Quantum Force P67 Rattler Motherboard Review

Much like with the Inferno Katana we had extremely high hopes for the P67 Rattler and while most of those were satisfied we find the Rattler to be somewhat disappointing as a break thru enthusiast platform.  When Sandy Bridge was first announced most enthusiasts were under the impression that having a good processor would be the key to getting the most from the P67, however that is only half of the equation.  In fact the motherboard selection has just as much to do with overclocking success as the processor does in overall frequency.

Power management is a key driving factor in making a system stable and even though the Rattler doesn't have vdroop compensation we found total power delivery to be rock solid from idle to full load, In fact when making CPU voltage adjustments there are 3 settings to choose from, Standard, dynamic, and fixed.  Dynamic allows for +X voltage adjustments which can fluctuate wildly, but will never go below the base voltage + [what you set[.  The fixed mode is different and locks the CPU voltage at whatever you type in, regardless of load.  Most overclockers complement a fixed voltage setting with a vdroop but it's clearly not needed on the Rattler.

Motherboard layout is not extremely exciting but does support up to two video cards with dual and triple slot coolers.  Those using dual slot video card coolers can also enjoy a single PCI Express 1x and standard PCI expansion slot making the Rattler a good platform for expandability and upgrades after the initial purchase.

Overall performance was average for a P67 system but we did have some issues overclocking the system which we have attributed to poor BIOS support and likely to be addressed with future BIOS revisions.  Regardless mild overclocks below "our" targeted 4.9Ghz were easily obtainable, and users with 1600Mhz memory should have no issues getting the most from their systems.

Solid Power Delivery
Onboard IDE connector
Triple Slot Cooler Support
Hardware Based OC Button
Black and Red Color Scheme

Issues with overclocking
Small heatsink on P67 chipset
No SLI Support