Asrock Extreme4 vs Asus P8Z68-V

[swilli89]

Well.. given similar prices; I'm torn. I would actually even be looking at the extreme3 but I need external USB3.0 headers.

I had an asus P5WDH Delux (anyone remember that beast?) that lasted for years and years with never a single BSOD or crash.

However, I did a build with an Asrock Extreme3 that I had to RMA once to get a good one, due to the original not playing nice with multiple different DIMMS.

What do you guys think? Its going to get a 2500K, HD6970, 128GB SSD, and 2 additional hard drives, btw.

 

[jcniest5]

Asus...better board.

 

[jacktesterson]

I would take the AsRock board personally...

I don't think the Asus board is worth $50 more...and for most, Z68 vs P67 is useless unless you want onboard video

Both have great feature sets, both O/C well. Save some money, use towards a better GPU, SSD or CPU.

 

[Rhezuss]

ASROck is an awesome company. I would not hesitate to grab boards from them. Had in the past and will again in the future.

 

[jcniest5]

I would take the AsRock board personally...

I don't think the Asus board is worth $50 more...

I read he said "similar prices." Take the Asus any day if they are the same price.

 

[jacktesterson]

I read he said "similar prices." Take the Asus any day if they are the same price.

You give no reasoning though.... because its Z68?

I know it's a better board, but they are honestly in different price ranges unless he's found a deal somewhere.

I know the Asus is a 16 phase board, I believe the Extreme4 is 8+2 off top of my head?

Either are good options, go with what's cheaper.

 

[jcniest5]

You give no reasoning though.... because its Z68?

If they are the same price, I would go with Asus because it's just a better and more reputable brand. If the prices are different, that's another story. But from reading the OP's post, he said "similar prices," so that's my recommendation.

 

[swilli89]

well i was going off prices at Amazon. I get hit with tax at newegg which kills most deals for me. Both the Extreme4 and P8Z68 are both around $180 and both use Z68 chipset.

I am leaning towards Asus, although I have been hearing how much people trust asrock these days.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

If they are the same price, I would go with Asus because it's just a better and more reputable brand. If the prices are different, that's another story. But from reading the OP's post, he said "similar prices," so that's my recommendation.

That's still not a good reason. There are plenty of reports of Asus' service being subpar. Obviously Asrock would be too, for that matter. Gigabyte's an extremely reputable brand, but this generation of boards with the boot loops made me scramble towards the Asus or Asrock.

I chose the Asrock because of the additional USB 3.0 front panel as well as the fact it was $15 less. It's an extremely solid board, it hasn't given me any major problems as of yet. It's gotten my 2500k to 5GHz on 1.44v. It is, as someone else said, 8+4 power phase. Still hasn't given me a hiccup.

That said, the P8Z68 is still a great board. As stated go with whatever's cheaper (or if that front panel is important, with the Asrock).

 

[Remobz]

well i was going off prices at Amazon. I get hit with tax at newegg which kills most deals for me. Both the Extreme4 and P8Z68 are both around $180 and both use Z68 chipset.

I am leaning towards Asus, although I have been hearing how much people trust asrock these days.

Asrock can be trusted these days. Look for price and other board features for a final judgement.

 

[Remobz]

Read this thread. Very useful info.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2223850

 

[Destiny]

Well.. given similar prices; I'm torn. I would actually even be looking at the extreme3 but I need external USB3.0 headers.

I had an asus P5WDH Delux (anyone remember that beast?) that lasted for years and years with never a single BSOD or crash.

However, I did a build with an Asrock Extreme3 that I had to RMA once to get a good one, due to the original not playing nice with multiple different DIMMS.

What do you guys think? Its going to get a 2500K, HD6970, 128GB SSD, and 2 additional hard drives, btw.

If you have a Micro Center near you:

i5-2500k is $179.99
Asrock Extreme4 Gen3 is $184.99

- $50 off bundle price = $314.98

There is Friend refer a friend e-mail coupon code for an additional $15 off

= $299.98 final bundle price
My friend got that bundle and I helped him build it... The ASRock is solid and comes with 2x USB 3.0 brackets = Total 4 x USB 3.0 ports

I got the Extreme3 Gen 3 with a i5-2550k that knocked off $50 from their Facebook promotion.

