ASRock P67 Transformer: P67 Gets LGA 1156 Compatibility

Upgrading to Intel’s P67 will certainly require a new motherboard, but the fact that you won’t need a new CPU appears to be Intel’s dirty-little-secret. ASRock found the secret and exploited it, bringing next-generation performance to today’s processors.
Introduced late last year, Intel’s LGA 1156 platform was the subject of acclaim (it introduced impressive performance) and complaints (it totally wrecked the LGA 775 upgrade path). Enthusiasts on a budget could finally take advantage of Intel’s Nehalem architecture, but nearly every aspect of the design had a catch.
First, the CPU-based PCIe 2.0 controller had less latency than previous chipset-based controllers, but it only came armed with 16 lanes at full bandwidth (supporting a maximum of two devices). Second, the eight so-called PCIe 2.0 links emanating from its P55 PCH operated at a halved-bit-rate of 2.5 Gb/s. This editor believes that the PCIe limitation was intended to prevent its use with x4 RAID cards in non-mission-critical applications (don’t step on X58’s toes), but the practical effect on its intended market was that SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0 controllers were usually limited to half their intended performance levels. At any rate, something had to be done.
That something came to us courtesy of Intel's chief rival, AMD. AMD’s mainstream chipsets already had left-over PCIe 2.0 lanes before Intel even announced the P55, offering proper support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s controllers in its legacy product. AMD even designed a new southbridge with integrated SATA 6Gb/s. What's worse is that, as a developer of USB 3.0, Intel knew about the bandwidth issue before it even designed the LGA 1156 platform. Even though LGA 1156 offered magnificent CPU and single-GPU performance, the P55 platform's bandwidth limitation remains an embarrassment.


Thankfully, that chapter in Intel's chipset history is about to close, and we actually have our readers to thank for making this happen. Customers are placing increasing pressure on Intel to include SATA 6Gb/s support in its mainstream platforms, and the firm’s strategy has always been to cave to customer demand about three seconds before organized protesters turn to riot (Ed.: does this mean we should be even more vocal about the crummy state of overclocking outside of the K-series models?).
In addition to improved hard drive performance, Intel’s upcoming P67 Express PCH ups the throughput of its PCIe-based DMI interface, enabling full bandwidth to at least four of its eight PCIe 2.0 lanes simultaneously. That means USB 3.0 controllers will also be capable of reaching full potential, and true support for PCIe 2.0 x4 controller cards will be an option on some motherboard designs.
Yet, as always, there’s a catch: Intel wants you to think you’ll need a new CPU. ASRock disagrees.

In an effort to produce the most cost-efficient, space-efficient, and energy-efficient design possible, Intel decided to do away with the clock generator normally found as a separate motherboard IC and instead integrate it into the chipset. This has created a conundrum for low-cost overclocking enthusiasts because the P67’s clock generator cannot “unlock” the ratios for other devices, such as its USB 2.0 and SATA 6Gb/s controllers. As a result, adjusting the BCLK overclocks a number of other subsystems that simply don't like to be overclocked. For more on overclocking Sandy Bridge, check out Intel’s Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review.
Anyone interested in a Sandy Bridge-based CPU is now forced to pay a premium on unlocked Extreme Edition or K-series CPUs in order to achieve anything more than the slightest clock increase. But other than the piggybacked CPU clock signal, the P67’s DMI interface is unchanged from that of its P55 predecessor.
ASRock considered the fact that the same signal was being used and went to work adding a P67 PCH to a typical P55 motherboard component set. For fans of the ASRock brand, the end result looks strikingly familiar.
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When it comes to combining different generations of hardware, ASRock is usually first to show up and last to leave. The same company that beat its competitors to the punch with USB 3.0 front-panel support has finally abandoned Windows XP users by omitting the floppy header (which eases the installation of AHCI drivers with the OS). And yet keeps its legacy Ultra ATA header. I’m sure we have an LS-120 drive for that somewhere…
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Most painfully missing from the P67 Transformer is support for any secondary PCIe x16 graphics card in SLI or CrossFire mode. In place of that long slot is ASMedia’s ASM1083 PCIe to legacy PCI connector because--get this--Intel finally dropped PCI support from P67 Express. These features combine with a set of mounting holes for third-party LGA 775 coolers to make upgrades easy for owners of older systems, so long as they don’t expect their legacy OS to include AHCI or RAID drivers. For Windows XP die-hards, slipstreaming the P67’s controller drivers onto a copy of the installation CD is still an option.

