# What is the Best Z68 Board?



## SkullFox (Aug 26, 2011)

I have searched the net for this and no one managed to answer...

What is the Best Z68 Board in the universe?

In my opinion Asus is the best brand in the Motherboard Market, but, I can be wrong...

- Is it the extreme OC oriented and Asus Flagship *Maximus IV Extreme-Z*?
Or the Asus second in command:
- The feature rich *P8Z68 DELUXE*? (also wallet friendly)

On the other and we have:
- *EVGA Z68 FTW*;

and Gigabyte's
- *GA-Z68X-UD4-B3* 
and 
- *G1.Sniper2*

Or can it be that Asus's sister - ASrock made the best boards? we have:
- The *Fatal1ty* Pro gamer branded *Z68 Professional Gen3*,
and
- The feature rich *Z68 Extreme7 Gen3* that has the NVIDIA® NF200 Chip Onboard and supports Dual VGA cards at PCI-E x16/x16.


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 26, 2011)

SkullFox said:


> What is the Best Z68 Board in the universe?
> 
> In my opinion Asus is the best brand in the Motherboard Market, but, I can be wrong...



IIRC, Asus has been lackluster as of late on the Sandy bridge side of things.

My vote-in Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3, only costs a little over the standard "budget" board but with a whole messload of features over any other board for it's price. Out of those listed, the Extreme7.


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## Fourstaff (Aug 26, 2011)

No MSI?


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Aug 26, 2011)

Idk about best but that extreme7 sure is snazzy. I'd expect it to be close to asus even though they parted ways. Their efi is pretty much a direct copy of asus'.


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## EarthDog (Aug 26, 2011)

Best as in what? Imposible to answer this question if there is no scope defined. They all have some pluses and bad points about them depending on what angle you are coming from.

Example - Sniper 2: Great board for gaming with KillerNIC and legit Xfi onboard, however shitty bencher (no power/reset/debug led etc)...


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## SkullFox (Aug 29, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> IIRC, Asus has been lackluster as of late on the Sandy bridge side of things.
> 
> My vote-in Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3, only costs a little over the standard "budget" board but with a whole messload of features over any other board for it's price. Out of those listed, the Extreme7.



Actually this extreme7 surprised me a lot, a board with such a huge amount of features...



EarthDog said:


> Best as in what? Imposible to answer this question if there is no scope defined. They all have some pluses and bad points about them depending on what angle you are coming from.
> 
> Example - Sniper 2: Great board for gaming with KillerNIC and legit Xfi onboard, however shitty bencher (no power/reset/debug led etc)...



The best in Overall usage (OC, Gaming, Media, etc...).




Fourstaff said:


> No MSI?


They have nothing interesting right now...


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## entropy13 (Aug 29, 2011)

*2 "TOP-OF-THE-LINE" INTEL ATX BOARDS PER BRAND*
*Z68 chipset:*
ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3
ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE
Biostar TZ68K+
Biostar TZ68A+
EVGA Z68 FTW
EVGA Z68 SLI
Gigabyte G1.Sniper2
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7
MSI Z68A-GD80
MSI Z68A-GD65




SkullFox said:


> They have nothing interesting right now...








SkullFox said:


> - The feature rich P8Z68 DELUXE? (*also wallet friendly*)





Yet no mention of Biostar boards.


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## the54thvoid (Aug 29, 2011)

This?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z68A-GD65-G3/13.html


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## heky (Aug 29, 2011)

+1 on that MSI.


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## majestic12 (Aug 29, 2011)

Although it's a P67, I'd take an MSI Big Bang Marshal over any of those boards!


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## 20mmrain (Aug 29, 2011)

I would have to say the two I would go for is the Asus Maximus Extreme IV Z Z68 Motherboard or the Gigabyte G1 Sniper 2 Z68 motherboard which I plan to switch to from my Current Asus Maximus extreme IV.

The reason I am making the switch is the two PCIe 3.0 slot that will be available on that board and the upgrade option to Ivy bridges. Yes I am aware that you will be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge with the Asus board too... But it won't have the PCIe 3.0 slots and even if they found away to do a BIOS upgrade to get them.... You still wouldn't have two of them.

If you are looking to buy now.... and don't want to upgrade your board in another year like I don't. I would go with the Sniper.


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## brandonwh64 (Aug 29, 2011)

im surprised cadaveca hasn't posted in this thread yet. hes been doing alot of reviews on boards latley.


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## majestic12 (Aug 29, 2011)

I had to show it!


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## LordJummy (Aug 30, 2011)

I agree with EarthDog. There can't be a "best overall" board. It's just not possible. Unless someone makes a single massive board with every option imaginable and it's FREE.
This is one of those threads that just spawns infinite arguments, and can never truly be answered.


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## Altered (Aug 30, 2011)

You might not get a 100% perfect board but the question was *What is the Best Z68 Board?* So I do believe when you have for example 10 boards and you evaluate them all their good points vs bad you eventually rate them. The one with the most that performs the best would be #1 the one with the least and performs the worst would be #10. I didnt see any "best for the money" references in the OP. Flat out "What is the Best Z68 Board in the universe?" is what I read. 

There are reviews done all the time comparing boards but most are not doing 6 to 10 boards at the same time but even when they do 3 or more they come up with one board they conclude to be the best. I bet if they had the time and resources to do 10 Z68 boards there would be _one_ they gave the crown to in the end. 

The issue I have with this poll is individual lack of knowledge voting. No offence to anyone as I am no expert myself. But the ASRock ASUS discussion in this very thread proves this. ASRock hasn't been with ASUS for years but people still believe they are owned by ASUS which is false. If people still miss things like that what are they not understanding or missing about the features or performance of these boards.  And they vote and the end result is as murky as it was before it started.


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## cadaveca (Aug 30, 2011)

brandonwh64 said:


> im surprised cadaveca hasn't posted in this thread yet. hes been doing alot of reviews on boards latley.



"We don't comment on unreleased products"



Actually, I figured one might read my reviews, grab the boards with the highest scores, and go from there. No need for me to spout my opinion everywhere.


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## EarthDog (Aug 30, 2011)

The (reported) Zotac monster Cad?


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## cadaveca (Aug 30, 2011)

Ah, no, not yet. Very interested in that one though, for sure. I've got a few boards here I'm working on ATM though.


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## harambasha (Aug 31, 2011)

mATX not coming in question?

mATX has 1 advantage over all ATXes and it's.. smaller size  Well easier to carry around for LAN parties!

These can perform as good as big brothers and sisters up to and over 5GHz CPU speed:
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Republic of Gamers
MSI Z68MA-ED55 (B3)


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 7, 2011)

The Matx asus maximus IV gene-z is a funky z68 board too.


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