Need Asus Intel chipset mobo suggestion

G

Geolith

Limp Gawd
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Apr 7, 2012
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I have a GTX 680 and I'm planning to buy a Core i7-2600, so I need a suitable motherboard. I have an Asus P8Z68-V LX at work and it seems to be a solid choice, but there is a small problem: it doesn't support NVIDIA SLI, only Crossfire, so if I decide to go SLI at some point in future, I won't be able to.

What would you recommend from ASUS with SLI possibility in mind? $250 is the price cap.
 
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Because you have SLI in the plans, then ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 (if you can find it) or P8Z77-V (if the Z68-V is unavailable) - however, the *only* reason I have the Z68-V in the hat is because you specified i5-2500K; had you gone with the Ivy variant (i5-3570K) I would have recommended the Z77-V.

Omelette - Three PCI-E x16 slots (tri-SLI is doable, as is TriFire), Genuine Intel PHY, WiFi-GO is *standard*, Q-connector is also standard, does NOT require EPS PSU (though it does support them).

Scrambled Eggs - A single usable PCI slot in a SLI configuration (no PCI slots usable in either tri-SLI or TriFire), only a single PCI-E x1 slot
 
At this point, you may as well buy a Z77 board, there is no reason to consider Z68 unless you can find one for really cheap. I'm happy with my P8Z77-V Pro, it goes on sale for $205-210CAD here pretty often and will do 2-way SLI/CF no problem.
 
PGHammer said:
Because you have SLI in the plans, then ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 (if you can find it) or P8Z77-V (if the Z68-V is unavailable) - however, the *only* reason I have the Z68-V in the hat is because you specified i5-2500K; had you gone with the Ivy variant (i5-3570K) I would have recommended the Z77-V.

Omelette - Three PCI-E x16 slots (tri-SLI is doable, as is TriFire), Genuine Intel PHY, WiFi-GO is *standard*, Q-connector is also standard, does NOT require EPS PSU (though it does support them).

Scrambled Eggs - A single usable PCI slot in a SLI configuration (no PCI slots usable in either tri-SLI or TriFire), only a single PCI-E x1 slot
Click to expand...

I specified i7-2600K, not i5-2500K, but that's a technicality -- they're both Sandy Bridge. As I understand, the P8Z77-V supports both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge, so I don't see any problem there -- all the better in regards to possible future upgrades.

A single usable PCI slot in a SLI configuration is also OK, as I only have one PCI device (a sound card) and I don't plan on adding any more.

The price also seems to be within my affordable range. So, basically, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't go with P8Z77-V.

Thanks for your suggestion!
 
grambo said:
At this point, you may as well buy a Z77 board, there is no reason to consider Z68 unless you can find one for really cheap. I'm happy with my P8Z77-V Pro, it goes on sale for $205-210CAD here pretty often and will do 2-way SLI/CF no problem.
Click to expand...

Very well. But I'm not sure about Pro. Could you please outline the difference between P8Z77-V and P8Z77-V Pro, just in short? Is it really worth the extra bucks?

EDIT: I just compared the two on ASUS website and it seems the Pro version has more USB 3.0 ports and an extra feature called Q-Shield (no idea what that is, though).
 
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I think the Pro also comes with the option to cross-ship on motherboard RMAs, possibly better power phase design (not sure on that) and the fan control is slightly better (Fan Xpert 2 vs. Fan Xpert +). I paid the extra only because I keep my motherboards for 3-5 years at a time, it's not a significant difference between the two SKUs though, assuming the slot layout will work for your SLI setup.
 
Thanks grambo! My local suppliers had only Pro versions, anyway, so I didn't have much to think here. Also, they had only 4 left in stock and said that a re-stock could be problematic, so I hurried and ordered one immediately.

I may go for i7-3770K instead of i7-2600K. That will be no problem for this motherboard, I understand?
 
Goodcoin said:
Very well. But I'm not sure about Pro. Could you please outline the difference between P8Z77-V and P8Z77-V Pro, just in short? Is it really worth the extra bucks?

EDIT: I just compared the two on ASUS website and it seems the Pro version has more USB 3.0 ports and an extra feature called Q-Shield (no idea what that is, though).
Click to expand...
Q shield is I/O shield but it has some foam around connectors.
 
I have a P8P67 Deluxe from Asus. Great Mobo and newegg sells it for $147 open box. I bought mine for $250 in november 2011... its solid and has most of the features you'd need/want. Check it out and good luck!
 
Chaos744 said:
I have a P8P67 Deluxe from Asus. Great Mobo and newegg sells it for $147 open box. I bought mine for $250 in november 2011... its solid and has most of the features you'd need/want. Check it out and good luck!
Click to expand...

That Newegg price is really great, but I live in Europe, we don't have Newegg here.

Anyway, I already have ordered the other model, but still, thanks for your suggestion. :)
 
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