Overview of the three LGA1155 boards of ASUSTEK on the Intel Z68 Express logic. Overview and Testing of the motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V Pro on Intel Z68 Express Asus P8Z68 V LX Chipset

Even before the official announcement of the Z68 system logic set from Intel, maternal manufacturers for the most part were ready to submit their products immediately after familiarizing the public with a novelty. Of course, fees from serious manufacturers like Asus, MSI, GIGABYTE were in the first rows. So it, in principle, it turned out, but not all of them fully coped with the task. For example, the motherboard GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD5-B3, despite the presence of the Z68 chip, for some reason, lost all video outputs and, as a result, built into the video outline processor, and this deprived the potential owners of these boards of a number of advantages, such as, for example, Intel Quick Sync technology. I wonder how I coped with the implementation of the possibilities of the chipset Z68 ASUS? Today, the Asus P8Z68-V Pro motherboard visited our test laboratory, and we will share your impressions with you from working with this product.

To begin with, we give a table with a set of basic technical characteristics of ASUS P8Z68-V Pro

Specifications ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Chipset	Intel Z68.
Processor connector	LGA 1155.
Supported processors	Intel Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3
Memory support	4 x DDR3 DIMM with support for up to 32 GB (two-channel mode) XMP support Memory Frequency: DDR3 2200 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) / 1866 (O.C.) / 1600/1333/1066 MHz
Expansion slots	2 x PCI-E X16 (1x16 lines PCI Express 2.0 or 2x8) 1 x PCI-E x16 (x4 or x1 PCI EXPRESS 2.0 line) 2 x PCI-E X1 2 x PCI
Multi-GPU technology	ATI Quad-GPU Crossfirex or NVIDIA Quad-GPU SLI in X8 + X8 PCI Express 2.0
Disk subsystem	The Intel Z68 chipset forces are implemented: 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb / s 4 x SATA 3.0 Gbps with the possibility of organizing SATA RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 with Intel Smart Response Technology The PCI-E SATA Marvell 88SE9172 6 Gb / C controller forces are implemented: 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb / s The JMicron JMB362 SATA chip is implemented: 1 x ESATA 3.0 Gb / s
Sound subsystem	Realtek Alc892, 8-channel High-Definition Audio
Support LAN	Intel Gigabit Network Controller 82579
IEEE1394.	The VIA 6308P controller supports two IEEE1394 ports
Food	24-pin power connector ATX 8-pin power connector ATX12V
Form factor	ATX
Dimensions, mm.	305x244.

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard packaging is not very different from the boxes of other similar products of this manufacturer. Strict and neatly executed design allows you to see the main thing - the product features. On the front and reverse side of the box, the manufacturer described all the main technical characteristics of P8Z68-V Pro, as well as branded acceleration technologies, energy saving, and so on.

The P8Z68-V Pro package cannot be called rich, but all the most needed is present:

• User's manual;
• Drivers with drivers;
• Crossfirex-bridge;
• Q-Connector and USB modules for conveniently connecting the elements of the front panel of the case;
• Plug on the rear case panel;
• USB plank on the back of the housing panel;
• Set of SATA cables.

After the first look at the Mother's board, ASUS P8Z68-V Pro can be said that we have a high-quality, solid product. With a more detailed consideration, this impression does not change. Textolite is covered with black varnish, expansion slots, like the cooling system, are painted in a few shades of blue, black and white colors, thanks to which the board looks quite effectively. I must say that ASUS P8Z68-V Pro has a lot in common with other representatives of the series based on Intel Cougar Point chips. And indeed, the design of the PCB design from scratch there is no point, because innovations implemented in Intel Z68 are not applicable, which we wrote about in our first review dedicated to this set of microcircuits. Nevertheless, some changes are still present, we will talk about them in more detail.

Next to the 24-pin power connector, the EPU, TPU switches are located and the MEMOK technology button, which in the case of partial incompatibility of the memory modules installed on the board allows you to automatically select the memory subsystem settings and start. The board allows you to install up to 32 GB of RAM standard DDR-3, for this you need to install four modules of 8 GB each. In the event of a pair of modules for their correct operation, it is necessary to use blue slots.

Not far from the memory connector is the connector to connect the "pigtails" with USB 3.0 ports. Included such a "pigtail" comes, and it is installed on the rear case panel.

To connect the internal SATA devices, eight corresponding connectors are provided on the board. Six ports are implemented by Intel Z68 (4 SATA 3.0 Gbps and 2 SATA 6 Gb / s), the Marvell PCI-E 88SE9172 SATA 6 Gb / s controller is responsible for the other two.

Total for connecting internal devices with SATA interface is available four SATA ports 3.0 Gbps and four SATA 6 Gb / s. Note that there is no floppy connector on the board, nor IDE connections that most users have to be liked to taste.

For convenience of using ASUS P8Z68-V Pro on the open stand at the bottom of the board, the power and reboot buttons are provided. If suddenly the standard set of USB connections on the board conclusions panel will not be enough, you can use additional, internal connectors, which are in stock there are three pieces. You can connect either USB plugs on the rear panel, or connectors located on the front panel of the housing. In addition, there are two jacks for connecting FireWire ports.

ASUS P8Z68-V Pro is equipped with three PCI-E X16 slots, but only one, first, works at full speed. The second slot PCI-E x16 operates in default in X1 mode, but when combining a pair of video cards in ATI, the CROSSFIREX / NVIDIA SLI bundle is a second PCI-E X16 connector operates in X8 mode, the first slot switches to the same mode. The third PCI-E X16 slot works in X4 mode.

Since the Intel Z68 chip is devoid of working with PCI ports, ASUS engineers used the corresponding PCI Express transition bridge on PCI - Asmedia ASM1083.

On the pin panel there is a decent number of connector.

• 1 x Bluetooth module;
• 1 x DVI;
• 1 x D-Sub;
• 1 x HDMI;
• 1 x ESATA 3GB / S;
• 1 x LAN (RJ45);
• 2 x USB 3.0;
• 6 x USB 2.0;
• 1 x optical S / PDIF output;
• 6 x Audios.

If you plan to use integrated graphics, problems with connecting modern image output devices will not arise, since almost all necessary connectors are present. Switching between DVI and HDMI ports integrated video is carried out by the Asmedia ASM1442 chip. Also pleases the presence of an ESATA connector, which, by the way, is implemented by the JMICRON JMB362 controller forces. Realtek ALC892 answers the sound.

Disassembling the cooling system P8Z68-V Pro did not cause problems. The design of radiators is as simple as possible. All of them are attached to the board using a pair of screws or plastic snacks. Contact with the power system elements, as well as with the Intel Z68 chip, is carried out by thermal staples and the "heat", respectively.

The processor power system is made according to a 16-phase pattern. Four additional phases are required to work integrated in the CPU graphics core. The presence of additional phases did not affect the convenience of installing cooling systems: even massive coolers stand without problems. By the way, ASUS engineers have increased the number of connections for connecting fans, now their six. For the processor cooler, not one, but two feed connectors - conveniently.

USB 3.0 provides ASMEDIA ASM1042

Intel 82579 Network Controller

FireWire ports work thanks to the VIA VT6308P controller

On this we end the external inspection, go to the consideration of the features of the BIOS. As always, we will dwell only on important, in our opinion, sections.

Overclocking boards are wide enough. BIOS allows you to make a fine tuning of the frequencies and voltages on the CPU, integrated GPU, as well as memory modules. Note that the overclocking settings of the BIOS P8Z68-V PRO Pro are almost completely coincide with the Intel P67 Express Batties, such as P8P67.

Memory system pumping is also available in full. The user can not only adjust the clock frequency, but also experiment with timings and subscriptions, the number of settings for which is large enough.

Like the P67 base boards, the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard allows you to configure the processor behavior in TURBO Boost mode or after overclocking.

The monitoring section makes it possible to control the operating voltages of the main nodes of the system, as well as monitor the speed of rotation of all fans connected to the board and control them.

A rather interesting feature of the BIOS ASUS P8Z68-V Pro is the ability to view SPD Modules of RAM.

Of course, the ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility is not done anywhere, which allows you to flash a BIOS from a hard disk or flash drive.

Finally, the last section on which we would like to stop our attention is System Agent Configuration. Here, a number of new options have become available. First, you can choose the procedure for initializing graphic adapters, as well as activate the Multi-GPU configuration with the participation of the video driven integrated processor.

⇡ Testing. Technology Lucid Virtu.

Test Stand Configuration
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z68-V Pro, BIOS version 0501
CPU	Intel Core i7-2600K.
CPU cooling system	THERMALRIGHT SILVER ARROW
RAM	2 x 2048 MB DDR-3 SuperTalent
Video card	ASUS GeForce GTX 580 1536 MB
HDD	Seagate 750 GB
Power Supply	Ikonik Vulcan 1200 W
Housing	Cooler Master Test Bench 1.0
Operating system	Windows 7 Ultimate X64

In our previous review dedicated to Intel Z68, we talked about new technologies that Intel implemented in this set of chips. In particular, we have already mentioned Intel Smart Response technology, as well as Lucid Virtu technology. We talked about the implementation of the first, but I will tell about Lucid Virtu now.

As you know, all central processors based on the second generation Core microarchitecture for LGA1155, including the elder Core i7-2600K, contain a graphic core in its composition. There are enough features such a graph not only to speed up the AERO interface in Windows 7, but even for a comfortable game in some modern games (with low quality settings, of course). Moreover, the new Intel graphics has a built-in hardware encoder / video decoder (MPEG2, H.264, VC-1), which is called Quick Sync.