Someone on this forum that had both the ASUS and ASRock and claimed that overclocking with the ASRock his build ran cooler than than the ASUS...

If you install DDR3 RAM with 1.5v you should be fine... I already had 8GB
DDR3 from my previous AMD build but I couldn't use them with the Intel build because the RAM was 1.65v and it would cause issues...

Once in awhile we eventually get a bad board that slips through QA doesn't indicate it is a bad brand when majority of the people had great experiences...

From my Understanding ASRock is owned by ASUS too? (Correct me if I am wrong)

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

went with asrock. the two boards are nearly dead even, but the one thing that set the asrock apart was the fact that VT-d works. I know 99% of you don't care, but for those running NAS machines with VMWare and crap, you need VT-d to work properly.

The Asus bios seems to have more features though, and for tweakers this might be the edge. Of course my NAS is running stock with zero tweaks so its obvious on a machine like this I could care less for tweaking.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

If you have a Micro Center near you:

i5-2500k is $179.99
Asrock Extreme4 Gen3 is $184.99

- $50 off bundle price = $314.98

There is Friend refer a friend e-mail coupon code for an additional $15 off

= $299.98 final bundle price
My friend got that bundle and I helped him build it... The ASRock is solid and comes with 2x USB 3.0 brackets = Total 4 x USB 3.0 ports

I got the Extreme3 Gen 3 with a i5-2550k that knocked off $50 from their Facebook promotion.

Someone on this forum that had both the ASUS and ASRock and claimed that overclocking with the ASRock his build ran cooler than than the ASUS...

If you install DDR3 RAM with 1.5v you should be fine... I already had 8GB
DDR3 from my previous AMD build but I couldn't use them with the Intel build because the RAM was 1.65v and it would cause issues...

Once in awhile we eventually get a bad board that slips through QA doesn't indicate it is a bad brand when majority of the people had great experiences...

From my Understanding ASRock is owned by ASUS too? (Correct me if I am wrong)

That's exactly what I did, lol. Tack on 8GB DDR3 1.35v (awesome) and it's a pretty good deal for an i5 machine.

Mine came with one front panel. Maybe he got lucky and got two? I thought there was only one header on the board anyway...

And my understanding is that Asrock was founded by former Asus employees. My prior impression of Asrock was that of a budget brand (939 days), but I'm glad I went with them this round.

 

[Destiny]

That's exactly what I did, lol. Tack on 8GB DDR3 1.35v (awesome) and it's a pretty good deal for an i5 machine.

Mine came with one front panel. Maybe he got lucky and got two? I thought there was only one header on the board anyway...

And my understanding is that Asrock was founded by former Asus employees. My prior impression of Asrock was that of a budget brand (939 days), but I'm glad I went with them this round.

one USB 3.0 bracket and on the back of the build on the mobo is another 2 USB 3.0 slots = total 4 USB 3.0 slots... my mistake for the typo...


You want to know the funny thing? The cashier only scanned the Mobo UPC and forgot to Scan and charge him for the i5-2500k... Cashier put the Mobo and i5 in the bag and afterwards I paid for my purchase (he didn't make a mistake on mines) and we walked out... We didn't realized it till we drove home and looked at the receipt...

 

[chubbyfatazn]

one USB 3.0 bracket and on the back of the build on the mobo is another 2 USB 3.0 slots = total 4 USB 3.0 slots... my mistake for the typo...


You want to know the funny thing? The cashier only scanned the Mobo UPC and forgot to Scan and charge him for the i5-2500k... Cashier put the Mobo and i5 in the bag and afterwards I paid for my purchase (he didn't make a mistake on mines) and we walked out... We didn't realized it till we drove home and looked at the receipt...

That lucky bastard lol. $120 for an i5 combo? An absolute steal. :thumbsup:

 

[Destiny]

That lucky bastard lol. $120 for an i5 combo? An absolute steal. :thumbsup:

Actually $185 because the $50 didn't get deducted because the i5 was never Scanned... lucky bastard but no proof of purchase for the i5 so he'll be SOL if he fries the i5 due to overclocking - unless he uses someone else's i5 receipt...

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Actually $185 because the $50 didn't get deducted because the i5 was never Scanned... lucky bastard but no proof of purchase for the i5 so he'll be SOL if he fries the i5 due to overclocking - unless he uses someone else's i5 receipt...