Test System Configuration
LGA 1155 CPU	Intel Core i5-2500K (3.30 GHz, 6 MB L3 Cache) Overclocked to 4.00 GHz at 1.20 V, 100 MHz BCLK
LGA 1156 CPU	Intel Core i5-750 (2.66 GHz, 8 MB L3 Cache) Overclocked to 4.00 GHz at 1.40 V, 200 MHz BCLK
P67/LGA 1155 Motherboard	ASRock P67 Extreme6 BIOS L0.39c (11/26/2010) Intel P67 Express, LGA 1155
P67/LGA 1156 Motherboard	ASRock P67 Transformer BIOS L0.39c (11/26/2010) Intel P67 Express, LGA 1156
P55/LGA 1156 Motherboard	ASRock P55 Extreme4 BIOS P1.40 (08/18/2010) Intel P55 Express, LGA 1156
Graphics Card	Factory-Overclocked GeForce GTX 580   810 MHz GPU, 1536 MB GDDR5-4032
RAM	Kingston KHX2133C9D3T1K2/4GX (4 GB) DDR3-2133 at DDR3-1600 CAS CAS 7-7-7-21
OS Hard Drive	Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1 TB, 7200 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 32 MB Cache
Test Drive	Crucial RealSSD C300 256 MB (SATA 6Gb/s, MLC)
Sound	Integrated HD Audio
Network	Integrated Gigabit Networking
Power	OCZ-Z1000M 1000 W Modular ATX12V v2.2, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold
Software
OS	Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
GeForce Graphics	Nvidia GeForce/Ion 263.09
Chipset	Intel INF 9.2.0.1015
Storage	Intel iRST 1.0.0.0.1046 (AHCI Mode)

A fast hard drive could prove the performance limits of each chipset’s SATA controller, if only a fast enough drive were available. Crucial updated us to the latest version of its RealSSD C300.
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The high data rates available from Kingston’s DDR3-2133 weren’t needed for today’s analysis, but its ability to run DDR3-1600 at 1.54 V was preferred.
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With an efficiency level of nearly 90% across a wide range of loads, OCZ’s Z100M kept these overclocked machines at their greenest.
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Aliens Vs. Predator Benchmark	Alien vs Predator Benchmark Tool Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	Campaign, Act III, Second Sun (45 sec. FRAPS) Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA
Crysis	Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: Highest Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Quality, 4x AA
DiRT 2	Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat	Call Of Pripyat Benchmark version Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x MSAA
Power / Gaming Efficiency
GPU Load	FurMark 1.6.5 Stability Test, 1920x1200, 4x AA
P3 Kill A Watt P4400	Global Power Consumption at AC outlet
Storage
h2benchw 3.16	Sustained and Repetitive Reads, Average Access Time, Zone Measurements
Iometer 2008.08.18	File server Benchmark, Web server Benchmark, Database Benchmark, Workstation Benchmark Streaming Reads, Streaming Writes
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
PCMark Vantage	Version: 1.0.2.0, Hard Drive Test

Intel’s new processor sees significant drive performance gains from the P67’s SATA 6Gb/s controller, while the older CPU does not. Since this is really a function of the chipset rather than the CPU, we believe that ASRock could probably eke a little more performance out of the P67 Transformer with a BIOS revision.


SATA write performance is hampered by drive limits and has been included only to complete the test set. What we really wanted to see is interface performance, and that was best reflected by read rates.

Repetitive transfers are affected by both bandwidth and latency. The P67 Transformer edges out the P55 Extreme4 here, while the P67 Extreme6 continues its dominance. A program error caused NEC’s off-the-chart USB 3.0 write rate: we couldn’t find the source of that error and instead decided to ignore that result.

The P67 demolishes the P55 in streaming reads, and the EJ168A USB 3.0 controller heaps further shame upon it.

