z68 and p67 chipset motherboards

[askdealask]

z68 would be out tmr, and the prices of those mobos are mostly in the range of 5-10% more than p67s'

so I expect p67 mobos would drop a bit and difference btw the two chipsets would be about 10-15%.

my question is, is it worthy for the price difference to go for z68?

my new build right now (not finished)
i7 2600k
corsair h50
gskill sniper 8gb ddr3 1600
hd 6870
vertex 2 60gb
hitachi 2tb *2
dvd-r
corsair ax750
coolermaster storm sniper

the only thing I need is a mobo to finish the build. (budget is about $200)

thank you.

[Deviant]

P8Z68-V PRO - Canada : Asus Mb P8268-v Pro Core I7 5 3 Lga1155 Z68 Ddr3 Pcie Hdmi Dvi Sata Atx Retail - Product Details
P8Z68-V PRO.
Will be $220 or so.

Other than SSD caching (doubt you'll be using this), use on-board GPU with Windows (do you care about saving a few watts?), and faster video conversion (but poor quality. With a 2600K, conversions won't be much of a problem anyway). Do any of those appeal to you?

[askdealask]

Originally Posted by Deviant

P8Z68-V PRO - Canada : Asus Mb P8268-v Pro Core I7 5 3 Lga1155 Z68 Ddr3 Pcie Hdmi Dvi Sata Atx Retail - Product Details
P8Z68-V PRO.
Will be $220 or so.

Other than SSD caching (doubt you'll be using this), use on-board GPU with Windows (do you care about saving a few watts?), and faster video conversion (but poor quality. With a 2600K, conversions won't be much of a problem anyway). Do any of those appeal to you?

actually, p8z68 pro is selling $206 at anitec now and directcanada, bestdirect and newegg always have better prices, so it would be around $190 or so (p8p67 pro is selling $175 now at bestdirect).

saving some watts would be great, wouldn't it? it also reduces heat and noise at night. you don't really need a powerful gpu 24-7. and this also gives you a back up if the gpu dies. intel hd 3000 is not bad for everyday use SSD caching is a plus, better than none. I am thinking that for just 10% more money, I can get a spare gpu with some update features, why not? my doubt is that would there be any unexpected problem with z68 like p67 before, and does the enbeded gpu perform like those in laptops.

also, how easy is it to switch gpus? is a restart needed? is OC as good/easy as p67 on z68?

[Vittra]

The way Lucidlogix Virtu works is that one thing works as native (by default, this is the IGP on SB), and the other works in a "Virtualized" mode (this is the discrete GPU).

This is what allows the card to be powered down, but it comes at a price - there is a performance decrease from running in this mode.

The alternative is to have the GPU run as native, and IGP run virtualized... however you lose the power saving features this way. Essentially you'd be running a P67 platform at that point with the ability to use Quicksync features on the IGP if wanted.

If you are running Nvidia cards however, you should look into Synergy rather than Virtu. It's more mature and would probably have a negligible performance hit, and allow you to utilize the power saving features.

[draemn]

Originally Posted by Deviant

Other than SSD caching (doubt you'll be using this), use on-board GPU with Windows (do you care about saving a few watts?), and faster video conversion (but poor quality. With a 2600K, conversions won't be much of a problem anyway). Do any of those appeal to you?

Why wouldn't he want SSD caching? He's only picking up a 60GB SSD, so caching will be SUPER useful (think of the momentus XT on steroids). Is the quality of quick sync conversion actually worse?

Originally Posted by Vittra

The way Lucidlogix Virtu works is that one thing works as native (by default, this is the IGP on SB), and the other works in a "Virtualized" mode (this is the discrete GPU).

This is what allows the card to be powered down, but it comes at a price - there is a performance decrease from running in this mode.

The alternative is to have the GPU run as native, and IGP run virtualized... however you lose the power saving features this way. Essentially you'd be running a P67 platform at that point with the ability to use Quicksync features on the IGP if wanted.

If you are running Nvidia cards however, you should look into Synergy rather than Virtu. It's more mature and would probably have a negligible performance hit, and allow you to utilize the power saving features.

WRONG! (sort of) The IGP is virtualized and the discreet GPU is run natively, so you don't see any impact on the discreet GPU. You cannot virtualize the discreet GPU on z68.

I thought you couldn't use Virtu with SNB....

[Vittra]

Where did you read that Z68 cannot run the GPU virtualized? That would make absolutely no sense at all.

Take a look at this:

Lucidlogix Virtu, Revisited : Intel Z68 Express Chipset Preview: SSD Caching And Quick Sync

The above is a more recent article with direct mention of Z68. The original introduction and review of Lucidlogix Virtu showed them running the GPU virtualized on H67, and yes, that was why gaming benchmarks were showing performance hits. Check Anandtech for reference and the other sites that covered it. The above link however outlines when Lucidlogix made the update to allow you to run whichever way you want... and it's most certainly for Z68.

[askdealask]

thank you guys.

it seems that my expectation for the price of p8z68-v pro is correct. it's selling $190 at directcanada. can wait to finish my build.

ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Z68 LGA1155 ATX 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2 PCI B3 Motherboard - DirectCanada

[Eldonko]

Nice, that is cheap. Well worth the $ IMO