The Intel Z68 Express Review: A Real Enthusiast Chipset

[spectrewind]

[citation][nom]acku[/nom]You need Z68 + Virtu to make that happen.[/citation]

Gee.... Ya think.. 😉

 

[Olle P]

@Olle P
That was incredible. I didn't know we could install Windows XP on the latest Hardware ...

I've never written anything even remotely related...?
(But I did check out earlier today that XP is supported by these new motherboards.)

 

[acku]

You mean "not use it because it's prohibitively expensive"?
If that works for you, then fine with me...
Yes, for now! Both nVidia and AMD are working on drivers to do the same job as Virtu, adapted for their graphics cards.
See the answer above.
- Most Gigabyte cards come with neither video outputs nor Virtu support. It's not clear yet whether the video card manufacturer's drivers will work with these, but I don't think so because I don't think the chipset has connection to the iGPU.
- Asus will release some cards without video connector but with Virtu support. These will definitely be able to use QS.
That's correct. Only bords with an H in the designation, like GA-Z68-UD3H-B3, have video ouputs (and support Virtu).

Thanks Olle P for point this out.

I just noticed that there were a few Gigabyte Z68 boards without video outputs.

If a Z68 board doesn't have video outputs, you should be able to use Quick Sync by doing what we did. Virtualize HD Graphics and use the output on your graphics card, but this requires the board to be licensed for Virtu. So far, I haven't found a non-H board with a Virtu license on Gigabyte's website. Just a heads up guys. Make sure that the product page says Virtu if you want to go Quick Sync + discrete graphics.

Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com

 

[mejobloggs]

Does z68 have pcie 3?

 

[roymustang]

I don't get the hype over the Z68 at all. Let's face, most people aren't going to be making a lot of use out of QuickSync and SSD caching is basically worthless. People that really want faster access times will just buy an a decent sized SSD and have their OS and software on it, the rest will be fine with their 7200 or 10000 RPM drives. I for one am glad that the P67 exists because the Z68 features are useless to me and I certainly don't want the DVI, HDMI and VGA ports on the I/O panel of my motherboard. Somebody who wants true enthusiast boards should just wait for the Sandy Bridge-E at this point.

 

[fpink3]

It would be polite (for the less-than-fully dialed in of us)if the PCMarks Vantage graphs has some sort of explanation for the integers on the horizontal axis. Maybe my browser is cutting off a line?

 

[jadeite]

The Z68 has only USB 2.0 ports and mostly limited to back level SATA 3g. I don't think many readers are going to want that thing on their next system.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]L00N[/nom]My GoD!Intels output is capped at 1920x1200? Below my native res! I've been forced to put my buy on hold...What were they thinking?[/citation]They were thinking you should add a real video card.[citation][nom]jtt283[/nom]There are 13 of these on Newegg already, and the prices do look in line with good P67 boards. With around $200 estimated for the mobo in my upcoming [re]build, I'll get one of these if I choose SB.Edit: The "700W" Xion PSU would never taste A/C, but otherwise I'm in for the contest...would be really nice...[/citation]Not exactly. Note that the P8P67-V Pro costs about the same as a P8P67 Deluxe but is equipped like a P8P67 Evo.[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]Read the article on my phone. Might've missed something, but I really don't see why quick sync is so important and cool? it didn't seem to really do anything in the benchmarks?[/citation]It depends on what benchmarks you're looking at. It has a super-fast decoder that speeds up video transcoding.[citation][nom]jadeite[/nom]The Z68 has only USB 2.0 ports and mostly limited to back level SATA 3g. I don't think many readers are going to want that thing on their next system.[/citation]As compared to...? I remember when AMD said they supported USB 3.0 when really they were saying their boards had extra PCIe lanes for the add-in controllers.

 

[epaalx]

I would like to have seen a SSD-caching comparison when using, say, a USB3.0 Flash with Vista/7's ReadyBoost enabled.
ReadyBoost is designed for caching fast random-reads so, Intel's Z68-only advantage may be far less impressive.

 

[Guest]

The only merit of Virtu is enabling QuickSync while it's main objective in saving energy is total bullshit.

 

[haplo602]

comment system ate my post ... if it can't handle post and login at the same time, don't pretend it can.

anyway:

SSD caching should be compared to Raid 0 and Raid5 configs (even with just onboard raid) with the same budget.

Virtu: finaly some usable technology

 

[txsouthpaw]

I'm really struggling here. I'm sickeningly HW obsessed and I have "upgraded" to new platforms for ridiculously marginal improvements before, but even I can't seem to get enthusiastic about Z68. I can't help but feel my P8P67 WS Revolution remains a much better value than these Z68 offerings, particularly the Gigabyte models without support for the on-chip graphics. This is ridiculous and I have to wonder what the hell Intel was thinking. They obviously go into withdraw after 2 months of not releasing a new platform, socket, or chipset.

 

[txsouthpaw]

What's next, the Omega69.325? Maybe it will feature a kimited edition spray-painted capacitor or an added AGP 4x expansion slot.

 

[one-shot]

Enthusiast would be X79, Z68 isn't HEDT.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]acku[/nom]Readhttp://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 833-4.htmlhttp://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2839.htmlAnd you'll understand why Quick Sync matters. You can convert a 31.2 GB Blu-Ray movie into an iPad ready format in under 20 minutes. That's fast![/citation]
Ye I know, but the last time I converted anything from any format was ... well so long ago I can't remember. It's not an action I or anyone I know perform often.

 

[richardl_79]

I'm currently running a 80gb x-25m along with a 1.5TB samsung. I'm having trouble fitting my games on the SSD along with windows. I end up having 2-3 games on the ssd and the rest on the 1.5TB drive.
It would be really nice to have a 120 GB SSD and use about 80GB for system and high priority games and use 40GB for cache. Then the games on the 1TB drive would at least get some benefit from the SSD...

