Which motherboard would you choose with these specs?

[MSwhip]

Having researched for a while in several forums and discussion groups and taking into account many suggested considerations I am interested in finding out if there is any one motherboard that fills fhe following list of requirements:
1. Intel Ivy ready
2. With integrated video and audio
3. Socket LGA to support Sandy Bridge both i5 and i7 processors
4. able to handle Sata III components
5. with USB 3.0 ports with at least one in the front panel.
6. PCI Express slot for dual TV tuner card
7. 2 e-sata ports (at least 1 in front panel)
8. with at least one extra available PCI Expressx16 2.x slot
9. at least one 1000BaseT Ethernet port
10. Able to support 32 GB of memory. How many memory slots/banks do I need?
I do have Windows 7 Home 64-bit. I understand it may support 32 GB of memory if the motherboard does.

I have a budget but at this time i rather not limit the possible choices
Should there be no such a Mobo, which is/are the one/s that get as close as possible to fulfill the list?

Would appreciate knowledgeable contributions.

Thank you

 

[Zap]

1. Look for a Z68 chipset motherboard that advertises "Gen 3 Ready."

2. All Z68 will have integrated audio. Most (but not all) will have integrated video. Some that do will only have a single HDMI output, but some will have the whole gamut of outputs.

3. Z68 is socket LGA1155 and is currently the best you can get if you want both Core i5 and Core i7 support.

4. Z68 has two native SATA 6Gbps ports. Some motherboards give you two more SATA 6Gbps ports via a 3rd party controller (such as Marvell). BTW that is the correct name to call it, not "SATA III."

5. Pretty much all Z68 motherboards will have USB 3.0 ports (provided by a 3rd party chipset). However, NOT all of them will support front ports. You need to find a board with USB 3.0 headers. Those boards will give you two rear ports plus two front ports. After that, you are at the mercy of your case because your case has to specifically have USB 3.0 front ports that plug into headers.

6. Pretty much any Z68 board will have extra PCIe x1 slots.

7. This is a bit more specific. Some boards will have rear eSATA ports. Front ports are provided by your case choice, and will hook up to internal SATA ports. Your motherboard BIOS will then need to have an option to specifically mark that one port as a hot swap port. That's the difficult part as I don't recall any motherboard reviews that addresses this option. It is hit/miss. Doesn't mean it won't work without it, but you won't be able to select the "safe to remove" option for that drive in Windows.

8. Some, but not all boards will have this. Note that there are 20 PCIe lanes to play with for this platform, 16 provided by the CPU (formerly Northbridge) and 4 provided by the chipset (formerly Southbridge). If the board has two slots, if only the first slot is in use and second slot empty, the first slot gets all 16 PCIe lanes from the CPU. If you use both slots, then depending on the motherboard you will get either x16 for first slot and x4 (from chipset) for second slot, or x8 for both slots (all from CPU). The x8/x8 configuration will mean it supports Nvidia SLI, while AMD Crossfire is supported on either configuration. If you want to run a non-graphics card in the second slot like a PCIe RAID card, I would suggest a board that runs x16/x4.

9. I would think all Z68 chipset motherboards would have this feature.

10. AFAIK this is possible on any Z68 chipset motherboard that has four memory slots. All ATX form factor boards should support this, as well as most (but not all) micro ATX form factor boards. You will need four sticks of 8GB DDR3, which right now is horrendously expensive per GB compared to smaller capacity modules. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit has a software limit of 16GB system RAM. To support more than 16GB RAM you need Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate 64-bit.

Here are five boards I've found that most closely matches what you are looking for. Note that the most expensive one, the ASRock Professional, uses dual HDMI. All the other ones use HDMI + DVI.

ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3

ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3

MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3)

ASRock Z68 PROFESSIONAL GEN3

I would personally narrow it down to the ASRock EXTREME4 or the ASUS P8Z68-V. The reasons are that they are both under $200 and seem mostly feature-complete. The ASUS board has Intel NIC and Bluetooth, while the ASRock has extra SATA ports. Toss-up.

 

[MSwhip]

Zap, I am tantalized by the fantastic level of detail and depth of your answer to my post ealier today. Thank you very very much. As inexperienced as I am with zero self built system yet, it is somewhat above my level of knowledge on hardware architechture and technology, BUT at the same time it contains lots of "food for thought" information in there and it triggers my interest to further research to understand each one of your concepts. That was brilliant on your part and also very generous with your personal time to take the time to offer it graciously.


On another line I saw the "stuff for sale" but assume I should be going to the link to leave my comments on that. See you 'ova there' now.


Smile.

 

[mrjoltcola]

Zap always gives great answers.

Let me throw one more thing out there. The fact that you need 32GB interests me. You must have something serious to do with that PC, or you are one serious enthusiast. Either way, the 32GB requirement puts a twist on things. Did you know that Sandy Bridge Extreme (X79) is actually cheaper to get a 32GB motherboard & RAM combo? Z68 motherboards only have max 4 DIMM slots. So you are limited to expensive 8GB DIMMs. But X79 has 8 DIMM slots, and 4GB DIMMs are less than half the price per GB. So lets do the math...

You could buy a Z68 motherboard with 4 DIMM slots for $180 and 4 x 8GB DIMMs for $420 = $600 total
You could buy an X79 motherboard with 8 DIMM slots for $300 and 8 x 4 GB DIMMs for $200 = $500 total


The catch is the only two processors available for X79 are the 6-cores, currently $600 (3930K) and $1000 (3960X) until we have a quad-core LGA 2011 option next year which may be around $300-$350. You have to decide if the price of 6-core is worth $180 more than a 2600K setup. For me, it is no-brainer, 32GB machine begs for 6-cores. The bonus is, later you could upgrade to 64GB on the X79 board, which is what I plan to do when 8GB DIMMs come down in price in a year or so.

