Test setup

CPU: Core i7 920 @ 2.66ghz
RAM: 6gb Corsair DDR3
HDD: 250gb WD 7200rpm SATA HDD
Optical drive: LG Bluray/HDDVD Multidrive
CPU cooler: Coolermaster Hyper TX3
PSU: Hiper Type-R 580w
GPU: Gainward GTX260



Installation

Installation was quite easy. The new CPU socket worked well just like the i5 system i’ve recently tested. It was installed on a bench so the combination of the boards sheer size as well as the overall layout helped. This meant that the whole build was complete in no more than 10 minutes.

Overclocking

Overclocking was pretty straight forward. I changed both the multi to 21x (the maximum allowed with the i7 920 i received) and upped the v-core and Bclk (baseclock) settings.

Initially i pushed the chip to a Bclk of 150mhz which returned a 3.15ghz clock. A decent enough overclock of almost 500mhz beyond stock speed.

I then pushed further and upped the Bclk to 180mhz which returned a clock of 3.78ghz – that’s a 1.1ghz overclock. At this clock the chip did run hot under full stress testing load but never skipped a beat during testing at this high speed.

Despite its lower cost it seemed to handle the clock well and i’ve no doubt that under better cooling 4ghz would be achievable.



Sound

The ASUS P6T-SE’s PWM fan control was excellent just like the last ASUS board i tested. It only ever throttled up during high load and even then did it in an unobtrusive and gradual manner. As you can see the board itself is a passive design too meaning the lack of fan noise really gives it extra brownie points! Only during high clocks did the fan really spool up – however, since it had to do this i can forgive it this minor indiscretion.

As with the Maximus III Gene review all i can say is that the P6T-SE has a quiet and effective approach to cooling.