Which motherboard out of these 5

[rmcron5296]

I have an AMD built PC that was going to upgrade to Bulldozer, but I decided against it after release. Micro Center has an i5 2500K for $179.99 so I'm scooping one of those up. Now I need to decide between these motherboards. If you have a suggestion that is not included, but is around the price range please feel free to chime in Here are the choices I've narrowed down to.

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA 1155 Intel Z68

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=5xyul19sc5kw

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157250&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1lq7hpvw0y6qm

MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) LGA 1155 Intel Z68

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130611&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=pjd3pvtccbtr

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506


I like my ASUS Crosshair V Formula that I have now and I plan on overclocking the crap out of the new i5 with a new Notctua NH-D14. If anyone has any suggestions about the ones listed above or how another to offer up let me know.

I really like this ASUS board, but I'm not sure if I should spring for it. It's only 20 bucks more than the most expensive one, but I don't know if I should do it.

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1hfsjx4s9jpcs


I also don't know if I should get a z68 or p68 board or the differences. I'm going to be looking into that as well. Thanks for any help and I'm sorry I've had so many questions

 

[eric8705]

ASUS Maximus

 

[rmcron5296]

I didn't even realize the Maximus was a mATX board until I read more into it. My case is a MONSTER. The mATX is gonna look so tiny if I get it

 

[danraies]

Z68 is P67 plus onboard video, lucid virtu, and SSD caching. I'm pro-Z68, but a lot of gamers who are never going to use onboard video opt for P67 to save a little money.

I have a P8Z68-V PRO and it does not overclock well. It's possible that I got a bad one but I've heard similar complaints about ASUS boards from other people. It's a great board otherwise - I just don't get a great overclock out of it.

The ASRock Extreme4 is supposed to be excellent for overclocking. I will say I don't know all that much about the MSI and Gigabyte boards (except that MSI has a reputation for abysmal customer support) but the ASRock boards are pretty feature-rich at their price point.

 

[daviddawn]

get a P8Z68-V PRO gen3, best board out for the money.

 

[Emelth]

ASRock Z68

 

[holyrage]

muahahhahha msi but not the 65 T_T just go with teh Z68A-GD80 (G3) it is a beaast my friend have it and it look's awesome and i think it will look tiny lil pice of braed in ur case

BTW any bord with nice stuff and G3 ready is good except giga coz they are all fake ! only the new x79 and G1.sniper2 wich cost to F much for crap ! so yah get a G3 ready mobo with what u want and 2 PCi slot or 3 is up to how much sli u wana go for me ill stick with 2 lil 580 3gb vram i allways hoped to fiend a 3pci slot mobo but non ! (sad face) *cough*

 

[zhongyan]

i'd go the asrock board

 

[holyrage]

yah asrock is cool to nice BIOS and some other good **** lol

 

[Ninja Pants]

+1 ASRock Extreme 4

 

[assassin123]

hmmm. for best solution of quad sli and cf the first one means asus maximus iv is best choice another good point is you can use pci-e at full speed i mean x16/x16

 

[holyrage]

yah we all know it will be sandy bridge ok but no pci 3.0?

 

[rmcron5296]

I really like the ASRock board as well and after a little more looking around I found what seems to be the same board except GEN3 for 10 more bucks.

Here is the new one

ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3

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

10 more bucks for PCI Express 3.0, 2 more SATA 6Gb/s, and a much better looking board. I think that will be the final choice. Do any of you see any major differences that I don't? I'm pretty sure that the GEN3 is just and upgraded version of the previous board I posted

 

[Emelth]

nope its exactly as what you stated an upgraded version

 

[rmcron5296]

Nice! That's what I thought, but I figured I'd ask to be sure. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I just ordered the ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 and my i5 2500k. Next up is the Noctua NH-D14 and a second 6950 and I'll be good to go for a while. At least until I get the itch to tinker around some more and that usually doesn't take too long haha

 

[rmcron5296]

Best answer selected by rmcron5296.

 

[holyrage]

yup that will be cool 3.0 pci and 2 way sli epic !!!! and cheap but for me im still looking for 3 way sli 3.0 Q.Q