CPU/Mobo Suggest Best Z68 Gen3 ATX Board

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cybermantas said:
Got the facts, now for the links
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YEP... THE FACTS...LINKS
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rite said:
MSI has more features than Gigabyte/Asus at the same price point.

MSI performs just a lil less (not observable) than top end Asus mobos and equal to Gigabyte.

MSI is cheaper and Gigabyte or asus.

In India, MSI has better service than Asus, Asus ASS is the worst.

Gigabyte had boot loop problems in their last 2 generations, they may or may not have that this time.

The only advantage Asus might have is that it may overclock 100-200 Mhz higher if you are an expert overclocker

1. That doesn't make any real difference

2. I don't think you are an expert overclocker at this point in time
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3. No point paying higher for just this when you get crap ASS etc as a side effect

Other than the above points, in terms of observable performance, all 3 will be nearly equal at the 15k price point. however from MSI you will get a high end mobo while from the other two you will get a mid end mobo at the same price. This is despite the fact that they fall in the same tier 1 and are not worse/better than each other.
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SORRY for repeating this again ....
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terence_fdes said:
U gotta convince me real hardcore on this one (substantiated with proof/links .....Grrrrrrrr) - On Why MSI rocks better than giga or asus
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Cheers
 
It is that simple. Use newegg to check features of each motherboard. Then google reviews, it can't be simpler
 
Okay now this is getting real funny, I just want to voice a few of my opinions about this raging subject --

I have not bought any Gigabyte components for my current RIG, because of availability and also the fact that the models that were available at the price point were not enticing enough.

I had a choice between the -->

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO ~7200/-

Gigabyte GA-785GM-UD2H ~6500/-

MSi 785GM-E65 ~5500/-

note MSi, is the cheapest on paper and in truth, the Gigabyte edition had a limitation of DDR II RAM modules and the ASUS motherboard in-spite of crappy ASS was the most expensive [also I had not been a member of TE then, just to clarify].

Now the reality that ensued in front of me was --

the ASUS board came with a Spartan bundle, no idea about ASS [to both parties myself oblivious], but it came with great reviews [please check them I am including one because I think it is my duty to enclose details, instead of shirking --> http://hardocp.com/a...erboard_review/ / http://www.hardwarec...rboards-review/]

But the good factors about the ASUS motherboard are --
The positives of the Gigabyte motherboard --
The positives of the MSi motherboard --
I bought the ASUS motherboard and *touchwood* no issues, no regrets and most importantly it competed with my friends Gigabyte GA-790X-UD4P for feature support [the Gigabyte motherboard came with a USB 3.0 controllers]. Build quality is good and I face no issues, everything is holding well.

In fact the UD4P I bought for my friend had a bad socket retention mechanism and every time I used to put TIM for him, while prying the HSF of his board the processor used to come out of the socket stuck to the bottom of the heat-sink. We were all pretty aghast but thankfully no damages there either and once he replaced the stock HSF for a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ the incident has not repeated itself.

I bought a MSi HD 5770 [also two years old now] and it went down in June of 2010 due to overheating, found out that it was a manufacturing defect as the heat-sink and GPU core were not in contact, so card literally fried @stock settings, though this allowed me to test MSi's vaunted ASS and it came out with flying colours [my faulty card was replaced with a brand new HD 5770 HAWK edition].

Here is the thread I created for the same --> http://www.techencla...__fromsearch__1.

My basic point is MSi might offer same / more features at a lesser / the same price point as ASUS, Gigabyte products but their quality is not upto mark. Everyone is entitled to their views and these are mine. Cheers!!
 
I don't think so. It depends from model to model and generation to generation. I have had all 3 motherboards at different points in time, the only motherboard I didn't have any problem was MSI. I had problems with both Gigabyte (boot loop) and with Asus (poor quality mobo fan, kept failing and had to send for RMA, back in A8N E times).

And I have no idea about sub 10k mobos.

But when it comes to comparing the kings, I would rather go with the MSI flagship for 14k rather than Gigabyte flagship for 20k (Gigabyte has a few more connectors and 3 way SLI but I don't need all that) and definitely not Asus which is nearly 25k for maybe 1-2% real world gains.

Honestly, if I am in the market for a motherboard, ideally my budget is around 12-14k and the max I would like to stretch is 15-16k. At that price the only options a person like me would have are:

MSI GD80 cheapest of the lot but most features at the price point, with no known hassles

Gigabyte UD4 with boot loop problem and no known advancement over the MSI, UD5 is way too expensive and not required.

Asus mid end mobo which is 1% faster and ocs 3-5% better but with pathetic RMA, ASS and no real world gains

Besides, I buy from SMC and there MSI is the quickest to reach, easiest to RMA, cheapest to buy and with no known inferiority over the other two.

Honestly, if I lived in USA I would probably go for Asus as well, provided it didn't cost more than $50 over the other alternatives. But in India, it doesn't offer me enough to make me spend an additional 2-3k to lose my peace of mind, ASS, RMA etc for no real world benefits.

