Z77 or Z68

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Oct 14, 2010
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I want to make a new built to replace my older 1366 build and I already bought a i7-2600k (sandy bridge) processor. What type of motherboard should I go for? Z77 or Z68?
 
I can't think of a compelling reason to not get a Z77 unless you get a good deal on a quality Z68 board.
 
Aftermarket solutions are good enough considering there are very few useful USB3 applications and they hit the throughput they need.

Price, board layout, slot layout, features. Go with what works for you.
 
Aftermarket solutions are good enough considering there are very few useful USB3 applications and they hit the throughput they need.

Price, board layout, slot layout, features. Go with what works for you.

This. Get whichever board is better/better for the money.
 
there are alot of boards out there now with USB3 and SATA3. My ASRock H61 has both...and yea its an Entry level ATX board. WOOT!!!

but...USB 2.0 devices dont run as well on the 3.0 ports as they do on the 2.0's so i had to get a small hub for a few items.


Z77's are priced the same as Z68 in most cases (with some rebates) so go with the newest board, it will run all the 1155's
 
does the ivy bridge run on the z68's? if no which z77 board would you guys choose? money not being a factor
 
thanks for all the response, i dont really care about usb 3.0 vs 2.0, because i dont think it will have much impact, pcie 3.0 vs pcie 2.0, in the other hand, might have some impact, but after thinking that I already bought 2600K which is SB instead of IB, i should just stick with z68 then.
 
grab yourself a killer deal on a used z68 board and save a few bucks....
i bought a Maximus IV Extreme-Z for 115.00... can't go wrong there.. :)
 
I want to make a new built to replace my older 1366 build and I already bought a i7-2600k (sandy bridge) processor. What type of motherboard should I go for? Z77 or Z68?

I see zero reason to choose Z68 over Z77 - unless you get a good deal on a closeout Z68 board. Several Z68 motherboards *are* going away, so such deals are out there. Because of features in Z77 that are *not* CPU-dependent (especially better support for SSDs), unless you are that hard-up moneywise, think Z77 regardless.
 
I see zero reason to choose Z68 over Z77 - unless you get a good deal on a closeout Z68 board. Several Z68 motherboards *are* going away, so such deals are out there. Because of features in Z77 that are *not* CPU-dependent (especially better support for SSDs), unless you are that hard-up moneywise, think Z77 regardless.

I agree... the prices on Z77 mobos are a tad bit more expensive than z68 however native usb, PCI 3.0 (some z68 comes with it), and from my understanding most z77 boards are the final matured product of LGA 1155 socket

P67 --> Z68 --> Z77

Unless u get a killer deal on Z68, I'd get z77...
Do realize that the i7 2600k lacks PCI 3.0 for ur GPU (even though we havent even maxed pci 2.0 bandwidth its just something to note)
Also, i7 2600k lacks the new security instruction set that comes with ivy bridge if you are security conscientious
 
I agree... the prices on Z77 mobos are a tad bit more expensive than z68 however native usb, PCI 3.0 (some z68 comes with it), and from my understanding most z77 boards are the final matured product of LGA 1155 socket

P67 --> Z68 --> Z77

Unless u get a killer deal on Z68, I'd get z77...
Do realize that the i7 2600k lacks PCI 3.0 for ur GPU (even though we havent even maxed pci 2.0 bandwidth its just something to note)
Also, i7 2600k lacks the new security instruction set that comes with ivy bridge if you are security conscientious

While PCI-E 3.0 is dependent on the CPU, the better SSD support is chipset-dependent (improvements in Intel Management Engine, upon which the improvements in SSD performance with Z77 rely). For that reason, I was, at one point, considering 15-2500K+Z77 (until the actual MC pricing showed that their IB pricing was actually going to be sane). Also, the four-way Z77 shootout @ LegitReviews shows very little difference between low-end and high-end Z77 when it comes to common features at common speeds; while the most expensive of the four motherboards had the highest rating, the second-best board was the lowest-priced (the aforementioned BIOSTAR TZ77XE4).
 
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