Anyone here got either a Zotac or Asrock Z68 ITX board?

Bradmax57 · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:19

Hi

Im considering building a little gaming itx system and am considering either of the above boards and wanted to know if anyone has either and the pros and cons for both, not really wanting a huge overclock (probably a good thing as both arent known to be that great) but want the z68 more for the intel ssd caching that im currently using on my gene-z and quite like.

Thanks in advance

gropingmantis · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:37

I would go for the ASRock. It seems more stable (from what I have read about both) but don't even bother OCing on them it is not worth the hassle but if you just want the caching then ASRock fo sho.

Bradmax57 · 27 Oct 2011 at 21:20

Thats what I was leaning towards as its only £20 more than a h67 board and has a little headroom for overclocking even though it might not be great still would like to hear from some actual owners

gropingmantis · 27 Oct 2011 at 21:25

Not sure anyone here owns either?

Have look at these threads. They are very in-depth:
ASRock http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1624882
Zotac http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1621417

Bradmax57 · 27 Oct 2011 at 22:05

gropingmantis said:
Not sure anyone here owns either?

Have look at these threads. They are very in-depth:
ASRock http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1624882
Zotac http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1621417

Thanks mate, ill have a look

DavidB · 28 Oct 2011 at 00:38

I own the Asrock, can't say I'm an expert on motherboards but I quite like it.

I like the remote that comes with it and the fact you can power on the computer while the computers turned off. The sound passthrough while the computer is off is useful to me too.

The bios looks pretty swish to me but is ultimately limited in overclocking options e.g. no voltage control.

Overclocking from the "ASRock Extreme Tuner" software seems like the best option to me as it covers most aspects you can play with.

Oddly when I overclock the CPU as soon as it hits 70c the cpu multiplier drops down. I assumed this was some form of throttling but I can't seem to disable it anywhere in the bios, which pretty much kills any chance of me overclocking. Isn't much of an issue to me, but I'd like to know if there's a way around it.

Bradmax57 · 28 Oct 2011 at 10:16

DavidB said:
I own the Asrock, can't say I'm an expert on motherboards but I quite like it.

I like the remote that comes with it and the fact you can power on the computer while the computers turned off. The sound passthrough while the computer is off is useful to me too.

The bios looks pretty swish to me but is ultimately limited in overclocking options e.g. no voltage control.

Overclocking from the "ASRock Extreme Tuner" software seems like the best option to me as it covers most aspects you can play with.

Oddly when I overclock the CPU as soon as it hits 70c the cpu multiplier drops down. I assumed this was some form of throttling but I can't seem to disable it anywhere in the bios, which pretty much kills any chance of me overclocking. Isn't much of an issue to me, but I'd like to know if there's a way around it.

Cheers, i did read something about the throttling on the board, i see on the zotac the newer bios allows voltage control to the cpu not sure if that helps matters

Nightglow · 28 Oct 2011 at 10:32

Z68M-ITX/HT great little board, got mine for about £80 a few months ago, to build a htpc setup, using 8gb of Kingston Hyper X memory & a 2500k
It has all the connections I need,SATA 6Gbps, two USB 3.0 outlets plus the rear panel has DVI, VGA and HDMI, plus you get a good remote.

with regards to Throttling, some peeps having been sticking heatsinks on the MOSFETs, or rigging up a fan, long rambling thread over at 'Hard Forum' about the issue, don't affect me as no intention of overclocking.

http://translate.googleusercontent....624882&usg=ALkJrhiT530obtCpuhowQ-C0N9DWlY4MWQ