Which Gigabyte Z68 tomorrow?

[alizee]

With Microcenter's sweet deal on the Core i5 in addition to a $60 instant savings on a motherboard, I'm making the jump tomorrow. I'm purchasing a Gigabyte board because they're more Hackintosh friendly (or hackintoshers are more friendly to Gigabyte). Any thoughts on a recommended board?

Needs list:
Frankly, not much. I don't really over clock much and I haven't run multi-GPU setups very often. My gaming setups have been pretty spartan. One x16 slot and maybe an x1 slot for a sound card.
-Digital video out (DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI), at least one
-2-3 system fan headers
-Ivy Bridge support (if possible)
-Decent quality

Wants list:
-The most PCIe expansion possible, but more for "just in case" situations.
-FireWire

This system is going to be a mackintosh/gaming PC. On Windows, it won't be doing much beyond Skyrim, Civ V, newer games for the next 3-4 years. On the Mac, it will probably be a ProTools machine, maybe do some Final Cut Pro if I get back into video editing.

Other system specs, all pulled from a current machine:
Radeon 6850
2x4 DDR3-1333 - should I spend some money on Black Friday to get some DDR3-1866?
120GB Agility 3 x2 (each a boot volume for Mac/Win)
500GB and 1TB hard drives

Options at Cincinnati Microcenter:
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 - $110 ATX, nice and cheap, though it may be cheap in the wrong ways
Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 - $115 mATX, also cheap
Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 - $140 mATX
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 - $155 ATX, may be the one
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $160 ATX, Black PCB
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 - $200 ATX, too expensive, but I'd consider it for a really good reason

 

[Rvenger]

I hear MSI makes a good Hackintosh board too. If I were to choose Gigabyte from your list, go with the GA-Z68XP-UD3.

 

[fastamdman]

From that list your only choice is the xp-ud3, hands down the best on that list besides the ud4. I would go ud4 if you can, if not go " Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 - $155 ATX, may be the one".

The ud4 is 100% better at overclocking and everything about it is 100% better. I have a ud3 and I really want the ud4 instead lol. Check the gigabyte forums because UD3's do have issues. Bios corruption, random reboot issues, etc.

Go ud4!

 

[Exeodus]

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 - $155 ATX, may be the one - Had this one, it croaked in two weeks on me with a 2500k at 4.5Ghz Turbo

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $160 ATX, Black PCB - Currently have this with a 2500K @ 4Ghz Turbo, runs great.

Neither have UEFI BIOS, and Touch BIOS doesn't work at all.

Hope that helps.

 

[alizee]

Well, I didn't buy today, probably tomorrow. I think I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 because it has better video outputs and might be cheaper after whatever deals.

 

[fastamdman]

Uhhh touch bios works just fine on my ud3 as does "in windows overclocking". Sorry to hear your UD3 died you should have rma'd it.

My ud3 has supported my 2500k at over 5.2ghz.

As far as the ud3h-b3 vs the ud3 video outputs you are either going to be using a video card or you are not. If you are running a video card then it doesnt matter and the ud3 is a better choice. If you are not running a video card then you would be running onboard on like a 2500k chip and a ud3 is still better for HDMI.

If you look at the newegg reviews on the ud3h-b3, a lot of them are fail and not a lot of people have bought the board for a reason.

Either way though, a gigabyte board will do you well!

 

[Exeodus]

Uhhh touch bios works just fine on my ud3 as does "in windows overclocking". Sorry to hear your UD3 died you should have rma'd it.

My ud3 has supported my 2500k at over 5.2ghz.

As far as the ud3h-b3 vs the ud3 video outputs you are either going to be using a video card or you are not. If you are running a video card then it doesnt matter and the ud3 is a better choice. If you are not running a video card then you would be running onboard on like a 2500k chip and a ud3 is still better for HDMI.

If you look at the newegg reviews on the ud3h-b3, a lot of them are fail and not a lot of people have bought the board for a reason.

Either way though, a gigabyte board will do you well!

It was within 30 days, so I took it back to MC. Have you had a RMA with Gigabyte? It is a painful experience I would have chucked if it was after 30 days.