When built-in graphics are used, all of its capabilities, of course, are fully available, but if you install an external video card, the possibility of simultaneously use the functions of the built-in graphics accelerator in the CPU is disappeared. Here and comes to help the Lucid Virtu technology, which allows you to use the built-in Adapter Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000 with a discrete video card.

It is worth noting that the Lucid Virtu technology itself is completely software. On Maternal fees with chips Z68, there are no additional chips manufactured by LUCID, however the software component is assumed to the hardware capabilities of the Intel Z68 chipset, since this logic set supports Multi-GPU configuration, including in a bundle with a graphical core embedded in the processor.

Lucid Virtu operation modes are only two: I-MODE and D-MODE.

i-Mode. The monitor or any other image output device is connected to the video output of the INTEL HD Graphics 2000/3000 built-in graphics accelerator processor. At the same time, the discrete accelerator becomes secondary in the system. When the load is small, that is, the user performs standard office work or plays simple browser games, the system uses the built-in graphics. But for complex games in the settings of the Lucid Virtu control panel, you can create appropriate profiles that will activate discrete graphics for rendering. In this case, the pin output will also be carried out through the connectors on the motherboard, because it will be recorded in the frame buffer of the built-in graphics. As a side effect, you can observe a drop in performance in games due to serious overhead costs associated with the transfer of information between the discrete card and the Personnel buffer "Integral".

Theoretically, with active mode, the i-Mode system should consume less energy due to the disabling of external graphs during the execution of simple tasks that are not related to the rendering of games. In practice it turns out that during idle the discrete adapter is not completely disconnected and still contributes to the overall picture of power consumption. As a result, the effectiveness of I-Mode is under a big question. In addition, when using I-Mode mode, some games refused to run.

Power consumption, W.	Without Virtu.	d-Mode.	i-Mode.
People regime	75	75	76
Far Cry 2 game (Ultra Detail, 2560x1440, 4xa / 16xaf)	281	271	234
Video playback (H.264 codec)	128	120	67
Video coding (H.264 codec)	160	91	85

This table presents our energy measurements during the operation of the system in different modes. We draw your attention to the fact that the difference in power consumption of the system during the game in Far Cry 2 in favor of I-Mode is not justified in terms of performance. The fact is that, when this mode is enabled, in percentage terms, the performance was less on comparable to a decrease in power consumption.

d-Mode. The monitor connects to the discrete video card, which takes on all the functions of the 3D rendering, however the Intel Quick Sync technology remains available for use when encoding and decoding video in those programs where there is relevant support. This mode is presented in the most relevant, since problems with the quality and speed of applications occurs at least, and the video encoding speed as you see significantly increases, of course, if the application supports Intel Quick Sync.

It must be said that in the D-mode mode, we did not have a noticeable tangible drop in performance in games, and therefore we will not demonstrate the results in the form of graphs.

⇡ overclocking. Testing productivity

Overclocking functions on the Maternal Asus P8Z68-V Pro mother are sold quite well, as well as in Intel P67 motherboards. The growth of the basic frequency is still difficult, and in our case it did not exceed 105 MHz. To demonstrate the growth of productivity from overclocking the CPU, we broke our experimental Core i7 2600K to 4500 MHz, and RAM chips worked after overclocking with a frequency of 1866 MHz and timings 9-9-9-27.

The effectiveness of Intel Quick Sync technology We checked using the CyberLink MediaSpresso 7 program. The film "Death and Glory to Canda" (720x304, duration of 1 h 32 min) was chosen as an object of testing. Video coding was first carried out by the processor forces, then included Intel Quick Sync technology, and the process was repeated again. Quality settings corresponded to MediaSpresso's profile for Nokia phones.

Coding time	Testing without acceleration (CI7 2600K, GTX 580, 4GB DDR-3 1600 9-9-9-24-1T)	Testing with acceleration (CI7 2600K @ 4500 MHz, GTX 580, 4GB DDR-3 @ 2133 10-10-10-27-1T)
MediaSpresso 7 (Intel GPU)	5 min 24 s	4 min 28 s
MediaSpresso 7 (CPU)	7 min 53 s	6 min 06 s

According to the test results, it can be seen that the video coding process of the video forces of the central processor takes approximately 40% longer than when using Intel Quick Sync technology. I must say, the results of her work is impressive. Especially pleased with all those who own payments on the basis of Z68 can use this advantage (perhaps, perhaps only those who acquired fees like this creation of Gigabyte).

As we have noted, to achieve greater performance in heavy modes of game applications, the acceleration of the video card will mean much more than the acceleration of the CPU and RAM, of course, if these components do not limit the performance of your accelerator. The rest of the performance increases, the growth rate of the CPU and memory commensurately, which, however, is not surprising.

⇡ Conclusions

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard is a good quality, a qualitatively executed product in which the entire functionality is implemented by Intel in its new chipsets of the Z68 series. The board is equipped with a wide range of expansion slots and is not devoid of a whole bouquet of overclocking functions, the implementation of which is at the P8P67 series card level, and must be recognized, this level is quite high. Regular users who are not alien to the desire to fight and which at the same time want to get all the modern "chips", the novelty from ASUS should like.

While the "fresh" set of Intel's logic set remains Z68 Express, we continue a series of reviews based on its motherboards. To date, we managed to look at the older model of Micro-Star, the MSI Z68A-GD80 fee (B3), as well as a number of Gigabyte boards. At first, we studied four Gigabyte fees from UD3P to UD7, who were absent video outputs, then the GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 board equipped with a complete set of connections for connecting monitors, and finally tested a unique GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3-ISD card, The main feature of which is the presence of a compact SSD drive of the Intel storage capacity of 20 GB, specially designed to implement the Intel Smart Response technology. Obviously, asustek motherboards are not enough in this list, and therefore today we will consider three models at once: the older ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe, the average ASUS P8Z68-V Pro and one of the younger - ASUS P8Z68-V. We tested earlier LGA1155-boards ASUSTEK were clearly allocated among competitors to the presence of an integrated Bluetooth controller, successful implementation of EFI BIOS, a lot of opportunities and good ability to accelerate. You can immediately say that the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe boards, P8Z68-V Pro and ASUS P8Z68-V and ASUS P8Z68-V fully comply with this short description, and the details will be known to you in the course of this review.

ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe Board Overview

The box in which the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe motherboard is supplied, standard dimensions and decorated traditionally. On the front of the package: the name of the board and logos of supported capabilities and technologies, and on the reverse: the image of the board, a list of technical characteristics and a short story about some features. The only one, except for the prefix "Deluxe", which gives a high status of the board - this is the ability to leak up the top cover fitting on the velcro, and consider the board through a large transparent window without removing it from the package.

The full list of incoming accessories is as follows:

six SATA cables with metal strings, half of them with M-shaped connections, and the remaining cables with straight, two pairs are specifically designed to connect SATA 6 GB / s devices (differ in white inserts on connectors);

an additional module with two USB 3.0 ports for installation in a three-wing compartment of the system unit;


user's manual;

In this list, I would like to highlight a very useful accessory - an additional module with two USB 3.0 ports for installation in the three-itemed compartment of the system unit. Cases with the ability to output USB 3.0 ports on the front, top or side panel every day appears more and more, but this component from the package of the board will provide support for USB 3.0 even for the existing one, albeit not new, but still convenient and otherwise arranging characteristics of the system unit.

As for the design of the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe motherboard, he may seem familiar to you. It is not surprising, because the board is very similar to the previously tested Asus P8P67 Deluxe fee. Some differences can only be seen in the processor power converter, which is quite explained, because it was necessary to provide additional power for the graphics core integrated into the processor, and there is no difference between the boards.

The processor connector supports all modern LGA1155 CPUs, four connections for memory modules are capable of accommodating a total of 32 GB, provide two-channel access for memory operating at frequencies from 800 to 2400 MHz. In addition to two SATA ports 6 GB / s and four SATA 3 GB / s, which provides a chipset, there are two more SATA 6 GB / s ports, implemented using the Marvell 88SE9128 controller, and thanks to the JMICRON JMB362 controller, two ESATA ports are displayed on the rear panel. GB / s, and one of them Power ESATA, that is, the connected device is capable of supplying the energy. The board is equipped with two PCI connectors, two PCI Express 2.0 x1 and three PCI Express 2.0 x16, in connection with which it is necessary to say about the purpose of the Additional PLX PEX 8608 Advanced Controller.

The possibility of fissioning sixteen free PCI Express 2.0 lines available in the processor into two groups of eight lines is initially laid in the logic set, and therefore the presence of two connectors for video cards on the boards is not at all surprising, but is quite natural. Difficulties arise when the manufacturer places the third PCI EXPRESS 2.0 X16 connector on the board. In the processor, there are no free lines for it, you have to use the capabilities of the chipset, however, they are needed to connect other connectors and controllers. Therefore, only one PCI EXPRESS 2.0 X1 line remains for the share of the third connectivity, the maximum four, but in this case you have to sacrifice something. In technical specifications, manufacturers in small font lists the set of features from which it will have to refuse to use the third connector for video cards. This is usually additional SATA or ESATA controllers, USB 3.0, IEEE1394 (FireWire), PCI ports or PCI-E X1. In our case, thanks to eight PCI Express 2.0 lines, which provide PLX PEX 8608 controller, all three video card connections and all other connectors and controllers can work simultaneously, without discs.

