Explored: ASUS TPU Performance on its P8P67 series motherboards

We’ve had a look at the TPU before on TiS, however that was previous to ASUS’ new DIGI+ VRM tech that now ties in EPU, TPU and the new digital power hardware together, more tightly than ever. I was interested to see how well the latest update worked for the latest P8P67 series motherboards, and how it could actually improve performance with its automatic overclocking.

Also – now we have an onboard switch to play with! Wooo, old school!

Well, it appears old-skool-cool (that’s very 90′s.. and in typing that I just realised the 90′s was TWO decades ago, which makes me really feel very old) but actually the TPU (and EPU) switches are there for those unsure of how to use the BIOS, or, for those who aren’t using a Windows OS. Even if you’re a seasoned system builder though, it’s an attractive two second job to flick a switch as you’re building your new 2011 PC.

The TPU acts the same whether you use the physical switch or BIOS ‘OC Tuner’ utility; here’s what each of them looks like:

I ran the TPU on a P8P67 Deluxe with the ’1053′ BIOS and a Core-i7 2600K in socket. It threw back a meaty performance upgrade to 4.43GHz (103MHz x 43) – a free increase of 30%!

Performance Testing:

Cinebench 10 xCPU:

Before TPU = 23052

After TPU = 29525 (28 per cent improvement)

3DMark Vantage (Performance):

Before TPU = P20978

After TPU = P21950 (5 per cent improvement)

Civilization 5 (Late Game Benchmark):

Before TPU = 43.2 FPS average, 21 FPS minimum

After TPU = 51.8 FPS average, 33 FPS minimum (20 and 57 per cent improvements)

As you can see there are significant, double digit improvements in Civ 5 and Cinebench Rendering, and even 3DMark sees a bit of improvement for a heavily graphics-centric benchmark.

Clearly the leap in clock speed is well worth it, although you will get a bit more for doing it yourself (not to mention the fun of learning how). The TPU isn’t a replacement for manual overclocking, it’s just an alternative for those who don’t have time or are unfamiliar in the land of free GHz. And for those I can’t fault the ease of use either – it’s simply a switch. That anyone can do!

Test Setup: Intel Core i7-2600K CPU, ASUS P8P67 Deluxe (1053 BIOS) motherboard, 4GB DDR3 1600MHz DDR3 memory, GeForce GTX 460 1.5GB graphics card, Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler, Seasonic X650W PSU, Crucial C300 128GB SSD, Windows 7 Home Premium x64.

If you have an questions about overclocking or have your own OC’s to share, please drop a comment below!