MB that supprots GEN3 tech that wont make abig hole in the pocket

[zacfx05]

This is for guys who doesnt want many connection features like 14 usb ports on their motherboard, and want to buy a new MB now... but still like to buy something future proof without breaking a bank....

BIOSTAR TZ68K+

Maximum PC | Biostar: No Worries, Our 6 Series Mainboards Fully Support Native PCI-E Gen. 3

 

[max_snyper]

Dude...but they haven't mentioned the prices...on it.

 

[zacfx05]

Dude...but they haven't mentioned the prices...on it.

hello frnd!!!

there you go....

BIOSTAR :: Award

actually i have seen this motherboard recommended in many sites like anandtech pc build july ( previous one TZ68A+...)

but i cant find this any were its hard , i think biostar doesnt have much service centers in india...

if you find this available anywhere pls do post

 

[max_snyper]

^^price looks good,quality may be of worry...but if its before the dollar prices shoot up then now it would be around 9k
Secondly, its not avaliable in bulk with the retailers most of them are selling asus,gigabyte,msi and even intel.
Service center is a issue that will keep keep people away from this board.

 

[AcceleratorX]

Biostar's service is handled by Abacus peripherals - I think the support network is quite good.

I have the TZ68A+ board, which is an earlier version of the TZ68K+. TZ68K+ is a revised version of this board with 8+1 power phases instead of 4+1 power phases on the TZ68A+ (other than this, the two boards are exactly the same). This revision was primarily made because the 4+1 phase design was limiting the overclocking - people were unable to go over 4.8-4.9GHz on Sandy Bridge with the TZ68A+. This has been resolved with the TZ68K+ and these boards will push 5GHz+.

VRMs on both boards are very high quality, no incidences of exploding VRM MOSFETs which MSI is extremely famous for.

Pros:

- Price (approximately in the range of Rs. 7600 for retail - yes this is the price in the INDIAN market, though this may have increased slightly because Indian rupee now is a bit weak compared to 2-3 months ago)
- Overclockability: You are NOT going to find a better board that sells at this price for this purpose.
- Features: Despite being a budget board, it packs Crossfire (X16+X4) support. There's USB 3.0 support.
- Full featured UEFI: very well done interface with only one niggle (VDROOP setting is backwards to that of any other motherboard).
- push buttons for power on, reset, etc. (nice to see in a board of this price)
- Energy saving without having to install any "EPU" software. The board even has status indicator LEDs that gradually brighten or dim depending on how many phases are in use and how much load is on each phase.
- Onboard graphics has HDMI port
- DDR3 1866/2200 support (just check out the other boards in this price range - you cannot expect this from an Intel or jetway board at this price)
- Supports Lucid Virtu and QuickSync

Cons

- Back panel: Two USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports. It does have 3 front panel header connectors for USB 2.0 (6 ports at front panel)
- Only 6 SATA ports, two of which are SATA 6Gb/s
- Possible memory issues: The board does not have a memory auto tuner like Asus' MemOK. Though it played very nice with GSKILL's RipJaws DDR3 1600 and Corsair XMS3 modules, this may still be an issue (though, to be honest, I had less issues with memory on this board than my previous Asus!)
- Chipset heatsink too close to graphics card if you have a long length graphics card like the GeForce GTX 560 Ti
- DVI port for onboard graphics is NOT dual link (thus, only resolutions upto 1920x1080)
- Non-standard size: It's slightly smaller than ATX standard and the screw placement holes differ slightly. While the board fits well on my cabinet, I can see some others potentially having issues.
- Slow BIOS/UEFI updates - Biostar's BIOS support is just not as fast as Asus, MSI or Gigabyte.
- The amount of tweaking possible is a little daunting, the manual does not explain everything properly.

Build Quality

It's no Asus or Gigabyte and it looks much more conservative. However the board itself looks about as solid and well built as a lower end Asus board, which means.......not bad, not great either.

These are my impressions of the TZ68A+ using it for about two months now. I think it's a good alternative to get Sandy Bridge on the cheap, compared to say, something like the Intel DZ68DB (which doesn't even officially support DDR3 1600). On the other hand, a full featured deal from MSI at 9.4K is just as tempting (Z68A-GD55), which means it boils down to how much money you really want to spend.