We have already mentioned some additional controllers used on the board. The rest will list when studying the list of the rear panel elements:

pS / 2 connector for connecting the keyboard or mouse;
eight USB 2.0 ports, and four more can be connected to two internal connectors on the board;
two USB 3.0 ports (blue connectors) implemented on the basis of the ReneseSas controller (NEC) D720200F1, the second same controller provides two more internal USB 3.0 ports;
coaxial and optical S / PDIF, as well as six analog sound connections, the work of which provides the eight-channel codec of the REALTEK ALC889;
bluetooth module v2.1 + EDR;
iEEE1394 port (FireWire) implemented on the basis of the VIA 6315N controller, the second port can be found as a connectivity on the board;
pOWER ESATA ports 3 GB / s (green) and ESATA 3 GB / s, which appeared due to the JMICRON JMB362 controller;
"Clear CMOS" button;
two LAN connectors (network adapters are built on Gigabit Intel WG82579V and Realtek RTL8111E controllers).

The Motherboard ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe refers to the upper price range. The board is equipped with a large number of additional controllers, features and technologies. The use of a weak graphics core integrated into processors does not fit into the concept of a powerful and comprehensively developed motherboard, so the lack of video outputs on the rear panel is quite natural and easily explained. The board is initially aimed at using a discrete video card, and at once several maps combined in ATI CROSSFIRE or NVIDIA SLI modes. At the same time it remains the opportunity to maximize the rear panel, placing a large number of connectors on it. However, it is necessary to emphasize that due to the lack of video outputs, the fee did not lose the ability to use the capabilities of embedded graphics, thanks to the LucidLogix Virtu technology, you can enable Intel Quick Sync technology designed for quick encoding and decoding of video content.

On the Asus P8Z68 Deluxe board, we can find many features already familiar to us by other Asustek fees. For example, the highlighting buttons of the on and reboot complements the "Memok!" Button, providing a confident start, even if there is problems with memory. There are comfortable wide latches on connectors for the "Q-SLOT" video cards and slots for memory modules with zeros only on the one hand "Q-DIMM". The "Q-LED" LED system will prompt at which stage the download was interrupted, and the POST code indicator will specify the exact reason. TPU switch (Turbov Processing Unit) will automatically dispersed the processor, and the EPU switch (Energy Processing Unit) will turn on more optimal operation modes in terms of energy efficiency.

Sketchy of total boards displays the following illustration:

ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Board Overview

The packaging of the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard differs from the box to which the older model is also packs, mostly, only the absence of a folding lid. Otherwise, everything is the same: colors, design principles, logos, the image of the board itself on the back side and a small story about the characteristics there.

A slightly reduced completeness - the SATA cables was two less, the ability to output additional USB 3.0 ports to the front panel is replaced with an additional bar with USB 3.0 ports for the rear panel of the system unit. The full list of incoming accessories is as follows:

flexible bridge for combining two video cards in SLI mode;
additional plank on the rear panel with two USB 3.0 ports;
plug to the rear panel (I / O Shield);
aSUS Q-Connector Adapter Set, which includes modules to simplify the connection of buttons and the front panel indicators of the system unit and USB 2.0 connector;
user's manual;
DVD with software and drivers;
sticker "Powered by ASUS" on the system unit.

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard is not a simplified version of the older model, it uses its own design. However, the general features between the boards can be found a lot.

Focus in mind. The cooling system has become easier without losing in efficiency - an additional central radiator disappeared, but all the heating elements of the board with radiators are equipped. The number and range of Serial ATA ports remains the same, but two additional SATA ports 6 GB / s now provides the Marvell 88SE9172 controller. The JMicron JMB362 controller remained, but on the back panel, he now displays only one ESATA port 3 GB / s, a little later we will learn why it happened. There are no visible changes in extension card connectors, the board is equipped with two PCI connectors, two PCI Express 2.0 X1 and three PCI Express 2.0 x16. The support of ATI Crossfire and NVIDIA SLI technologies has been preserved, and the formula for the video cards for video cards has not changed, but now, if we use the third PCI Express 2.0 x16 connector, which is able to provide the work of the card at the PCI-E X4 speed, we will have to abandon the use of two connectors PCI Express 2.0 x1, from additional USB 3.0 ports and from ESATA. By the way, instead of traditional ReneseSas controllers (NEC) Support USB 3.0 on the board provides a pair of ASMEDIA ASM1042 controllers.

When you get to the back panel of the board, the reason for the reasons for the output on it of some ports becomes clear - video outputs appeared, which occupy a lot of space. The full list of the rear panel elements is as follows:

bluetooth module v2.1 + EDR;

Due to video outputs, I had to abandon the output of the IEEE1394 ports on the rear panel, but the support remained and ensures its all the same VIA 6315N controller, two internal connections can be detected on the board. There is no post code indicator, but a convenient system of Q-LED LEDs will help determine the cause of the problems when starting. The CMOS zero button disappeared, but the Memok button remains! And the highlighting buttons on and reboot. There is a convenient wide latch on connectors for the "Q-SLOT" video cards, connections for memory modules with snaps only on one side "Q-DIMM", TPU and EPU (ENERGY PROCESSING UNIT). The number of connections for connecting fans even increased from five to six.

Schematically, the list of main capabilities is presented in the following illustration:

ASUS P8Z68-V Board Overview

Well acquaintances of the design principles meet us when looking at a box with ASUS P8Z68-V board.

Having lost the prefixes "Pro", which distinguishes it from the average model, the fee lost little in the configuration - we do not find only an additional plank with USB 3.0 ports. In the rest of the accessories, the accessories remained unchanged:

four SATA cables with metal strings, two of them with M-shaped connections, and the remaining direct cables, one pair is specifically designed to connect SATA 6 GB / s devices (differ in white inserts on connectors);
flexible bridge for combining two video cards in SLI mode;
plug to the rear panel (I / O Shield);
aSUS Q-Connector Adapter Set, which includes modules to simplify the connection of buttons and the front panel indicators of the system unit and USB 2.0 connector;
user's manual;
DVD with software and drivers;
sticker "Powered by ASUS" on the system unit.

As for the ASUS P8Z68-V card itself, it is based on the design of the average model with some very minor simplifications.

At the top half of the board, we will not find any differences at all from the average model, as for the lower part of the board, it can be noted that an additional controller has disappeared that adds a pair of SATA ports 6 GB / s, the fee lost the support of IEEE1394 (FireWire) and the reboot buttons. Only and everything, and all other possibilities have been fully preserved.

As for the rear panel, there are no differences from the middle model with the "Pro" console. The full list of the rear panel elements is as follows:

six USB 2.0 ports, and six more can be connected to three internal connectors on the board;
bluetooth module v2.1 + EDR;
port ESATA 3 GB / s, which appeared due to the JMICRON JMB362 controller;
optical S / PDIF, as well as six analog sound connections, the work of which provides the eight-channel codec of Realtek Alc892;
video outputs D-Sub, DVI and HDMI;
two USB 3.0 ports (blue connectors) implemented on the basis of the ASMEDIA ASM1042 controller, the second same controller provides two more internal USB 3.0 ports;
local Network Connector (Network Adapter Built on a Gigabit Controller Intel WG82579).

Thus, if you have two USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel, and two more optional are not necessary if you do not need to use the IEEE1394 ports (FireWire), if you are quite satisfied with the presence of two SATA ports 6 GB / s and four SATA 3 GB / C, which provides a set of logic, and you can do without a reboot button on the board, then you should choose ASUS P8Z68-V, since the capabilities of the same board with the "Pro" console for you are redundant. A pleasant remuneration for the refusal of several already unnecessary functions will be the difference in price between boards.

Sketchy Features are presented in the following illustration:

Comparative Features of Platforms

All the main technical characteristics of the planned boards are not difficult to find on the manufacturer's website, however, for the convenience of comparison, we reduced them into a single table.

BIOS features

All the motherboards under consideration have the same BIOS capabilities. Some differences are due only to the presence or absence of certain additional controllers, so we will study the capabilities of the boards using the example of the older ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe model, which is equipped with a complete set of parameters.

By default, when entering the BIOS, the "EZ MODE" mode is encountered, which performs basically information functions, since almost nothing allows you to configure. You can select only one of the three power saving modes and set the order of the survey of the loading devices by simply dragging them with the mouse.

In the settings, you can make the "Advanced Mode" mode, in which case the familiar section "Main" will appear to our eyes.

The main mass of the options necessary for overclocking is concentrated in the "AI TWEAKER" section. The new ASUS EFI BIOS only looks unusual, but the previous, well-known BIOS capabilities of the ASUS boards are easily guessed in its structure and set of parameters. However, it is impossible not to notice a large number of new options relating mainly to power and power consumption that appeared thanks to the new digital system of "Digi +".

Part of the parameters is traditionally submitted to individual subsections to excessively not clutch the main. In particular, a change in memory timings has been made to a separate page.

In a separate subsection, the parameters relating to the processor power management are made. By the way, only the Asus and Gigabyte boards are automatically adjusted to the user specified by the user during overclocking and increase the allowed processor power limits. On the other boards, the limits have to be changed manually.

The capabilities of the subsections of the "Advanced" section are also familiar to us and are clearly understood by their names. It can only be noted that with recently the SATA disks on the ASUS boards work in the AHCI mode by default.

In the subsection "CPU CONFIGURATION" we learn basic information about the processor and manage some processor technologies.

The "Monitor" section reports the current temperatures, voltages and the speed of rotation of the fans. For processor and enclosed fans, you can select the preset rotation speed adjustment modes from the standard dialing: "Standard", "Silent" or "Turbo", or select the appropriate parameters in manual mode. Only the fans with the designation "PWR" are not adjustable.

In the "Boot" section, we choose the parameters that will be used at the start of the system.

Next, we will study the capabilities of the subsections of the "Tools" section.

The built-in utility for updating the EZ Flash 2 firmware is one of the most convenient and functional programs of this kind. However, with the transition to EFI BIOS, it has slightly changed to the worst, in particular, now the current version of the firmware is saved by default in the root section of the connected drive.

