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The Intel Z68 Express Review: A Real Enthusiast Chipset

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  • Chipsets
  • Sandy Bridge
  • Intel
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May 11, 2011 7:00:16 AM

Back when Sandy Bridge launched (before the Cougar Point bug delayed Intel's platforms), we were already recommending that enthusiasts hold off on P67 and H67 in favor of Z68 Express. Was this enthusiast-oriented platform worth a four-month wait?

The Intel Z68 Express Review: A Real Enthusiast Chipset : Read more

More about : intel z68 express review real enthusiast chipset

May 11, 2011 7:41:55 AM

The Intel 311 might be one of the weirdest products I've seen for a while.

It doesn't have an impact on games and apps which are too large to be cached and 60 GB drives that blow the 311 out of the water can be had for 20 bucks more.

And as far as getting QuickSync, it's about time. Should have been done in P67 (along with USB 3.0 support and 6 x SATA III ports) is all I can say.
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May 11, 2011 7:51:51 AM

In an ideal world, that's what we should have seen, but Lucidlogix's Virtu really makes Z68 worth it.
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May 11, 2011 8:11:59 AM

What is this "QuickSync"? My people do not have this word …
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May 11, 2011 8:12:43 AM

Sir and madam working at intel.You make us customers look retarded.Thank you.
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May 11, 2011 8:18:03 AM

mayankleoboy1is this realy the platform for enthusiasts? with almost daily news of lga2011 ... its a little bit hard to get too happy with this
Yes it is!
I am going to buy myself a Z68 mobo and a Core i5-2500K within a few weeks.

If you buy yourself an LGA2011 based platform we can get together a month from now and compare the results!
... or rather not, since it will take at least half a year for the 2011 to become available.

Let's face it. For at least a full month from now the Z68 will be the enthusiast platform.
Then AMD's competition will arrive, and we'll see how much of an option that is.
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May 11, 2011 9:01:57 AM

A good comparison would have been striping hard disks to compare against caching with EEPROMs. You'd have more capacity, a lot more, and wouldn't have a technology that dies after a certain amount of writes, which is dubious to use for something that's being used as a cache, and written on rather consistently.

Performance of Raid 0 would be higher than a single disk, and you'd be increasing performance without a loss in capacity (per dollar). Or, if you wanted the same capacity. you could get higher performance disks, and compare them that way.

If I want to spend an extra $100 to make my computer faster, will it? Duh, of course. That's all this article is saying. Is it the best way to spend that $100? Well, that much isn't clear at all. It wasn't compared with much of anything else. Two high capacity disks striped, and two higher performance disks (but lower capacity) striped, versus one disk and EEPROMs. All should be the same cost. It's more useful information. You'd have three fundamental choices - huge capacity, high "Winchester" performance, and low capacity with EEPROM caching. You could do a search on the capacity trade-offs pretty easily, but the performance difference between this caching and a high performance magnetic disk in RAID 0 is much less clear. Obviously, the hard disks would win a lot of tests, and could be a better buy for a lot of people.

It is worth looking at.
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May 11, 2011 10:33:33 AM

Another little detail:
Larsen Creek was the work name for Intel's SSD.
The final name now in use is Larson Creek, as can be easily read in the picture.
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May 11, 2011 10:43:14 AM

Hey, did I read this right, the theoretical maximum of the 2600K and 2500k chips is 5.7 ghtz???? Has anyone ever got a cpu that high? The most Ive read about is 5.0 ghtz and that was with water cooling. So does 5.7 ghtz exist?
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Anonymous
May 11, 2011 10:50:46 AM

My GoD!

Intels output is capped at 1920x1200? Below my native res! I've been forced to put my buy on hold...

