Home > Consumer Reviews > Asus P6T Core i7 / Intel X58/ DDR3/ CrossFireX & SLI/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard

I was looking for a mobo to hold the components of my new i7 system. This is the best bang for the buck mobo you can get. Lots of ports (the usual USBs, Firewire, Ethernet, 7.1 audio HD plus an external e-sata), nice built in audio. Very easy to install: I've never built a computer by myself before and was able to do it without any problem, just using the included manual. No problems installing the CPU and CPU stock cooler. Runs great now, using Vista Ultimate x64, Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz 8M L3 Cache 4.8GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Processor, OCZ OCZ3P1600LV6GK DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz 6GB Platinum XTC Triple Channel Kits, BFG BFGEGTX2851024OC2E NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 OC2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card.

Really, I did a lot of research, and if you are considering moving to Intel i7 (x58 architecture), this is the one that gives you the best bang for the buck.

Compared to P6T Deluxe:
P6T - Deluxe
*ASUS 8+2 Phase Power Design - Asus16+2 Phase Power Design
*JMicron JMB363 PATA and SATA controller - Marvell 88SE6111
*Realtek 8111C PCIe 1*Gigabit LAN - Dual Gigabit LAN controllers 2*Marvell88E8056
*Realtek ALC1200 8 -Channel High Definition - ADI AD2000B 8 -Channel High Definition
*VIA VT6315N controller supports 2 x 1394a - VIA VT6308 controller supports 1 x 1394a
*12 USB 2.0 ports - 14 USB 2.0 ports

Extra features on Deluxe Marvell 88SE6320 2 x SAS (RAID 0 and 1)
Extra features on vanilla better motherboard layout which support 3-way SLI and ATI Quad GPU CF, JMB322 (Drive Xpert technology) 2 x SATA 3Gb/s with Supports EZ Backup and Super Speed functions

Usually vanilla is 50$ cheaper than Deluxe version and I think Asus really nailed it with P6T motherboard, you'll get all the features needed by most gamers, and you won't be missing any extra features Deluxe have. For OC, 8+2 Phase didn't disappoint at all, I managed to get my i7 920 to 190*20 3.8 GHz running 2 hours prime95+3dmark06 without any problem but CPU heat was on edge 86C-88C. At 200*20 4 GHz it booted to windows but wasn't stable under load. For me I'm happy to set @ 160*20 3.2 GHz with Intel boost enabled @ auto voltage by BIOS.

Beautiful M/B. Top quality as one would expect from Asus. It is better laid out than the "deluxe" version, which actually isn't as flexible as this one. The manual is comprehensive, and unlike the last M/B I got from Asus (p5n-e) actually has a lot of useful info in it.

I love the fact that you can run either SLI OR Crossfire, take your pick! I just went ATI for the first time in 10 years (Radeon 4850 x2 2GB Crossfire) and was nervous at first thinking I might want to jump back into the Nvidia SLI fold - this M/B would enable me to do that. BTW - my new video card is AWESOME - so much better than the Nvidia 200 series it's amazing. Cheaper too.

One thing that surprised me was the quality of the sound. Asus claims it is HD quality - and they're right. The diffeence between this M/B sound and the previous one is quite remarkable and instantly noticable.

There are no significan "cons" to this M/B. the only thing that I found curious is that some of the SATA hookups are obscured if you install a long video card (which I did) - so while this isn't a problem now I think It migh to a li'l bit of cussing in the future...

I purchased the Asus P6T Core i7 LGA 1366 Motherboard to accomodate an Intel Core i7 920 CPU I bought as part of a computer upgrade I was performing. Although it took eight days for the motherboard to arrive it was in excellent condition. Installing it into my new computer case was straightforward and went without a hitch. I really loved that front panel header extension block that accompanied the motherboard. The extension block is a separate piece that allows you to fit those very tiny front panel connectors onto its pins and then slip the block itself on to the front panel header pins on the motherboard as a single unit. If you've ever struggled with attaching those little front panel connectors onto the front panel header pins on the motherboard, one by one, then you'll find that extension block to be a godsend. This motherboard has so many advanced features that going through the BIOS setup required a learning curve. Lots of areas for you tweakers to play with (power conservation, overclocking, etc). For those who do not wish to tweak things you can always go with the normal defaults and you'll be ok. Once installed I had no difficulty with connections of power, drives, expansion cards, etcetera EXCEPT that when a decent sized PCI-e video card is installed you cannot use the daughter card slot beneath it (either a PCI-e x1 or regular PCI slot). OVERALL this mother board has worked perfectly (so far as I can tell) and has not exhibited any untoward tendencies. This is the most expensive motherboard I've ever purchased ($238.00), but one always pays a premium for something that's cutting edge and new. The MB seems to live up to its price (although I'm sure it's less expensive by now).

I actually don't own this board. I own another ASUS board. But this is relevant.


ASUS tech support is ASTOUNDING. The best I have ever used by far. Right off the bat: they don't try and hide tech support numbers like SOME companies. No going online and all that (that's always bothered me-- if I need tech support chances are I CAN'T GET ONLINE!). It's on the first page of my manual, right there. They answer quickly-- I've never held for more then 3-5 minutes-- and when they do, oh boy. They hire people with real, serious tech training. They listen carefully and know problem causes by heart-- they're not using an automated troubleshooting system. They suggest a solution and then wait on the line while you try it, so you don't have to go to the trouble of calling back. They don't retreat after 2 minutes to telling you that come component X is no good and you need a new one, like so many tech lines. I've been using the same MOBO (A Striker Extreme) for three years, and their support is to thank for that. Additionally, they can help the tech-unsavvy and the tech-savvy in different ways. I'm pretty in-tuned, and when the tech I spoke to realized this he told me to grab a multi-meter and start poking around, which prevented us from having to test hunches in indirect ways, saving a lot of time.

I'm posting here (and on a few other asus board reviews) because I want people to know how awesome their support is and buy their stuff for that reason. I want the top guys at ASUS to see that this business model (spend more on keeping customers happy, make more on repeat sales) can succeed in a market where it is so rare. We need to show corporations that we respond well to being treated well, and maybe one day amazing tech support will be the standard.

I'm serious: I will never own a main-board other than an ASUS as long as they keep this level of customer respect.