 

[akula2]

#txsouthpaw

P8P67 WS Revolution is a rock solid board, recently bought the B3 upgraded MOBO. I run it with 16GB RAM and performance is damn good (using it as a Workstation hooked to 3x 27" LCDs).

 

[Olle P]

I don't get the hype over the Z68 at all. Let's face, most people aren't going to be making a lot of use out of QuickSync and SSD caching is basically worthless.
... I for one am glad that the P67 exists because the Z68 features are useless to me and I certainly don't want the DVI, HDMI and VGA ports on the I/O panel of my motherboard.

The "hype" for me means that as I'm about to replace my five year old motherboard I now finally can have access to all the features of Sandy Bridge, disregarding their actual use.
- Integrated graphics? Not my primary choice for video rendering, but useful for troubleshooting. And for that I want a DVI connector.
- CPU overclocking? Not that I do a lot of it, but given that the option is there I will use it, to some extent!
- Quick Synk? My current computing habits will make very little use of it, but who knows what I'll do in the next couple of years?
- SRT? Nice to have the option, should I ever feel an urge for it.

So, now that I'm about to buy a new motherboard, am I willing to spend some ~$20 extra to get all of these barely used features compared to a mobo based on H67 or P67? Yes, definitely! During the expected lifetime of my new motherboard I wouldn't be surprised to find one or two of them becoming very useful.

 

[anoldnewb]

[citation][nom]fpink3[/nom]It would be polite (for the less-than-fully dialed in of us)if the PCMarks Vantage graphs has some sort of explanation for the integers on the horizontal axis. Maybe my browser is cutting off a line?[/citation]

I wondered too. The numbers represent the first second and third times you run the benchmark. Only the 2nd and 3rd passes will be sped up.

 

[damian86]

I just hope Z68 motherboards will not be a rip off. I think overclocking is getting harder for overclockers competitions, and I dont mean hard to overclock, all the opposite, if the new systems are so easy to achieve higher clock rates, then the competition will be harder because everyone will get about the same clocks.Only a real pro will get it right!

About the 'win a Z68 competition' you always make it available only in USA.That is not fair not only UK users wants to participate, also all the other countries where toms is available.(Feedback)

 

[Guest]

I hope that kind of motherboard is on the Philippine ASUS market! I wonder what would be the price of that motherboard here. I'm dying to have one of it if it cost a "free shipping"

 

[douglasmeier]

Pardon me if someone has already made these observations.

I would spend about $250 and get a fast as hell OCZ vertex3, agility 3 120 GB SSD (there seems to be a new SATA III SSD coming to market every day now) before the cheapo Intel 311. You could partition 20 GB or so for the SSD caching feature and use the rest as an extremely fast place to put your OS and most of your programs. Add a 1-2 TB SATA III hard drive for data and now you are talking. The article didn't really get into the virtues of the combination of the SB/i7 2500k's integrated graphics with a good quality graphics card. The benchmarks were done without overclocking. What happens if I drop a Radeon 6950 into a system like this (the scenario I just described.) It sounds like a screaming fast system for not too much ($1000 to $1500 I would guess)

 

[IM0001]

The Z68 platform might actually make a perfect fit for my current configuration. Right now I run an older X48 with all the Sata ports filled. 1 Super Talent 128G SSD for my main OS and a few chosen games, 2 2TB Drives in Raid 1 for all my installed Games/Apps, and 4 (2 pairs of 2 750G drives for Media and everything else both in Raid 1). 2 750's are internal and 2 are external via USB. The last Sata port is used by the Optical Drive.

So my layout is a bit crazy but works great for what I use it for so far.

If the Z68 has at least 2 other ports, I could see installing a 2nd SSD for caching purposes and it would work fantastic to cache the games I am playing regularly off the 2TB raid. That would be a clear boost and actual use of the tech for what it was designed for, without forcing the OS to have to be Cached since it is on the main SSD 24/7.

I may have to look into this when I finally upgrade but for now, my current setup does work really well and I have no real need to upgrade yet.

The X48 (ASUS Rampage Formula) may be old now, but it really is a workhorse that continues to impress me.

It handles this config.

Q9550 @ 3.84ghz.
8GB (4 X 2) PC1066 DDR2 @ 1081Mhz.
6 SATA Devices.
Visiontek 5870 PCI-E_1
XFX 9800GT PCI-E_2 (Physx)
Creative X-Fi Platinum PCI + Front Bay
ASUS Duel HD TV Tuner PCI
All neatly stuffed inside a Gunmetal Antec P182

This configuration leaves me with only 1 PCI slot right below the 9800GT and 1 PCI-E 1X slot above the X-Fi.

For how many people had issue Overclocking a Quad Core on the X48 with 8G ram and such, I am really impressed and enjoy my board. Instead of cannibalizing it in the future, I may have to just sell it complete because it just runs soo damn well. It is even Stable at 4.0Ghz but it does get a bit on the warm side.

Ok off on a tangent, but lately my system has just made me smile. Not often does a rig do that.

Has anyone else had a system they build and tweeked to perfection, just put a smile on their face for how well it performs with the parts you chose to work with?

 

[wolfram23]

Question: Can you buy, say, a 120GB SSD and partition 20gb for caching and use the 100GB for OS install and such?

 

[jinxed_07]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]Ye I know, but the last time I converted anything from any format was ... well so long ago I can't remember. It's not an action I or anyone I know perform often.[/citation]
Well, Some of us actually do convert video and images and such quite a bit (like muah), if you don't use quick sync then whatever, it's still useful for those who can take advantage of it.