ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Z68 Chipset Motherboard Review @ [H]

[FrgMstr]

ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Z68 Chipset Motherboard Review - When Intel brought out the P67 and H67 chipsets, many enthusiasts complained that the features of one or the other were only available on one or the other, but not both. Intel has heard the community and is therefore launching the Z68 chipset. As usual ASUS is among the first board makers to offer a board featuring this latest chipset. The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro promises to be an interesting first look at this new chipset.

 

[-Sn1PeR-]

I've been waiting for the z68 review! Thanks for the work.



Now to decide if I should pull the trigger or wait the month (or two) for Bulldozer... I've got a stack of components but no cpu/mobo

 

[SonDa5]

Awesome review.


I thought that lucid chip enabled would increase overall performance though. Wonder if some bios updates or driver updates will fix that?

 

[munkle]

Hot stuff! Looks like a nice board!

Edit: A question? Can you use both the integrated and discrete at the same time for two different monitors? Right now my 30" is on my 6850 and a 16" on the integrated on my mobo, can I do that with the z68 or is one or the other?

 

[Slash3]

It's on Newegg right now for $209.99, so they're definitely stretching that max SRP...

Linky Link, since Z68 is still disabled on their search.

Looks like Gigabyte's GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 is also listed, as is the ASRock Z68 Pro3. $349.99 for the Gigabyte... ouch. MSI has their Z68MA-ED55.

GA-Z68X-UD7-B3
Z68 Pro3
Z68MA-ED55

More item links from a google search on newegg's site here...

 

[mesh]

It's on Newegg right now for $209.99, so they're definitely stretching that max SRP...

Linky Link, since Z68 is still disabled on their search.

Looks like Gigabyte's GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 is also listed, as is the ASRock Z68 Pro3. $349.99 for the Gigabyte... ouch. MSI has their Z68MA-ED55.

GA-Z68X-UD7-B3
Z68 Pro3
Z68MA-ED55

More item links from a google search on newegg's site here...

I dont think the UD7 has Virtu/onboard graphics though.

 

[mesh]

"No mention of NVIDIA dual GPU cards was found in the documentation. I did not have any issues getting the Radeon HD 5970 setup. However the Virtu software errored and wouldn't actually let me run the benchmark test. So there is some concern here for dual GPU card users"

What about multiple (2or3) video cards running SLI/xfire? Im assuming this will work since dual GPU cards work minus the benchy. Will you guys have power consumption comparisons with discrete card(s) on/off?



Some power numbers with Lucid compared to no discreet card installed. Not quite there yet if youre looking to save power.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...t-response-technology-ssd-caching,2938-8.html

 

[Infrabasse]

I've only just requested my B3 replacement for a P8P67 Pro.
You guys think there's any chance I can request a Z68 board instead ?

(europe region)

 

[munkle]

Doesn't hurt to try.

 

[SoftScience]

great review- thanks. I am also interested in the Lucidlogix Virtu technology, in terms of power and performance, especially in Multi-GPU situations and would like to see a deeper look at that as the technology develops.

 

[mesh]

Are there any z68 boards with NF200?

 

[Proxy]

Awesome review.


I thought that lucid chip enabled would increase overall performance though. Wonder if some bios updates or driver updates will fix that?

The way I read it was that you could have a single monitor plugged into the motherboard itself, then use the Lucid Virtu to give you the extra power of the dedicated GPU when needed. In stead of just plugging the monitor into the dedicated GPU of choice. If that is the case then I could see where there could be a small performance hit. Like Dan said, depending on the game and the hardware, that 10% could make a difference.

 

[mesh]

I've only just requested my B3 replacement for a P8P67 Pro.
You guys think there's any chance I can request a Z68 board instead ?

(europe region)

Im kind of on the same boat as you. Im going z68 since it overclocks well and I will get to try out quicksync. The SRT I dont really care about im just curious how Lucid works with multi gpu setups and if a board will be released that has a NF200 chip that also supports Lucid. The GB UD7 has a nf200 (i think) but doesnt support Lucid

 

[ir0nw0lf]

That IPT stuff sounds a lot like TPM, which I believe went over like a lead balloon. Guess only time will tell.

EDIT: Z68 search is enabled as of this post on the Egg, BTW. 13 current results, price range from $119.99+$7.56 to $349.99+$9.48.

 

[Dan_D]

Are there any z68 boards with NF200?

