Recommend motherboard for 2500k build

[latexblanky]

So I'm making the jump to sandy bridge and I'm looking for a good motherboard to go with it. I plan on overclocking it as much as possible, and may add a 2nd 6950 down the road. The three boards that have caught my eye so far are the Asus P8P67 Pro, MSI P67A-GD65, and the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4. Which of these (or any others) is going to be the best?

I've only used Gigabyte in the past and know the other brands are good but I'm still nervous because my P45 board has been fantastic. However, I notice on newegg the Gigabyte board has far less reviews than the others. Is there something I'm missing? I just want to make sure I'm making a good purchase when I pull the trigger in the next week or so. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Also, I'd rather not spend more than $200 on a board

 

[DesiPower]

Any particular reason you are sticking with P67 and not looking at Z68? They are newer chipset and have a few extra features that might be useful.

ASUS is going strong these days, rock solid performance, reliable and tons of feature also very overclockable.

This ASUS P8Z68-V PRO is a good deal for $180 imo. Comparable to what you are looking at but its Z68! I step up from P67

Also I know you want to stay under 200 but GEN3 is out, its basically PICe 3.0, maybe you should look for them. This ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 is a gen3 version of the one I linked above, at $214, its not a bad deal!

 

[latexblanky]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not set on sticking with P67, I just didn't know if Z68 was much different. What extra feautures does the P8Z68-V offer over the P67 version? Also, if I were to go with the GEN3 would I get more performance out of my video card? And how good are these boards at overclocking?

 

[latexblanky]

Nevermind, I didn't see that you said they are very overclockable. But how does their overclocking potential compare to the Gigabyte or MSI boards?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Any particular reason you are sticking with P67 and not looking at Z68? They are newer chipset and have a few extra features that might be useful.

ASUS is going strong these days, rock solid performance, reliable and tons of feature also very overclockable.

This ASUS P8Z68-V PRO is a good deal for $180 imo. Comparable to what you are looking at but its Z68! I step up from P67

Also I know you want to stay under 200 but GEN3 is out, its basically PICe 3.0, maybe you should look for them. This ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 is a gen3 version of the one I linked above, at $214, its not a bad deal!

+1 on the V-Pro. I can't see how the V-pro is any less overclockable than the flagship Maximus IV Extreme-Z (which will cost ya.) In other threads here and there recently, I gave my summary about the "P67 vs Z68" question.

Get a Z68 board, unless you plan to wait or spend the money for a socket-2011 SBE or Ivy Bridge system. The Z68 is compatible with the socket-1155 version of Ivy Bridge -- when they release it . . .

 

[DesiPower]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not set on sticking with P67, I just didn't know if Z68 was much different. What extra feautures does the P8Z68-V offer over the P67 version? Also, if I were to go with the GEN3 would I get more performance out of my video card? And how good are these boards at overclocking?

No you wont, its just that it will support the next gen video cards and maybe the next gen CPU too...

Nevermind, I didn't see that you said they are very overclockable. But how does their overclocking potential compare to the Gigabyte or MSI boards?

They are same if not better.

 

[latexblanky]

Do you know anything about the slow POST issue some people are having? I saw a thread on this forum and some others saying it's taking 15 seconds plus for their computers to POST with the asus boards. Not that it's a huge deal or anything but I'd rather not wait forever to start up my computer

 

[DesiPower]

ya, mine takes about 10... but as you mentioned its not big deal, SSD (M4) offsets it :biggrin: total boot time is still about 35 secs

 

[Duvie]

Nevermind, I didn't see that you said they are very overclockable. But how does their overclocking potential compare to the Gigabyte or MSI boards?

I was in the same boat you are in, about a week ago. I did a bunch of research and I found stay away from the MSI and most particularly the gigabyte boards for these chipsets. They seemed to be plagued by tons of reports of reboot loop issues...

I would look at Asus or Asrock. I went with a fully loaded reasonably priced Asrock mobo...

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

124.99 w $10 rebate....so 114.99 at newegg (I never count on rebates so I say 124.99)

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Both the ASUS and Asrock Z68's are touted as good by some of our colleagues, although one of them regretted buying a low-end Asrock. As I understand it, Asrock is really an ASUS product, anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong . . .

I usually do a lot of research -- over months of time -- before I choose a motherboard. I don't have the money to just "try this and try that" -- or be the guinea-pig for other cautious people (like myself).

When the P8Z68-V-Pro reviews appeared around May, I was thinking I would probably get a P67 board. This time, though, I took a gamble, bet my money on the reviews, and went against my usual practice. You want to know that a board, its chipset and BIOS are "matured."

In the case of these Z68 boards, the maturity occurred early -- probably because the Z68 was a hybrid improvement over the P67 and H67.

On the ASUS -V-Pro and pertaining to the "delays" and "strange behaviors" of the board at cold-boot, keep in mind that the board is equipped with a TPU and EPU -- microprocessors in their own right. The boards seem resilient against over-clocking mishaps, showing themselves to be "recoverable."

In another thread here, a novice is stuck on a problem that his system won't post, or that it doesn't display the post. His "Mem-OK!" light stays on -- indicating some sort of RAM problem. I almost panicked when I set up my own V-Pro over the same symptom. I'd already chosen to buy a dGPU -- a PCI-E graphics card [eVGA / nvidia 570 GTX, and I'd installed it before attempting to boot. I had also connected the monitor to the onboard port for the intel graphics at the I/O plate. I kept my wits about me, and discovered that the board will detect a dGPU and will then default to it. Reconnecting the monitor to the dGPU resolved that problem, and it was smooth sailing from there.

 

[latexblanky]

I was actually looking at some of the ASRock boards and they are a very attractive option. I just worry that they aren't as big of a company as the others (even if they are an ASUS product) and the warranty isn't as long. But basically you're saying that the P8Z68-V Pro is a very good, if not the best option? Can the TPU and EPU you mentioned be disabled to fix the slow boot issue?

 

[latexblanky]

I was in the same boat you are in, about a week ago. I did a bunch of research and I found stay away from the MSI and most particularly the gigabyte boards for these chipsets. They seemed to be plagued by tons of reports of reboot loop issues...

I would look at Asus or Asrock. I went with a fully loaded reasonably priced Asrock mobo...

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

124.99 w $10 rebate....so 114.99 at newegg (I never count on rebates so I say 124.99)

How are you liking your board? I was looking at that one too and it seems to offer a lot. Have you overclocked with it yet and if so how well does it OC? Any stability issues or anything worth mentioning?