ASRock Z68 Extreme4 vs Asus P8Z68-V - First Build

[blaqkhail]

Hey guys,

I'll be ordering parts for my first build next week. Initially, for the motherboard, I was going to go with the P8Z68-V because I liked the BIOS and its warning LEDs for RAM, CPU, GPU, and boot drive problems. The Z68 Extreme4, on the other hand, doesn't disable PCI slots depending on which are occupied which may be handy in future upgrades and I also feel it'd look nicer in my black case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264


What are your opinions? I feel that the P8Z68-V would be easier to sort out problems because of it's warning LEDs.
Will I be okay with just the Extreme4's debug LED if decide to go with it and have issues?

Build info:
CPU: i5 2500k
GPU: Sapphire 6870 1GB
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600 (4 x 2GB)
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2
SSD: Crucial M4 128 GB

 

[chesteracorgi]

Both are very capable mobos, the diffference is features. ASRock has 4 SATA 3 ports to ASUS's 2. ASUS has 6 Audio ports to ASR's 5 and ASUS has a 3 yr warranty to ASR's 2.

Sorting out problems is a consideration, but my preference is for the extra SATA ports for expansion over ASUS's 3 yr warranty and (perhaps) better audio.

 

[blaqkhail]

Both are very capable mobos, the diffference is features. ASRock has 4 SATA 3 ports to ASUS's 2. ASUS has 6 Audio ports to ASR's 5 and ASUS has a 3 yr warranty to ASR's 2.

Sorting out problems is a consideration, but my preference is for the extra SATA ports for expansion over ASUS's 3 yr warranty and (perhaps) better audio.

Thanks for the reply.

Sorting out problems is probably my biggest concern as a new builder, which is why the P8Z68 has sway over me. But I definitely would take two more SATA 3 ports over one extra audio port. Though, another year on the warranty is nice.

 

[Black-Lotus]

In the same predicament. Cannot decide between the Z68-V Pro/GEN3 and the Extreme4 GEN3. A feature left out here or added there can change everything (eg: I need the VGA port for connecting my UPS but also want 4 SATA 4 ports )