The way I read it was that you could have a single monitor plugged into the motherboard itself, then use the Lucid Virtu to give you the extra power of the dedicated GPU when needed. In stead of just plugging the monitor into the dedicated GPU of choice. If that is the case then I could see where there could be a small performance hit. Like Dan said, depending on the game and the hardware, that 10% could make a difference.

That is indeed how it works. If you plug your monitor into the discreet adapter then you can use the Quick Sync / Media features of the iGPU but you get none of the power savings features. So you have to choose between power saving and performance to some degree as is almost always the case.

 

[Dan_D]

Im kind of on the same boat as you. Im going z68 since it overclocks well and I will get to try out quicksync. The SRT I dont really care about im just curious how Lucid works with multi gpu setups and if a board will be released that has a NF200 chip that also supports Lucid. The GB UD7 has a nf200 (i think) but doesnt support Lucid

I dont think the UD7 has Virtu/onboard graphics though.

I'm not sure which Gigabyte board you are talking about but I know that the Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 board does not support Lucid, nor does it even feature a connection for iGPU at all.

 

[Infrabasse]

OK so I'm pretty sure that Virtu isn't gonna work for 3 monitors eyefinity users, but can it tackle switching GPUs for dual monitor users?

 

[SpeedyVV]

That looks like Single Link DVI port? So no 2560x1600 support?

Does that mean NVIDIA\Optimus is supported besides virtu? What are the differences?

I use a 20+30+20 PLP setup with SLI for the 30" and a 9800GT for the 2 20"s.

Will I be able to take advantage if Virtu\Optimus in my configuration? I sure would love the power savings when all I am doing is running a VM on the background with no need for 3D video.

 

[pboy207]

I'm not sure which Gigabyte board you are talking about but I know that the Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 board does not support Lucid, nor does it even feature a connection for iGPU at all.

Why come out with the Z68X-UD7 if it doesn't support Lucid? I thought that was the whole point of the Z68, to use both discrete and integrated GPU. Am I missing something?

 

[Infrabasse]

Why come out with the Z68X-UD7 if it doesn't support Lucid? I thought that was the whole point of the Z68, to use both discrete and integrated GPU. Am I missing something?

You're missing the SSD caching and the quick sync gpu features (high speed video encoding using 0% cpu time)

 

[pboy207]

You're missing the SSD caching and the quick sync gpu features (high speed video encoding using 0% cpu time)

I guess I'm a little confused as to what Lucid does. I thought that it was needed in order to use quick sync from the integrated GPU and use a discrete video card.

 

[Dan_D]

Why come out with the Z68X-UD7 if it doesn't support Lucid? I thought that was the whole point of the Z68, to use both discrete and integrated GPU. Am I missing something?

Even without iGPU and switchable graphics technology, Z68 still supports Intel's Smart Response and Identity Protection technologies. If you are already running an SSD drive and you have a P67 setup, there is no sense in going to Z68 without getting more for your money. Boards like the Z68X-UD7-B3 don't offer that value.

You're missing the SSD caching and the quick sync gpu features (high speed video encoding using 0% cpu time)

You won't get Quick Sync without iGPU connectivity. It has to be in the form of a physical connection or switchable graphics via Lucid Virtu or something similar.

I guess I'm a little confused as to what Lucid does. I thought that it was needed in order to use quick sync from the integrated GPU and use a discrete video card.

That is correct. You could use the feature without Lucid Virtu or something similar, but you'd have to disconnect your monitor from the discreet card, and connect to the iGPU assuming it has the port for it to do so.

 

[Infrabasse]

Lucid is only used to switch the video input if I may say. It switches GPU processor. It's not the same as quicksync.
The Z68 chipset allows the board to tap into the CPU's GPU, whether there is a video output or not, Z68 allows you to use quicksync.


Edit: looks like I'm wrong here
Let me study that a little more

 

[WetMacula]

Gigabyte will have other SKU's which include integrated graphics. Not sure the iGPU and ssd caching warrants a whole new chipset. Sounds like someone screwed up and didn't ship parts in time, so they fabricated P67...just to sell shit during first quarter. These boards have less stuff soldered on them from previous generations and charge 200+ ?

I'm going to wait 2-3 weeks before picking one. Buy now and you pay the Newegg premium and risk unforeseen problems/failures. The early P67 buyers learned this lesson.

 

[pboy207]

Even without iGPU and switchable graphics technology, Z68 still supports Intel's Smart Response and Identity Protection technologies. If you are already running an SSD drive and you have a P67 setup, there is no sense in going to Z68 without getting more for your money. Boards like the Z68X-UD7-B3 don't offer that value.



