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 86.61 | 99.94 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 84.64 | 97.67 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 84.64 | 97.67 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 84.26 | 97.23 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 84.13 | 97.08 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 83.88 | 96.79 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 83.43 | 96.27 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 83.42 | 96.26 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 83.27 | 96.09 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 81.77 | 94.36 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 81.22 | 93.72 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 80.55 | 92.95 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu) | 78.94 | 91.09 % |
| more is better | ||
Resident Evil 800 x 600, low details
Resident Evil uses nearly every modern rendering technology: HDR, Hemisphere Lighting, Soft Shadows, Soft Particles, Field- und Motion-Blur oder auch Alpha to Coverage and static Ambient Occlusion. Furthermore Resident Evil 5 has been optimized for multicore architectures and already comes DirectX11 ready. By using the DirectX9 benchmark we can again show CPU-scaling with low resolutions and the compared to the CPU overproportional influence of the graphics card at high resolutions.
| Resident Evil DirectX9 (800 x 600 low details) | fps | Percent |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 175.1 | 107.23 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 174.8 | 107.04 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 174.5 | 106.86 % |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 174.5 | 106.86 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 174.4 | 106.80 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 174.1 | 106.61 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 173.4 | 106.18 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 172.6 | 105.70 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 171.6 | 105.08 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 169.5 | 103.80 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 169.4 | 103.74 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 167.3 | 102.45 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 169.4 | 103.74 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 169.3 | 103.67 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 168.5 | 103.18 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 167.4 | 102.51 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu) | 167.0 | 102.27 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 166.7 | 102.08 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 166.5 | 101.96 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 163.3 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
Street Fighter 4 800 x 600, low details
Street Fighter 4 comes with an extra benchmark version which makes testing you system childrens play. At low resolutions the system requirements are pretty low and we can see CPU-scaling in the results. At high resolution the graphic card becomes more important and the CPUs clock speed has less influence on the fps.
| Street Fighter 4 (800 x 600 low details) | fps | Percent |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme | 573.97 | 100.73 % |
| Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | 569.79 | 100.00 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD7 | 569.21 | 99.90 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth P67 | 568.30 | 99.74 % |
| MSI P67A-GD65 | 568.25 | 99.73 % |
| Gigabyte P67A-UD4 | 568.00 | 99.69 % |
| Asus P8P67-M EVO | 567.88 | 99.66 % |
| MSI Big Bang Marshal P67 | 563.66 | 98.92 % |
| ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional | 550.85 | 96.68 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | 547.15 | 96.03 % |
| ASUS P8H67-M Evo | 543.94 | 95.46 % |
| ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe | 543.77 | 95.43 % |
| Intel mATX DH67BL | 541.17 | 94.98 % |
| Intel DP67BG | 538.99 | 94.59 % |
| ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z | 529.11 | 92.86 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 | 523.83 | 91.93 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3 | 523.70 | 91.91 % |
| Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 | 514.97 | 90.38 % |
| ASUS P8B WS (Memory @ 1'333 MHz) | 514.94 | 90.37 % |
| ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (with Lucid Virtu, only integrated graphics active) | 163.34 | 28.67 % |
| more is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| At a first glance ASUS leaves a good impression with its P8B WS. Unfortunately there still are some things which could have been done in a better way. Most importantly there are the cooling blocks which keep the current supply at adequate temperatures. They're simply too big which has the consequence that several high end aircoolers are not compatible with this board. On the other hand the board looks absolutely marvellous. We very much like the color design and to us it very appealing. | - Server
chipset - Intel vPro Support |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| Generally the ASUS P8B WS's Layout has been well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons which can be found on an additional diagnosis card. Furthermore it is possible to install a total of four graphics cards. Unfortunately one can only build a CrossFire multi GPU setup and therefore your limited to applications which cause high open GL loads. A closer look at the area around the CPU socket reveals that there is plenty of space to install any big CPU cooler. The fact that the cooling blocks are much smaller makes it easy to install a CPU cooler too. the placement of the third PCI-Express slot isn't perfect. We would have love to see it as the second last expansion sloat onboard but in with the P8B WS it is the last and therefore when a dual slot video card is being installed in the last PCI-Express x16 slot it will cover the connectors at the bottom edge of the board. Unfortunately as we already phrased out in the text above there are some issues if you focus on the CPU socket. The aluminium blocks which keep the current converters cool can cause compatibility problems with high end CPU coolers. Another thing is the DIMM slots. They are also very close to the socket. In this case memory which is equipped with big heatspreaders can also collide with big aircoolers. | - Angled SATA connectors - Debug card |
- No SLI | |
| Performance | + | - | |
| Generally the ASUS P8B WS' performance which si based on Intel C206 server chipset lacks behind the desktop competition. That fact that DDR3 1'333 MHz is the maximum standard setting makes it perform worse in memory intense benchmarks. On average the board can be found in the bottom quarter of our comparison tables. Only in a few SiSoft Sandra benchmarks the P8B WS was able to show good numbers. | - SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic | - wPrime - SuperPi - Games |
|
| BIOS | + | - | |
| In case of the P8B WS, ASUS is using a BIOS which is almost identical to the one you get with the P8P67 Deluxe. What we missed were some workstation specific feature of which you might want to get some if you decide to assemble a workstation. Nevertheless, like all the graphical UEFI BIOS you get from ASUS these days this one is also very well structured and it's childrens play to use it. | - Well structured BIOS - UEFI-BIOS | - Almost no workstation specific features | |
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| If you consider assembling a rendering workstation for Open GL applications then the P8B WS from ASUS might worth considering because it comes at a very aggressive price point of est. CHF 200.- (est. EUR 180.-). | - Open-GL Rendering-Workstation | ||
| Rating | |||
| We give the ASUS P8B WS three out of five stars. One reason is the performance which could be better and another is that there are almost no workstation specific features. | |||
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Copy edited and translated: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch c.ney@ocaholic.ch