Right, xmas bonus is nearly here and I am finalising details of my build. CPU: i5 2500k RAM: 8gb Corsair LP Case: Fractal R3 Cooler: Frio Other bits and bob's pulled from my current build. Struggling to decide which motherboard tho. Toss up at the minute between: Asus P8Z68-V Asus P8Z68-V Pro MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3) In all honestly I can't see bugger all between the two ASUS boards that can warrant the price difference. 2 Firewire ports and a couple of extra SATA 3 ports, doesn't blow my socks away. I really like the fact the ASUS boards have 2 CPU fan headers tho, that is a real nice touch. The MSI seems good, PCI-E 3.0, USB3 headers etc., but the lack of the second cpu fan header puts me off a little. I know I can go GEN3 with the ASUS boards, but the prices are just silly. Advice and thoughts please
If you don't need the stuff @ Pro, then get the non-Pro version. Can't say anything about MSI, i ignore their products unless they are super cheap. But if nothing else, then at least "Realtek 8111E" @ MSI vs "Intel® 82579" @ ASUS should be a deciding factor in favor of Asus. The USB3 header in the ASUS as well, look between the memory modules and 24-pin.
While performance is similar in most cases (especially for home users), most times the Intel drivers are better than others, giving you more options and a bit lower system utilization at similar network load.
I would go for the PRO as i made the same mistake and went for the basic P8P67. BIG MISTAKE! i didnt read up on it properly and made a costly mistake as i had 2x6870s and a soundcard which i wanted to install but i couldnt because the board will switch off all other PCIe lanes if you enable crossfire!!! i was so disappointed i sold the soundcard and both 6870 and now i got a 560ti but i cant SLI as the board doesnt support SLI. Even though you dont need the extra features now i can gurantee you will need them in the future
@flame696: non PRO supports CFX/SLI as well, in dual x8 configuration. And the "*1: The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, USB3_34 and eSATA. The PCIe x16_3 default setting is in x1 mode." note is valid for both non-PRO and PRO version.
is that for the Z series motherboards or the P series motherboards. As the one i have is a P series and ive been through everything and even had it confirmed by Mr Asus (bindi) himself
Z series, we talk about P8Z68-V vs P8Z68-V PRO , as you can see above. P8P67 (the basic one) is a completely different kind of animal : 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black) *1
It would be awesome if someone can confirm this, as I Currently have a PCI sound card, but when I do crossfire at a later date I was think of changing to PCI-e as the current soundcard would restrict the cooling of one of the GPU's. And the 1x slot is behind the first gpu
ok well forget what i said, well not everything i will still say get the PRO version those extra features will be a benefit
It is in the manual & specification page . PCI-E x16 3 is the bottom slot, it simply shares the bandwidth with the remaining PCI-E x1 slots, the eSATA and the USB3 header on the motherboard. In case you plug there anything more than PCI-E x1 card and you don't set this port to x1 speed, then the things remaining PCI-E x1 slots, the eSATA port and the USB3 headers won't work. But with PCI-E x1 card in the bottom slot everything will work. In short - if you need x4 for the bottom slot, the southbridge needs to take away PCI-E lanes from the remaining x1 slots and from some of the devices connected to southbridge (USB3 headers and the eSATA port). If all you need is x1, then the slot will remain @ x1 and it won't take away PCI-E lanes from the remaining things it shares PCI-E lanes with.