 

[Taft12]

If you're not overclocking or SLI/Crossfire, the cheaper the better as long as the capacitors are all-solid (I think all Gigabyte Z68 boards are)

 

[Wuzup101]

I'm curious to see what you got? I picked up a GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 for my brother and an Asus P8Z68-M Pro for myself (had a mini ATX case that needed filling) on Saturday at MC. Both of them with a 2500K. The GB build ran me $335 with board + 2500k + 212 Evo. The Asus build was right around $250 for the 2500k + board. It was certainly worth the drive!

 

[madhatter340]

Just chiming in, I'm a Z68X-UD3H-B3 owner. I'm currently running a 2600k at 4.5 GHz with vcore of 1.33 under load.

If I had one complaint about the board, it would be the voltage regulation. The only way I would recommend running the board is in the dynamic voltage mode (which works pretty well at 4.6 GHz and below). Trying to run a constant voltage results in massive vdroop, and if you try to compensate with LLC then you end up getting voltage spikes. So if you plan on running a constant voltage, then I would stay away from it.

 

[darkenedsoul]

I just received my Z68-UD3H-B3 from newegg along with 16Gb memory (corsair i believe), Zalman 9500 cooler and i5 2500K. What should I be looking at for cpu voltage settings (Memory is 1.5v I know already)? I don't plan on overclocking since it'll be running 24x7 pretty much and running Win7 Home Prem. 64 bit (picked up the 3-pack OEM package). I got a 650W PSU coming probably by early next week to replace the 700W that's been cranking steady since 1 replacement over the past few years or so. I am also replacing the 2 90mm and 2 120mm fans in the case (Thermaltake Armor w/side panel fan).

Replacing Abit IP35 Pro w/4Gb mem and E8400 CPU. Keeping existing GPU (GT 250 1GB XFX PCi-e card) as I can't justify a new one at the moment. Main guts first. GPU down the road as this one works fine for what I play on this system (all-around workhorse, VMware Workstation, net surfing, game play, etc).

Thanks in advance!

[edit] sig is my other box btw which eventually will be rebuilt but it isn't on 24x7 so can last awhile longer imho.

Mike

 

[Wuzup101]

I just received my Z68-UD3H-B3 from newegg along with 16Gb memory (corsair i believe), Zalman 9500 cooler and i5 2500K. What should I be looking at for cpu voltage settings (Memory is 1.5v I know already)? I don't plan on overclocking since it'll be running 24x7 pretty much and running Win7 Home Prem. 64 bit (picked up the 3-pack OEM package). I got a 650W PSU coming probably by early next week to replace the 700W that's been cranking steady since 1 replacement over the past few years or so. I am also replacing the 2 90mm and 2 120mm fans in the case (Thermaltake Armor w/side panel fan).

Replacing Abit IP35 Pro w/4Gb mem and E8400 CPU. Keeping existing GPU (GT 250 1GB XFX PCi-e card) as I can't justify a new one at the moment. Main guts first. GPU down the road as this one works fine for what I play on this system (all-around workhorse, VMware Workstation, net surfing, game play, etc).

Thanks in advance!

[edit] sig is my other box btw which eventually will be rebuilt but it isn't on 24x7 so can last awhile longer imho.

Mike

If you don't plan on overclocking, I'm assuming you can just leave everything as auto and be happy. Do you plan to undervolt / underclock (if not, than you don't really need to do anything at all).

 

[alfa147x]

Hackintosh? Yup

Get the Z68X-UD3H-B3 then go over to KakeWalk.Se
Took me 15 mins to install and have 10.7.1 running.
Here is my build:

Hackintosh OS X (10.7.1) Intel i7 2600k @ 4.5 GHz Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 | 16 GB RAM | Dual MSI N460GTX HAWK | 3x Dell u2412m

 

[lopri]

Does anyone know if any of the Z68 boards can do 2560x1600? I have made a thread but no one has replied yet. By "know", I mean a first-hand knowledge. (tried yourself, seen it yourself, not heard about it)

 

[darkenedsoul]

If you don't plan on overclocking, I'm assuming you can just leave everything as auto and be happy. Do you plan to undervolt / underclock (if not, than you don't really need to do anything at all).

