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ASUS P8Z68V PRO Motherboard E-mail
Reviews - Featured Reviews: Motherboards
Written by David Ramsey   
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Table of Contents: Page Index
ASUS P8Z68V PRO Motherboard
The Intel Z68 Express Chipset
Closer Look: ASUS P8Z68
Closer Look Continued
Motherboard Testing Methodology
AIDA64 Extreme Edition Tests
CINEBENCH R11.5 Benchmarks
PassMark Performance Test
Media Encoding Benchmarks
SPECviewperf 11 Tests
SPECapc Lightwave
Street Fighter IV and Blender
P8Z68-V Pro Overclocking
Z68 Motherboard Final Thoughts
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Conclusion
Page 5 of 15

Motherboard Testing Methodology

Testing the P8Z68-V Pro motherboard required a lot more work than a typical motherboard, because in addition to the standard performance tests, I had to run multiple video performance tests using the various configurations possible. For the standard performance tests I compared the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard to an ASUS P8P67 motherboard. WIll the Z68 Express chipset bring any performance advantage over the P67 Express?

asus_p8z68v_pro_board7.jpg

P67 Test System

  • Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 (BIOS 0905)
  • Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K
  • System Memory: 2x2G G.SKILL DDR3 1333Mhz 9-9-9-24
  • Disk Drive: Western Digital Raptor 300 WD30 00HLFS-01G6U1
  • Operating System: Windows 7 x64 Home Premium with SP1
  • Graphics adapter: AMD Radeon 6850

Z68 Test System

  • Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (BIOS 8801)
  • Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K
  • System Memory: 2x2G G.SKILL DDR3 1333Mhz 9-9-9-24
  • Disk Drive: Western Digital Raptor 300 WD30 00HLFS-01G6U1
  • Operating System: Windows 7 x64 Home Premium with SP1
  • Graphics adapter: Intel HD Graphics 3000 / AMD Radeon 6850
  • CPU Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow

Benchmark Applications

  • AIDA64 Extreme Edition v1.60
  • CINEBENCH R11.5
  • PassMark Performance Test v7.0
  • Handbrake 0.95
  • x264 HD Benchmarl 3.19
  • Blender
  • SPECviewPerf 11
  • SPECapc LightWave
  • Street Fighter IV Benchmark

Each benchmark application was run on the P67-based motherboard and on the P8Z68-V Pro. The P8Z68 was tested using its internal video (iGPU), Lucid Virtu in "i-Mode", and overclocked with a Radeon 6850 video card running in "native mode" (i.e. Virtu disabled). Virtu "i-Mode" should switch any rendering tasks to the Radeon 6850 as long as Virtu has been configured for the application in question. Since the integrated GPU of the Sandy Bridge processors uses the same L3 cache as does the processor cores, we might expect a small performance hit when the iGPU is in use.



 

Comments 

 
# I wish?....... — Pigbristle 2011-05-11 02:08
Will the time ever come, when you will be able to flick that switch on the front of your case that switches off your HD6990/GTX590 card,reverting back to using your integrated cpu graphics, for when you just want to surf the net?

Therefore saving you not only wear & tear on your fancy new amd/nvidia card but also electric, which lets face it, ain't cheap nowadays...

