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Kitguru has reviewed a huge array of Z68 motherboards this year and today we will focus on the ‘budget' oriented audience. Those people who won't spend several thousand pounds on configuring a new system.
The only exception to this rule with our test hardware today, will be a 240GB Patriot Wildfire solid state drive – we selected this specifically to test the ultimate SATA III performance of the motherboard. You may not be able to afford this, but we want to see if the SATA performance is at the level we would expect.
Processor: Intel Core i5 2600k @ reference clocks
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
Graphics: XFX HD6870 Black Edition
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard
Chassis: Cooler Master Storm Trooper Case.
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 600W.
Memory: 8GB ADATA gaming memory @ 1600mhz
Storage: Patriot WildFire 240GB
System validation is available here.
Monitors: Dell Ultrasharp U3011
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.
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.