ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 or something else? Please help!

[BlackFox]

Hi all

I'm in the market for a new motherboard and I'm just wondering what the best move is. I've just had a look at this shining review of the Extreme4 Gen3 (Saw it in the Gen3 thread in this section):

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages..._review,1.html

Do I go with this or my other option Z68X-UD4? or even something else... tell me what your recommendations are.

The rest of the rig is:

• 2600K
• Noctua NH-D14
• G Skill Ripaws X 1600MHz CL9
• Asus HD6950

[GripS]

I'm running the P67 Extreme4 and I must say it's been one of the easiest boards I have ever worked with and everything just works with no hassles.

It all depends on what you want. Does the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 have everything you are looking for feature wise? If so then jump on it.

The gigabyte board looks nice and is 30 bucks cheaper on newegg. However, the Gigabyte board only has PCI Express 2.0 whereas the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 is PCI Express 3.0 capable. HOWEVER you will not get the benefits of the 3.0 bandwidth with the Sandy Bridge.

Personally... I would go with the ASRock board. The extra 30 bucks would be worth getting a board that is a little bit more future proof. Otherwise they will both perform about the same.

Also save money by buying a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ instead. WAAAAY cheaper and smaller and is enough to keep these Sandy Bridge chips cool. The Noctua is an unnecessary expense IMO.

[Ant4res]

Hi man!!! I had the Z68X-UD4 from gigabyte and i was so disappointed. Looks cheap and the one in my hands failed in bc2 given me bsod with no solution available. Finally, the lan port died after one of those bsod. Really dont recommend that board. After that, i bougth one asrock p67 gen3 and waiting for it.