Difference between Asrock Z68 Extreme4 & Asrock Z68 Extreme4 gen 3

Slackjaw190 · 19 Sep 2011 at 20:44

Whats the difference between Difference between Asrock Z68 Extreme4 and the Asrock Z68 Extreme4 gen 3 motherboards?

Also is the gen3 worth the extra £15?

Thanks

Nymins · 19 Sep 2011 at 20:56

Gen3 has 2xPCI-E 3.0 slots, so its more "future-proof". You will need an Ivybridge processor to take advantage of PCI-E 3.0 though.

Slackjaw190 · 19 Sep 2011 at 21:02

so if i was thinking of updating to ivybridge sometime in the future i would need the gen3 board?

Nymins · 19 Sep 2011 at 21:10

You don't need a Gen3 board for Ivybridge, any P67/Z68 board will (read should) work with Ivybridge with a bios update maybe.

The advantage with a Gen3 board is that you can utilise the bandwidth on PCI-E 3.0 graphics cards when they come out. However, you will need an Ivybridge CPU to be able to do that.

Basically, Ivybridge works on any P67/Z68 board, Gen3 boards will also allow PCI-E 3.0 GPU's to use their entire bandwidth.

Slackjaw190 · 19 Sep 2011 at 21:24

Ok that for the replies.

The reason I ask is because ive just ordered an Asrock extreme 4 not realising there was the gen3 version. One of the reasons I went for the Asrock is because I heard it was future proof and I might want to upgrade based on that board in the future. Do you think it’s worth giving overclockers a ring tomorrow to see if they will change my order if poss? Its not meant to be delivered until Thursday so I don’t know how advanced the order is.

Nymins · 19 Sep 2011 at 22:03

Yea it should be easy enough to change if it hasn't shipped.

Even if it has, you could send it back within 7 days, but you may need to front the return shipping cost.

Slackjaw190 · 19 Sep 2011 at 22:33

ok thanks, I will give them a bell

nshire · 20 Sep 2011 at 00:18

Gen3 also looks gorgeous compared to the original!

Slackjaw190 · 20 Sep 2011 at 19:13

Sorted.

I knew I wouldnt have time to ring Oc today so I pinged a webnote to them last night. Got a email back at 9:40 this morning confirming it had been swapped

Great service guys

bakes0310 · 20 Sep 2011 at 19:19

Slackjaw190 said:
Sorted.

I knew I wouldnt have time to ring Oc today so I pinged a webnote to them last night. Got a email back at 9:40 this morning confirming it had been swapped

Great service guys

OcUk have an awesome service there like unicorns.
Im also getting the gen3 version of the board sometime next week