Availability concerns

I agree that this board is not readily available. If you ask specifically for this board at lynx-india (by email), you will get it from them. There is a small chance you may get it from AnythinginIT.com as well. Send them an email specifically asking for this model. AFAIK the TZ68K+ is not available in India yet. However, it should be about the same price as the TZ68A+ (slightly higher) if it is available.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this product, though I too had to wait a week for this board to arrive (Note: I didn't buy from lynx)

 

[mithun_mrg]

U can go for this @7.5K but it does not have Lucid virtue
Theitdepot - Jetway HI09-Z 16GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard

 

[AcceleratorX]

U can go for this @7.5K but it does not have Lucid virtue
Theitdepot - Jetway HI09-Z 16GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard

Good board if you don't plan on overclocking. Guru3D reviewed this board and said that OCing was disappointing. Build quality will be OK since Jetway builds many eVGA motherboards. I've heard some bad things about the quality of the onboard audio but that's upto your individual tastes and preferences

 

[zacfx05]

AcceleratorX , where didi u buy this board i have searched every place i knew no one know abt this board... latest i asked one of my friend to check if its available in hyderabad ctc. i have not got any reply.....

where to buy this and abt msi price u quoted is that correct where to find that

 

[AcceleratorX]

^My bad, it seems the MSI is not at 9.4K. However, this Gigabyte board is available at 9.3K:

*www.bitfang.com/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-lga-1155-intel-z68-motherboard-pid35756/

Basic differences when compared to Biostar TZ68A+: Better VRM (5+1 phase, negated if you get TZ68K+ with 8+1 phase VRM), better onboard audio codec, two more USB 2.0 ports at the back. Same OCing ability as TZ68A+.

Cons: This board uses BIOS, not UEFI, though that's probbly not a big issue right now.

Both these boards have only analog 5.1 audio connectors from the onboard audio, if this is important to you. However, I'd suspect someone using a high end digital 7.1 speaker system probably has an X-Fi or Xonar at hand.

Regarding Biostar TZ68A+, yeah I searched like hell, just like you did. I guess dealers aren't willing to stock it because Z68 users are more likely to go for a higher end brand anyway.

You can contact Abacus Peripherals' branch in Secunderabad and explain to them the situation that you are not finding this board in stores. They will either give you the contact of a dealer or they will themselves arrange to deliver the board to you (you may be asked to pick up the product from their office which is nearest to your location). In my case it took a week to get delivered here because they had to send the board from Daman to my place in Mumbai.

(You can contact any Abacus office that is nearby to you, I assumed you live in hyderabad).

If Abacus peripherals does not help you, contact the Daman office directly because that's where the stock is for this particular motherboard. Search the internet or their website (click:ABACUS PERIPHERALS) to get the phone numbers.

(BTW, they *may* now have stock for TZ68K+ also, ask for both models. Price difference should be negligible. Get the TZ68K+ if you can, it's the best value).

 

[zacfx05]

thanks man!!!
i really appreciate your support, i just mailed abacus. lets hope they respond positively.

hey the gigabyte is b3 not gen3, but msi is gen 3 but it cost more right.... thnx again buddy.

 

[AcceleratorX]

^PCB version 2.0 (i.e. new stocks manufactured October 2011 or later) of that Gigabyte board does have PCIe 3.0 support. Though, there is no guarantee whatsoever that you'll be getting the new stock. However, *all* Biostar Z68 boards support PCIe 3.0, which is great to be honest (This news was not announced when I bought the board, neither was I expecting it considering I was building a SB machine on the cheap. Wonderful surprise, but to be honest it wasn't a big deal for me anyway. The Intel DZ68DB and Jetway HI09-Z still don't support PCIe Gen3.....)

IMO it would have been better to just call Abacus via phone, but I do hope you get a positive response! If you don't get a response, pick up the phone and call them.

 

[max_snyper]

@zac....msi gen3 boards out of India costs around 1k inr more than their b3 counter part...but u will have to search for it noto avaliable openly......im too searching for it still havent found it in shops.

 

[AcceleratorX]

@zacfx05: Did Abacus help you out? Please inform us

 

[Cilus]

AcceleratorX, it is really good to see how much effort you put to help the problems of other members; and that was a nice walk thorugh about the BIOSTAR board. Thanks for that quick review and also for the Lynx-India link.