As with the boards of many other manufacturers, we can now familiarize yourself with the information covered in SPD memory modules.

ASUS boards allow you to save and quickly download eight full BIOS settings profiles. Each profile can be brief, reminiscent of its contents.

The Drive Xpert subsection allows you to configure drive mode connected to an optional Marvell 88SE9128 controller. This section is missing in the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro BIOS, since the Marvell 88SE9172 controller is used, which does not support the union of the disks in the RAID arrays, and the ASUS P8Z68-V board is generally devoid of an additional Marvell controller.

The latter is the "EXIT" section, where you can apply the changes made, download the default values \u200b\u200bor back to the simplified "EZ MODE" mode.

The new ASUS EFI BIOS is an excellent example of how you can expand the capabilities of an old BIOS without losing the former use. In some way, the disadvantage is the main advantage - a very large number of parameters available for changing may initially stun and introduce into confusion. However, in the default mode, the optimal values \u200b\u200bare installed in general and you can change anything, but get a working system properly.

Configuration of the test system

All experiments were carried out on the test system, including the following set of components:

Motherboards:

ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE REV.1.00 (LGA1155, Intel Z68 Express, version BIOS 0706);
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Rev.1.01 (LGA1155, Intel Z68 Express, version BIOS 0651);
ASUS P8Z68-V REV.1.01 (LGA1155, Intel Z68 Express, version BIOS 0651);

Processor - Intel Core i5-2500K (3.3 GHz, Sandy Bridge, LGA1155);
Memory - 2 x 2048 MB DDR3 SDRAM Patriot Extreme Performance Viper II Sector 5 Series PC3-16000, PVV34G2000LLKB, (2000 MHz, 8-8-8-24, supply voltage 1.65 V);
Video card - MSI N570GTX-M2D12D5 / OC (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, GF110, 40 Nm, 786/4200 MHz, 320-bit GDDR5 1280 MB);
Disk subsystem - Kingston SSD NOW V + SERIES (SNVP325-S2, 128 GB);
Cooling system - Scythe Mugen 2 Revision B (SCMG-2100) and an additional 80x80 mm fan for blowing the near-break space when overclocking;
Thermalcase - Arctic MX-2;
Power supply - CoolerMaster RealPower M850 (RS-850-ESBA);
The case is an open test stand based on the Antec Skeleton housing.

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64 Bit (Microsoft Windows, Version 6.1, Build 7601: Service Pack 1) was used as the operating system (Microsoft Windows, Version 6.1, Build 7601: Service Pack 1), the driver set for Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 9.2.0.1030, the video card driver - NVIDIA GeForce Driver 280.26.

Features of work and acceleration

In this section of the review, we usually tell about the problems that had to be overcome when assembling test systems, errors and flaws, if the likes were detected, after which we turn to the results of overclocking the processor and memory. This time I propose a little change the usual scheme. Difficulties in assembly arose only with an older board, we already talked about them in the review of the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe fee, since its design is similar. One of the screws that the additional central radiator is attached, interferes with the installation of an amplifying plate of the Scythe Mugen cooler 2. However, the problem is small. Since the central radiator itself does nothing in itself, but only used as an additional heat dissipation area, it does not need a robust clamp, it only needs to be fixed, for which one screw is quite enough. Thus, the only complexity in the assembly was successfully overcome, as regards any comments on the work of the boards in the nominal mode, they did not have them. All boards worked flawlessly, no special settings needed, except for the correction of the speed of rotation of the fans. However, I want to tell about one aspect relating to the older ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe board.

Local guide to the board, I noticed that the specifications indicate the presence of an optional Marvell 88SE9128 controller with the Hyperduo function. It is a bit strange that in the technical characteristics of the board on the site there were no mention of this opportunity. Even the search with Google did not find on the website asus a single mention of this technology, but there were many information on the Internet. It turned out that last year, Marvell conducted experiments to combine HDD and SSD, like declared later for Intel SMART Response's Intel SMART RESPONSE logic sets, then this concept was called "HyperHDD". And at the beginning of this year, the Marvell 88SE9130 controller was presented, which made it possible to combine the slow HDD with a quick SSD to speed up the operation of the disk subsystem by caching the frequently used files, and the final name of this technology is "Hyperduo". There are two options for combining drives - "Safe Mode" and "Capacity Mode". The first option works in the same way as Intel Smart Response technology - frequently used files are mirrored with a slow HDD to fast SSD, which, when reused, gives a significant increase in speed. The second option is slightly less reliable, but allows you to store a larger amount of data that is divided between HDD and SSD, that is, we do not lose the available amount by duplication of data.

It's all very interesting, but it is not clear what attitude has to us, because the technology is announced for the MARVELL 88SE9130 specialized controller and it is expected that it will work on newer controllers, while on the Asus P8Z68 Deluxe board is the old Marvell 88SE9128? Apparently, to support Hyperduo technology, it is enough to update the firmware of the controller. So our Marvell 88SE9128 (I specifically removed the radiator and clarified the marking) seems to be a system in the form of Marvell 88SE9130. Pay attention to the Device ID parameter in the following illustration.

It must be said that I was extremely impressed. Marvell 88SE9128 controllers are very widespread, occur on dozens of most different motherboards of various manufacturers. As a result, if there is such a controller on the board using Hyperduo technology, artificial limitations of similar Intel Smart Response technology, which only works on boards based on Intel Z68 Express logic. Combine disks with "Hyperduo" turned out to be extremely simple. When starting the boards, we enter the BIOS of the controller, we mark both drives, after which we select the desired mode from the list.

We have chosen the "Safe Mode" mode, since in this case the data is not lost, in addition, it was planned to compare the results with the work of Intel Smart Response technology, which we have recently tested in the Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-ISSD motherboard review. Loading and first start of the operating system was successful, after which I had to wait for a long time until the data from HDD was copied to SSD. However, when rebooting, the "blue screen of death" appeared, which pursued us until we abandoned the use of Hyperduo technology. Each new attempt to load the operating system ended with the "blue death screen", removing the unification of the discs in the BIOS controller led to a hang, did not help overwrite the MBR (Master Boot Record) on SSD and complete removal from it all sections. At the same time, from a single HDD system, the system was properly loaded, but it was worth only to connect an SSD, as the monitor screen poured hated blue. In the end, I guessed to connect the SSD only to the controller, and only in this case it was possible to eliminate the disk combining in the controller BIOS, after which it became possible to load the operating system.

Despite the unsuccessful start, we have not yet abandoned the intention to test the work of Hyperduo technology. Marvell has a special MRU utility (Marvell Raid Utility), its named MSU (Marvell Storage Utility) can be downloaded from ASUS. With this utility, combine disks are not harder than in the controller BIOS, even easier.

Seeing the HDD and SSD connected to the controller, the utility itself offers to combine them using the Hyperduo technology, so that we can only agree, and then wait until data from HDD is copied to SSD. Unfortunately, a long waiting period ended with the already familiar "blue screen of death" and at this disappointing moment we stopped attempting to work to work with Hyperduo technology. Probably, the mention of it remained only in the guidelines for fees, it seems that in the current form, its performance is insufficient for widespread use. Try, it is possible that you will be lucky.

If we talk about overclocking, then the Motherboard ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe did not disappoint nickname. With ease, it dispersed the processor to the maximum for our instance of the frequency of 4.7 GHz, while ensuring the memory operation at a frequency of 1867 MHz.

However, this is the older model, the most technologically equipped, so good overclock results are not surprising. The more nicer was to see that the average model of ASUS P8Z68-V Pro did not fall behind the senior.

Asus P8Z68-V Pro and ASUS P8Z68-V cards are very similar, based on the same design version, but the younger could not ensure the performance of memory at high frequency and it had to reduce it, which was partially compensated by the installation of more aggressive timings. But in the acceleration of the processor, the fee is not at all behind the senior sisters.

We always overclock the system so that it can be used in long-term mode, while we will not alleviate the task, turning off any abilities of motherboards, such as additional controllers. And, if possible, try to keep the work of processor energy-saving technologies. So in this case, on all boards, energy-saving technologies worked, reducing the voltage supplied to the processor and its multiplication coefficient in the absence of a load, which demonstrates the following animated screenshot.

Comparison of productivity

We traditionally carry out the motherboard comparison in two modes: when the system works in nominal conditions and when overclocking the processor and memory. The first mode is interesting from the point of view, which makes it possible to find out how well motherboards work by default. It is known that a significant part of the users is not engaged in a fine system setting, they only install optimal parameters in BIOS and no longer change anything. So we are checking, almost in no way intervening in the default values \u200b\u200bspecified by the default fees. For comparison, we used the data obtained during the tests of the Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-ISSD motherboard. Results shown by fees are sorted by descending.

In the Cinebench 11.5 program, we are five times spending processor tests and average the results obtained.

The Fritz Chess Benchmark utility is used in tests for a long time and has proven itself well. It gives well repetitive results, performance is well scaled depending on the number of computing streams used.

In the X264 HD Benchmark 4.0 test, a small video clip is encoded in two passages, and the whole process is repeated four times. The average results of the second pass are presented in the diagram.

Measuring Performance In Adobe Photoshop, we carry out using your own test, which is a creative recycled Retouch Artists Photoshop Speed \u200b\u200bTest, which includes typical processing of four-10 megapixel images made by a digital camera.

In the data archiving test, a single gigabyte file is packaged using LZMA2 algorithms, the remaining compression parameters remain in default values.

As in the compression test, the faster the calculation of the 16 million signs of the number of pi will be performed, the better. This is the only test where the number of processor nuclei does not play any role, the load is single-flow.