Ah, true true. Still, it's the cost of the i5 alone. Great deal.

Well he can't use yours, unless your MC's employees seriously cannot read and tell the difference between a 2550k and 2500k...

 

[jcniest5]

Lucky bastard. But now MC's inventory is screwed and I'm sure one of the employees will be blamed for theft because no customers would ever be able to steal an item such as the CPU in the case and walk out the door.

 

[Rvenger]

P8P67 series left a bad taste in my mouth for Asus. I actually recommend Asrock now, especially for Intel.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I was in your dilemma about a month ago and decided to give Asrock a try. I used to never buy anything but asus, but I decided to try Asrock with my stepson's pc and was pretty impressed by it. I got an Asrock extreme 4 gen 3 board and I'm happy so far. The only thing on the board I got was that a few of the 2.0 usb ports on the back aren't working, but I don't have a whole lot of usb devices. Under normal circumstances, I prob. would've RMA'd it just for that, but this was a covert upgrade, ie my wife still has no clue I dropped about $500 on an i7 2700k and the mobo. RMA'ing it would've left more evidence. lol

 

[chubbyfatazn]

I was in your dilemma about a month ago and decided to give Asrock a try. I used to never buy anything but asus, but I decided to try Asrock with my stepson's pc and was pretty impressed by it. I got an Asrock extreme 4 gen 3 board and I'm happy so far. The only thing on the board I got was that a few of the 2.0 usb ports on the back aren't working, but I don't have a whole lot of usb devices. Under normal circumstances, I prob. would've RMA'd it just for that, but this was a covert upgrade, ie my wife still has no clue I dropped about $500 on an i7 2700k and the mobo. RMA'ing it would've left more evidence. lol

The things we do for our computers I mean hobby I mean family...

 

[MoInSTL]

If you have a Micro Center near you:

i5-2500k is $179.99
Asrock Extreme4 Gen3 is $184.99

- $50 off bundle price = $314.98

There is Friend refer a friend e-mail coupon code for an additional $15 off

= $299.98 final bundle price
My friend got that bundle and I helped him build it... The ASRock is solid and comes with 2x USB 3.0 brackets = Total 4 x USB 3.0 ports

I got the Extreme3 Gen 3 with a i5-2550k that knocked off $50 from their Facebook promotion.

Someone on this forum that had both the ASUS and ASRock and claimed that overclocking with the ASRock his build ran cooler than than the ASUS...

If you install DDR3 RAM with 1.5v you should be fine... I already had 8GB
DDR3 from my previous AMD build but I couldn't use them with the Intel build because the RAM was 1.65v and it would cause issues...

Once in awhile we eventually get a bad board that slips through QA doesn't indicate it is a bad brand when majority of the people had great experiences...

From my Understanding ASRock is owned by ASUS too? (Correct me if I am wrong)

LONG reply follows:
Went to Micro Center on Friday and picked up the $50 off bundle for a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 and an i5- Intel 2500K. The Gigabyte would spin up for 2 seconds and then looped. Never even booted to the BIOS. Took the whole thing back yesterday and the build your own guy got a different board and same thing. Then he swapped out the RAM and even the CPU. No change. Maybe they got a bad batch?

After all of that I went for the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 as well as I wanted eSATA for my Hitachi 1TB drive for my budget build. The CPU was the same price your friend paid ($179) but the Gigabyte board was only $104.99. Had the build your own guy clear getting the ASRock for the same price. So I ended up paying $284.98 before tax. I didn't know about the refer a friend. I love the start, re-set and clear CMOS buttons! The CMOS button is on the back so no need to open the case.

I also got a Samsung 830 64GB OS drive for $109, 16GB HyperX Kingston RAM for $60, a 2.5" to 3.5" bracket and installed my 2.5" 500GB Seagate 7,200 RPM drive from my first gen i5 laptop (have an Intel 320, 120GB in that) and couldn't be happier. I also have an old Seagate 300GB SATA drive wth lots of old stuff backed up. I was able to re-use my Antec P180 case with Tri Cool fans and bottom mounted Antec 500w modular power supply. Upgraded from an ancient AMD Athlon 3800+ system. I sadly retired my WD 74GB Raptors that had been Raid0.