 

[zacfx05]

AcceleratorX.....sty for the delay buddy.... as u said they dint give any response to the mail... i called them , their hyderabad branch, the guy said its available and for correct pricing e must order it. but said it would probabily cost around 8500-9000 rs. biostar TZ68K+....

hey is it ok to buy at that price...?

actually i was thinking it would cost around 8000 not more than that.. as it was shown in that review i posted earlier. but i think as sniper said it may be because of the dollar shoot up... so what u say should go with that....

also iam trying to chk with ctc thriugh my cousin till now he was not able to check it out , iw ill post as soon as i get info from him....

and yes as cilus said u really did a wonderful job with that review man really appreciate it.....

one more thing for how much did u bought ur mb....

 

[AcceleratorX]

Given that prices shot up like 10-15% due to the dollar rupee fluctuation, 8.5K is about right for the TZ68K+. Ask him to give a final price before placing the order though. It's still worth it at 8.5-8.7K.

Also try asking for the older TZ68A+, if stocks are still left, they should sell for lower (say 8K or so). The difference between those two boards is just the VRM after all. I bought mine for Rs.7750 finally (received the product at the end of September), but the 150 rupees extra was because I wasn't available (in the city) to collect the final product on the day it reached the city so I had someone do it and bill it through him basically (so what I'm saying is that this 150 rupees does not count if you're not bringing in a middleman).

I'd suggest you to politely explain to the person that you've had a hard time searching for this board and you've put some efforts into finding this board, and that you'd appreciate a good price for putting that kind of time and interest in a Biostar board and contacting Abacus directly before placing an order.

Regarding the review, I actually have pics of the board and how it looks, close-ups of the components, box, accessories etc., but somewhere along the line I realized that I wouldn't be able to do a full review of the board with the benchmarks and all (not enough time on my hands), that's why I didn't put it up here. If anyone needs the pics I took I'll see if I can get it uploaded somewhere.

In fact the Intel DZ68DB has risen in price as well:

*www.ebay.in/itm/Intel-DZ68DB-Performance-Board-2600K-and-other-core-i7-i5-CPU-/300624151855

If these don't seem tempting to you, you have the Gigabyte board of course. It's your prerogative whether you want to buy that. As for Jetway, well, it's not bad but it's simply not an overclocker's board, and given what I've heard about the onboard audio, you may or may not have to spend on an audio card (reports of audio quality on jetway boards are inconsistent with both good and bad reports).

Also note: At bitfang, the price for the Gigabyte board has dropped. However, there is no guarantee of PCIe 3.0 support, no UEFI and octroi is extra, whereas Abacus will give you all inclusive price that includes Octroi.

Given all these considerations I still think the TZ68K+ is the best board for the price (if you don't mind 2 usb 2.0 and 2 usb 3.0 ports only at the back), try to bring down the price to 8.6K or so, negotiate a little.

 

[zacfx05]

thanks man, i will probabily order it now , let me also ask old boards price.....
no idnt actually need more ports than this... its having everything i require....

thnx for giving the idea to call them....

i will post when i get it probabily by the last of this month.
once again thanks buddy....

AcceleratorX buddy i posted a new thread in component section see if u can help me

 

[zacfx05]

got it................... biostar TZ68K+ MB..........

AcceleratorX i bought it for 7490 exactly it was sent to me by abacus through a dealer in my place..... i forgot to say abacus person also replied my mail man that was awesome.

he mailed me its available for 7200+tax , and i placed my order. the guy was cool and very cooperative.....


frnds thnks guys especially acceleratorX for giving the idea to contact abacus and for your time, to make that review......


thnkx guys

 

[AcceleratorX]

^Great to hear it! And that's a very good price for that motherboard. This board is certainly a GEM in terms of value for money

I just wish these boards were more accessible to the average guy. Do drop a line about how your system runs when you've finished building it. You may want to update the BIOS after you get the system running, the latest version gives a free 12MHz CPU speed boost regardless of what settings you had previously

EDIT: I see now that Flipkart is selling this motherboard for 7.4K. It's certainly a steal at that price! Maybe I should have waited a little, TZ68K+ wasn't even announced when I bought mine, hehe

 

[zacfx05]

hey thts awesome flipkart added ths board, now more ppl can have it.....

i thing they added it new, i never saw tht board in flipkart....

and it was imported in October, i guess u had urs in September right..... hey but have u seen anandtech holiday config, for Intel they have chosen biostar TZ68A+... i thing that board is more vfm than K+.....

yes i will update performance result, but for the time i will be using G620, let us see what it shows whn i finish build.....

but thanx man