Best Z68 PCI 3.0 Motherboard

Ahh did not know PCI 3.0 needed IB. When are the Z77 boards due for release? (And are you currently using one? Sig.)
 
Ivy Bridge is due for release in a month. It is not a big deal really.. here's what's coming.

PCIe3 - Need both a board that can do it and Ivy Bridge. Much increased bandwidth, currently will have zero impact, perhaps in the future it'll have a few percentage points impact.
USB3 - Z68 boards almost all have this as an add-on to the chipset.
Clock for clock some 10% - Ivy Bridge is a little bit better than Sandy Bridge, but not by a great deal
Power - Ivy Bridge is a die shrink, so less power will be used. Sandy Bridge isn't a power hog though, so there's only so much you can save. Compared to C2D or AMD quads there is a fair saving.
Lucid Virtua MVP - Some kind of third party voodoo, however it's going to be widespread and seems to have a fair number of games supported. An Ivy Bridge + Z77 vs a Sandy Bridge + Z68 should notice some difference due to this. It seems to be under NDA though, so it's not been reviewed much yet.
Pricing - There's not really much coming to the table, as a result prices don't seem to be steep. Z77 boards are relatively inexpensive, and ivy bridge parts seem to be arriving at the same price sandy bridge launched at.

Worth waiting a month for Ivy Bridge I think - but if it was any longer I'd say go for it now with Sandy Bridge.
 
The Halk said:
Ivy Bridge is due for release in a month. It is not a big deal really.. here's what's coming.

PCIe3 - Need both a board that can do it and Ivy Bridge. Much increased bandwidth, currently will have zero impact, perhaps in the future it'll have a few percentage points impact.
USB3 - Z68 boards almost all have this as an add-on to the chipset.
Clock for clock some 10% - Ivy Bridge is a little bit better than Sandy Bridge, but not by a great deal
Power - Ivy Bridge is a die shrink, so less power will be used. Sandy Bridge isn't a power hog though, so there's only so much you can save. Compared to C2D or AMD quads there is a fair saving.
Lucid Virtua MVP - Some kind of third party voodoo, however it's going to be widespread and seems to have a fair number of games supported. An Ivy Bridge + Z77 vs a Sandy Bridge + Z68 should notice some difference due to this. It seems to be under NDA though, so it's not been reviewed much yet.
Pricing - There's not really much coming to the table, as a result prices don't seem to be steep. Z77 boards are relatively inexpensive, and ivy bridge parts seem to be arriving at the same price sandy bridge launched at.

Worth waiting a month for Ivy Bridge I think - but if it was any longer I'd say go for it now with Sandy Bridge.
Click to expand...

this. the gains of a Z77 over Z68 are minimal, but as the pricing is going to be similar, then if you can hang fire then its worth it, just incase. as for PCI-E 3.0 this is probably a few years down the line before any real gains, so again, don't aim to build your system around it.
 
Awesome explanation Halk :) All been very helpful, why I love OcUK :D

I guess its decided then. However this month of waiting may kill me!
 
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