I got the system up and running with 2 of the 4 Corsair Vengeance 4GB modules in either of the first 2 or second 2 slots. If I put all 4 in the system keeps resettings and never comes up. I set the frequency to 16.0 for 1600 (BIOS screen shows 1333 1600) and voltage is at 1.5v (didn't mess with that at all) and for some reason the CPU was showing 3.6Ghz vs 3.3Ghz after that change. CPU-Z is showing core speed of 160x Mhz with multiplier of 16x which to me is strange since I didn't mess with the CPU multiplier. I will go back into BIOS and reset it to auto and check CPU-Z again after reboot. But in regards to the memory, if I run either of the 2 pairs (box set of 4 4GB sticks purchased) in either Channel A or Channel B the system will come up and be stable/fine. These BIOS options is insane and not sure what I have to set to get the 4 sticks working in here. Running Win 7 Home Premium 64 Bit with a few sw packages installed atm.

Mike

 

[darkenedsoul]

Set Load optimized defaults, reset controllers to ACHI, checked memory voltage and at 1.5V and still won't come up (no beeps when it just resets so I am thinking there is a power issue somewhere *or* the mobo is faulty). Checked for BIOS update and @BIOS said there wasn't any (F9 but there is an F10 on website). After messing around removing 2 sticks (closest to CPU Channel B) CMOS got corrupted on power up but it reloaded and reset a couple times then it came back up into Win7. Any ideas or should this go to the memory forum? On top of this is the Corsair PSU I got appears to be dead but I have to troubleshoot that soon (using my old Thermaltake 650, Corsair is HX650 model I think from NewEgg as well).

So any ideas would be appreciated. I checked under Computer->Properties and it shows processor i5-2500K CPU @3.30Ghz 3.60Ghz and does see 8GB memory. I am not sure whether this is bad memory or mobo (leaning towards latter if it won't run 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance (blue) sticks (it comes up with either pair in either pair of slots (first two next to CPU or closest to edge of mobo).

 

[Wuzup101]

I got the system up and running with 2 of the 4 Corsair Vengeance 4GB modules in either of the first 2 or second 2 slots. If I put all 4 in the system keeps resettings and never comes up. I set the frequency to 16.0 for 1600 (BIOS screen shows 1333 1600) and voltage is at 1.5v (didn't mess with that at all) and for some reason the CPU was showing 3.6Ghz vs 3.3Ghz after that change. CPU-Z is showing core speed of 160x Mhz with multiplier of 16x which to me is strange since I didn't mess with the CPU multiplier. I will go back into BIOS and reset it to auto and check CPU-Z again after reboot. But in regards to the memory, if I run either of the 2 pairs (box set of 4 4GB sticks purchased) in either Channel A or Channel B the system will come up and be stable/fine. These BIOS options is insane and not sure what I have to set to get the 4 sticks working in here. Running Win 7 Home Premium 64 Bit with a few sw packages installed atm.

Mike

CPU-Z is showing 1600Mhz in windows because that is what the 2500K defaults to at idle (IE 100MHZ x 16 multi). If you were to load it with Prime95 (or any other benchmark / stress test software), you would see the multi jump up to whatever you have it set to in BIOS. If you have it set to auto, I believe it would step up to 33x or 34x (first step of turbo?) if you were loading all cores.

I actually purchased a pack of the same corsair vengence ram at newegg... but I split it between to PCs (one with the same board as you and one with a asus p8z68-m pro).

You shouldn't really have to do anything special to get all 16gb working short of making sure the "auto" timings and voltages are correct as specified by corsair (assuming the board picks up the XMP profile that shouldn't be an issue - and again since you can get 2 sticks to work its even more confusing).

I will look around the gigabyte bios tomorrow to give you some more info (I put the system that I bought together for my brother and haven't really had a chance to play around / overclock anything yet). Make sure you are setting the clocks for the correct piece of hardware (IE: memory vs CPU). Having memory running at 1600 has nothing to do with CPU-z at the 1600mhz idle speed.

