[Solved] Want a z68 board, but with old style BIOS

You don't need to have old style BIOS to boot from a MBR drive. I own a UEFI motherboard from ASUS and it works perfectly fine with my old MBR drive.

EFI mobos required an EFI partition (and even then not all of them), UEFI does not, and will work with just about any HDD format. UEFI is far superior to BIOS in just about every way! Dont run from progress!

Actually, if I were only going to have Windows then I'd love to have only UEFI bios. My problem is that I prefer Linux as my main system and Windows only for gaming. I also enjoy distro-hopping (fun with Linux), but not all Linux systems work well with UEFI.

But you are correct, I should just buy the most appealing motherboard and learn to make it work. And judging from your replies, it should work without any problems. Thanks for the help.

I don't know from personal experience... but from what I have read, some Linux distros that still use the legacy Grub and Lilo bootloaders won't work with UEFI. If I am not correct, then that just makes me happier. It would be fabulous if I could just install Win7 with UEFI, and then dual-boot with Linux (new install every week) and not experience any bad surprises. I'm not any sort of Linux pro, but am gradually learning more as I continue trying out new versions.

I was only wanting to gain some insight before purchasing the final pieces for the new build.

Do I do that regardless of whether I'm installing only Linux, or dual booting with Win7 already installed? Either way, I presume the HDD already has the efi partition as the first partition, fat32, 200mb? Obviously, I don't quite understand. Thus, I am quite frightened.

Yeah, I already read the Arch threads about dual booting... and that's why I decided to rather just go with MBR on my new build. It's been working fine for me for four years that way. Now it sounds like dedicated individual drives are the most sensible way to deal with it. I'll use the ssd for Windows and a mechanical drive for Linux (since Linux is plenty quick anyway, and not used for gaming). Maybe a second ssd added later this year for Linux. I've been using VM's sometimes for distro-hopping, but prefer a "real" install on the HDD most often... although it's probably illogical to do so.

The high prices really stink, but I'm still gonna buy a mechanical drive and hope it lasts a good long while. I've considered installing Win7 or XP inside a VM in a Linux host and gaming like that. Some people say it works pretty well that way if you got plenty of ram. Sounds kinda fishy to me, but I might try it if only to satisfy my curiosity.

Man, shopping for a motherboard is a real crock of crap. Every time I see one that looks great, I'll start reading the user reviews and get totally discouraged. Two people say its the best board in the world, then two other people talk about it being DOA or an endless booting loop, some even say their board caught fire. I mean, really, who can you believe? Surely some of those reviews are either positive spam or negative trolling by the other manufacturers. So I end up browsing the most expensive or prettiest boards.... and the reviews are still the same. The only thing I'm certain about is that I've had my current ASUS board for more than a year and it's been working perfectly since day one. All day, every day.

Just guessing, I bet I end up buying the prettiest board when purchase-day arrives. Regardless of the brand-name.

Do you mean: What MOBO am I interested in? or Which one caught fire?

Well, first I was really interested in the ASRock Extreme3 Gen 3 or 4 (now trying to decide between P67 or Z68), but after reading the reviews it seems they are very thin and flimsy... and also smaller, so they are missing two mounting holes. I want a sturdy board that won't break when I throw my tower against the wall. So, forget ASRock.

Then I fell in love with the Intel Z68 board with the imprinted blue skull logo with red eyes that flash in unison with cpu activity. But that's the one that caught fire in one of the user reviews. So, forget Intel boards.

Then I was really digging on the ASUS Sabertooth with the Tuf Armor. Nevermind. You gotta remove the plastic "Armor" to reset cmos.

So now it comes down to: EVGA (expensive but nice), MSI (the higher end models look good), BIOSTAR (cheap and ugly... my kind of broad), ASUS (been there, done that. Wanna try something different) or Gigabyte (currently appeals the most to me, but worried about the endless boot-loop. And I really want it to work BEFORE flashing the BIOS).

Price is of no concern. As long as it arrives in working (new) condition and costs less than $250 US.

Wow, that was real nice of you to put up the comparison page. Thanks.

For a P67 board, I would definitely pick the ASUS Revolution. The Z68 boards will take some time to decide, both look great. At this moment I would get the EVGA mostly because it's extended (I'm certain I'd find a way to fill the extra slot), but the Gigabyte is one I had already almost chosen as my final purchase. All three of those have the nicer audio chip. On the other hand, the lower priced ASUS P67 boards would allow me to spend the savings on a better graphics card or bluray drive or fan controller. Tough decision. If I was buying today, I'd get the EVGA. I'm gonna do a bit more research on those, and in a week (when final decision day arrives) I'll be more confident in my choice.

Which one would you get if you absolutely had to buy it today?

I'll be using the I5-2500K Intel cpu w/ CoolerMaster Hyper 212+, so will overclock no higher than 4.2. Probably a GTX 560 Ti, maybe even sli a second one before the end of summer. Eventually hope to have a nice 3D gaming setup. Hopefully shopping for a monitor will be more straightforward.

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

I would either get the 1. ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1), or 2. ASUS P8Z68-V PRO in most instances. If I wanted to build a 3-WAY SLI + PhysX then 100% the ASUS P8P67 WS REVOLUTION.

Something in between plus excellent service and support then hands down the EVGA Z68 FTW. My gaming board is EVGA and I love it

Hmm P67 vs Z68, if you read my posts it's typically the P67 (faster - SATA, USB and often FPS); see -> http://www.anandtech.com/show/4330 [...] v-review/5

In your top post you listed 'Z68' so I included 'my' picks. The Z68's SSD Caching and Quick Sync for 'most' isn't a MUST have item.

The reason I like both of those ASUS LGA 1155 is because I have good experiences OC'ing them with their 12 Phases and low vCores.

No doubt, there's a higher probability you'll need to flash your BIOS with the P67 more so than the Z68. Frankly, my global advice has been to flash the BIOS the second it posts before installing the OS. I don't find using USB Flash Drives to be problematic, it's a little different that before, now there's recovery options just in case to avoid bricking your MOBO.

Even the Z68's I recommend flashing. The P67's as they come off the assembly line use the then current BIOS image so if you run across an old BIOS version you know it's been sitting on the shelf for quite some time <or> the retailer over ordered.

Bottom-Line, don't let that aspect affect your thinking.

Most boot loops are caused by a short/grounding short. As a rule I always breadboard my first couple of posts or in the case if I'm going to be blocking (water cooling) then I bench everything first before deconstructing GPU's or MOBO's if blocking the entire MOBO plus a burn-in typically running overnight.

The most common issues: 1. HSF aftermarket with any metal to MOBO contact; always use a plastic style mount or add plastic washers regardless of the manual, 2. I/O short, 3. Standoff short; I also use plastic washers + silicone to keep them in place, 3. shorted header(s) from the case.

If you breadboard, use known good components, and don't create a User building flub then you have a ~98% chance of success; 2% failure rate is common on all MOBO's regardless of chipset -- shipping damage or defects.

I've migrated away from Arctic Silver 5 (AS5) to Arctic Cooling MX-4 <±0.5C no curing time and it's electrically non-conductive.

However, correct Arctic Silver 5 takes about a week for full efficiency, but full efficiency is 1~3C.

Best answer selected by spankmon.