Comprehensive performance tests are simultaneously good and bad in that they are integrated, but Futuremark software has gained fame and are widely used for comparisons. To estimate the weighted average performance platform, the PCMark 7 test measures the speed of typical real algorithms widely used by users in everyday activity. The diagram presents averaged result of the three-time passing of the test cycle.

Test 3DMark 11 evaluates, first of all, the speed of the graphics subsystem. The following diagram presents a averaged result of a three-time passage of the 3DMark 11 test cycle in Performance mode with default settings.

Since the video card in our reviews does not accelerate, only the results of 3DMark 11 processor tests are used in the next diagram - PHYSICS SCORE. This characteristic is the result of the work of a special physical test that simulates the behavior of a complex gaming system with a large number of objects.

Using the built-in FC2 Benchmark Tool test, we hold a ten-fold RANCH SMALL card pass at a resolution of 1920x1080 with high quality settings and using DirectX 10.

The Resident Evil 5 game also has a built-in dough for performance measurements. Its feature is that it excellently uses multi-core processors. Tests are conducted in DirectX 10 mode, with a resolution of 1920x1080 with high quality settings, the results of a five-time passage are averaged.

As expected, the difference in performance between related fees is actually absent, in most application applications work approximately at the same speed. Now they will draw the same tests when overclocking the processor and memory. The difference in the parameters of the systems during acceleration is reflected in the table:

And again a big difference in the speed of the circuit boards is not noticeable, however, the definite lag of ASUS P8Z68-V and Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-ISSD can be seen 7-zip tests and 3DMark 11 Physics Score. This is quite natural, since the memory on these boards worked at a lower frequency. The difference is small, but noticeable, so it is not worth exaggerating the value of the high frequency of memory, but it should not be neglecting it either.

Measurement of power consumption

Measuring power consumption was carried out using the EXTECH POWER ANALYZER 380803. The device is turned on in front of the computer power supply, that is, measures the consumption of the entire system "from the outlet", with the exception of the monitor, but including losses in the power supply itself. When measuring consumption, the system is inactive, we wait for a complete cessation of post-leader and lack of contacts to the hard disk. The load on the processor is created using the "LINX" program. For greater clarity, the energy consumption growth charts were built when operating systems in nominal mode and during acceleration, depending on the growth of the load level on the processor when the number of computing flows of the "LINX" utility is changed. On the board diagrams are alphabetically.

As with the performance tests, the difference in the energy consumption of motherboards is not too large, but it is impossible not to notice that the consumption of ASUS boards is slightly higher than the average values. When accepted on the MSI board, energy-saving technologies stop working, but despite this, the power consumption of the ASUS boards with it is comparable, and sometimes even higher. This is perhaps the only disappointing moment that we noticed during the testing of ASUS boards.

Afterword

Now, when we have already managed to get acquainted with the most different boards for LGA1155 processors, on different sets of logic, different manufacturers, you can already say with confidence that Asustek's motherboards are one of the best. The boards are well packaged, are sufficiently equipped, competently and conveniently designed, and are made qualitatively. They have a convenient and rich EFI BIOS parameters, the boards meet modern requirements, support advanced technologies, and a wide range of ASUS boards allows you to choose exactly the model that most meets your needs and requests. It cannot be said that Asustek's boards in everything without exception better than their competitors, but by the totality of characteristics, they confidently occupy a leading position, it is undoubtedly.

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The most productive microprocessor architecture in the desktop and mobile segment is undoubtedly Intel Sandy Bridge, which was presented in early 2011. Simultaneously with the presentation of the new microarchitecture, the sets of the system logic of the 6th series, designed to support new processors, were published. But, as it turned out later, Intel postponed the release of its functional chipset Intel Z68. Express Until May 11, at the same time, the Intel Solid State Drive 311 series solid storage devices were also presented. Double presentation came out not enough. The new Intel Z68 Express system logic has supported SSD-caching "Smart Response Technology", for which the Intel Larson Creek series has been designed for operation.

The Intel Z68 Express chipset itself can be represented as an Intel P67 Express and Intel H67 Express amount, as it has received overclocking capabilities characteristic of Intel P67 chipset, and support for the GPU integrated processor, characteristic of the Intel H67 chip. In addition, the new platform received additional, previously existing, software capabilities in the form of SSD caching "Intel Smart Response Technology" and LucidLogix Virtu technology that allows you to dynamically switch between the built-in graphics accelerator Intel HD 2000/3000 and the discrete video card. Many users have expected the appearance of the processor acceleration function by increasing the system tire frequency, which would allow any types of processors, but unfortunately, such a miracle never happened. Therefore, gradation between processors for overclocking the "k" series and simply processors remains relevant for configurations based on Intel Z68 Express.

The structural side of the Intel Z68 chipset differs from Intel P67 mainly support for the built-in GPU due to the presence of the Intel FDI channel. The possibility of creating a multi-copy configuration in the configuration x8 + x8 or x8 + x4 + x4 PCI EXPRESS 2.0 is now peculiar and even for one chipset, which, of course, will appreciate advanced gamers. At the same time, the number of USB 2.0 ports and SATA changes has not undergone - 14 USB 2.0 ports and six SATA ports, of which two correspond to a faster SATA 3.0 specification. The number of PCI EXPRESS 2.0's own lines The Intel Z68 system logic is also not different from Intel P67 and Intel H67. PCI Express lines are only eight.

Comparison of the system logic sets of the 6th series for desktop platforms:

	Corporate		Small business	Productive			Budget
Processor connector
Intel Active Managrment TECHNOLOGY
Standart ManageAbility
INTEL RAPID STORAGE TECHNOLOGY 10
PCIE Graphics
Memory Channels / Dimm on Channel
Support for integrated GPU
uSB 2.0 ports
SATA ports (6 GB / C)
Performance Tuning.
Intel IDENTITY PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY
Intel Me 7.0 FW Size

As you can see, the Intel Z68 system logic sets, Intel P67 and Intel H67 are designed by and large for home use, so they do not have several corporate use technologies. At the same time, these chipsets allow you to organize SATA RAID levels 0, 1, 5 and 10.

Intel Smart Response Technology SSD-caching technology was conceived for those users who still cannot afford to purchase a faster SSD drive under the system section, but still want to speed up the operation of the disk system. A similar desire is achieved by using a hard disk in a bundle with a small volume, but a quick, SSD-storage device for caching of frequently used data, which are consequeled not with HDD, but with faster SSD. Moreover, the size of the SSD disk can be from 18.6 GB to 64 GB. Thus, the user can accelerate the operation of the operating system and reduce the start time of frequently used applications and games.

In some cases, it is inconvenient to use a very limited sizD-drive size. The largest solid-state drive is quite expensive. Therefore, it is more profitable and more convenient to use a small SSD disk for caching without limiting themselves the size of the main section. Especially for these purposes, the storage devices of the Intel SSD 311 Larson Creek series have been developed, which are built on SLC NAND chips, made according to the standards of 34 nm technical process. For SLC chips, a higher recording speed is characterized compared to MLC chips and a larger number of overwriting cycles. The other side of the medal is the cost of the Intel Larson Creek family. For example, a volume model of only 20 GB is estimated at 100 dollars, which is not so little.

The inclusion of SSD caching is carried out using the Intel Rapid Storage Technology utility version 10.5 or later. But before that, you need to install the Windows Vista operating system or Windows 7 to the hard disk in the RAID mode, and the RAID volume must not be for recovery.

To activate caching in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology utility, select HDD, which is supposed to be accelerated by SSD.

Intel Smart Response technology has two modes of operation "Enhanced" (advanced) and "maximized" (maximum). Advanced mode "Enhanced" is more secure. In it, all records system produces as if "through" a SSD drive on a hard disk. In this case, the recording speed is limited to the slowest device from this pair, which should be a hard disk. When reading information reads, reading is made from the SSD disk, thus reducing the reading time.

The maximum MAXIMIZED mode has a different functioning algorithm - the recording is initially performed on the SSD drive, and it is transferred to the main drive. Therefore, the recording speed is limited to the capabilities of the solid-state disk. But in this mode there is a high probability of information loss due to, for example, unauthorized PC shutdown.

In the case of the correct installation of SSD caching on the hard disk shortcut in the Intel Rapid Storage utility, the "Acceleration" icon will appear, and the solid-state drive will be marked as the caching volume.

We conducted a small experiment on the motherboard, when the Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 hard drive was used as the main drive, and Ocz Agility 2 SATA II 2.5 "SSD 60 GB was used for caching.

As a result of pre-testing of this technology, we noticed some acceleration of download in games and applications. In particular, according to the data in the table, it is possible to estimate how the time of downloading game levels in SSD CACHING "Enhanced" is reduced:

TOM CLANCY "S HAWX 2

The results obtained give hope to 20% acceleration of frequently used applications in the bond of Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 and OCZ Agility 2 SATA II 2.5 and OCZ Agility 2 SATA II 2.5 "SSD. It is possible that the use of more optimized drives of the Intel Larson Creek family will achieve even better indicators.

For motherboards on the Intel Z68 EXPRESS chipset, another LucidLogix Virtu software function has been available, designed to virtualize the graphics core. Due to this technology, users who have established a discrete video card will also be available graphics core capabilities, which built into the Sandy Bridge processor. Moreover, switch the video connector is not at all - this switching occurs dynamically. Such virtualization may be needed primarily to support Intel Quick Sync technology, which allows you to produce hardware decoding and encoding video streams in MPEG2, VC-1 and H.264 formats. Of course, you can always use the capabilities of the discrete accelerators themselves using AMD Stream or NVIDIA CUDA technologies, but it is assumed that Intel Quick Sync works more efficiently.