 

[darkenedsoul]

CPU-Z is showing 1600Mhz in windows because that is what the 2500K defaults to at idle (IE 100MHZ x 16 multi). If you were to load it with Prime95 (or any other benchmark / stress test software), you would see the multi jump up to whatever you have it set to in BIOS. If you have it set to auto, I believe it would step up to 33x or 34x (first step of turbo?) if you were loading all cores.

I actually purchased a pack of the same corsair vengence ram at newegg... but I split it between to PCs (one with the same board as you and one with a asus p8z68-m pro).

You shouldn't really have to do anything special to get all 16gb working short of making sure the "auto" timings and voltages are correct as specified by corsair (assuming the board picks up the XMP profile that shouldn't be an issue - and again since you can get 2 sticks to work its even more confusing).

I will look around the gigabyte bios tomorrow to give you some more info (I put the system that I bought together for my brother and haven't really had a chance to play around / overclock anything yet). Make sure you are setting the clocks for the correct piece of hardware (IE: memory vs CPU). Having memory running at 1600 has nothing to do with CPU-z at the 1600mhz idle speed.

Yeah. I saw it bounce between 160x and 340x in CPU-z. Memory was showing as 1333 instead of 1600 and in CPU-z it was showing 667. I ran memtest on the 2 sticks overnight for 6 passes with zero errors in the 2 slots closest to mobo edge. I bumped the multiplier in memory to 16.0 and rebooted this a.m. and CPU-z now shows it at 80x which is what it should since it is half what speed is (been awhile since I did any overclocking on my other older systems ;-) ). CPU multiplier is 33x in BIOS and not planning on changing that. Timings for memory show 9-9-9-24 for the channel with the 2 modules installed. I posted over at corsair and have to check my mail to see if I got any response yet. Probablly not until monday at earliest unless I get lucky. I haven't run Prime95 yet and am debating if I should. This has the stock Intel cooler installed since when mounting the Zalman 9500 over the CPU it looked like it may interfere with RAM slot closest to CPU. Anyways, appreciate any input on settings!

Mike

 

[darkenedsoul]

Three things to note:

1) I can't bring up system with memory in the 2 slots closest to the CPU at this point (channel A)
2) According to the manual the sticks are supposed to be installed in 3_1 and 3_3 or 3_2 and 3_4 and I decided to try that, system goes into constant reset mode (have not had ANY beep codes in this setup/testing since yesterday).
3) I found and loaded the XMP Profile1 from within BIOS after loading optimal settings, changing controllers to ACHI and turning off full screen logo (no other pertinent changes at this time) and that did bring memory up to 1600 on restart with 2 sticks in 3_1 and 3_2 slots (closest to mobo edge).

I don't know why it is deciding to be such a pain in my ass in regards to memory slot installation and power-up. Manual says one thing, I put em in next to each other and it comes up ok. I am starting to think this is a mobo problem and want to get it resolved by next weekend so I can RMA it. It does run ok (crap overall windows results which is low due to the HD results (mem shows 6.x and top one(s) shows 7.x but drive shows 5.9 but it's a Samsung 5400rpm 500GB and not sure if in proper port (using I think 3-5 for HDDs and Optical). I am going to move the optical to a different connection and same for the HDD's and hopefully that won't screw up the install of Win7.....gah, so much fun building PC's....lol.

Mike

 

[Wuzup101]

The crap overall windows score is normal if you still have your OS on a standard HDD vs a SSD. Mine is 5.9 because I'm still using HDDs vs SSD (though I have 2 SSDs in the mail thanks to black friday). I'm using 2x 750gb WD black drives in raid 0 (rig in signature) and I'm still getting the same overall score as you... so don't pay attention to the overall.

I generally will put optical drives on the Marvel ports (I don't have any specific reason why really) and run HDDs from the intel z68 provided ports. You should be able to move a drive around on the same controller but I'm not sure it will do any good (you don't have any need for 6gb/sec SATA3 with a 5400rpm drive so for your purposes those ports are identical). Note that the marvel controller is set to AHCI mode via BIOS independently from the Intel controller.