You won't get Quick Sync without iGPU connectivity. It has to be in the form of a physical connection or switchable graphics via Lucid Virtu or something similar.



That is correct. You could use the feature without Lucid Virtu or something similar, but you'd have to disconnect your monitor from the discreet card, and connect to the iGPU assuming it has the port for it to do so.

Thanks Dan for the clarification!

 

[Infrabasse]

You won't get Quick Sync without iGPU connectivity. It has to be in the form of a physical connection or switchable graphics via Lucid Virtu or something similar.

That is correct. You could use the feature without Lucid Virtu or something similar, but you'd have to disconnect your monitor from the discreet card, and connect to the iGPU assuming it has the port for it to do so.

Even if you use virtu in mode "d" ?
Could you install the virtu app on a headless z68 motherboard?

 

[unclewebb]

Kyle: What it comes down to is that the CPU clock is either running at its idle state of 1.6GHz, or its highest Turbo value of 3.8GHz. There is no scaling between the two clock values.

If you have come to this conclusion based on the data being displayed by CPU-Z then try using some different software that follows the Intel recommended monitoring method as outlined in their November 2008 Turbo White Paper.

ThrottleStop 3.00
http://www.techinferno.com/downloads/?did=1

RealTemp 3.67
http://www.mediafire.com/?n99nq4kn95u6i6a

ThrottleStop uses two high performance monitoring timers for each thread of your CPU and accurately reports the average multiplier for each thread. RealTemp also follows the same Intel approved method. Most other monitoring software does not.

 

[Dan_D]

Lucid is only used to switch the video input if I may say. It switches GPU processor. It's not the same as quicksync.
The Z68 chipset allows the board to tap into the CPU's GPU, whether there is a video output or not, Z68 allows you to use quicksync.


Edit: looks like I'm wrong here
Let me study that a little more

I never said it was the same as Quick Sync.

 

[AthlonXP]

Nice review, just not worth changing out what i have.

 

[Infrabasse]

I never said it was the same as Quick Sync.

I'm not saying you did, I was just trying to clarify for pboy207 but it looks like there's still things I don't quite get.

 

[Dan_D]

Even if you use virtu in mode "d" ?
Could you install the virtu app on a headless z68 motherboard?

With Lucid Virtu, you can use Quick Sync in either "I" or "D" modes. The only problems with the technology is that with "D" mode is you don't get the power savings, and with "I" mode you lose a slight amount of performance in games. But either method allows for the use of Quick Sync. As for doing any of this on a headless Z68 system, I don't know. I didn't try that. I'm not really sure why you'd want to do that either.

 

[defaultluser]

Why didn't you folks test idle power consumption? You go through all that trouble to test the performance hit of the iGPU mode to see what sort of performance hit you get, and then you don't give us any idea of the power consumption benefits.

It's like I'm reading half a review here.

 

[Infrabasse]

With Lucid Virtu, you can use Quick Sync in either "I" or "D" modes. The only problem with "D" mode is you don't get the power savings, and with "I" mode you lose a slight amount of performance in games. But either method allows for the use of Quick Sync. As for doing any of this on a headless Z68 system, I don't know. I didn't try that. I'm not really sure why you'd want to do that either.

The idea would be to benefit from the high performance and tiny cpu usage of the quick sync video transcoding, even on headless z68 motherboards.

 

[Dan_D]

Why didn't you folks test idle power consumption? You go through all that trouble to test the performance hit of the iGPU mode to see what sort of performance hit you get, and then you don't give us any idea of the power consumption benefits.

It's like I'm reading half a review here.

The testing on this one was extremely long. A lot of time was spent on SRT for example. At some point you just run out of time. And yeah, I would like to have done that, but it didn't happen. Idle power would be nice to see on the iGPU setup, but once you throw in discreet cards, your mileage will vary a lot.

The idea would be to benefit from the high performance and tiny cpu usage of the quick sync video transcoding, even on headless z68 motherboards.

Why would you need or want them to be headless? That's what I don't get. Sure if you had a farm for them or something, but I don't see a reason for anyone to have a transcoding farm in their house. Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Infrabasse]

Why would you need or want them to be headless? That's what I don't get. Sure if you had a farm for them or something, but I don't see a reason for anyone to have a transcoding farm in their house. Maybe I'm missing something.

