Asrock Z68 vs Z77

[Scaroza]

Hey guys, I'm in the process of buying parts for my new pc and there are two motherboards I'm looking at. One is a Z77 and the other a Z68, they are both made by asrock who are fairly new to the market I gather but make decent boards. Just wanted so feedback as to which I should choose. The two boards are here on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157279
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157296

As I'm in the UK the pricing on Newegg doesn't apply to me but the difference in price for me buying in the UK is £15 or $24, the Z68 obviously being the cheapest. The budget for my board is going to be around £70-85 or $115-135, bearing in mind UK equivalent prices are slightly higher for the same kit.

I am using a Intel Core i5 2500k, 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600 Mhz, Nvidia 560ti (no plans for SLI). I would prefer an ATX board over a mATX if possible.

Any verdict on these boards or suggestions for other suitable boards is welcome and if I've left out any info I'll do my best to tell you Thanks Guys!!

 

[JonBlack]

I have the ASRock Z68 board you have listed. If you want to overclock your 2500k, do NOT get that board. It is not a good board for overclocking. Voltage adjustments are very broad with offset mode, LLC is non-existent and the VRM's aren't strong, IMHO. This board would be fine for stock clock speeds, as I'm using it with a i5-2400 and it's good.

The ASRock Z77 Pro4 might be similar in limitations. Then again it might not. I would look at the manual or try to find a review and look at the voltage adjustments. It's a 4+2 design which might help over the Z68's 4+1 design.

To be honest I would probably step up a little more and get the ASRock Z77 Extreme4. I have the ASRock Z77 Extreme6 and it is a good motherboard so far.

 

[dma0991]

If you don't intend to overclock or probably do a minor one, I'd recommend either one of those boards you've listed. I don't like the SATA ports layout on either boards though, it will be difficult to get a clean look. My personal preference however would be the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 GEN3 which is a great choice if you're willing to go without a USB 3.0 internal header.

 

[Rvenger]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 GEN3 or Z77 Extreme 4

 

[Scaroza]

I have the ASRock Z68 board you have listed. If you want to overclock your 2500k, do NOT get that board. It is not a good board for overclocking

I'm not planning on doing any serious overclocking any time soon, maybe a small overclock but not going for more than around 3.5 Ghz. I've gone for the Z68 at £70 which is a price I found it hard to say no on and it meets my requirements at this time and I can upgrade in a year or two if I do want to beef up my 2500k significantly.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I have an Asrock Z68 Extreme4... LLC is existent... not sure what you're talking about

 

[AE-Ruffy]

Z77 at this point unless you find the Z68 at %50 off

 

[JonBlack]

I have an Asrock Z68 Extreme4... LLC is existent... not sure what you're talking about

I assume you were posting to me, since I think I was the only one who has mentioned LLC so far.

He listed the ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 as the first Newegg link. It does not have LLC on the one I have.

The second link is for the ASRock Z77 Pro4. I have no idea about that board on whether or not it has LLC.

The ASRock Extreme series on both the Z68 and Z77 should have LLC.

 

[JonBlack]

I'm not planning on doing any serious overclocking any time soon, maybe a small overclock but not going for more than around 3.5 Ghz. I've gone for the Z68 at £70 which is a price I found it hard to say no on and it meets my requirements at this time and I can upgrade in a year or two if I do want to beef up my 2500k significantly.

The ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 should meet your needs. Enjoy your new build!

 

[boochi]

With a 2500k? None of the above. Go with the P67.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

3.5GHz? That's like, only 200MHz over stock. You know you want more

With a 2500k? None of the above. Go with the P67.

Is there any advantage to getting a P67 over the Z68? I don't really think so... the onboard video might help down the road anyway. I thought I'd never use it on my previous board, but it's gotten my butt out of a couple situations where I needed to isolate a component.

I would've suggested one of the Extremes, but you seem pretty confident in assessing your needs and if the Pro satisfies them, best of luck to you. If you really aim to only overclock as much as you say you are, you might not even need to utilize LLC. Asrock appears to get better and better with each iteration of boards, I'd never even considered them back in the 939 days but here I am now with one.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Get a z77 as rock or not.

 

[FAUguy]

The ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 should meet your needs. Enjoy your new build!

That's what I'm using with a 2600k and have it overclocked to 4.4GHz without any issues for 7 months. If I was buying a new MB for Ivy Bridge, I'd get the same board but in the new Z77 version.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.us.asp?Model=Fatal1ty Z77 Professional

 

[felang]

Z77 at this point unless you find the Z68 at %50 off

+1

 

[felang]

With a 2500k? None of the above. Go with the P67.

why?

 

[JonBlack]

That's what I'm using with a 2600k and have it overclocked to 4.4GHz without any issues for 7 months. If I was buying a new MB for Ivy Bridge, I'd get the same board but in the new Z77 version.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.us.asp?Model=Fatal1ty Z77 Professional

Go figure!

I have the same board but I tried it with a 2600k and overclocked it to 4.4. The first problem was that it wouldn't go over 3.7ghz no matter what I set in the BIOS as the mulitplier. I bumped the voltage up a good bit over stock and it finally would boot and show 4.4ghz.

Then I would run IBT or Prime95 and I could watch the CPU clock drop to stock speed in the ASRock software and CPUZ on occasion. It wasn't all the time but I couldn't remedy the situation as the voltage control is limited and I didn't see any LLC control.

I slapped a i5-2400 in there and didn't have any issues with it. It's still a good board though, just not the best for overclocking, IMHO.

 

[boochi]

3.5GHz? That's like, only 200MHz over stock. You know you want more



Is there any advantage to getting a P67 over the Z68? I don't really think so... the onboard video might help down the road anyway. I thought I'd never use it on my previous board, but it's gotten my butt out of a couple situations where I needed to isolate a component.

I would've suggested one of the Extremes, but you seem pretty confident in assessing your needs and if the Pro satisfies them, best of luck to you. If you really aim to only overclock as much as you say you are, you might not even need to utilize LLC. Asrock appears to get better and better with each iteration of boards, I'd never even considered them back in the 939 days but here I am now with one.

why?

Much better chance of achieving a great overclock with the P67. That is the purpose of buying a 2500k is it not. If you are overclocking, you need not be using the onboard video.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Much better chance of achieving a great overclock with the P67. That is the purpose of buying a 2500k is it not. If you are overclocking, you need not be using the onboard video.

Proof? Nothing I've read suggests that P67 overclocks better than Z68. If anything Z68 = P67 + H67.

That's a pretty broad statement about the video, it's not like it's going to negatively affect your overclocking results.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I have the ASRock Fatality Pro Gen 3 (Z68 board) with a 2500k. My experience is that when you have the onboard gpu on and overclock the CPU, it overclocks both. I could not find a way to NOT overclock the GPU, which was causing me all sorts of blue screens when overclocking. This thing overclocks with the auto settings to 4.8ghz w/o a problem but voltages are high when set that way.

The comment about "not using the onboard" is false though, because Lucid does actually give a performance boost when using passthrough to your discreet GPU, granted due to the overclocking issue, I have the onboard turned off now.

 

[Scaroza]

3.5GHz? That's like, only 200MHz over stock. You know you want more

You're probably right but I wont be doing it for a little while and I'll get a new board when I do but the Z68 will do me fine for now as you say