Honestly, even GD65 has everything UD4 or even UD5 or any mid end Asus mobo has and that sells for like 11k. So this 11k mobo is practically a better deal than those 14-16k mobos.

The GD80 is in a league of its own which can only be countered by 16k+ Asus mobos and I am not saying Asus is a loser there. I am just saying that it depends on which part of the world you live in, what your brand prefereces are and what the given situation is.

In short, all 3 are good and there isn't any obvious winner if you see from a broad perspective.

If you want an overall performer (in terms of more than just performance/oc/etc), then the MSI is VFM and will never disappoint you.

Gigabyte is supposed to be the best build quality and has been awarded for that, but the recent mobos have boot loop problems. Also, Gigabyte isn't cheap either.

Asus is the king in terms of 1% more performance but it does that at the cost of crappy low-mid mobos and only mid end and above are really that good.

So if you are willing to spend around 16k+ for a mobo and have no problem with ASS/RMA/failing in a couple of years, go for Asus. For a long life time go with Gigabyte. For a balanced view, and VFM with no negatives as such, go for MSI
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And one graphic card failing means zilch. Everybody knows that MSI makes some of the best graphic cards around, especially in terms of build quality. Once exception means nothing. I have had several MSI graphic cards and honestly, I have never been happier with any PC component amongst these 3+ brands other than with MSI.
 
i think a big factor to consider when buying 15000 plus mb boards is the rma service of manufactures

afaik asus rma service is very bad worldwide as well as in india
 
Over the years, I have bought all these brands (Motherboards and GPUs) and found all of them equally good. But if its a question of RMA, make no mistake that all these brands have equally lousy RMA process in India.

All Rashi Brands - 2 months turnaround.

Gigabyte - 2 months turnaround (They will repair the board as far as possible if not, they will give a refurbished board without accessories.)

MSI - 2 months turnaround (Don't have personal experience of MSI RMA, but this is what I have heard from others who have)

If you have to wait 2 months, you might as well get a new board and sell the RMAed board. Except for a few brands, RMA is impractical in India.

I have had no RMA experience in India so far where turnaround time was less than 1 month Sony PS3 - 2 months, LG Monitor - 1.5 months for repair, Seagate HDD - 1 month. Samsung HDD - 4 months
 
The thing is that SMC international is a distributor for msi and gigabyte and I know dilip personally since a long time. So he is willing to give me hand to hand rma service for msi and gigabyte but can't help much with rashi rma because he isn't the distributor when it comes to Asus
 
Nice thread. Will subscribe before starting a new one, but am basically looking for a mobo+cpu upgrade myself. Looking at SB/IB as well, finally upgrading the old rig bit by bit. But does the 3770K make sense over a 2600K/2700K even for someone using a discrete GPU from day 1? Seems like the CPU portion isn't significantly faster. Will 3770K also work with Z68 mobos? Sorry for the n00b like queries, been out of the PC scene for over a year now.
 
terence_fdes said:
Hi TE folks,

I am looking forward to searching for the best Best Z68 Gen3 ATX Board & hoping to pair it off with i7-2600K.

For the moment - the Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 is under consideration (Rs 15k) & I can't seem to figure out the Gigabyte ones. My obvious choice would have been ASRock - however, I cannot find a good model available in India (lastly RMA & support here is doubtful?).

Initially, planning to use the onboard GPU support. Will add a discrete GPU 3-4 months later. Will be installing 16GB RAM & using Seasonic 520W PSU. Used mainly for HD encoding; Avid DS Nitris; Maya (rare & occassional). Also planning on OC later on (after changing the stock CPU cooler) and adding an SSD. Also will keep adding 1 or 2TB HDD's to serve as my library for HD Movies & other work. In short - looking at a system that will keep me relaxed for the next 5-6 years.

Ideally the X79 would have been my dream, but the combined cost of the mobo & proc exceeding 60K is beyond my reach. So settling for Z68 Gen3 board.

Appreciate all the help u guys can give & links too

Cheers
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I would second your opinion on Asrock. The Asrock z68 Extreme 3 Gen3 is around 9k in india. You can get it directly from the Distributors Mediaman (info@mediamangroup.com) / Jupiter International (info@jil-jupiter.com). Reg RMA - It will take a max of 4-5 days (If you live in a major city, where the distributors have a presence). The only problem is with the Fata1ty series MoBos, for which RMA will take atleast 15-30 days. Compared with similar offerings from ASUS/Gigabyte/MSI....I would say that the Asrock is the Best Value for Money & Performance.

I agree with others, that you can better wait for the Z77 & Ivy. I'm considering a Asrock z77 MoBo & a Ivy i5 3570k, it would make a killer combo.

Vandal said:
Nice thread. Will subscribe before starting a new one, but am basically looking for a mobo+cpu upgrade myself. Looking at SB/IB as well, finally upgrading the old rig bit by bit. But does the 3770K make sense over a 2600K/2700K even for someone using a discrete GPU from day 1? Seems like the CPU portion isn't significantly faster. Will 3770K also work with Z68 mobos? Sorry for the n00b like queries, been out of the PC scene for over a year now.
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Well if your purpose is just gaming & watching HD Movies and other normal desktop apps, then the i7 doesn't make sense(financially). you'll be doing pretty fine with a i5 2500k (SB) or an i5 3570k(ivy). If you're not an overclocker then you can go for the normal CPUs (non-'K' series). You can rather spend the saved money on a good GPU.

