- Jun 30, 2004
- 16,391
- 1,915
- 126
What did I say -- somewhere . . . earlier? I've had reticence about using ASUS after two boards that had disappointments. The FSB-533 board -- circa 2003 with RAMBUS memory -- was a terrible over-clocker. The 680i Striker Extreme had a "frequency hole" -- you could only get the bus frequency up so far.
But I wouldn't count a player out of the game in successive seasons.
Struck by so many stellar reviews that came from sources not known for hollow hype, and a review that compared against the Gigabyte and ASRock entries, I ordered the P8Z68-V-Pro.
No reviews for the "V" -- but customer-review postings illuminated the things it didn't have. And I might actually have opted for the V board, just to save some ducats. It's not a matter of whether the extras are offered; it's a matter of whether or not you will ever use them. Otherwise, they would "have no value."
Then we discover that the "Deluxe" -- the P8Z68-Deluxe -- was off the review radar. they didn't bother with it.
Used to be the small-town GP doctor would practice "price-discrimination" -- charging the wealthy more for the same services and extracting less from those of modest means. In a way, Intel did it in the late '90s with the Pentium II, except that it was more "product-differentiation" than price-discrimination. They ran the P-II's off the same assembly-line, then divvied them up to disable certain features on different binnings. They could then sell the same processor as the "P-II-300," the "P-II-400," the "P-II-450," etc. FTC was casting a watchful eye at Intel, while offshore counterfeiters discovered a way to re-enable a P-II-333 and make it a P-II-400. I know, because I unknowingly bought one of the counterfeit processors.
Whole point of this: the seller/manufacturer makes more money by producing greater volume off the same assembly-line, then making them "different" and offering items of different apparent value to different market segments. Can't afford the P-II-400? You buy the P-II-300. Rather than making all the processors top end, they capture a bigger customer base, draw in more revenue, and make more profit.
I could see what the ASUS P8Z68-V-Pro has over the "V." I was more mystified about the "Deluxe." The two lesser-priced boards include the DVI and VGA plugs to tap the iGPU of the processor; the Deluxe has none -- Nada! What gives? Is Less equal to More? It doesn't make sense!
Closer inspection shows the Deluxe gives you a single PS/2 port; the other versions require you to get a converter-cable or use USB keyboard and mouse. I can only say that the converter cable (for PS/2) cost me $20. And you only get one PS/2 port on the Deluxe -- not two. Speculate about the "value" of that port, based on what it took to make up the difference.
The Deluxe gives you an extra gigabit LAN port; the others sport only one. As for the LAN port, a PCI or PCI-E LAN card can be as cheap as $10 and expensive as $30.
Finally -- the Deluxe throws in a cable and USB3 box that would fit in a bay of your case and connect to the USB3 port on the motherboard.
USB3 boxes -- by Koutech, Bitecc and others -- are kludges. They STILL make you run a cable out the back of your computer to plug in to an external USB3. If it were USB2, you could scavage your parts-locker for an old PCI-plate USB ports with cable, remove the plate, plug in the Koutech Male USB, tape them together, plug the cable to the motherboard and "Voila!" Otherwise, with USB3 -- S-O-L. Unless, of course, you buy the "Deluxe." Figure if the Koutech USB3 front-panel costs $20 or $25, they should charge $30 or $35 for the ASUS box.
Add up the extras and subtract the VGA/DVI that isn't there. That should account for the price difference. But the price difference may not be a cost difference to ASUS, who might be able to throw those extras into the mix for pennies.
It's like the difference between an old '64 Impala Super-Sport and the regular '64 Impala: the chrome trim, hubcaps and bucket-seats differentiate a wider spread in price than extra cost to Chevrolet.
Now, here's my friend. He's always bought "Deluxe." He has to have . . . the BEST. No compromises! And I asked him about this -- "What are the differences?"
"Hey! The Deluxe has 'Dual INtelligent PRocessors!"
"They ALL have dual intelligent processors . . . . "
"How can that be? Look at the pictures! Look at the pictures! Don't you see it? The Deluxe says 'dual intelligent processors' on that thing in the center of the board!"
"That's an extra heatsink, on which they engraved their selling point 'dual intelligent processors.' Remove the heatsink, and the boards will show identical components for all three models."
You can guess what the cost of that heatsink may have been.
