Help in choosing motherboard

[HighSeraphim]

I'm Comparing the Asus P8Z68-V LE (Refurbed from Tiger Direct) at $119.96 vs the P8Z68-V Pro at $204

I'm planning on over-clocking a Core i5 2500K. (Also purchasing)

I'm trying to do this on a budget < $500 for memory, processor, Mobo

Is there a great advantage to the Pro vs the LE?
I see that the LE lacks onboard Bluetooth (Don't care) and that the LE has a few less usb... eh..

Anything else big?

 

[aqe040466]

Asus MB's have problems, they have double startups and freezing during boot. Rather I recommend Gigabyte or Biostar MB's.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0375352
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0371606

 

[HighSeraphim]

Asus MB's have problems, they have double startups and freezing during boot. Rather I recommend Gigabyte or Biostar MB's.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0375352
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0371606

Is this a really common problem or have you just had a bad user experience? I haven't built a machine in a few years but Asus used to be the staple and a lot of the reviews here have the Asus Z68 rated pretty good.

Not to be argumentative... just want to be thorough.

 

[a_tractor]

asus is good if you have tho money (i think the asus mobos are more expensive not to sure) msi is also good i have the msi z68a-gd65 and im happy with it.

 

[Rassal]

Well, according to Newegg.com it sounds like the latest P9X79 boards are suffering from a lot of DOA. I am a long time customer of Asus boards, but.... i think i might start to skip Asus with their new lineups of boards, it seems they are suffering in the QC departement, because a lot of their new lga2011 boards are defective... and RMA is a pain with them now... go read the reviews on newegg.com on some of the more recent motherboards, and this might help you make a better decision

 

[a_tractor]

^His mobo isn't a 2011 socket... LOL

 

[HighSeraphim]

Well, according to Newegg.com it sounds like the latest P9X79 boards are suffering from a lot of DOA. I am a long time customer of Asus boards, but.... i think i might start to skip Asus with their new lineups of boards, it seems they are suffering in the QC departement, because a lot of their new lga2011 boards are defective... and RMA is a pain with them now... go read the reviews on newegg.com on some of the more recent motherboards, and this might help you make a better decision

Thank you Rassal!
I'll have to go check those reviews.


--- To bump back to and reword my original question though: What features are going to actually make a difference in my over-clocking experience. I know that I want to use a Z68 board. (I currently have a GeForce 8800GT and want to take advantage of the intel HD graphics onboard)

I have read the Reviews and matchups of the boards but they tend to review the Pro or highest tier of each brands board.

The reason I wanted to know the diff between the LE and the Pro is because I wanted to know if they had diff software/bios stuff that is going to change my ability/ease of overclocking my system.

I'm an Electrical and Computer engineer by trade so I understand concepts but I am not familiar with a lot of the details in consumer computing ie. Software used for overclocking, DDR3 speeds, etc..
I plan on reading over some over-clocking guides to learn the nuances of FSB speeds, clk multipliers and core voltages.

(In the microprocessor world, we only use faster clocks or clk multipliers and usually provide a stable core voltage. I'll have to try to over-clock my Atmega and PICs when I'm done with this!)

 

[HighSeraphim]

OK I ended up buying a gigabyte mobo from MicroCenter.
They had a really good deal on a higher end gigabyte. I bought that. Then they give you an automatic 50$ rebate when you get a board and processor together and the i5 2500K was already on sale. I ended up paying less than 300$ for processor, mobo and 8G of 1600 DDR3.