Virtu technology has two i-Mode modes and D-MODE. In I-Mode mode, the display is connected to the output of the built-in GPU processor, that is, to the motherboard. In such mode, the function of the main accelerator performs an integrated kernel, and the discrete video card is turned on to work only in 3D applications. Due to this, electricity savings occurs. In the D-MODE mode, the discrete video card is the main, and the integrated kernel is used in the case of encoding using Intel Quick Sync technology in specific applications. At the moment, such applications include Cyberlink MediaSpresso, ArcSoft MediaConverter 7. The full turning off the graphic accelerators of the processor and the video card does not occur in both modes. Therefore, the system running to work in Virtu will consume 5 W more due to Intel HD Graphics enabled than an identical configuration that works only on a discrete accelerator.

Pre-testing LucidLogix Virtu in the COLIN MCRAE game: DIRT 2 using DirectX10 and medium settings in resolution1280x1024:

	Performance, FPS	Power consumption, W.
Intel Core i5-2500K without an external video card
i-Mode Virtu + Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD6970.
d-MODE VIRTU + RADEON HD6970

Theoretically, when working in 3D applications, that in i-Mode mode, that in D-mode mode, the performance should be equal to or slightly less than the performance of the discrete video card. In our case, the result was obtained when the performance in I-Mode Virtu increased to the player level, and the energy consumption remains the same as when working without a video card.

It is worth noting, support for LucidLogix Virtu technology will be relevant not for all motherboards on Intel Z68 Express, but only for licensed LUCID models. At the same time, Asus was able to conclude an agreement on which all its motherboards on this chipset will have support for Virtu. Thus, in this regard, ASUS products are beneficially different, for example, from Gigabyte motherboards.

Now let's give directly to the consideration of the motherboard

Motherboard specification ASUS P8Z68-V Pro:

Manufacturer
Processor connector
Supported processors	Intel Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3
Memory used	DDR3 2200 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) / 1866 (O.C.) / 1600/1333 / 1066 MHz
Memory support	4 x DDR3 DIMM two-channel architecture up to 32 GB Non-ECC Memory Support, Unfierized and Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Expansion slots	2 x PCIE X16 (1x16 PCI EXPRESS 2.0 or 2X8 Lines) 1 x PCIE X16 (x4 or x1 line PCI Express 2.0) 2 x PCIE X1 2 x PCI
Multi-GPU technology	ATI Quad-GPU Crossfirex or NVIDIA Quad-GPU SLI in X8 + X8 PCI Express 2.0
Disk subsystem	Intel Z68 Express chipset supports: 2 x SATA 6.0 GB / s 4 x SATA 3.0 GB / s with the ability to organize SATA RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 with the support of Intel Smart Response TECHNOLOGY PCIE SATA Marvell 88SE9172 6 GB / C controller: 2 x SATA 6.0 GB / s JMicron JMB362 SATA chip supports: 1 x ESATA 3.0 GB / s
Sound subsystem	Realtek ALC892, 8-channel High-Definition Audio codec supports the internal port S / PDIF
Support LAN	Intel Gigabit Network Controller 82579
	The VIA 6308P controller supports two IEEE1394 ports
	24-pin ATX Power Connector 8-pin ATX12V power connector
Connectors for fans	2 x for processor cooler 4 x for hull fan
External ports I / O	1 x Optical S / PDIF 1 x Bluetooth Sensor 1 x ESATA 3 GB / s 1 x IEEE1394. 1 x LAN (RJ45) 6 x USB 2.0 2 x USB 3.0 1 x HDMI port 1 x DVI port 1 x VGA port 6 audio connectors
Internal ports I / O	4 x SATA 6.0 GB / s 4 x SATA 3.0 GB / s 1x S / PDIF output 6 x USB 2.0 2 x USB 3.0 2 x IEEE1394 Audio front panel connectors System panel connector 1 x Memok! button 1 x EPU button 1 x TPU button
	64 MB Flash Rom, EFI AMI BIOS, PNP, DMI2.0, WFM 2.0, ACPI V2.0A, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0A Support EZ Flash 2, CrashFree BIOS 3
Opportunities	Changing the frequency: memory, processor, system tire. Change voltage to: processor, memory and chipset.
Branded technologies	ASUS DUAL Intelligent Processors 2 with Digi + VRM ASUS TPU. ASUS EPU. ASUS DIGITAL POWER DESIGN ASUS BT GO! ASUS BT TURBO REMOTE Memok! AI Suite II. AI Charger +. Anti-Surge. ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Disk Unlocker ASUS QUIET THERMAL SOLUTION ASUS Q-SHIELD ASUS O.C. Tuner ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 ASUS EZ FLASH 2
Equipment	2 x SATA cable 6.0 GB / s 2 x SATA cable 3.0 GB / s Instruction and guidance 1 x DVD with drivers and by Plug
Form factor Dimensions, mm	ATX, 305 x 244.
Products webpage	A fresh version of the BIOS and the driver can be downloaded from the support site.

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard packaging has a stylish design in black tone. On the front of the package, the ability to overclock the processor and the built-in GPU, support for USB 3.0 and EFI BIOS. The new labels can be attributed: the emblems of the "Virtu" technology and Intel Smart Response Technology, which distinguishes the model on Intel Z68.

The rear of the packaging is even more informative. There is a photo of the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard and its specification. In addition, on the reverse side, the proprietary technologies applied on the board, such as a digital power stabilizer of the second-generation processor Digi + VRM, capable of changing the sampling frequency and the number of active phases, depending on the operation mode to increase the conversion efficiency. Also, the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard has technology support:

TPUallowing you to overclock and fine-tuning the AI \u200b\u200bSuit II utility using a specially designed controller.

Energy processor EPU.designed to optimize power consumption and noise due to the monitoring of the load in real time and regulating the power parameters of the board components according to current needs.

Integrated Bluetooth Module BT GO!it can serve to carry out various Bluetooth devices without the need for an additional adapter. ASUS BT GO! offers seven useful features - Folder Sync, BT Transfer, BT TURBO Remote, BT-to-Net (Internet connection), Music Player (Music Player), Shoot and Send ( Photo / video transmission) and Personal Manager (Personal Manager).

Equipment for the motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V Pro is quite rich:

• DVD disk with software and drivers;
• english manual in English and brief installation instructions;
• two plume Serial ATA 6.0 GB / s;
• two SERIAL ATA 3.0 GB / C;
• SLI Bridge;
• module with two USB 3.0 connectors;
• set Q-Connectors;
• cap to the back housing panel.

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard layout is made very competently, in fact without flaws. For convenience, the power connectors and the main ports are placed on the edge of the board. PCIEX16 slots, providing for combining video cards in the CrossFirex or SLI configuration, are located in two, which allows you to install even very overall graphics accelerators with three-sheet coolers.

Since this motherboard refers to the category "Pro", respectively, it uses only polymer type capacitors and choke with a ferrite core.

SATA connectors are deployed to the side, since there is a high probability of closing access to them with a long video card. The positive point is that the slots for RAM are devoid of latches from the bottom side, so the possibility of their blocking is excluded.

To cool the Intel Z68 chip on the Asus P8Z68-V Pro motherboard, a small radiator stylized under the wave is used. During testing, the radiator was heated to a temperature of 50 ° C, which can be considered quite acceptable.

Due to the possibilities of the Intel Z68 system logic on the Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V PRO PRO implemented four SATA ports 3 GB / C and two SATA ports 6 GB / C, as well as fourteen USB 2.0 ports, eight of which are internal. Two additional internal ports of SATA 6 GB / C are provided by the Marvell 88SE9172 controller, and one ESATA 3.0 GB / s port is implemented by the JMICRON JMB362 chip.

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard has three PCIEX16 slots, but only one of them, the top, can fully work on the 16-line PCI Express 2.0 lines. The second PCIe X16 slot is intended to be used when building ATI Crossfirex or NVIDIA SLI bundles, in which video cards will operate in X8 + X8 mode PCI Express 2.0. In the case when the top slot PCIEX16 will work on all 16-lines, the second PCIEX16 slot will have only one line at its disposal. The most bottom slot PCIEX16 works on four PCI Express 2.0 lines, regardless of the mode. In addition, the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard has two more PCIEX 1 slots and two PCI slots to use expansion cards.

Since the support for PCI devices, the Intel Z68 system logic does not have, then the functioning of the corresponding two slots is implemented due to the PCI Express to PCI bridge ASMEDIA ASM1083.

Also, from the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard interfaces, you can note the support of two internal IEEE1394 ports due to the VIA VT630BP controller. But supporting outdated FDD, IDE, COM and LPT interfaces This motherboard is deprived.

As ASUS P8Z68-V Pro ASUS P8Z68-V Pro uses a rather high-quality and common 8-channel HDA-codec of Realtek Alc892, the front panel connector of which supports HDA and AC`97 formats.

To support the new USB 3.0 interface, two less common ASMEDIA ASM1042 controllers are used, which are supported in the amount of four ports. Two external and two internal.

At this, ASMEDIA chips do not end. On the Asus P8Z68-V Pro motherboard, there is another AsMedia ASM1442 chip, which is responsible for switching video output between the HDMI V1.3 and DVI ports.

To connect to a local network on the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard, a gigabit network controller of the physical layer Intel 82579 is used.

Near the RAM slots is a jumper of the TPU autolessness function, and the activation jumper of the EPU energy-saving technology, as well as the MEMOK button! - A tool for correcting errors in the operation of the system memory. The node of the power of RAM on ASUS P8Z68-V Pro has a two-phase version.

The main processor power supply converter is made according to the phase 12 + 2 + 2 scheme by doubling the number of elements in each phase.

Cooling the power node is improved by using two radiators with sufficiently large fins.

One of the radiators of the cooler on the nutrition node has a screw mount, and the second is simpler in the form of plastic latches.