But for price? It has a marvelous effect. People will look at that board, look at the V and V-Pro, and say "I want the one guaranteed to have dual intelligent processors. And if it says so, it's guaranteed."
But I wouldn't count a player out of the game in successive seasons.
Struck by so many stellar reviews that came from sources not known for hollow hype, and a review that compared against the Gigabyte and ASRock entries, I ordered the P8Z68-V-Pro.
No reviews for the "V" -- but customer-review postings illuminated the things it didn't have. And I might actually have opted for the V board, just to save some ducats. It's not a matter of whether the extras are offered; it's a matter of whether or not you will ever use them. Otherwise, they would "have no value."
Then we discover that the "Deluxe" -- the P8Z68-Deluxe -- was off the review radar. they didn't bother with it.
Used to be the small-town GP doctor would practice "price-discrimination" -- charging the wealthy more for the same services and extracting less from those of modest means. In a way, Intel did it in the late '90s with the Pentium II, except that it was more "product-differentiation" than price-discrimination. They ran the P-II's off the same assembly-line, then divvied them up to disable certain features on different binnings. They could then sell the same processor as the "P-II-300," the "P-II-400," the "P-II-450," etc. FTC was casting a watchful eye at Intel, while offshore counterfeiters discovered a way to re-enable a P-II-333 and make it a P-II-400. I know, because I unknowingly bought one of the counterfeit processors.
Whole point of this: the seller/manufacturer makes more money by producing greater volume off the same assembly-line, then making them "different" and offering items of different apparent value to different market segments. Can't afford the P-II-400? You buy the P-II-300. Rather than making all the processors top end, they capture a bigger customer base, draw in more revenue, and make more profit.
I could see what the ASUS P8Z68-V-Pro has over the "V." I was more mystified about the "Deluxe." The two lesser-priced boards include the DVI and VGA plugs to tap the iGPU of the processor; the Deluxe has none -- Nada! What gives? Is Less equal to More? It doesn't make sense!
Closer inspection shows the Deluxe gives you a single PS/2 port; the other versions require you to get a converter-cable or use USB keyboard and mouse. I can only say that the converter cable (for PS/2) cost me $20. And you only get one PS/2 port on the Deluxe -- not two. Speculate about the "value" of that port, based on what it took to make up the difference.
The Deluxe gives you an extra gigabit LAN port; the others sport only one. As for the LAN port, a PCI or PCI-E LAN card can be as cheap as $10 and expensive as $30.
Finally -- the Deluxe throws in a cable and USB3 box that would fit in a bay of your case and connect to the USB3 port on the motherboard.
USB3 boxes -- by Koutech, Bitecc and others -- are kludges. They STILL make you run a cable out the back of your computer to plug in to an external USB3. If it were USB2, you could scavage your parts-locker for an old PCI-plate USB ports with cable, remove the plate, plug in the Koutech Male USB, tape them together, plug the cable to the motherboard and "Voila!" Otherwise, with USB3 -- S-O-L. Unless, of course, you buy the "Deluxe." Figure if the Koutech USB3 front-panel costs $20 or $25, they should charge $30 or $35 for the ASUS box.
Add up the extras and subtract the VGA/DVI that isn't there. That should account for the price difference. But the price difference may not be a cost difference to ASUS, who might be able to throw those extras into the mix for pennies.
It's like the difference between an old '64 Impala Super-Sport and the regular '64 Impala: the chrome trim, hubcaps and bucket-seats differentiate a wider spread in price than extra cost to Chevrolet.
Now, here's my friend. He's always bought "Deluxe." He has to have . . . the BEST. No compromises! And I asked him about this -- "What are the differences?"
"Hey! The Deluxe has 'Dual INtelligent PRocessors!"
"They ALL have dual intelligent processors . . . . "
"How can that be? Look at the pictures! Look at the pictures! Don't you see it? The Deluxe says 'dual intelligent processors' on that thing in the center of the board!"
"That's an extra heatsink, on which they engraved their selling point 'dual intelligent processors.' Remove the heatsink, and the boards will show identical components for all three models."
You can guess what the cost of that heatsink may have been.
But for price? It has a marvelous effect. People will look at that board, look at the V and V-Pro, and say "I want the one guaranteed to have dual intelligent processors. And if it says so, it's guaranteed."
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