Whilst researching on the Z68 chipset motherboards, and finding disappointment with lack of RAID support on the additional (non-Intel) SATA 3 ports, I have looked into Gigabyte boards.
However, several models do not have the VGA/DVI-D ports on the back panel, stating that a discrete "VGA Card Required."
Now, the new LGA 1155 CPU, integrated video in part of the processor chip (iGPU). But the P67 boards didn't use it, do these Z68 Gigabyte boards support the Lucidlogix’s Virtu software?
One of the boards I'm refering to is the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3. Because it supports Crossfire, and lesser boards only support SLI?
I want a Z68 motherboard to have the following features:
1.) At least 8 SATA ports (with at least 2 SATA 3), all RAID supported, even if different controllers (I only paired 2 drives together, 3 times. Thus 6 drives (2 SSD, 4HDD, plus 1 optical.)
2.) 2-way Crossfire support, for my XFX HD Radeon 6850 in the future.
3.) Intergrated sound and LAN are great. Never had any problems with them. Keeps PCI ports open, but for what?
4.) Z68 chipset benefits of SSD caching AND iGPU video virtualization. Even if I don't use them, or see much benefit/improvements. Why else wait for Z68?
5.) Ease of overclocking. I like the idea of the new UEFI BIOS, but Gigabyte hasn't gotten there.
Here is my plan, motherboard to support these components:
A.) Intel Core i5 2500K - water cooled
B.) 2x4GB DDR3-1600 memory (will add more in future)
C.) Radeon 6850 (will add another in crossfire in future)
D.) 8 SATA drives:
2xSSD - in RAID 0 for OS/Programs [RAID 0 for size & speed] (Will upgrade to 2xSATA 3 SSD in future)
2xHDD - in RAID 0 for Data/Media [RAID 0 for size, more than speed] (Can drop to 1 if SATA ports run out/short, to do below)
1xSSD - to pair with above for SSD caching
2xHDD - in RAID 0 for Back Up (RAID 0 for size, more than speed)
1 Optical drive - Blu-Ray Burner
E.) Onnboard LAN - one Gigabit port
F.) Onboard Sound - support 2.1 (which my speakers take care of)
G.) 6 USB ports - 2 front, 4 back
H.) As many fan headers as possible - currently have 5 case fans, a RAM fan, and 1x4pin PMR CPU fan (not all plugged into mobo).
Anyways, my main question remains in bold above.
However, several models do not have the VGA/DVI-D ports on the back panel, stating that a discrete "VGA Card Required."
Now, the new LGA 1155 CPU, integrated video in part of the processor chip (iGPU). But the P67 boards didn't use it, do these Z68 Gigabyte boards support the Lucidlogix’s Virtu software?
One of the boards I'm refering to is the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3. Because it supports Crossfire, and lesser boards only support SLI?
I want a Z68 motherboard to have the following features:
1.) At least 8 SATA ports (with at least 2 SATA 3), all RAID supported, even if different controllers (I only paired 2 drives together, 3 times. Thus 6 drives (2 SSD, 4HDD, plus 1 optical.)
2.) 2-way Crossfire support, for my XFX HD Radeon 6850 in the future.
3.) Intergrated sound and LAN are great. Never had any problems with them. Keeps PCI ports open, but for what?
4.) Z68 chipset benefits of SSD caching AND iGPU video virtualization. Even if I don't use them, or see much benefit/improvements. Why else wait for Z68?
5.) Ease of overclocking. I like the idea of the new UEFI BIOS, but Gigabyte hasn't gotten there.
Here is my plan, motherboard to support these components:
A.) Intel Core i5 2500K - water cooled
B.) 2x4GB DDR3-1600 memory (will add more in future)
C.) Radeon 6850 (will add another in crossfire in future)
D.) 8 SATA drives:
2xSSD - in RAID 0 for OS/Programs [RAID 0 for size & speed] (Will upgrade to 2xSATA 3 SSD in future)
2xHDD - in RAID 0 for Data/Media [RAID 0 for size, more than speed] (Can drop to 1 if SATA ports run out/short, to do below)
1xSSD - to pair with above for SSD caching
2xHDD - in RAID 0 for Back Up (RAID 0 for size, more than speed)
1 Optical drive - Blu-Ray Burner
E.) Onnboard LAN - one Gigabit port
F.) Onboard Sound - support 2.1 (which my speakers take care of)
G.) 6 USB ports - 2 front, 4 back
H.) As many fan headers as possible - currently have 5 case fans, a RAM fan, and 1x4pin PMR CPU fan (not all plugged into mobo).
Anyways, my main question remains in bold above.