Test System

Initial Setup

Initial boot-up with the ASUS P87I-PRO was quick and simple, and installing device drivers off the CD was quick and painless. There is not a lot for me to say here because everything worked exactly as expected, but I noticed that the ASUS P87I-PRO runs with a normal Turbo profile.

Some boards have custom Turbo profiles that boost performance at "stock" settings, giving the appearance of having more performance than they really do. ASUS told me that they do not condone such custom profiles without informing the user but do understand that some users want this function to be available, so they offer such Turbo profiles in some instances. A boosted Turbo profile becomes available when XMP is enabled or via a switch in the BIOS, but can also simply be disabled via that same option in the BIOS. I personally feel that a coupon for Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan should be included in the box to protect against CPU failures if boards do so without giving the end user a way to turn it off, or do not explicitly state doing so on the outside of the box. For more information on Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan, check their site found HERE.



Installed, the ASUS P87I-PRO provides as much room as possible for aftermarket coolers and optimal cable management, which makes fully utilizing all included features fairly simple. I have been looking for low-profile capacitors near the end of the PCIe slot to create enough room for front-panel audio cabling to pass by easily, and here it is on the ASUS P87I-PRO.


I found it rather nice to have everything you might access in the same area - BIOS battery, audio, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 plugs, and the BIOS itself all sit together in a nice little group next to the PCH cooler. Likewise, the rear I/O panel is very clearly labeled, so you can find what you need easily, including the green line around the USB plug and button used for the USB BIOS Flashback function.

Power Consumption

We measure CPU power consumption since one of our first tasks is to truly verify system stability. I isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings, and total wattage passed through. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. Total system power consumption is no longer reported as this figure can change depending on what VGA is installed. The sole board-only power measurements possible without physically modifying a motherboard are those taken via the 8-pin CPU connector, making it the only figure of value worth reporting. I use wPrime with eight threads selected in the options since it provides a consistently high workload throughout the full length of the test and runs long enough for the VRM and CPU to produce a fair bit of heat. Most average workloads will draw far less than, although distributed computing applications are quite similar. This is not supposed to test stability since I use several other applications to do so, but merely to provide repeatable power draw numbers that anyone can replicate. The meter used is an off-the-shelf Zalman unit that has been on the market for some time. It provides similar results in my test environment when compared with a FLUKE 337 clamp meter.


Power consumption of the ASUS P87I-PRO was good at both "stock" and when overclocked. It only seems natural to expect decent numbers because of its special VRM design, and the ASUS P87I-PRO fortunately performed admirably here.