GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 vs GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3

[vlahka]

So I'm planning to upgrade but I'm not too sure which version of board to go with. Both have a pretty large jump in price compared, and the features seem to be practically the same. Is there something I'm missing. I've been reading reviews and really getting nowhere. Thanks for any help.

 

[jsanthara]

In my opinion the UD4 doesn't offer enough extras to justify the difference in price. The UD4 has a few extra ports; two USB 2.0 ports and an extra eSATA (which makes 2 eSATA that can be used for RAID 0 or 1, kind of cool).

The UD4 also has "GIGABYTE's cutting edge 16 phase power VRM design" as opposed to the UD3H's 7 phases. I am not exactly sure how important this is, but supposedly it can makes the motherboard more durable and longer lasting by putting less stress on each power phase.

On the downside, the UD4 requires a discrete graphics card, and therefore can not utilize the on-die graphics from the core ix-xxxx series (Intel HD graphics 2000/3000). I own the UD3H and I really like if something goes wrong with my video card that I won't be sitting around unable to use my computer while I am waiting for a replacement. I haven't got around to trying out VIRTU yet but I look forward to it.

Bottom line, I don't see enough advantages to go with the UD4. Obviously I am little biased, since when I was faced with picking out a board I went with the UD3H, but I figured I would put my two cents in.

 

[abekl]

Interesting. I am exactly on the other side of the fence. I went with the UD4 specifically because it has more ports than the UD3H. The on board graphics was a non-issue for me since I exclusively use a discrete graphics card.

 

[vlahka]

I actually didnt know about the graphics part with the 2000 series on the UD3. I'm wondering, is there a way to link the bonus power of that while using a dedicated card to get some extra performance, or are they exclusively locked away from each other.

 

[jsanthara]

I don't think that you can "link" them, or utilize the power of both simultaneously, but there is something called "Virtu" that aims to use them both efficiently. For more information of Virtu you can click the link below.

http://www.lucidlogix.com/product-virtu.html

 

[vlahka]

Oh ok thats along the lines of what I was thinking, pretty cool. So if I had the UD3H, an i2500 and an nvidia 560Ti, would this thing just work automatically or do I install this Virtu software to get it working.

 

[jsanthara]

No, it doesn't work automatically, you would have to install/configure it yourself. I am not sure how to go about this, as I have not got around to it yet.