Z68 Express Roundup: Three Motherboards Do Battle Around $200

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Intel reserved its most feature-rich LGA 1155 platform for (or four?) months past the launch of its Sandy Bridge-based processors, but was it worth the wait? We compare three upper-mainstream Z68 examples to a top-quality P67 predecessor to find out.

Benchmark Results: Productivity

Adobe Photoshop shows no performance difference between motherboards, while ASRock’s Z68 Extreme4 falls only a fraction of a second behind the pack in 3ds Max.

Performance differences in file compression and optical character recognition are again negligible.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
60 Comments Comment from the forums
  • user 18
    ASrock comes with 4 eSATA cables?
    Reply
  • Kisakuku
    The first UEFI screenshots for ASRock and Asus are switched.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    user 18ASrock comes with 4 eSATA cables?KisakukuThe first UEFI screenshots for ASRock and Asus are switched.Fixed, thanks!
    Reply
  • pirateboy
    mayankleoboy1a little something from MSI would have made this more interesting.
    +1
    Reply
  • evga_fan
    ->Thomas

    "Gigabyte’s Quick Boost application sets our processor at 200, 400, or 700 MHz beyond its rated frequency."

    Just so you know. Anyways, keep up the good work!

    Cheers
    Reply
  • crisan_tiberiu
    so, basicaly there is no difference in performance between theese boards as i can see.
    Reply
  • hmm .. was thinking of getting an Asus P8Z68-V Pro .. not so sure now knowing that the other boards offer the same performance and are both cheaper.
    Reply
  • Olle P
    One additional feature of the ASRock card that isn't mentioned is its set of holes matching a socket 775 cooler. That feature was the main reason I ordered one of these cards three days ago, since I won't have to spend money on a new CPU cooler.
    Reply
  • tommysch
    So a P67 is superior... interesting.
    Reply
  • crisan_tiberiu
    Olle POne additional feature of the ASRock card that isn't mentioned is its set of holes matching a socket 775 cooler. That feature was the main reason I ordered one of these cards three days ago, since I won't have to spend money on a new CPU cooler.
    ermm thats pro, since i have a socket 775 core 2 duo atm. Any other motherboards out there that suport this?? i would love to know

    Reply