Vandal said:
Will 3770K also work with Z68 mobos?
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Yes it will work on z68 MoBos. But if you want to the utilize the PCIe 3.0 feature, better get a Gen 3 z68 board. But, I'd rather suggest you to wait for a couple of weeks until the z77 MoBos are released, after which you can decide the choice based on price-performance& features.

Hope this helps
 
Just for your info, no system today is going to last 5-6 years. That has only happened once in history with i7 920 for 4-5 years and passable performance. Isn't happening this time as Haswell be a relatively big jump and hopefully 2 generations would together mean that you are outdated.

RAther buy low end and upgrade every 2-3 years, will result in better performance.
 
Vandal said:
Nice thread. Will subscribe before starting a new one, but am basically looking for a mobo+cpu upgrade myself. Looking at SB/IB as well, finally upgrading the old rig bit by bit. But does the 3770K make sense over a 2600K/2700K even for someone using a discrete GPU from day 1? Seems like the CPU portion isn't significantly faster. Will 3770K also work with Z68 mobos? Sorry for the n00b like queries, been out of the PC scene for over a year now.
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Yes, Z68 is compatible with Ivy Bridge CPU's.

As for Z68 vs Z77, most people seem to be under the assumption that they will cost about the same, but IMO there will 2~3k difference between the two even if cost the same outside. Z68 to Z77 is a series changes and there and some specs are pepped up, so no chance in hell that they will be sold at a similar price point. Unfortunately that is how things work in our country. Z77 might be worth waiting for, but price is not going to be a factor that's going to make the wait worthwhile.
 
Please read what I wrote in one of the posts. The same Z77 board will be at least 1-2k+ compared to the same Z68 board and nearly 2.5-3.5k difference compared to old P67 pricing. Nobody is denying that it would cost about 2k+ more for a similiar board. But 2k is no reason not to get new tech especially when you are talking of boards of 10k+
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harryoxford said:
You can rather spend the saved money on a good GPU. Yes it will work on z68 MoBos. But if you want to the utilize the PCIe 3.0 feature, better get a Gen 3 z68 board. But, I'd rather suggest you to wait for a couple of weeks until the z77 MoBos are released, after which you can decide the choice based on price-performance& features. Hope this helps
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Well, what I normally do is upgrade my CPU/mobo, and then just keep upgrading my GPU. I'm aiming at a GTX 680 ATM, but currently am on a GTX 460 that has gotten me by just fine, mainly because work and other priorities kept me away from my rig for a whole year. I've been playing Skyrim, which is looking really sweet even on my GTX 460 and relatively ancient Q6600. So you can understand, that I've not upgraded since 2009. Which is how I justify spending 16-18K on the CPU. My budget would be around 35K for the CPU/board/RAM, and another 30K for the GPU. Then I'll sit put till March 2014
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35k for CPU plus mobo plus ram won't get you 3770k plus z77 so essily

You can get 4x4 gb ddr3 1600 g skill for 7-8k

Remaining 28k

Get a 3570k for about 13k

Spend remaining 13-14k on a mid end mobo

Save 1-2k and spend on gpu as that would most probably be 32-35k
 
Vandal said:
Well, what I normally do is upgrade my CPU/mobo, and then just keep upgrading my GPU. I'm aiming at a GTX 680 ATM, but currently am on a GTX 460 that has gotten me by just fine, mainly because work and other priorities kept me away from my rig for a whole year. I've been playing Skyrim, which is looking really sweet even on my GTX 460 and relatively ancient Q6600. So you can understand, that I've not upgraded since 2009. Which is how I justify spending 16-18K on the CPU. My budget would be around 35K for the CPU/board/RAM, and another 30K for the GPU. Then I'll sit put till March 2014
happy55.gif
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Sadly, Motherboard prices in our country are continuously going up with each generation. A while back 15~20k represented the absolute high end of the motherboards and 12~15k got you a premium class motherboard with shit load of features. Now you spend 18k and all you get is a premium motherboard with a mainstream chipset like Z68. If you look at Asus motherboards, P67 Pro series which is like the standard model cost 12k. With Z68 the Pro series is like 15k odd. With Z77, I expect it to be around 18k. So for 18k you would get a motherboard with bare minimal features you would expect from a decent motherboard. So unless you sacrifice on motherboard front drastically, I don't think your 35k budget would suffice to get a good CPU and RAM.
 
Well, what I'm looking at is 8GB of RAM. So that's around 4K max. But Ajay, I didn't know Mobo prices were so bad, Most of these boards are like 125~175$ in the US. Just phoned SMC, and was quoted 16.5K for an ASUS Z68, but I forget the model. Anyways, plan on visiting NP tomorrow, just to update myself.

@Rite - HT is important to me, so 3770K it is. Unless I have to settle for a 2600K or 2700K.
 
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