Asus Z68 vs ASrock Z68

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What do you guys think of ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 ($219.99) vs ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 ($274.99) or ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 ($199.99)

All are similar boards, the extreme7 is compatible with ivy bridge processors and supports one PCIe 3.0, also supports dual PCIe 2.0 at 16x which is as much as I would use.

both the extreme4 and asus pro dont mention support for ivy bridge (which is weird couse sandy bridge does not support PCIe 3.0) and have 2 PCIe 3.0, 16x single and 8x dual, but at least they support two 3.0 in crossfire/sli, the extreme7 seems to only support the 3.0 at single.

Can't find how many fan connectos the asrock boards has but I hope it has plenty.

Everything else is pretty even I think, some have more sata3 than others but plenty for my build, the asus pro has bluetooth support but I don't even know what use I would have for it, plenty of usb3.0 and 2.0 for my build, so what you guys think? Difference from extreme4 to extreme7 is only 80 dollars, I want to make sure whichever I pick that I wont have any regrets! 80 bucks is only a days of work for me to invest on something I plan on keeping for a while.

Here is my build:

i7-2600k oc at 4.4-4.8ghz, might upgrade later, might also get an i5-2500k if I find a good deal since I plan on maybe upgrading to ivy bridge end of next year
8gb memory upgrade to 16gb later
Crucial 128 GB + one or two other 1tb 7200 rpm for data
CORSAIR HX1050
ASUS 560 Ti sli or MSI Radeon6970 HD 2.0 GB, may upgrade end of next year and def will sometime later, will be overclocked
plenty of fans all around the case (around 9-10 total on pc)
two optical drives, one card reader.


Other motherboards to consider:
Asus P8Z68 Deluxe/GEN3 ($269.99)
Asrock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3 (~$269.99 )

Edit: Please if you recommend another mobo please be one that is future proof, don't know if you noticed but that is why I selected those in particular =)
 
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If you go Asrock, I would avoid the Extreme 7. I think the Asrock Professional Gen3 is the better board for slightly less $$$. The Extreme 7 has only one PCI slot, which to me is ridiculous unless you know for sure that you will never want / need another PCI slot. The Professional Gen3 has 2 PCI slots. There are other differences as well. Also, reading reviews (I was shopping between these boards also earlier) the Professional Gen3 really stands out with virtually no negatives or bad experiences. I had a couple of freezes with mine, but turned out to be related to Adobe flash player and hasn't happened again since I updated the flash player.

roscolo

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If you go Asrock, I would avoid the Extreme 7. I think the Asrock Professional Gen3 is the better board for slightly less $$$. The Extreme 7 has only one PCI slot, which to me is ridiculous unless you know for sure that you will never want / need another PCI slot. The Professional Gen3 has 2 PCI slots. There are other differences as well. Also, reading reviews (I was shopping between these boards also earlier) the Professional Gen3 really stands out with virtually no negatives or bad experiences. I had a couple of freezes with mine, but turned out to be related to Adobe flash player and hasn't happened again since I updated the flash player.
 
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are you referring to Asrock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3? If so then it is very similar to the asus board and the extreme4 board, don't know if it gives anything more to be worth the extra money.
 

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Yes. More SATA ports, Dual LAN, IDE port, Floppy port, Onboard Power switch, Onboard Reset switch, CMOS, best reviews of I've seen of any z68 board. If you don't want / need these extras or conveniences, then you should get a cheaper board.

You can't go wrong with any of these boards. Well, except for the Extreme 7 if you ever want to put 2 PCI cards in at once. I went with the Asrock Professional Gen3 for the reasons above. It was the only board that had it all. It's been great so far.
 

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How many fans do you have on your system? I plan on using two on side panel, two on buttom, two in front, one or two on top and one on the back, plus the cpu fans, i'm either using a h100 with 4 fans for pushpull setup or CM Hyper 212 with two pushpull fans.

Can the motherboard keep up with all of that? I can cut a little bit of the fans but the more I can use the better.
 

roscolo

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Hey. Check the board specs. Shouldn't be an issue as long as your power supply has all the connectors. I haven't added any fans to my mobo because my case is an Azza Hurrican 2000 and that thing comes loaded with fans, 8 total I believe. Plus the CPU fan makes 9. All those are connected working fine. I also haven't bought a Graphics card yet, I'm using the onboard video for now and shopping for a deal on a gtx 560 ti or gtx 570.

Edit: OK. I checked my manual. There are 6 onboard fan connectors (2 of those are marked CPU Fan Connector; 3 are marked Chassis Fan Connector; and 1 is marked Power Fan Connector. So considering some of your fans will be connected straight to the PSU, you would be fine.
 

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I don't have any component yet, I will order them around Christmas time, still deciding what kind of motherboard I will get and other stuff. Seems that extreme4 gen3 has similar specs as the professional gen3 for over 50 bucks less too, and the bios doesn't have the face of a guy starring at me the whole time =P
 

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Fortunately, Asrock updated the BIOS and you can eliminate the face and choose a plain background. That was the FIRST thing I did!
 
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How is your mobo treating you now?
 
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