Z68 vs. P67, what is the difference?

[xynidexxx]

Suffixes viz. DIGI VRM, PRO, LE as if weren't enough to confuse us on a P67 already until recently this Z68 came up.

I'm narrowing down to some very good boards(exclude ROG please) for my soon-to-exist i5 2500k build and here's what i have chalked out:

PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE i5 2500k
MOTHERBOARD:ASUS P8P67 PRO 24GB
MEMORY MODULE:G-SKILL SNIPER(2X4GB)
CASE:NZXT TEMPEST-EVO
AFTERMARKET CPU COOLER:CORSAIR H80
HDD:suggest me a good 1 TB with a 60gigs. ssd (ocz preferred)

I recently bought asus gtx 560ti TOP DCII and GS 600 psu and will be using the lg sata dvd from the current rig.

QUESTION:What do i choose, p67 or z68?...other than intel RST and switchable graphics, i don't find any revolutionary features in z68 apart from it being the youngest child of intel

 

[mithun_mrg]

z68=p67+switchable graphicks & ssd caching

 

[d6bmg]

HDD:suggest me a good 1 TB with a 60gigs. ssd (ocz preferred)

Then your obvious choice would be Z68 as it have SSD caching technology. But if overclocking is your first priority, then you should go for P67 based motherboard. (as it looks like from choosing H80 as CPU cooler).

Noctua D14 will be as good as H80 (if you choose air cooling over liquid cooling)

 

[ico]

I don't really see any point of 'SSD caching' in Z68. SSD caching is something weird. It creates a cache on SSD of the frequently accessed files from your hard disk.

You are simply better off running your SSD as the OS drive. This would yield much more 'real world' benefit and this can be done in every motherboard. Get Z68 if you intend to use Quick Sync for video transcoding which most intend to.

Both P67 and Z68 can overclock.

 

[xynidexxx]

z68 uses intel rst which claims caching speeds like ssd on a physical hdd drive so that you get boot speeds like ssd's...not otherways like you guys mentioned.

Also, z68 is just a different structure, with same mosfets, tpu,power structure, heatsinks and all the p67 features in a way like twin brother . i guess there is a little improvement though not to forget 2k more until new Z breed is launched around the corner.

I would go for z68 as i made up my mind but still want little help as to which manufacturer, ASUS or GIGABYTE?

P.S: Whats with those new Q67 asus boards?

 

[ico]

z68 uses intel rst which claims caching speeds like ssd on a physical hdd drive so that you get boot speeds like ssd's...not otherways like you guys mentioned.

What does Smart Response Technology do? It takes a page from enterprise storage architecture and lets you use a small SSD as a full read/write cache for a hard drive

*images.anandtech.com/reviews/chipsets/intel/Z68/SRT.jpg

Pretty much what I said. - "It creates a cache on SSD of the frequently accessed files from your hard disk."

If I'll get a 60 GB or 80 GB SSD, I'll be simply using it as a boot drive. I won't bother with this. However, if I'll get a smallish 20 GB SSD, only then I'd think of using this.

 

[xynidexxx]

yeah right, +1...hey you seem to have the same board, tell me how is it coupled with 2500k?..you running the processor on stock air?..i hear it oc's potentially well on a stock cooler also

 

[d6bmg]

2500K + AsusZ68VPro will work great.. One of my friends is using 2500K+Z68Vpro and another is using 2600K+Z68VPro, and both of the rigs qork like a charm. With that mobo, you can OC upto 4.5GHz on air cooling (they are using Noctua D14).

i hear it oc's potentially well on a stock cooler also

I heard some people successfully OC'ed 2500K with stock cooler, but just to be in the safe side, don't take that risk. It's not worth it.

 

[xynidexxx]

Z68 does upto 4.7 on liquid at 1.365v...my cousin in the states is on one already..he tried 4.8 on his 2500k with h100 cooler but prime95 gave some error..well that's max for z68 deluxe mobo..p67 does a 4.5 i guess..i am so going for a z68 deluxe..super mobo..it has debug led and pci phase too.

 

[ico]

yeah right, +1...hey you seem to have the same board, tell me how is it coupled with 2500k?..you running the processor on stock air?..i hear it oc's potentially well on a stock cooler also

The temps with the stock HSF I received with my processor is a bit on the higher side. So, I haven't overclocked as of yet.

 

[xynidexxx]

Stock clocks are sufficient but i guess i will oc to 4 max...i dont wanna take those high risks on a brand new chip