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Cheap Z68 OC Mobo

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  • Motherboards
  • Overclocking
Last response: in Overclocking
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July 28, 2011 1:33:34 PM

Hi all.

I'm building a PC and have chosen these parts:

Intel i5 2500k
Scythe Mugen 2 (Probably with 2 fans)

Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 S1155 ATX

4GB G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3-1600 DIMM CL6 Dual Kit

750GB Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 64MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s

Nvidia Geforce 260GTX (Already bought, used)

Coolermaster GX Series 750 PSU. (Already bought, used)

Zalman Z9 Plus (and two extra 140mm fans)



I am happy with these parts, but I'm wondering if the GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 motherboard might overclock (CPU + Memory) worse than other, more expensive boards.

Also, the CL6 Ripjaws X wasn't on the supported list, but Ripjaws CL7, and ECO CL7s were. (All 1600mhz) Will the memory work anyway? Or should I just bump the RAM up to CL7 and then a higher frequency?


Any comments on my other parts are welcome too!

Thanks!
-Max


More about : cheap z68 mobo

July 30, 2011 4:45:53 PM

No answers? I guess this is kindof a hard to find thread......
a c 107 V Motherboard
a b K Overclocking
July 30, 2011 5:05:02 PM

That board will likely not overclock as high as more advanced models, because it only has six phases. In general, the more power phases the better the overclock. However, anything over eight phases should be able to overclock the CPU to its highest speed. A good measure for Gigabyte boards is if it's blue, it's not really meant for overclocking and if it's black, you're good to go. There are exceptions, but that's the general theme.

G.Skill is good quality memory, and you should be fine even though that specific model isn't on the list.
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July 30, 2011 8:30:06 PM

Ah, ok. I've always liked Gigabytes products, but never gotten their naming/classification.... How can you tell it only has 3 phases? The "D3" at the end?
The Blue/Black rule is simpler, also black looks real nice....

Now I've found the Asus Maximus IV GENE-Z, which looks sick and supposivly overclocks well, but its only mirco ATX (two pcie16, one pcie1) and its not too cheap...

The computer store I worked at for a short time was always selling the GA-Z68MA-D2H Z68, a blue/white mATX board, to me it looks the same as the other cheap one, but its more expensive....

The Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 is the cheapest black board available to me right now, about the same price as the ASUS Maximus, but its a full sized board with plenty of slots.



Im leaning toward the ASUS only because of the professional red/black look, but thats only if I need to spend that much money on a good overclock.
a c 107 V Motherboard
a b K Overclocking
July 31, 2011 4:57:59 AM

Count the number of cube-looking chokes around the CPU socket, usually only on the top and left sides of it. That's how many phases the CPU has. The board in your initial post has six phases, but eight or more are needed.

You can easily overclock on a less expensive board than the Maximus. Plus, you get a full-ATX size. About $160 is what you need to spend for good overclocking and SLI/CF capability. If you can sacrifice SLI/CF, then you can go down to the $130 mark for a good overclocker.
July 31, 2011 8:39:34 AM

Ok, so I'm searching for a board with eight or more chokes, full atx, maybe CF/SLI, low price. Do you have any suggestions?

However, I'm seeing that alot of the more expensive boards (Asus P8Z68-V) dont even have chokes, just the small cylinder shaped things (VRMs right?) Does that count as no chokes?
a c 107 V Motherboard
a b K Overclocking
July 31, 2011 5:19:44 PM

They actually do, but they are hidden under the heat sinks around the socket. The P8Z68 Deluxe, -V, and -V PRO have 12 phases for CPU and four phases for iGPU. The -V LE has four for CPU and two for iGPU. The GENE-Z and Extreme-Z have eight for CPU and four for iGPU.

My recommendations:
ASRock P67 Extreme4
ASUS P8P67 Pro
Gigabyte P67A-UD4
MSI P67A-GD55
All have eight or more phases, x8/x8 CF and SLI, and lower priced than Z68. Unless you need the iGPU features or Smart Response (SSD caching), I suggest the P67 chipset boards.
August 1, 2011 10:08:36 AM

Well I was actually thinking of getting a 64gb Crucial m4 SSD. Its got a great read rate but small storage and price. So I do think a z68 would be nice.

Well looking at my options, the P8Z68-V looks good. 130 euro and has all I need.

Good deal, right?
a c 107 V Motherboard
a b K Overclocking
August 1, 2011 6:41:08 PM

Smart Response is good an all, but performance is still better when you use an SSD for a boot drive with Windows and your most-used programs and have a platter hard drive for the rest of your programs and data. I recently bought a Kingston SSDNow V+100 96GB SSD for that myself, and the performance boost is incredible.

Besides, a 64GB SSD is a waste for Smart Response. There's a 20GB Intel SSD (model 311 I think) that's made specifically for that and will give even better performance.
August 1, 2011 7:30:26 PM

Well I did end up getting the ASUS P8Z68-V, and a 30 euro 500GB Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 16MB SATA 3gb/s. For me, SSDs are nice, but just too expensive, and that money is only for better boot times/application loading times. I'll save up my money and get an SSD later, when they are cheaper and faster.
I was debating buying a 500gb WDC Black, which had 64mb cache, sata 6gbs, and a look black speedometer logo, but I read that it wasnt that much better than the Samsung, but more expensive....

PS: Since you are the only person who actually took the time to help me, (Thank you!) I'd like to choose a best answer and close the thread. How would I do that?
!