So now I am saving up for a mid-range video card but the 16GB should tide me over using the Intel 3000 on board graphics. Have not attempted an OC as I need to let it all burn in a bit.

I am still figuring out the gorgeous BIOS (my first UEFI BIOS!) and learning more about the Samsung 830. (I installed SSD Magician and need to probably upgrade the firmware as well as the ASRock BIOS). Too tired to do it tonight. My only complaint was my Logitech wireless KB & mouse wouldn't let me in the BIOS as it loaded with the OS. I made the mistake of donating all my PS/2 KBs so I had to borrow one from a neighbor. Enabled legacy USB and works fine now. I hate the positioning of all the SATA ports on the Gigabye and this ASRock as it was hard to access them easily--at least in my enclosure.

Not too bad for a middle-aged woman eh?

 

[Destiny]

LONG reply follows:
Went to Micro Center on Friday and picked up the $50 off bundle for a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 and an i5- Intel 2500K. The Gigabyte would spin up for 2 seconds and then looped. Never even booted to the BIOS. Took the whole thing back yesterday and the build your own guy got a different board and same thing. Then he swapped out the RAM and even the CPU. No change. Maybe they got a bad batch?

After all of that I went for the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 as well as I wanted eSATA for my Hitachi 1TB drive for my budget build. The CPU was the same price your friend paid ($179) but the Gigabyte board was only $104.99. Had the build your own guy clear getting the ASRock for the same price. So I ended up paying $284.98 before tax. I didn't know about the refer a friend. I love the start, re-set and clear CMOS buttons! The CMOS button is on the back so no need to open the case.

I also got a Samsung 830 64GB OS drive for $109, 16GB HyperX Kingston RAM for $60, a 2.5" to 3.5" bracket and installed my 2.5" 500GB Seagate 7,200 RPM drive from my first gen i5 laptop (have an Intel 320, 120GB in that) and couldn't be happier. I also have an old Seagate 300GB SATA drive wth lots of old stuff backed up. I was able to re-use my Antec P180 case with Tri Cool fans and bottom mounted Antec 500w modular power supply. Upgraded from an ancient AMD Athlon 3800+ system. I sadly retired my WD 74GB Raptors that had been Raid0.

So now I am saving up for a mid-range video card but the 16GB should tide me over using the Intel 3000 on board graphics. Have not attempted an OC as I need to let it all burn in a bit.

I am still figuring out the gorgeous BIOS (my first UEFI BIOS!) and learning more about the Samsung 830. (I installed SSD Magician and need to probably upgrade the firmware as well as the ASRock BIOS). Too tired to do it tonight. My only complaint was my Logitech wireless KB & mouse wouldn't let me in the BIOS as it loaded with the OS. I made the mistake of donating all my PS/2 KBs so I had to borrow one from a neighbor. Enabled legacy USB and works fine now. I hate the positioning of all the SATA ports on the Gigabye and this ASRock as it was hard to access them easily--at least in my enclosure.

Not too bad for a middle-aged woman eh?

Not bad... I got the same SSD you did but the 128GB version... If you are using Windows 7 you really don't need to do much for your SSD... I recommend moving all your "My Folders" and "Download" to your normal hard drive in your build...

But for more info about SSDs, check out this thread, it will help answer ALL if not MOST of your questions about SSD:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2069761

 

[MoInSTL]

Not bad... I got the same SSD you did but the 128GB version... If you are using Windows 7 you really don't need to do much for your SSD... I recommend moving all your "My Folders" and "Download" to your normal hard drive in your build...

But for more info about SSDs, check out this thread, it will help answer ALL if not MOST of your questions about SSD:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2069761

Well, it's a budget build as I mainly use my laptop. Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on desktop. (Got it free at the Windows 7 launch).

I know some about SSDs as I have the Intel 320 120GB in my laptop. It's SATA 2 and I researched it a lot and along the way I learned. What I don't know is how the Samsung 830 handles GC and if the firmware update issue is fixed and if I need to update it. My Intel came with the current firmware. FWIW, I configured this one like I did the Intel, i.e. disabling hibernation, etc.

This has CXM01B1Q. Do you know if this is the current Samsung version? EDIT: N/M, the latest is CXM03B1Q. Used SSD Magician and was fast and painless to update.

Good suggestion to move those folders to the spinners.