Help buying a z68 mobo

I just purchased a z68 and looked closely at the ASRock Extreme4 and the Asus and the Asus P8Z68 V Pro...I think Gigabyte has a few nice boards, but didn't like that they didn't have the the ability to have the integrated graphics (if I wanted to use it as a HTPC down the road...after retiring from my main rig).

They are in the $200 range. There are plenty of cheaper options, but those are the ones I liked when comparing features and specs.

what do you plan on doing with it? if it is just for gaming, p67 and z68 will do the exact same thing. if you plan on doing video editing/rendering than z68 is better

but both of the boards huron posted are great, and have p67 equivalents

Thanks Huron !


Yes,I have been lookin at the asus mobo's too,I just found out more about the z68's and p67's and I might go for the p67 chipset finally,since i will be doing only light video editing etc. and I won't miss the SSD caching that much.

And so,Asus p8p67 pro looks good to me.

btw,what RAM would suit my config best? 4gb or 8gb? 1333 or 1600MHz? and any other specs i should look for RAM?

Honestly, I found RAM to be so inexpensive at this point, that it's tough not to buy at least a 2 x 4GB kit...get yourself 8GB in only 2 slots and be good to go for a decent amount of time.

I've liked Crucial (in the past), but recently bough G. Skill and really like it. Corsair has always been good to me too.

The RAM speed isn't as big of a deal unless you are going to OC a decent amount. Generally the 1600 MHz has come down to nearly the same price as the 1333, so I picked those up.

About the only thing that I have to add to this is if you look at Gigabyte's Z68 boards and you want support for the IGP (Intergraded Graphics on Processor) make that the board that you select has that support. About half of all Gigabyte Z68 boards don't have support for the IGP, so you won't be able to use the On processor graphics, you must always have a video card.

Christain Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

Gigabytes has some very nice offerings..... just see the ad running on this site for a link to their site

My added tidbits.

nVidia choices to consider - The GTX 460 SLI is faster than a single GTX 570 and on par with GTX 580, but what are you going to do later? Toss both GTX 460, it's impossible to 3-WAY a GTX 460 or GTX 560. However, 2-WAY GTX 570 down the line is much faster and you can have the option of 3-WAY with either the GTX 570 or GTX 580. edit for clarity - in SLI the nVidia GPU must be all the same.

P67 or Z68 - Gaming - either performs the same, some tests the Z68 is actually slower, the Virtu is essentially useless and in some cases defaults to iGPU if the game is unsupported via the Virtu Control panel so iGPU or i-Mode isn't an advantage to Gamers. The SSD Caching is Financially useless, for a few bucks more get ANY 120GB or larger SSD and double or triple your speed on everything off the SSD {OS + Apps + Game}. Leaving the Quick Sync as the only viable plus, so IF you make a ton of MPEG 2/4 videos it's the only cause for the Z68.

So before recommending a MOBO you need to be certain the Z68 or P67 is the better option, and next you need to decide if 3-WAY down the line is an option. In 3-4 months, or less, the GTX 570/580 are going to drop in price big-time guessing 30%-50% off. IMO the 3-WAY P67/Z68 like the GA-P67A-UD7-B3 or GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 {no Virtu/Quick Sync} are fine but the NF200 adds some latency whereas the Native doesn't and are better for 2-WAY.

Q - P67 or Z68?
Q - 3-WAY Option?

newegg just dropped the price on CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 to an insane $60 today. I just paid $84 minus a $9 credit for this GSkill ram (G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL) they issued to me for a price drop the day after mine arrived, so I got it for $75.

Be nice if all of those 1155 Z68 mobos would drop in price too. I got my i5 2500K CPU for $180 at Micro Center in Dallas.

Thanks all for the inputs.I'll look into the Gigabyte's.

As far as the z68 and p67 choice goes,I've made my mind for the p67 based on my needs.

The 3-way sli though tempting will probably not be my choice.Question being if I'll ever really need a 3-Way Sli? I'm a person who's happy even with 40+ fps in games and "almost" high/ultra settings. Maybe 3-D games then?

Plus I already own one GTX-460 so I was planning to buy another one now for the new config.

And one more thing,is there any point in waiting a lil bit for a price drop in the mobo's and proc's? I'm not in that much of a hurry so I could wait a bit,if a significant drop were expected.

hmm..

I'll probably never get into the enuthusiast lines,as in,I usually look for above avg to high performing hardware,not extremes.

So i'll probably not being going for the SB-E's and hence LGA2011 because they'll probably be out of my budget.

But what i AM thinking now of is waiting for the ivy bridge.But then,I have no clue what those proc's will cost like,will i get one equaivalent to the price/performance ratio of the core i5 2500K ?

Also,will ivy bridge be supported by the z68 or p67 mobo's?

Thanks for all your input jaquith,hoping for some more.

Yes, the Ivy Bridge CPU will run on the P67/Z68, but IMO I'd team it up with the new Panther Point chipsets and MOBO's supporting PCIe 3.0 e.g. Z77 due 'Q1 2012.'

Good Article -> http://www.anandtech.com/show/4318/intel-roadmap-ivy-br...

Hmm..

Now that i know more about the Ivy bridge,after wating for 7-8months,i dont mind waiting another 4-5 months,maybe not for the mobo's but the processors at least.

It'll certainly be cool-er to have a tri-gate proc in the config. ;-)

Thanks Jaquith and everyone else for their advice.

Best answer selected by forcooler.

I have just put together a new i7 My choice is the Asrock extreme3 Gen 3 Awesome Price/Performance Has Lucid tech/ Virtu which takes advantage of the integrated graphics on the i5/i7 sandy bridge. The Board is also PCIe 3.0 ready and supports the new ivy bridge... You cant go wrong with this board... Stable 2600k @ 4.8ghz


specs
AsRock extreme3 gen 3
i7 2600k
16 gigs DDR3 1600 Gskill Ripjaw
Evga GTX 580
Xfi Etreme Music
In BUC101
Siverstone 750


Hope this helps
Whiplash

This topic has been closed by Nikorr