The whole discussion I'm having here is trying to justify the gigabyte Z68 UD7, which doesn't have video out.
Sorry, when I said headless, I didnt't mean a headless pc, just a motherboard without video out. You'd still have the discreet gpu for your video out

 

[defaultluser]

The testing on this one was extremely long. A lot of time was spent on SRT for example. At some point you just run out of time. And yeah, I would like to have done that, but it didn't happen. Idle power would be nice to see on the iGPU setup, but once you throw in discreet cards, your mileage will vary a lot.

Not really. Tom's Hardware saw ZERO power benefit from running with Virtu on:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...t-response-technology-ssd-caching,2938-8.html

Would be nice if you guys could confirm this. Normally I don't like to go digging at a third-rate site like Tom's, but you guys (along with every review you linked on the front page) all missed this test.

 

[Dan_D]

The whole discussion I'm having here is trying to justify the gigabyte Z68 UD7, which doesn't have video out.
Sorry, when I said headless, I didnt't mean a headless pc, just a motherboard without video out. You'd still have the discreet gpu for your video out

You can try to justify it all you want. That's up to you. The fact remains that the Z68X-UD7 is little more than a P67 with SSD caching.

Not really. Tom's Hardware saw ZERO power benefit from running with Virtu on:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...t-response-technology-ssd-caching,2938-8.html

Would be nice if you guys could confirm this.

From what I can tell in that article, they were testing in "D" mode. They were connected to the discreet GPU and virtualizing the connection to the iGPU. Again you get transcoding support that way, but none of the power savings because you are using the discreet card for your actual video output. So it won't lower the power envelope anymore than it already does when you aren't gaming. In "I"D mode you virtualize the connection to the discreet adapter and use the iGPU for your video output. Theoretically you could turn off your discreet card at that point. However, since I didn't do any power testing, I can't confirm that the Virtu software can actually do that.

Either way, it couldn't have worked in Tom's Hardware's test because "D" mode can't give you power savings.

 

[Infrabasse]

You can try to justify it all you want. That's up to you. The fact remains that the Z68X-UD7 is little more than a P67 with SSD caching.

My questions still remain though, and so do pboy207's
Is the UD7 really just a P67 with SSD caching, or can it benefit from quicksync transcoding if virtu is set to mode d?

 

[Dan_D]

My questions still remain though, and so do pboy207's
Is the UD7 really just a P67 with SSD caching, or can it benefit from quicksync transcoding if virtu is set to mode d?

It is my understanding that the Z68X-UD7 has no support for Lucid's software at all. Thus, you do not get transcoding / Quick Sync support.

Virtu isn't "set" to any mode exactly. It operates in one or the other but that operation is dictated by how you setup the system. If you setup the system in BIOS to use the discreet adapter first, and you connect your monitor to the discreet adapter then you are in mode D. If you setup the iGPU as the primary graphics adapter and connect your monitor cable to the iGPU / onboard video ports then you are in "I" mode. Without onboard video, without those settings in the BIOS, you probably can't use the feature at all. Let's use Intel's built in LAN as an example. To use that you need to license the feature and use a physical hardware layer or "PHY" to make the connection and enable it's use. Without it you don't see Intel's LAN at all in device manager, nor can you use it. I'd wager that the iGPU works the same exact way. You need to have the physical connection to enable it. Motherboard manufacturers are not required to support iGPU at all in Z68 boards. Essentially they can be drop in P67 replacements with SSD caching support and IPT.

 

[defaultluser]

You can try to justify it all you want. That's up to you. The fact remains that the Z68X-UD7 is little more than a P67 with SSD caching.



From what I can tell in that article, they were testing in "D" mode. They were connected to the discreet GPU and virtualizing the connection to the iGPU. Again you get transcoding support that way, but none of the power savings because you are using the discreet card for your actual video output. So it won't lower the power envelope anymore than it already does when you aren't gaming. In "I"D mode you virtualize the connection to the discreet adapter and use the iGPU for your video output. Theoretically you could turn off your discreet card at that point. However, since I didn't do any power testing, I can't confirm that the Virtu software can actually do that.

Either way, it couldn't have worked in Tom's Hardware's test because "D" mode can't give you power savings.

I dunno Dan, I think they tested both modes:

Take a close look at that chart. One line has "Native HD Graphics, Virtualize Discrete Graphics" (I MODE) while the other has "Native Discrete Graphics, Virtualize HD Graphic" (D MODE). Both have (roughly) the same power consumption at idle.