On the reverse side of the board there are also semiconductor elements that are cooled by a thrust plate.

Power supply to the processor is supplied through the 8-pin EPS 12V connector, which is designed for a larger current than the usual 4-pin ATX 12V connector.

The Digi + VRM ASP1000C-162 microcircuit of the CHIL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP company is used as the power controller of the power node.

The following ports are displayed on the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard interface panel:

• six USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports,
• HDMI-outlet;
• DVI and VGA video outputs;
• optical S / PDIF,
• eSATA port 3 GB / s;
• rJ45 connector for network connections,
• bluetooth sensor;
• six connectors for 8-channel sound.

Connectors for connecting fans on the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard as many as six. Three four-pin connector are designed to connect a processor cooler and two body fans, and three more three-pin connector can be used for elements of the enclosure ventilation.

On the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard, as in many other solutions based on the system logic of Intel P68 and H67 Express logic, EFI is used as a preloader, in which the selection of settings can be made using the mouse alone.

Going to the "AI Tweaker" section with the settings for overclocking and optimizing the system, you can mark the long list of a variety of options responsible for the frequency, supply voltage, and even the operation mode of the power converter. In addition to the manual "Manual" of overclocking mode, there is the ability to select XMP memory profiles and activating the authorum mode. In general, the number of settings in EFI traditionally for ASUS cannot but rejoice.

The settings necessary for overclocking are tabulated:

Parameter	Menu name	Range
Processor technologies	C1E, EIST, Virtualization TECHNOLOGY, Multi-Threading, Intel TURBO BOOST MODE
System Tire Frequency	Block / Pcie Frequency
Turbo Boost Frequency Multiplier	Core Ratio Limit.
Divider for memory	Memory Frequency	8, 10.66, 13.33, 16.00, 18.66, 21.33, 2.4
Maximum graphics core frequency		1100 - 3000 MHz
Delay RAM	DRAM TIMING CONTROL	Cas Latency, Ras to Cas, Ras Pre, Ras Act, Command Mode, Ras to Ras, Ref, Cycle, Dram Refresh, Write Recovery, Read to Pre, Four Act Win, Write to Read, Cke Minimum, Cas Write, RTL ( CHA), RTL (CHB), TWRDR, TRWDR, TRWSR, TRR, TRRSR, TWW (DD), TWW (DR), TWWSR
Processor multiplier
Power limit with long acceleration	Long Duration Power Limit
Duration of long acceleration	Long Duration Maintained.
Power limit with short-term acceleration	Short Duration Power Limit
The maximum amount of additional CPU supply voltage during TURBO Boost acceleration	ADDITIONAL TURBO VOLTAGE
The main current	PRIMARY PLANE CURRENT LIMIT	0.125 - 1023,875 in
Secondary current limit	SECONDARY PLANE CURRENT LIMIT	0.125 - 1023,875 in
Fixed Power Scheme Frequency	VRM Fixed Frequency Mode	300 - 500 kHz
	CPU CURRENT CAPABILLITY.
	iGPU CURRENT CAPABILLITY
Additional voltage on the processor, in	CPU Offset Voltage.	0.005 - 0.635 V
	CPU MANUAL Voltage.
Additional voltage on the graphics core, in	iGPU Offset Voltage.	from -0,635 to +0,635 in
Voltage on memory modules, in
Tension on the North Bridge

The acceleration of the processor on the motherboard with the Intel Z68 chipset, as well as on Intel P67, is supposed to be performed using Intel Turbo Boost technology multipliers. SATA and PCIE tire frequencies are tied to the system tire frequency. Therefore, an increase in the BCLK frequency above 5-7% very quickly leads to a loss of stability.

The frequency multiplier allows you to set the frequency from 800 MHz to 2400 MHz.

In addition to overclocking the processor and memory, the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard is capable of performing an acceleration of the graphics core built into the processor in 50 MHz from 1100 MHz to 3000 MHz.

Configure timings (delays) and secondings (secondary delays) of RAM can also be "manual" in the "DRAM TIMING CONTROL" section.

Power management settings allow you to install voltages with a sufficiently small step in a rather large range. There are also settings to compensate for voltage awards on the processor and the graphical core.

The control settings for various processor technologies and features are collected in the "CPU Configuration" section.

EFI also did not cost without a separate monitoring section, in which you can follow:

motherboard and processor temperature

speed of rotation of the processor cooler and four cabinet fans;

voltage on the core of the processor;

voltage on the power line +12 V, +5 V and + 3.3V.

The only thing that does not take out in the monitoring section is the testimony of the power supply voltage.

In addition, in this section, you can enable the automatic control function of the CPU Q-FAN CONTROL processor cooler and body fans that have different intensity modes.

Utilities

The acceleration of the system and changing the supply voltage of various components can be performed using the ASUS TURBOV EVO utility.

In the "GPU Boost" tab, you are settings necessary to increase the maximum frequency of the built-in GPU and increasing the supply voltage on it.

Overclocking the same processor cores are supposed to be changed by the maximum Turbo Boost technology multiplier.

The unique opportunity characteristic of the ASUS motherboard is the ability to configure the mode of operation of the processor power stabilizer.

With the discrete accelerator installed, we tried the possibility of overclocking the processor in the "Auto Tuning" tab. As it seems to us, this is sufficiently available for the user a way to activate the autoless function using the utility. Also, the authors can be activated using the settings in the EFI and the switch on the motherboard.

The resulting result itself is a little impressed - 4475 MHz at a voltage of 1.312 V for the Intel Core i5 processor is a very good result. At the same time, you should not forget that these are just the autonomagon. In manual mode, you can achieve higher results.

Testing

To check the capabilities of motherboards, the following equipment was used:

CPU	Intel Core i5-2500K (LGA1155, 3.3 GHz, L3 6 MB) Turbo Boost: Enable C1E: Enable
	Scythe Kama Angle Rev.B
RAM	2x DDR3-2000 1024 MB Kingston Hyperx KHX16000D3T1K3 / 3GX
Video card	MSI R4850-2D1G-OC (Radeon HD 4850, 1 GB GDDR3, PCIE 2.0)
HDD	Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS, 500 GB, SATA-300, NCQ
Optical drive	ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA
Power Supply	SEASONIC SS-650JT Active PFC (650 W, 120 mm Fan)
	Codegen M603 Miditower (2 x 120 mm fan on blow / blowing)

Test results:

The level of productivity of the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard is the same as solutions on Intel P67 and Intel H67.

Test results with integrated video:

When working on an integrated video accelerator, the performance of ASUS P8Z68-V Pro is the same as in the Intel H67 database.

Testing of the sound path based on the codec REALTEK ALC892

Generalresults Rightmark Audio Analyzer)

16-bit, 44,1 KHz

		Very good
Noise level, dB (a)
Dynamic range, dB (a)
Harmonic distortions,%		Very good
		Very good
Intermodulation by 10 kHz,%		Very good
Total assessment		Very good

Non-uniformity frequency response (in the range of 40 Hz - 15 kHz), dB		Very good
Noise level, dB (a)		Very good
Dynamic range, dB (a)		Very good
Harmonic distortions,%		Very good
Harmonic distortion + noise, dB (a)
Intermodulation distortion + noise,%		Very good
Channel interpenetration, dB		Very good
Intermodulation by 10 kHz,%		Very good
Total assessment		Very good

For the audio codec, Realtek ALC892 is almost always characteristic of a very good quality of the beep. On the Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V Pro, the audio subsystem also showed very good test results.

conclusions

The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard is an excellent basis for a productive game PC with the possibility of organizing multi-copy ATI CROSSFIRX or NVIDIA SLI ligaments in X8 + X8 PCI EXPRESS 2.0 mode, as well as for overclocking. The latter will contribute to a large number of settings in the EFI BIOS and a powerful power node with the possibility of Digi + VRM thin control. The noteworthy fact is that in the autorangone mode, the motherboard is capable of overclocking the processor of the "K" series to a frequency of 4.47 GHz, which is an excellent indicator.

The functionality of the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard is also at the height. Already to not small capabilities of the Intel Z68 Express chipset, which supports four SATA 2.0 ports and two SATA 3.0 with the possibility of organizing RAID arrays and the SSD caching function, two more SATA ports 6 GB / C and one ESATA 3.0 GB were added / With due to two additional controllers. It was not dealt with ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard and without the support of the USB 3.0 interface in the form of four ports operating from two ASMEDIA ASM1042 controllers.

Dmitry Masyuk

Express the Ukrainian representative office of the company ASUS For the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro provided for testing the motherboard.

Express the gratitude to the company Intel , Kingston , MSI and SEASONIC. For the equipment provided for test stand.

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12/02/2011 | Master | (35)

1 - appearance and functionality 2 - UEFI capabilities. Additional 3 - overclocking. Testing. Conclusions display by one page

Not so long ago, we considered the Motherboard ASUS P8P67 PRO, which is based on the Intel P67 Express system logic set. The fee has demonstrated a successful combination of expansion and good acceleration capabilities, and only an outdated audit of the chipset and low performance did not allow it to win the award. At the same time, a rather high price can scare the potential buyer who wants to get a quality product, but does not have an excess of money. It is especially advantageous in the latter case, it is possible to temporarily use the integrated Intel HD Graphics graphics with the subsequent purchase of a powerful discrete video card. Of all the chipsets offered for the LGA1155 platform, only Intel Z68 Express is optimally suitable for these purposes, as it combines the possibility of outputting the image from the built-in graphics core and the acceleration of the Sandy Bridge Processor series "K". Of course, in the case of a limited budget, the price of the motherboard will play one of the key roles, so inexpensive models, such as ASUS P8Z68-V LX, the main technical characteristics of which are given in the table are the greatest interest.

