Z68 Mobo req for i5 2500K Budget 10k

[priyam1309]

Guys,
Help me out -
I need a z68 mobo for i5 2500K processor. Good OC, XFireX, max no of Usb3 and SataIII ports needed with dual bios. Few in mind are-
MSI Z68X 65 B3, Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3, ASUS Z68V
Please help me out I dont need 3rd PCI_16 slot.

 

[Tech_Wiz]

If you want Dual BIOS then go for the Gigabyte one.

 

[Tenida]

Increase your budget slightly and get MSI Z68A-GD65@10.6k.

 

[d6bmg]

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 for dual bios option, otherwise, MSI Z68A-GD65 is the best option for you.

 

[max_snyper]

^^is the msi z68a-gd65..."b3" or "g3" version?

 

[Tenida]

Its B3.G3 comes with pcie 3.0 that costs higher than b3

 

[Tech_Wiz]

No Need for PCI E 3.o right now. Go for 2.0 version and save some bucks.

 

[max_snyper]

one quick question...does the current generation from msi and asrock (z68 platform) totally support ivy-bridge bcoz pci-e 3.0 is ivy-bridge feature not sandybridge.

 

[tkin]

one quick question...does the current generation from msi and asrock (z68 platform) totally support ivy-bridge bcoz pci-e 3.0 is ivy-bridge feature not sandybridge.

All Z68/P67/H67 boards will support Ivy Bridge with Bios Updates, asus have already rolled out the update for Ivy support, most other manufacturers will do the same in a month or so.

 

[d6bmg]

^^is the msi z68a-gd65..."b3" or "g3" version?

If you want to spend more money then g3, otherwise b3 version.

 

[max_snyper]

Is it possible that they will offer 100% compatibility to pci-e 3.0,coz the mediator chip between the proccy and the card on current board will be pci-e 2.0 specs.
saw some news about the msi/gigabyte fight on that compatibility issues...thats why was curious.

 

[tkin]

Is it possible that they will offer 100% compatibility to pci-e 3.0,coz the mediator chip between the proccy and the card on current board will be pci-e 2.0 specs.
saw some news about the msi/gigabyte fight on that compatibility issues...thats why was curious.

100% compatibility is not guaranteed cause we don't know whether the existing pathways(bus) can accommodate pcie 3.0 speeds, but you should not worry about that, existing PCIe2.0 is very fast and only extreme high end dual gpu cards(say 7990) "might" maximize it(I highly doubt it though), so anyone using sub 20k mid/high range gpus would not need PCIe3.0, buy the MSI Z68 board now.

PCIe3.0 is like sata 6Gbps, it came when mechanical hdds were being used and it could never maximize it(couldn't even maximize sata 3GbPs), only when SSDs came sata 6Gbps were truly used, so go with gen 2 board now.