You definitely should be using the slots specified by the MoBo manual for proper dual channel operation (IE: if you use slots that are next to each other you will be in single channel). Obviously, as you have said, this is not working correctly for you. For what it's worth, I have my memory installed in DDR3_1 and DDR3_2.

I would try putting your memory in the dual channel arrangement as above and then clear the CMOS with the on board jumper. Get into BIOS, put the controller(s) to AHCI, and check to see what the memory is set at. If it's at stock or slower settings and stock voltage (1.5v) leave it and see if you can boot into windows. Heck, maybe just try cleaning the CMOS with all 4 sticks in.

If you can't get anything going like that, I would lean towards RMAing the board as it seems like a mobo issue (as memtest is showing that your memory is okay when in single channel config). You could also try upgrading the BIOS if you are not running the most current version (F10 according to the gigabyte website).

Edit: I see that you are running the F9 bios (from a post above). You might want to upgrade to F10 (as above).

 

[Charlie98]

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 - $115 mATX, also cheap

Is there anything basically wrong with this board? I went to MC and they were out of the UD3's, so I wound up with the D2H, paired with a i5 2500K.

...or does the D2H need to go back?

 

[darkenedsoul]

I ran memtest86 4.20 on each 4GB stick for 11-17 passes and each passed with zero errors. I am on the gigabyte forum working with a guru there. It seems I will be needing to adjust voltage settings to run all 4 at 1600 (which is ok with me). I don't plan on oc-ing the CPU, I just want to get it stable with 16GB 1600 rated memory. What has bugged me is that I can run 2 sticks in channel B (closest to mobo edge) with no problems at 1333 or 1600 speeds (XMS Profile1 which I did see was available in BIOS) but can't run 2 in channel A (closest 2 slots to the CPU). I was also unable to run a pair of these sticks with stock BIOS settings in 3_1/3_3 slots or 3_2/3_4 slots (or in channel A 2 slots next to CPU). So I am continuing working it via the guru at the gigabyte official forum I came across the other day. As I said, I ran each module in slot 1 (3_1) for 11-17 passes w/zero errors. It did show them a) 10600 memory but correct part number (per NewEgg/Corsair for DDR3 PC12800 1600 memory). So we'll see what happens and I'll post back here once I get beyond current issue(s).

I held off using the Zalman 9500 cooler since initial positioning over the CPU looked to over-hang the 4th memory slot. I do not plan any CPU oc-ing, I just want to get memory running at the 1600 speed it is rated at for 1.5v. More to come as I make progress.

I was thinking going SSD for boot disk but held off due to costs of them (still high IMHO for current capacities and I don't need that much speed for a system being used for basic stuff and a bit of DVD/BD ripping/some photoshop stuff, and a bit of VMware usage (Fedora releases) and game-play (no Crysis, but I will replace GPU next year (GTS-250 1GB PCI-e I put into place of a 8800 GT 512 last yr)).

Mike

 

[Jasps]

Darkenedsoul, did you solve your problem?

I kinda have the same problems!

MB: z68x-ud3h-b3
RAM: 16GB kit
CPU: i7-2600k

I couldn't get the system stable with 16GB installed, it was stable with 12GB for a couple of hours (6), then I got a BSOD and everything went worse, horizontal lines after a couple of minutes when starting the system up and then it froze. This happened every time I start it up.

I had already sent the MB and RAM once to the company I bought it from in order to get it test, they lost is and send me a new MB and other RAM.

The problem still remained though! So I now sent (yesterday) my MB, RAM and cpu to them, so they can test it.

Let me know if you solved it, or didn't.

Kind Regards,
Jasper

Ps. I did try to change the voltages but this didn't solve the problem. Memtest gave no errors too. I assume it's the CPU. After testing two motherboards.

 

[jokapo]

can anyone tell what the stock voltages for cpu are for the z68-udh3-b3

cant seem to find it on the net :-(