What were they thinking?
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May 11, 2011 10:58:02 AM

flongHey, did I read this right, the theoretical maximum of the 2600K and 2500k chips is 5.7 ghtz???? Has anyone ever got a cpu that high? The most Ive read about is 5.0 ghtz and that was with water cooling. So does 5.7 ghtz exist?
That result is with only 1 core running though remember
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May 11, 2011 11:09:55 AM

I don't think that the output is capped at 1920 x 1200 because virtu let's you switch to the discrete GPU which can handle greater resolutions if you need it to by buying the appropriate GPU. For example, an ATI 6970 would run a 27" monitor which requires a greater resolution than 1920 x 1200. At least that's the way I think it works.
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May 11, 2011 11:13:18 AM

Olle PAnother little detail:Larsen Creek was the work name for Intel's SSD.The final name now in use is Larson Creek, as can be easily read in the picture.


Fixed! Thanks.
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May 11, 2011 12:34:07 PM

Boring platform. Really Intel? LGA1155, LGA1156, H67, P67, Z68 make up your mind!
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May 11, 2011 12:34:41 PM

another reason i dislike intel is bull like this, so your telling me that EVEN IF i buy the most expensive enthusiast class mobo i can utilize all the features without third party intervention??

i ask again just for the slow, why in the world after purchasing there best mobo do i have to wait for third party intervention to utilize all features?

ether that or i missed something and i shouldn't be reading and posting @ 4am >_>
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May 11, 2011 1:26:44 PM

Quote:
Our assumption here is that you care about Intel's Quick Sync technology.


I loled at that... Is there anyone out there running an OCed 2500K/2600K that doesn't have a discrete GPU?
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a b å Intel
May 11, 2011 1:27:25 PM

There are 13 of these on Newegg already, and the prices do look in line with good P67 boards. With around $200 estimated for the mobo in my upcoming [re]build, I'll get one of these if I choose SB.

Edit: The "700W" Xion PSU would never taste A/C, but otherwise I'm in for the contest...would be really nice...
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May 11, 2011 1:38:02 PM

-On SSD chaching-
Is it just me or doesn't this seem to be: to little, too late, too clunky, too expensive to be worth it? Reminds me of all they hype for "Ready Boost", seems a little gimmicky.

Strait out of the article - "You’re going to get faster application loading from a 120 GB Vertex 2, for example, than any combination of SSD caching."

So why not keep doing things the way we have with SSD's the past few years, skip all this and not waste a SSD on chache by spending just a little bit more? 1. Buy a system drive SSD and load a OS and some app's/games, and a HDD or two for mass storage. -or- 2. Drop the cash and buy one or two large volume SSD's and maybe a storage HDD, then be done with it.

The way I use my PC I just cant see the benefits of this tech in any way, but I do understand that there are different kinds of users and others my find this a viable option, just not me.

And 3rd party software to get all the features of a CPU, no thanks, never going to happen on my PC. Come on Intel stop treating use like sheep and sell us something that isn't dumbed down or crippled for your own devices.
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May 11, 2011 1:38:46 PM

Read the article on my phone. Might've missed something, but I really don't see why quick sync is so important and cool? it didn't seem to really do anything in the benchmarks?
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May 11, 2011 1:48:37 PM

flong said:
Hey, did I read this right, the theoretical maximum of the 2600K and 2500k chips is 5.7 ghtz???? Has anyone ever got a cpu that high? The most Ive read about is 5.0 ghtz and that was with water cooling. So does 5.7 ghtz exist?



Check out the sub-zero overclocking page:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-r...
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May 11, 2011 1:51:30 PM

SSD caching is about one of the dumbest ideas considering a cost/benefit analysis.

If I am going to spend $100 on a SSD drive it wont be for caching. Until a viable SSD caching solution can be had for
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Anonymous
May 11, 2011 2:04:15 PM

Something weird happened to me.

