Help deciding on Motherboard

rpwarwood · 10 Jun 2011 at 10:03

Ok, I've narrowed my motherboard decision down to it being an ASUS, but now I need to decide which one... I'm looking to use it to OC my soon to be i5 2500k to around 4.8GHz, using either a water CPU cooler or high-end air CPU cooler.

Initially I was planning on having a ~120GB SSD as my OS and apps drive, and not using a cached SSD, meaning I could go with the now tried and tested ASUS P67 Pro/deluxe. But I'm also thinking I could buy the more expensive Z68-pro/deluxe, and buy a cheaper 60GB SSD?

Is there anything else I should consider between the two options wrt performance? Does anyone have any direct comparison of the performance of a P67 using an SSD for the OS, vs a Z68 using the SSD as a cache?

Would I be better off buying the Z68 regardless and also buying the more expensive SSD to use as my primary OS drive?

Alternatively, would a P67 Sabertooth be a good idea for OCing to 4.8GHz, given its higher quality components, or is that just plan stupid?

Thanks!

Cookeh · 10 Jun 2011 at 10:25

P8P67 tried and tested? You mean tried and failed miserably. Horrible unreliable boards chock-a-block with problems.

Z68 is what H67/P67 should have been. Even if you get a larger SSD, you can select say 40GB of it to be used as a cache for SSD caching. Ultimately this means you end up with the blistering performance of an SSD and the much faster read and write speeds associated with SSD caching.

At £144.98 the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 is a very good board, and will easily take you to 4.8GHz - just ask Stulid

Before you go on about brand loyalty, ASRock are infact owned by ASUS

rpwarwood · 10 Jun 2011 at 11:28

I take it you noticed the signature... No problem with ASRock, I just prefer the features on the ASUS' so willing to pay a bit more. If total costs start spiralling (probable) then ASRock would be an option.

Z68 it is... unless someone else can give me a valid reason otherwise?

rpwarwood · 10 Jun 2011 at 12:42

On seconds thought...the lack of PS2 is actually causing me some serious grief. The extreme ASRock has PS2, has the front USB 3.0 plate, and everything else that the Asus Pro has, except for built in Bluetooth...

The only thing putting me off is the review by Toms Hardware, where the ASUS was on top for virtually everything, only losing because it cost more and they didn't like the way the PCIe4 slot was actually useless. Decisions decisions :\

kevpuk · 10 Jun 2011 at 13:21

The AsRock also offers more PCIe lanes, really - much as TH alluded to, the addition of the PLX chip on the AsRock board means that controllers don't start getting disabled as the board gets loaded with cards etc.
Very happy with the Extreme4 - have been religiously using Asus for some time before, so was a jump for me too

rpwarwood · 10 Jun 2011 at 13:36

Ok, well its now down to toss up between the Asus Deluxe (which has bluetooth, and better general hardware) vs the asrock (still fine from OC perspective, albeit slightly less efficient, but substantially cheaper with no bluetooth)

They both have PS2, they both have usb-charge, they both have play mp3 through aux-in, they both have the front USB3.0 ports, so they are fundamentally the same :\

Given I have a BT dongle, I would effectivey be paying £60 (the deluxe is 200 at the mo from somewhere else), just to have slightly better overall quality from a familiar brand...I'm not convinced its worthwhile..