I was using Intel boards before I started overclocking my systems. It was about that time that INtel was lagging in OC'ing features, so I bought ASUS boards. And I have to say -- two of them -- had limitations you didn't figure on at purchase-time.
But those things change year-to-year, chipset-to-chipset, processor family to processor family, BIOS revision to BIOS revision.
Based on this experience, it seemed a big gamble for me to get a P8Z68-V-Pro so soon in a board's BIOS history. There were just a lot of reviews from tech-savvy reviewers and testing labs that were stunning. Some of them were comparison reviews with Gigabyte and ASRock boards, with ASUS coming out in the lead.
Gigabyte makes good boards -- I have a few. Haven't tried ASRock.
For that -- I was thinking I could have simply purchased the P8Z68-V. They've differentiated three models in that line: the standard "V," the "V-Pro," and a "Deluxe."
The "Deluxe" was off the reviewer's radar. And we're looking at $30 or $40 price differences from board to board for all three. I KNOW what the "V" board doesn't offer that you find on the "V-Pro." I've been trying to sort out the extra value in the "Deluxe."
It appears that they add a second LAN port -- nominally worth about $20 if you were to add a PCI/-E card on your own. They include a PS/2 keyboard port, and it cost me $21 to get a PS/2-to-USB converter cable so I could keep my desk clutter-free and continue using my ten-year-old Belkin 4-port KVM. But they also removed the video DVI/VGA plugs from the "Deluxe" that allows use of the iGPU without a PCI-E dGPU. And that . . . is a bit puzzling. . . . . as in "less is more". . . .
But the chipset is the same. And what's this about using the Z68 chipset with the forthcoming socket-2011? That would mean you could upgrade your mobo and processor, maybe use the same memory, and have no bother about OS reinstallation other than having to reactivate your OS? That could be a nice short-run opportunity!
Back to the "V-Pro." I had all sorts of anxieties about this thing as I was putting it together. "It reboots on its own when you use the TPU switch or the Mem-OK! switch? The EGG shows customer-review 5-stars at below 50%. While that was always the case for people who can't or won't read and do a little research -- "people who don't Know what they're doing" -- YES -- anxiety.
Well -- I'm here to say . . . . . this mobo looks like a winner. If you added a PCI-E dGPU, though, and you plug your monitor at the I/O-plate ports -- don't panic if the system doesn't APPEAR to post. It will sense the graphics card and automatically default to it.