I searched for z68 at newegg and z68 motherboards came out. I selected gigabyte which had 8 motherboards on newegg. Afterwards, they all suddenly dissapeared and even though i search or browse for z68 they don't appear again... did a see something?
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May 11, 2011 2:18:38 PM

Cool technology, but until Intel settles on a socket type I'm staying with AMD
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Anonymous
May 11, 2011 2:22:59 PM

bear95Something weird happened to me.I searched for z68 at newegg and z68 motherboards came out. I selected gigabyte which had 8 motherboards on newegg. Afterwards, they all suddenly dissapeared and even though i search or browse for z68 they don't appear again... did a see something?


nevermind just me :p 
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May 11, 2011 2:32:57 PM

daygallanother reason i dislike intel is bull like this, so your telling me that EVEN IF i buy the most expensive enthusiast class mobo i can utilize all the features without third party intervention??i ask again just for the slow, why in the world after purchasing there best mobo do i have to wait for third party intervention to utilize all features?ether that or i missed something and i shouldn't be reading and posting @ 4am >_>


I too, am wondering if I need LucidLogic's software to use a discreet GPU and QuickSync at the same time. Can anyone answer this question for us?
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May 11, 2011 2:42:53 PM

"Somewhere along the way, though, marketing got in the way"

I was ready to buy in January. Then I became aware of what everyone else saw in P67/H67 and artificially disabled features.

My wallet remained close. Bad marketing, methinks. Hopefully someone (that matters) from Intel can see this.
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May 11, 2011 2:45:16 PM

Can we have Marvell's Hyperduo vs Intel's SRT benchmark too please?
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Anonymous
May 11, 2011 3:17:04 PM

I´m interested if the Intel ssd311 caching would be any good in a server(homeserver) anyone got an idea in that?
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May 11, 2011 3:39:02 PM

Great article Toms! Useful for anyone wanting to switch over to Z68 and utilize its features.
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May 11, 2011 4:14:03 PM

spectrewind"Somewhere along the way, though, marketing got in the way"I was ready to buy in January. Then I became aware of what everyone else saw in P67/H67 and artificially disabled features.My wallet remained close. Bad marketing, methinks. Hopefully someone (that matters) from Intel can see this.


You need Z68 + Virtu to make that happen.
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Anonymous
May 11, 2011 4:15:10 PM

I think the title is missing a question mark at the end of "Chipset".
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May 11, 2011 4:21:44 PM

I'm grabbing a P67 to go along a 2500K. It's nice to see the Z68 has a few more stuff, but nothing major for me. Just a few fancy things that should've come along the P67.
I'm still going to be happy with a 60gb SSD for OS + 2 apps; and i'm missing the point of QuickSync since I don't convert anythingbesides wmw/avi/rmvb to DVD.

Not spending another ~$40 for a Z68.
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May 11, 2011 4:31:35 PM

I just checked out the contest. I have to waive all moral rights in my entry? WTF?
Quote:
In addition, a potential Winner may be required to sign a release in which he/she irrevocably assigns and transfers to the Sponsors any and all rights, title and interest in Entry, including, without limitation, all copyrights and trademark rights, and waives all moral rights in the Entry.
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May 11, 2011 5:00:48 PM

The dates listed on the contest are wrong I think. After submitting my entry, it said entries submitted between two dates in March, rather than the obviously correct dates of 11 May and 25 May.
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May 11, 2011 5:01:27 PM

If I buy a Z68 board without any video outputs on it, can I still take advantage of Quick Sync or do I lose that b/c I need to use a dedicated graphics card?
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May 11, 2011 5:52:33 PM

@If you’re serious about squeezing the most performance out of Intel's Z68 Express platform, you need a K-series processor.

How long a processor such as 2600K would last under heavy OC? 5 years against 7-9 years? What's the figure, roughly? How much OC is safe for such processors? Hmmm, up to 30%? I've never tried to do my own studies in that area so anyone could answer them?

Lastly, it was Gigabyte for P55 and Asus for P67. Who's for Z68? (I understand Gigabyte too updated their MOBOs with EYI etc). So, which maker is recommended by Tom? Thanks.
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May 11, 2011 6:37:51 PM

lradunovic77 said:
I can convert same movie using NVIDIA SLI Setup + 1366 Socket CPU for 15 minutes.


Wrong you can't. We did the full benchmarks. Read the whole article please. This is a FULL Blu-Ray transcoding job. This isn't a lightweight DVD. We're talking about straight Blu-Ray rip into a H.264 6 Mbps 1280x720 video file.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/video-transcoding-a...