Differences seen in more complex transfer patterns don’t show up on h2benchw’s access time tests, as all three boards produce similar results. Both USB 3.0 controllers add a little latency, as expected.





We once again see the P67 Transformer failing to live up to the performance expectations set by its P67 Extreme6 sibling. Though it would be easy to credit the newer CPU, our previous page’s bandwidth results indicate that similarities to the previous chipset are just as likely BIOS-related.

Crysis is an excellent system test because its affected by CPU performance, GPU performance, DRAM performance, and even HDD performance (though not so much when an SSD is installed). It’s also the oldest gaming benchmark around to bring modern hardware to its knees.



With memory performance locked in through the use of consistent settings and HDD performance muted through the use of an SSD, Crysis shows the clock-for-clock performance advantage of Intel’s newer CPU. That difference grows smaller at higher resolution due to increased GPU bottlenecking.



Though the frame rates are higher, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 shows a similar performance pattern as Crysis, with the newer CPU pulling ahead when GPU bottlenecks are reduced.

Because games represent the performance level of complete platforms in today’s test, we’ve used these to determine power and efficiency differences. We begin with power consumption.

Remember what we said about this particular Core i5-750 CPU: its overclocking headroom is lower than what we've found to be average, requiring higher-than-average voltage to reach 4 GHz. A typical Lynnfield-based processor would reach these settings at 1.35 V, saving around 20 W at full load.
The remaining 30 W difference between it and the newer processor is mostly due to die process, where the 32 nm core required only 1.20 V to reach the same frequency. The new chipset appears to save a measly 1 W of power, though difference in motherboard design could have made that number smaller or bigger than it should have been.

The new CPU gives the P67 Extreme6 a modest performance boost, while the new chipset had little overall effect on Core i5-750 performance.

An efficiency improvement of less than 1% isn’t helping ASRock make the case for choosing its P67 Transformer over its P55 predecessor, while much larger gains for the new processor will certainly help Intel make its case for a total platform upgrade.

As the performance computing world anxiously awaits the release of Intel’s next mainstream platform, ASRock's P67 Transformer reminds the entry-level folks that, if you don't like Intel's new approach to overclocking (completely locking the Core i3 and limiting non-K-series SKUs), then ASRock's board gives you a way to drop in a previous-gen Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processor and continue to tweak it as you did before. Thanks to the continuation of Intel’s DMI interconnect, pairing the new chipset with an old processor is as simple as ignoring the added clock signal. This kind of reminds us of the upgrade from AMD’s Socket AM2+ interface to AM3. But there’s a big difference in how the upgrade was executed.
While AMD’s new processor worked in its older boards (with a BIOS update), Intel’s next-generation CPU will not. The major reason why Intel’s Core i3/i5/i7-2x00-series CPUs need a new motherboard is that the clock generator has been integrated into the chipset, so that the CPU gets its clock signal from a different source. But wait...there’s more!
Had Intel integrated its clock generator into the CPU, rather than the P67 chipset, it could have made its new processor compatible with the older socket, but not vice-versa, as was the case with AMD’s AM2+ to AM3 conversion, which required AMD to keep older DDR2 memory controller logic in order to retain compatibility. Something as simple as an added key notch could have assured that the mechanical compatibility went only in the “right” direction. The P67 is an improvement over the P55, but we’re sure a great many CPU upgraders would have accepted a sacrifice in motherboard features in order to avoid the expensive of a complete replacement. Many of these potential customers will surely be turned away by the need to upgrade both parts simultaneously, just as they were when LGA 775 disappeared in favor of LGA 1156 a little more than a year ago.
On the other hand, buyers who want the latest chipset features without the expense of a new CPU have one place to turn: ASRock. The P67 Transformer provides chipset-integrated SATA 6Gb/s and enough PCIe bandwidth for full USB 3.0 performance using mature LGA 1156 processors. That's perfect for folks who already have a capable Core i7-875K, for example, but are just missing the other motherboard-oriented features made possible on P67. We didn’t see as much performance gain as we anticipated from this particular product, but some level of gain was still there. We hope that continued BIOS development will bring this board’s controller performance up to par with the latest LGA 1155 products. After all, we like choice, and we have to commend ASRock for thinking outside the box on this one.