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The motherboard arrives in a strictly understated box, with the name of the product on the front and a list of specifications.
As this is a budget oriented product, the bundle isn't as extensive as other ASUS motherboards we have reviewed in recent months. There is a manual, quick start guide, software/driver disc, two SATA cables and a backplate for the chassis. Asus also include a branded sticker for the case. We would have expected at least four SATA cables with the board, even with the budget leanings.
The motherboard isn't polluted with heatsinks, giving another indication of the budget status, although there is a nicely coloured blue and black heatsink above the SATA ports to aid with stability when pushed hard – it is passively cooled. The P8Z68-V LX uses Dual Intelligent Processors Technology. According to Asus “This exclusive design consists of the EPU (Energy Processing Unit), which automatically monitors power consumption system-wide to ensure efficiency, and the TPU (TurboV Processing Unit) – guaranteeing superior performance for every task, bringing users an unbeatable experience.”
It measures 30.5 cm x 22.9 cm and is a 4+2 Phase Power Design.
The board has 6 SATA ports bottom right, four of which are 3Gb/s port(s) – these are blue. The two gray ports are Sata 6Gb/s rated. All are controlled by the Intel Z68 express chipset. There is support for Raid 0, 1, 5, and 10. Sadly these are vertically mounted which may cause some issues for specific users.
The Asus P8Z68-V LX has four memory slots with support for up to 32GB of DDR3 memory. It can handle DDR3 2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC configurations with full support for the Intel Extreme Memolry Profile (XMP).
The Asus P8Z68-V LX is Quad GPU CrossfireX compatible and there the following slots on the board:
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)
2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
3 x PCI.
It is worth pointing out that the PCIe x16_2 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot.
There are 4 USB 2.0 connectors which support an additional 8 USB 2.0 ports.
The board has three, four pin fan headers and a single three pin fan header. They are all positioned in the top half of the board. Asus include a ‘Memory OK' button, to help with troubleshooting. The board has ASUS C.P.R. overclocking protection, which allows for previous, usable settings to be easily recalled.
The back I/O panel has connectivity for:
1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
1 x DVI
1 x D-Sub
1 x HDMI
1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
2 x USB 3.0
4 x USB 2.0
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
6 x Audio jack(s)
Yeah, hard to grumble for £90. AMD motherboards are still expensive for their high end processors. always a problem iMO.
Good cheap board, but I think someone buying a 2600k might spend £40 more. Surprised on the lack of heatsinks, but it looks as if it doesnt effect overall performance which is good to hear.
I am holding fire on a new system until summer next year, i expect a new range by then,.
one silly question why they have diff clips for blue and black ram slots
Thanks, been waiting for a review of this for a while. I agree the sata cable deal is bad, two cables? they probably cost 10c to asus. immore interested in the board though for a potential 2500k build.
Yeah, thats unusual, two different clips for the memory? maybe they use left over stock for these boards? not that it really matters.
+ meant to add in the last post. i dont mind about the bundle, i have tons of satacables. two is ok for the price. did you use them for the SATA testing? I bought an asrock board earlier this year and they supplied some terrible cables which killed my drive performance (by 100mb/s)
What ASROCK board was that Ian? never had a problem with any cables on ASROCK boards. Yes, used one of the cables they supplied for the PATRIOT drive testing. good quality.
If I was using this board im afraid id want a huge fan over it at all times, especially when overclocking. there are no heatsinks at all around the CPu socket, and those resistors will get very hot under load.