It takes more than 2.5x longer on CUDA.

jinxed_07 said:
If I buy a Z68 board without any video outputs on it, can I still take advantage of Quick Sync or do I lose that b/c I need to use a dedicated graphics card?


Z68 boards will come with video outputs.
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May 11, 2011 6:38:43 PM

akula2 said:
@If you’re serious about squeezing the most performance out of Intel's Z68 Express platform, you need a K-series processor.

How long a processor such as 2600K would last under heavy OC? 5 years against 7-9 years? What's the figure, roughly? How much OC is safe for such processors? Hmmm, up to 30%? I've never tried to do my own studies in that area so anyone could answer them?

Lastly, it was Gigabyte for P55 and Asus for P67. Who's for Z68? (I understand Gigabyte too updated their MOBOs with EYI etc). So, which maker is recommended by Tom? Thanks.


We have an upcoming Z68 roundup.
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May 11, 2011 6:39:36 PM

dapneym said:
The dates listed on the contest are wrong I think. After submitting my entry, it said entries submitted between two dates in March, rather than the obviously correct dates of 11 May and 25 May.


I'll pass the word along so it's corrected.
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Anonymous
May 11, 2011 7:27:07 PM

Am i correct in thinking most of the z68 gigabyte boards don't actually support intels HD graphics or quick sync effectively making them a flowery p67?
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May 11, 2011 7:53:39 PM

pavlos88Am i correct in thinking most of the z68 gigabyte boards don't actually support intels HD graphics or quick sync effectively making them a flowery p67?


Check out the pic on the first page. You get Intel HD graphics on the Z68 just like the H67. Drop in a video card + install Virtu and you can use QuickSync and the discrete graphics card at the same time.
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May 11, 2011 8:43:33 PM

@acku

I'll check the z68 roundup for sure. But what about this:

"How long a processor such as 2600K would last under heavy OC? 5 years against 7-9 years? What's the figure, roughly? How much OC is safe for such processors? Hmmm, up to 30%?"

Have you done any work in that direction? If yes, please share. Today's market is getting too much focused on OCing thing but in the real world out there (researcher/corporate/office) most don't do it so am looking from this perspective if OCing is healthy to do it on weekly basis (say 40-60 hrs). Do respond.
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May 11, 2011 8:50:47 PM

flongHey, did I read this right, the theoretical maximum of the 2600K and 2500k chips is 5.7 ghtz???? Has anyone ever got a cpu that high? The most Ive read about is 5.0 ghtz and that was with water cooling. So does 5.7 ghtz exist?


http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1746796
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May 11, 2011 8:58:16 PM

thechief73 said:
-On SSD chaching- ...
So why not keep doing things the way we have with SSD's the past few years, ...
You mean "not use it because it's prohibitively expensive"?
If that works for you, then fine with me...
The Greater Good said:
I too, am wondering if I need LucidLogic's software to use a discreet GPU and QuickSync at the same time.
Yes, for now! Both nVidia and AMD are working on drivers to do the same job as Virtu, adapted for their graphics cards.
jinxed_07 said:
If I buy a Z68 board without any video outputs on it, can I still take advantage of Quick Sync or do I lose that b/c I need to use a dedicated graphics card?
See the answer above.
- Most Gigabyte cards come with neither video outputs nor Virtu support. It's not clear yet whether the video card manufacturer's drivers will work with these, but I don't think so because I don't think the chipset has connection to the iGPU.
- Asus will release some cards without video connector but with Virtu support. These will definitely be able to use QS.
Quote:
Am i correct in thinking most of the z68 gigabyte boards don't actually support intels HD graphics or quick sync effectively making them a flowery p67?
That's correct. Only bords with an H in the designation, like GA-Z68-UD3H-B3, have video ouputs (and support Virtu).
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May 11, 2011 9:01:08 PM

@Olle P

That was incredible. I didn't know we could install Windows XP on the latest Hardware such as Maximus IV Extreme + 2600K. Was that straight forward installation from the Asus MOBO CD? Please share a little as I got 2 more XP Pro licenses left. Thank you
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May 11, 2011 9:02:38 PM

Sorry I was referring to saood06, NOT Olle P.
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