 

[MSwhip]

Sorry for having "spiked your curiosity", but no..I have no current use or interest for 32 GB of Ram. Was just thinking conceptually and in terms of future expansion and tinkering the main architecture of possible my last kick into the PC can,
I am just a sexagenarian trying to full proof my future cause my next system may be the lone, only, one and last I can afford to put together so im trrying to foressee a lil bit the future, cause if I have got 10 more years of good life left I want the PC to carry me until then. So right now I would probably buy 2 sets of 2x4GB each for a total of 16GB or I might just go with 8 GB with whichever combination is cheaper. Cause likely 8 GB would be all i will never need.. So it would be 2x4GB or 4x2 GB. As regards to ZAP's suggestions I checked the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen 3 which looks impressive, but so does its price in Canada CS$ 235 which is almost 231 US at current exchange rates.
By the way also checking ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen 3 which costs 80US less, what would I be missing of my shopping list should I decide to go with the latter one?

Regarding the Asus both the listed have the same P8Z68-V but there is a 25 dollar difference betwen them, which one of these 2 below were you referring to?

ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 or..
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 ?

How about IntelBOXCZ68BC LGA 1155 Z68? is it comparable to the Asus you chose Zap? (Full Intel integration between Motherboard, Processor and SSD is always a tempting proposition)

Are they all 3 Ivy Bridge ready? Do all 3 support Intel's Smart Response Technology?

With every dollar spent now I want to be future proofed. if they are fast now..they would be fast enough for me in 10 more years. At age 75 (if i get that far) I do not think I would need too much of a speedster killer PC As an example on Black Friday I had the chance to pick up an OCZ Vertex 3 or Crucial M4 SSD but I chose reputation over 6Gbps speed and bought Sata 3Gbps Intel 320 Series 160GB with the bracket and the external kit (which I still havent figured what it could do for me -maybe live outside the computer case-). Price tag U$S155 before tax. Almost a dollar per GB. Still expensive if you asked me but as close to the 75 cents/GB I had set as my ideal price to reach. Havent seen Intel SSDs priced this low ever before. So I blew my Xmas 2011 allowance to get my first ever SSD(probably the last and that is why I wanted Intel quality to be the warranty). By the way I calculated the 1,200,000 hours of MEDIAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURES stated in Intel's Literature to be 136 years should the SDD would be operating 24/7/365. With these SSD not being even 5 years old so far, how can they seriously make such a projection? It sounds like they are selling us smoke and mirrors. If they expect the failure to be every 136 years why do they only offer a 5 year warranty?

I am rambling now but as I feel you both know one another -at least from reading posts- i will ask one last thing for the time being.
I have read in the past while I was researching SSD that Silverstone has developed a component (HDD Booster) that lets one combine the speed of the SSD with the volume of a larger HDD and somehow produces a Hybrid of some sort that boosts the read and write speeds of the mechanical HDD. Apparently the SDD becomes a large cache for the whole system. Does it also make the SSD to lose its maximum speed as a trade off?
Link with some info: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=51338

I would be interested in having your opinions about this contraption.

Thank you for reading this long post and would be awaiting your reactions.

Best regards.


Note:
the Title of the post shoud have read 'address'. I couldnt find a way to edit the title. maybe there is no way to do that.

 

[Zap]

Looks as if the Pro version has extra SATA ports.

Don't bother with the Silverstone HDD booster. The Z68 chipset motherboards have that built-in.

"Futureproofing" is not cost effective. If you were considering spending $4000 on a system today, you'd be better off spending $2000 and putting the remaining $2000 in a 5 year CD. Then, in 5 years buy another $2000 system.

 

[MSwhip]

Zap: Sorry I have failed to thank you for your posts over this thread until now.

Your response has been the most comprehensive and detailed of anything I have ever received over a long posting of mine. I do tend to be very detailed and get short incomplete answers.

Your posting has given me a very clear perspective over a lot of issues. My current system is a late December 2009 Dell Studio 540 System which has served me well since then. Still has components that are quality ones specially for my needs -which do not include gaming-. So I have decided to await until Intel comes up with the next generation after Ivy Bridge which is said to be a TOCK move (major one). At the time I hope to focus on those aspects that really interest me.. I am in my late 60's so short on disposable income and in eye sight acuteness.
So in what I think may become the last build i will ever buy and use , by then (somewhere in late 2013) I would probably would add a second 23inch Monitor Display with 16:9 ratio, or even two new 27in ones -if prices come down from the stratosphere- probably Dell UltraSharp ones (when on sale). I will still need the Intel SRT technology or similar one from AMD to help me speeed up my 6 HDD mechanical drives using my Intel SSD as cache. My uses are and will be general computing, email, spreadheets, web browsing with multiple pages opened at once -over 50-, online chatting, watching and recording CableTV online via RJ-45 connection and a dual or quad TV tuner on-board, Windows Media Center and Windows 7 Home 64-bit are serving me well.
My current system has an Intel Core 2 Quad Core Q9550 processor 2.83Gh with 6Gb of DDR2 Ram Dual Channel. nVidia GTS 240, Realtek Audio. I would cannibalize the still useful parts (for my type of usage). And put together a system for $800 including the new monitor/s taxes and shipping. So it would be a real tight battle.

Thank you again for the trouble you took to help me out, and I commend you for your generous offer of time and knowledge to help educate others.