ASRock, Asus and Gigabyte - Which one?

[todaytomorrow]

Hello all,

Trying to decide which one to buy to go with my new build. At the moment, I'm looking at the Asus P8Z68-V PRO, Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 and ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3.

Asus ($230AUD) - What I like about it, is that it's cheaper than Gigabyte, comes with an Anti-virus software and has bluetooth.
What I don't like about it, is that it has an integrated gpu.

Gigabyte ($359) - It doesn't have an integrated graphics card, PCIEx16 x2, Norton internet and plenty of USB3.0.
It costs considerably more expensive compared to the other two.

ASRock ($225AUD) - Cheaper than the previous two, PCIE3.0 and plenty of the 2.0 and plenty of SATAIII.
It has an integrated gpu.

What I don't get it, is why the gigabyte is much more expensive. I don't know much about motherboards, so is it the chips/controllers or the number of features/sockets?

With integrated GPU's, are they hindering the motherboard in any way if they're not being used? Will Lucid Virtu switch automatically to the integrated GPU whenever I alt-tab/switch to a less graphic-intensive application? If that's the case, it'll have lots of switching to do, because I tab to many different applications (photoshop, word, notebook, internet, games, excel etc.). As you can see, I'm not exactly sure how Lucid Virtu works.

Also, what's "PS/2 keyboard/mouse port"? is that just the Play Station controllers? If I only have an Xbox, how will I be able to use their controllers instead?

So I'm trying to figure out which one suits my needs. I'll be gaming 90% of the time. Will be pairing the mobo with i5 2500k, HIS 6780 IceQ X Turbo X, Enermax Modu87 Plus 700 Watt PSU, crucial m4 120gb SSD, Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD, CoolerMaster Storm Enforcer (I'll be asking some build questions on the other forum).

Any help is appreciated.

 

[henydiah]

Asus P8Z68 pro is good choice,

Not important, Just my opinion, some people prefer asus P8P67pro for i5 2500K , very worth for high oc and gaming

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

The Gigabyte is more expensive because it's their top of the line overclocking model with a way over the top 24-phase power system. The other two have around eight phases. Note that even an eight-phase power system will overclock the CPU to its maximum speed. Below eight phases is not recommended for overclocking.

The ASUS and ASRock don't actually have an integrated GPU. They simply allow the use of the 2500K's integrated GPU. This is not a hindrance to the mainboard.

Yes, the Virtu would switch between the iGPU and graphics card depending on the application. You can also turn this off so it doesn't switch.

A PS/2 port isn't for the Sony PS2 game system. It's an old round keyboard/mouse connection. Nowadays most of us use USB for the keyboard and mouse.

 

[todaytomorrow]

Best answer selected by TodayTomorrow.

 

[todaytomorrow]

Oh, sweet, thanks for the replies

OK, thank you Leaps-from-Shadows.

I remember the circle-like ports years ago for the keyboard and mice. So that's what they're called.

Ah, I thought the motherboard had the integrated gpu. Thank you for clearing that up.