Which motherboard? (Z68)

[jellyz]

I am building a new computer and was having a hard time deciding which motherboard to get. I found these two motherboards which seem good to me, but I want other opinions as well.

MSI Z68A-GD65(b3):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130602&Tpk=z68a%20gd65

or

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506&Tpk=GA-Z68XP-UD3P

I will be using the motherboard along with an i5 2500k for mainly gaming. I heard that the MSI is better for overclocking. I also noticed that they both have 2 PCI slots for video cards which is a must, since I'll be getting a second one in the future. I know that the gigabyte has more usb 2.0 than the MSI, but I am willing to purchase a USB pci card (since I get $20 MIR with the MSI). I don't know if this is true or not, but since I am getting an MSI video card, maybe it will be more compatible and work better with the MSI MB? Both of these motherboards have better ratings than any of the other ones I saw so they seem to be pretty stable and good motherboards. I also know that people recommend the Asus boards but every board I saw (both Z68 and P67) had some problems and I don't want to take such a high risk of getting it defective.

What do you guys think about these two boards? Do you recommend any other ones?

 

[jaquith]

IF you have 'Virtu' on your mind and plan on OC ~4.5GHz or higher then GA-Z68XP-UD5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128513

IF you do NOT have 'Virtu' on your mind and plan on OC ~4.5GHz or higher then GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128492

IF you have 'Virtu' on your mind and do NOT plan on OC ~4.5GHz or less then GA-Z68XP-UD3P that you picked.

GPUs:
1. nVidia - EVGA or ASUS - get one with a 'Lifetime Warranty'
2. ATI/AMD - XFX - get one with a 'Lifetime Warranty'

 

[jellyz]

Well I don't really mind whether I have Virtu or not since I'll probably not use it anyways. I do plan to overclock to 4.5ghz but the first too boards (UD5) are out of my price range. So I suppose UD3P is the one I should get? By the way, is there a reason why you recommended only Gigabyte? Is there something wrong with MSI that I should know about?

 

[jaquith]

Another good OC P67 is ASUS P8P67 PRO** http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771 or ASUS P8Z68-V PRO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730 However, the reason I don't push ASUS is because of the 'too many to ignore' user problems.

The MSI are NOT good OC MOBO's, and where the OC is 4.5GHz+ the vCore's are too high 1.45v+.

MY MO -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure IF I'm suggesting ANY Gigabyte, think about it, it's only because I KNOW they run well - NOW. Gigabyte had sucky LGA 1366 {expect the UD7/UD9}, but ASUS had excellent LGA 1366 across the, excuse the pun, board. Things have flip-flopped. Gigabyte UD5 & UD7 P67/Z68 have proven to be both reliable and have excellent low vCore. ASUS P67/Z68 have been a mixed-bag, excellent low vCore but the MOBO's themselves hit or miss; **this problem has 'seemed' to be resolved. The high-end ASUS 'seem' to be fine but are out of your price range.

To an extent - you get what you pay for

 

[jellyz]

So would you recommend getting:

ASUS P8P67 PRO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128507&Tpk=GIGABYTE%20GA-Z68Xp-UD4

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506&Tpk=GA-Z68XP-UD3P

The Asus one could still have some of the problems, hard to tell when there are only a few reviews.

So which one of these will get me to a stable, reliable 4.5ghz OC and get me the lowest Vcores

 

[jaquith]

The GA-P67A-UD4 12 Phase had sub-par vCores so I am assuming GA-Z68XP-UD4 16 Phase {4 Phases to iGPU; 12 to CPU} will be the same. On GA's lines there's a strong correlation to Phases and vCore; keep in mind 10 i5-2500K's are going to have 10 different stable vCores.

The ASUS P8P67 PRO 12 Phase & ASUS P8Z68-V PRO 16 Phase {4 Phases to iGPU; 12 to CPU} both had good vCores across the lines.

UD5's are 20 Phase UD7's are 24 Phase but there are diminishing returns on Phases

Form above: ASUS P8P67 PRO & ASUS P8Z68-V PRO are the winners with sub vCore 1.35v to achieve 4.5GHz. In contrast, the UD4 has a vCore 1.40v+ to achieve 4.5GHz.

 

[jellyz]

Ok but is the ASUS P8Z68-V PRO ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730 ) the B3 Version?

I think that's the one I'll go with.

 

[jaquith]

Yes ALL LGA 1155 ARE B3 -- you couldn't buy any B2 from Newegg. The 'confusing' differences are the v3.0 = NEC USB 3.0 and v3.1 = ASMedia USB 3.0. IMO - I prefer the NEC.

Another 'IMO' - the problems with ASUS are the BlueTooth; reasoning the ASRock counter parts, cheaper, all lacked BT but also lacked the 'problems.' The revsion 3.1 'may' have addressed the BT issue {H/W Design}. ASMedia took place of NEC ONLY because they're a cheaper USB chipset.

 

[jellyz]

:s So which LGA1155 do you think is best overall that can be bought for ~$200 or less.

 

[jaquith]

Hard $200 limit -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976%204017&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-131-730^13-131-730-TS%2C13-188-073^13-188-073-TS%2C13-131-703^13-131-703-TS%2C13-131-771^13-131-771-TS

$200~$250 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976%204018&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-131-714^13-131-714-TS%2C13-128-492^13-128-492-TS%2C13-128-513^13-128-513-TS%2C13-188-082^13-188-082-TS

Best Value ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) or ASUS P8Z68-V PRO

Pure Gaming P8P67 WS REVOLUTION

It ALL depends on the GPUs

3-WAY + PhysX P8P67 WS REVOLUTION ; perfect PCIe spacing and great OC
3-WAY - PhysX GA-P67A-UD7-B3
2-WAY + PhysX GA-Z68XP-UD5 or ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) or ASUS P8Z68-V PRO

Keep in mind 'I' have little use for Z68.

 

[jellyz]

Best answer selected by jellyz.