ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 Review

1. Introduction2. ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen33. ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 (Super High Res Gallery)4. ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 (Bios & Overclocking)5. Testing Methodology6. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra7. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit8. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark9. Synthetic: PCMark 710. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage11. Synthetic: 3DMark 1112. Image Quality: HQV Benchmark 2.013. Real World: BluRay Playback Performance14. Real World: MKV Playback15. Real World: Flash HD Performance16. Real World: Media Encoding17. Data Throughput: SSD Performance18. Gaming: Just Cause 219. Gaming: Dead Island20. Gaming: F1 201121. Gaming: Alien V Predator22. Gaming: Lost Planet 223. Closing Thoughts24. View All Pages

We have reviewed many Z68 boards in recent months, so today we are trying something a little different. Firstly we are concentrating on Synthetic benchmarks with a single Sapphire Vapor X HD6850 installed. Later in the review we will pit this system against the recent award winning Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 build we created at the end of September.

We are doing this to show differences between the budget and ‘luxury' price brackets.

The Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 was tested with a Core i5 2500k running at 4.6ghz. We will test the ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen 3 at the same clock speeds (4.6ghz) with the same graphics cards in CrossfireX, but with a Core i7 2600k instead and 4GB of 2133mhz memory. It is also interesting because the Gigabyte motherboard will be running the second graphics card at x4, whereas the ASRock Z68 will be x16/x16.

If you want to pay more money, will this system be worth the additional cost? That is the reason for this approach.

We are aware that not everyone will be wanting to spend £300 on graphics cards, so we will highlight some of the earlier synthetic testing with a single, budget oriented Sapphire HD6850 Vapor X which we reviewed a while ago. You may also have only one budget oriented graphics card now, but plan to upgrade later.

ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 system:

Processor: Intel Core i5 2600k @ 4.6ghz.
Cooling: Intel XTS100H.
Graphics: Sapphire HD6850 Vapor X (Synthetic testing) & XFX HD6870 Black Edition Crossfire (gaming).
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3.
Chassis: Lian Li X2000.
Power Supply: Corsair 1200W.
Memory: 4GB ADATA 2200mhz gaming memory @ 2133mhz 9-9-9-24.
Storage: OCZ Agility 3 120GB / 1TB Samsung storage.

Compare system:

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.6ghz.
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 CPU Cooler.
Graphics: XFX HD6870 Black Edition Crossfire
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 Motherboard.
Chassis: Silverstone Raven 3.
Power Supply: Corsair 850W.
Memory: Corsair 1600mhz memory.
Storage: Intel 80GB SSD (boot) / Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSD.

Monitors: Dell Ultrasharp U2410 Rev A00.

Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit

Unigine Heaven Benchmark.
PCMark 7.
3DMark Vantage.
3DMark 11.
Fraps Professional.
Steam Client.
FurMark.
HQV 2.0 Software.

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Nikon D3X with R1C1 kit.
Olympus E-PL1.
Keithley Integra unit.
Thermal Diodes.
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp.
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter.

Games:
Alien V Predator.
Dead Island.
Just Cause 2.
F1 2011.
Lost Planet 2.
Resident Evil 5.
Total War: Shogun 2.

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

Some game descriptions and information are taken with courtesy from Wikipedia.

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