Round-Up: Four Z68 Motherboards From $220 To $280

[Crashman]

A real enthusiast chipset deserves a real enthusiast motherboard. Today we're comparing four feature-packed platforms that most folks who call themselves hardcore (and informed enough to know what hardware meets their needs) can actually afford.

Round-Up: Four Z68 Motherboards From $220 To $280 : Read more

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

I own an AsRock Z68 Pro 3 MB, and i am vere pleased with it.

 

[RazorBurn]

Only Asus and AsRock for me.. Tried severals boards thru the years yet only this two has never failed me..

My AsRock AliveNF6G-VSTA in my warehouse full of dust, mites, cobweb still works.. Recently upgraded to 4GB RAM and GTS 450 1GB video card..

 

[iam2thecrowe]

i would like to see a more budget oriented roundup, not everyone wants to spend that much on a motherboard for 0.5 of an FPS increase, or overclock 100mhz more out of their cpu.....

 

[beenthere]

Intel mobos are way over-priced IMO. In my many years of building PCs the only two mobos that I ever had fail were Asus. As far as performance and reliability I'd rank these mobo brands as follows:

Gigabyte
MSI
Asus
Asrock

 

[flong]

I own the AsRock Extreme 4 Gen 3 board and it seems to be a very good board. I had the Asus Pro V before and had problems. I can say from experience that Asus's customer service is VERY poor to say the least. While their boards seem to be high quality according to most reviews, if you do have a problem don't count on Asus being around to help you out. I sent my board back to NewEgg and I had to argue with Newegg to get them to warranty it which was disappointing. Amazon does not have this problem and for my next motherboard purchase I will probably go through Amazon.

The answer to my first email question to Asus came a three full weeks later AFTER I had decided to return the board. AND the answer was an absolutely stupid response that did not address the real problem. Still wanting an answer to my question, I clarified the question and sent it back to Asus again. TWO weeks later I got ANOTHER asinine response from them. At that point I realized I was wasting my time.

I don't know how good AsRock's customer service is since I have not had a problem with the board.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]iam2thecrowe[/nom]i would like to see a more budget oriented roundup, not everyone wants to spend that much on a motherboard for 0.5 of an FPS increase, or overclock 100mhz more out of their cpu.....[/citation]I believe you missed this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,2980.html

 

[Mark Heath]

I believe you missed this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,2980.html

Crashman to the rescue again

 

[Novuake]

Intel boards are not that bad, yes their Enthusiast boards are, but for a good while after LGA1155 came out they had the cheapest USB3/SATA 3 LGA1155 boards available, I think they still do... I would have to check.

 

[Luay]

The Asrock Extreme7 belongs in another NF200 equipped Tri-fire/Tri-SLI round-up with the UD7, ROG and FTW boards, and I think it would still win based on value.
Real enthusiasts, on the other hand don't use integrated graphics and already have a dedicated SSD. Enter P67 in the round-up and the winner would still be for almost 18 months running, the $255 Asus P67 WS Revolution.

 

[ojas]

Hey Tom's. Make Wolfgang read articles like these too. He needs them.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

I think there is no such thing as a warranty...

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

I think no one should think about warranties cuz companies never give them anyway, I think its a marketing scheme.

 

[JamesSneed]

I have the AsRock Extreme 4 Gen 3 and really like that board. I had have had zero issues with the board and that is even with a mild 4Ghz overclock on the 2500k.

Luay, real enthusiasts do use integrated graphics just they use it for Quick Sync only.

 

[Novuake]

I think no one should think about warranties cuz companies never give them anyway, I think its a marketing scheme.

lol I have succesfully RMA'd many a part!!! Asus, Seagate, Sapphire, Asrock, you name it...

 

[CaedenV]

while none of these boards are for me, it is nice to drool and think 'what if....'

I am surprised at the gigabyte board. The power regulation seems too complicated to be useful, and the lack of UEFI seems strange and will hurt boot performance.

 

[tomskent]

while all these mobos are out of my price range, I would choose the MSI.
I could care less about using the 3rd pci 16x lane

 

[jamie_1318]

[citation][nom]ghnader hsmithot[/nom]I think no one should think about warranties cuz companies never give them anyway, I think its a marketing scheme.[/citation]

If you've never gotten a warrenty back than you must have very bad luck. Most companies will happily send a replacement product. OCZ even works with oyu to ensure that you are satisfied with what you recieve back. Out of all the products I've sent in for warranties in the past 3 years, all 4 of them got a working product back. One I didn't bother to ship out because shipping was more than it was worth at the time.

 

[Novuake]

while all these mobos are out of my price range, I would choose the MSI.
I could care less about using the 3rd pci 16x lane

Agreed, Quads and Tri GPU's are just not worth the price at this stage.

 

[Bluex610]

Asrock extreme 7 has only 1 PCI-e 3.0 slot, while the Fatal1ty PRO has 2 PCI-e 3.0 slots. Weird... But the Extreme 7 has NF200 chip that allows x16/x16 with 2 cards. I'm going with the Fatal1ty since I want 2 PCI-e 3.0 slots, might not use it for a while, but it's nice to know I have the option.

 

[spookyman]

What no EVGA boards?

Always had luck with Asus, Gigabyte and MSI boards.

 

[moogleslam]

You guys needed to throw a P67 board in there for comparison!

 

[boletus]

I just find it very gratifying to see a mouse cursor on the EFI setup screens. Now that was a long time coming. Makes me eager for my next build.

Oh, and I wholeheartedly agree with flong regarding Asus's tech support. It is beyond bad enough to be insulting; pulling a hangnail is more enjoyable (and more productive).

 

[lambaster]

Triple SLI is a $40 value? ... why would I buy a Z68 board and lose out on Virtu when I could buy a P67 board for multi-GPU and save money all around...

 

[roscolo]

[citation][nom]Bluex610[/nom]Asrock extreme 7 has only 1 PCI-e 3.0 slot, while the Fatal1ty PRO has 2 PCI-e 3.0 slots. Weird... I'm going with the Fatal1ty since I want 2 PCI-e 3.0 slots, might not use it for a while, but it's nice to know I have the option.[/citation]

Me, too. I waited around on the Extreme7, but only one PCI slot? No way for me. The Z68 Fatal1ty Pro is the better board. And it's $50 less!