I reckon my idea could be the saviour of the desktop PC :o)
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# RE: I wish?....... — David Ramsey 2011-05-11 07:48
Why flip a switch? Let the computer do it for you. Granted, Virtual will not run in I-Mode with either of the dual-GPU cards you mentioned, but Synergy hopefully will with the 590.
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# And The Beat Goes On — realneil 2011-05-11 06:28
Not much bad to say about these new boards. Intel has the cash to develop just about any idea they can imagine to see if it works. With gigantic resources to dip into, they are a force to be reckoned with.
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# I miss the PS/2 connector(s) — Olle P 2011-05-11 06:47
PS/2 is really the way to go to avoid lag/latency in the response when things heat up. (Plus I do use it!)
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# RE: I miss the PS/2 connector(s) — David Ramsey 2011-05-11 16:33
Technically, yes, but unless you type more than, say, 100 keys per second, you're never gonna notice the lower latency of PS/2. Its only real advantage is that it support n-key rollover, whereas I think USB tops out at 6 keys...still enough for humans. Cyborgs, aliens, and keyboard testing machines might want more...
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# How much ram can it take — Long Rod Von Hugen Dong 2011-05-11 16:23
How many ram ports or whatever they are called does this have? Im hoping I can get 24 gigs in this (I think I need six ports). Yea mah friend found 24 gigs for 280 bucks :o seems like a decent deal.
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# RE: How much ram can it take — David Ramsey 2011-05-11 16:30
There are four slots for RAM, as several of the pictures, including the one on the first page of the review, clearly show. With 4G DIMMs you could put a maximum of 16G in this motherboard. So you'll need an X58-based system to go any higher than that.
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# RE: How much ram can it take — ChrisH 2011-05-13 04:40
For what app or purpose. There is no app I know of that requires 24Gb let alone 12Gb of RAM. Transcoding? Video procesisng? Then you need a professional GPU.
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# RE: RE: How much ram can it take — David Ramsey 2011-05-13 07:39
I make some use of 12G of RAM on my Hackintosh, mainly because I run Windows 7 in a virtual machine pretty often while the Mac's doing stuff in the background. Actually, I don't think I've ever measured RAM use above 8G, but I think it could happen!
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# Coolio — Long Rod Von Hugen Dong 2011-05-11 16:34
O cool, mkay. Do you know any good ones off the top of your head that have decent bang for their buck? BTW my las title = twss :o kthnx
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# RE: Coolio — David Ramsey 2011-05-11 16:38
Personally, I like Corsair memory because of their hassle-free lifetime warranty...
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# Is virtu really any good? — Aditya 2011-05-12 07:09
I'm confused on how virtu will switch on the integrated graphics, I mean do you connect the board as well as the gpu connectors to the same monitor or do the on-board connectors let you switch between either solutions.
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# RE: Is virtu really any good? — David Ramsey 2011-05-12 08:16
All your questions are answered in our separate article "Lucid Virtu Graphics Virtualization Technology". The quick answer is "There's only one connection, either to the motherboard or the graphics card depending on the Virtu mode you select."
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# RElease Date — Blathering1 2011-05-12 07:40
What is the release date of the board-- when it becomes available in the market.
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# RE: RElease Date — David Ramsey 2011-05-12 10:18
The board is on the market now. Newegg is sold out, though!
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# compatibility of heatsink — doc 2011-06-26 17:58
A quick question about the heatsink for the Z68 test system. What fan configuration did you use for the heatsink (i.e, Dual-pull or dual-push).

Also was there any clearance issues with the heatsink and the ram? Would you say that the ram had fairly tall heatsinks or not?
Would you say the ram you used is similar in dimensions to the G.skill RipjawsX?
Thanks
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# RE: compatibility of heatsink — David Ramsey 2011-06-26 19:32
The fans for the Silver Arrow were set up as pull-push, actually. Putting the fan in front of the first set of fins would have blocked the first two RAM sockets. As it was, the first RAM socket was blocked by the heat sink.

On P67/Z68 motherboards I've used, the CPU socket is fairly close to the RAM sockets, and low profile memory would be a good idea. The G.SKILL memory I used wasn't low profile!
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# RE: ASUS P8Z68V PRO Motherboard — doc 2011-06-26 22:56
Hmm, ok. Thanks for the reply.

So if you had the fans in pull-push, does that mean both fans were in the middle cavity of the Silver Arrow? (sorry just a bit confused on how you configured that)

I checked out the P8Z68V-PRO manual and it recommends installing RAM in the second/fourth slots, so I guess it wouldn't matter too much if the heatsink blocked the first RAM slot. (unless I planned to fill them all up).

Been thinking of getting G.SKILL RipjawsX, which I've checked are about 40mm tall, and the height of the Silver Arrow's base to the first fin is 40.87; it should just slip in.
Of course I'll probably have to position the fans left||centre instead of centre||right; or use a 120mm fan.

But thanks for the help.
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# confuse — manup85 2011-07-04 12:41
im really confuse now about what i have to buy. ASUS P8Z68V PRO or ASROCK Z68 extreme 4??
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# RE: ASUS P8Z68V PRO Motherboard — David Ramsey 2011-07-04 12:56
I have not reviewed the ASRock board, but you really couldn't go wrong with the ASUS.
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# RE: RE: ASUS P8Z68V PRO Motherboard — manup85 2011-07-05 04:01
if you see here ##tomshardware.co.uk/asrock-z68-extreme4-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-b3,review-32188-2.html seems that asrock is better for more reason and asus have just 1% more performance that asus.. some one confirm this?
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# CPU Fan Compatibility — David 2011-12-03 20:23
I bought the Zalman CNPS 9900 Max CPU fan, but the Backplate that connects to the motherboard does not fit this motherboard. Does anyone know of a good CPU cooling fan that fits the ASUS P8 Z68-V Pro OR a different backplate that fits both the fan and this particular motherboard?
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# RE: CPU Fan Compatibility — David Ramsey 2011-12-03 20:28
Does the cooler's box specify that it supports socket 1156 or 1156? If so, it should fit. I don't have that specific cooler but I've used a couple of others and there was no trouble fitting them.
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