Model
Chipset	Intel Z68 Express
Processor connector	Socket LGA1155
Processors	Core i7, Core i5, Core i3 (LGA1155)
Memory	4 DIMM DDR3 SDRAM 1066/1333/1600/1866 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) / 2200 (O.C.), Maximum 32 GB
Slots PCI-E	1 PCI EXPRESS 2.0 X16 1 PCI Express 2.0 [Email Protected] 2 PCI Express 2.0 x1
Slots PCI	3 (Asmedia ASM1083)
Built-in video card (in processor)	Intel HD Graphics.
Video invoices	DVI-I, HDMI, DisplayPort
Number of plug-in fans	4 (2X 4PIN and 2X 3PIN)
PS / 2 ports	1
USB ports	2x 3.0 (Asmedia asm1042) 12x 2.0 (4 connectors on the rear panel)
ATA-133.	-
Serial ATA	2 channel SATA 6 Gb / s (Intel Z68 Express) 4 channel SATA 3 Gb / s (Intel Z68 Express)
esata.	-
RAID	0, 1, 5, 10 (Intel Z68 Express)
Built-in sound	Realtek Alc887 (7.1, HDA)
S / PDIF.	Optic
Built-in network	Realtek 8111e (Gigabit Ethernet)
Wireless network	-
Firewire.	-
LPT.	-
Com.	1 (internal)
BIOS / UEFI	Ami UEFI.
Form factor	ATX
Dimensions, mm.	305 x 229.
Additional features	ASUS TURBOV, GPU BOOST, MEMOK!

As you can see, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX specification is typical of low-cost level models. We add that thanks to the use of ATX Form Factor, the motherboard has a large number of ports for installing expansion boards. With design features, we will introduce you to the appropriate section, in the meantime, consider the package and branded features.

Contents of delivery

As relying in low-cost products, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX system board comes in a modest cardboard box, the dimensions of which barely exceed the size of the product itself. Honestly, it is not clear how the delivery kit also fits there, although the answer turned out to be quite trivial, but we will sound it a little later. Packaging design is made in style characteristic of all asus systemics of the last generation. The front side can tell about the name of the model, distinctive features and the availability of branded technologies.

Among the features that are provided by the Intel Z68 Express chipset, you can note the support of LucidLogix Virtu technology and Intel Smart Response. The first technology is already familiar to us, it allows you to flexibly use the resources of built-in and discrete video cards. The second one is designed to increase the performance of the disk subsystem by using a separate SSD drive to caching frequently used data. The ASUS brand technologies include the presence of EPU and TPU hardware controllers, which are responsible for energy saving and acceleration, respectively, as well as the graphical interface of the UEFI BIOS firmware. In addition, ASUS P8Z68-V LX supports the GPU BOOST function, which, as follows from the name, is designed to overclock the graphics kernel built into the Intel Sandy Bridge processor processors.

The reverse side, besides the schematic image and short characteristics of the motherboard, contains an extended description of key branded technologies.

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX supply kit includes:

• plug on the rear panel I / O Shield;
• two SATA cables 6 Gb / s;
• DVD drives with drivers and software;
• detailed user manual.

A set of accessories is very modest, if not to say "poor"! A pair of optional SATA cables and a set of Q-Connectors branded connectors would certainly have prevented.

Design

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard is made in the ATX Form Factor, but the size of the printed circuit board is 305 x 229 mm, which is 15 mm already standard. This means that the right edge of the board has no attachment points, so you need to be careful when manipulating with memory modules and ATX24 power cable.

The location of the connectors is close to the classic, free placement of components on the RSV guarantees convenience when self-assembling system unit. The board is based on the Intel Z68 Express system logic set, which we have already said, combines full support for Intel Sandy Bridge series "K" with the possibility of using the Intel HD Graphics integrated video card. Thanks to the LucidLogix Virtu technology, you can automatically switch between the built-in video edge and discrete accelerators depending on the nature and severity of the load, as well as using the Clear Video HD video hardware processing technologies and accelerate the coding of the Quick Sync media engineer.

The capabilities of the chipset allow you to install any Intel Celeron, Pentium and Core i3 / I5 / I7 processors in the LGA1155 version, and the four SDRA slots are designed to support SDRAM DDR3 with a total of up to 32 GB. The frequency of operation of the RAM modules up to 2200 MHz is inclusive. Despite the declared support for AMD CrossFirex, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX has only one full-fledged PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, while only four PCI-E 2.0 lines are connected to the second connector. Such a scheme is unlikely to be suitable for organizing a full-fledged AMD CrossFirex, but it is quite good to install controllers demanding to interface bandwidth. For installation of extension boards, three PCI slots are designed to be implemented based on the Asmedia ASM1083 bridge. There are also two PCI-E 2.0 X1 ports that share bandwidth with PCI-E 2.0 connector. [Email Protected] This means that when using at least one of the PCI-E 2.0 X1 slots, the second PCI-E 2.0 x16 port automatically switches to mode [Email Protected]

The disk subsystem is implemented exclusively due to the capabilities of the system logic: two SATA ports 6 Gb / s and four SATA 3 Gb / s. Intel Smart Response technology and the ability to create RAID arrays of levels 0, 1, 5 and 10. Additional SATA channels, as well as ESATA and ATA-133 ports. Note that all Intel Z68 Express chips are initially devoid of errors that caused the storage subsystem failures in the early audits of system logic sets for LGA1155.

To connect the periphery, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX offers 12 USB 2.0 ports and a pair of USB 3.0 connectors. To support the last two there is an additional ASMEDIA ASM1042 chip. Note that the board is reserved for the installation of another controller of the high-speed serial tire of the third revision, but it does not apply in this model. Local network support is implemented on the basis of quite reliable Nic Realtek 8111e, which supports speeds of up to 1000 Mb / s inclusive. There is nothing unusual and in organizing an audio system where the eight-channel HD-audio code for REALTEK ALC887 is used. To output a digital audio stream, there is an S / PDIF optical output.

The configuration of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX rear panel is due to the support of the built-in schedule:

• combined PS / 2 port;
• four USB 2.0 connections and USB 3.0 pair;
• network port RJ-45;
• video outputs: D-sub, DVI-D, HDMI;
• six analog audioorts;
• optical output S / PDIF.

Note that the simultaneous use of DVI-D and HDMI is impossible, but this restriction is associated with the features of the graphics kernel integrated into the Sandy Bridge, and not the motherboard.

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX feed subsystem combines the features characteristic of low-cost models, with features that are more common in productive system boards. Thus, the "motherboard" is equipped with an additional eight-contact EPS12V connector, and VRM is made using a six-channel scheme, where four phases form voltages for computing nuclei, and the remaining two are for the UNCORE logic. At the same time, the power elements are devoid of radiators, which can lead to their overheating when processors are accelerated with a significant increase in voltage. The circuit of the converter is controlled by the EPU ASP1000RM PWM controller, the true manufacturer of which could not be installed.

The cooling system of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX is represented by the only flat radiator on the Intel Z68 Express chip. In this case, the use of such a simple design is absolutely justified, because the heat dissipation of the chipset does not exceed 6 watts.

To connect the fans, the board is equipped with four connectors, with two of them support the rotation speed of the impeller by means of a pulse modulation (PWM). From additional features designed to facilitate the acceleration process on ASUS P8Z68-V LX, we note the MEMOK button!, Located next to the ATX24 connector, and the TPU microswitch, which plotted at the bottom of the board, near the third PCI port. The first is intended for a safe start of the system in the event of an installation of the inoperative parameters of RAM, and the second activates the automatic acceleration function.

In our opinion, the design of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard is very successful, and the use of a high-quality element base has long been standard and does not need separate comments. The location of the slots and connectors provides convenience of assembly, and a fairly powerful power supply subsystem promises some overclocking potential. The only thing, we would like to see the radiators on the power elements of the VRM of the central processor, the presence of which most positively affect the stability of work in high speed mode.
UEFI SETUP.

Like most modern system boards, ASUS P8Z68-V LX uses Unified EFI as a firmware. There is no point in listing all the advantages that it gives the use of a new interface, so we will immediately move on to the consideration of the company UEFI BIOS, which is equipped with a participant in today's testing. ASUS developers thoroughly reworked the standard AMI microcode by adding it EZ MODE mode and many other utilities. The features of ASUS system boards firmware for the LGA1155 processors were considered in detail during the P8P67 Pro review, so we will dwell only at the main points.

Immediately after entering the firmware menu, we enter the EZ MODE mode, which displays the date, time, the readings of the hardware monitoring sensors, and you can also select the boot device and set the speed profile.

We have already said that, be in the EZ Mode the ability to install the date and time, many users could limit the use of this mode at all. At the same time, all the settings associated with acceleration are hidden in the Advanced Mode menu. In the Main tab, the user has the ability to configure the system clock, select the menu display language and set the security settings.

The AI \u200b\u200bTweaker menu contains all the basic parameters of the system board acceleration, such as changing the base frequency, control of the central processor multiplier and setting the RAM parameters. Here you can activate Internal Pll Overvoltage, set the operating mode of the Intel Turbo Boost technology and activate the automatic OC TUNER acceleration. Separately, it should be noted a peculiar functioning of TURBO BOOST technology in AUTO mode when it works with the default by all Cores. In this case, the frequency of all processor nuclei of our Core i5-2500K has synchronously increased by 400 MHz. Pay attention to the EPU Power Saving Mode option, the inclusion of which activates the power saving mode.

The DRAM TUNING CONTROL tab allows you to configure the main and many additional RAM module delays, and in the CPU Power Manager submenu, you can set the operation parameters of the Intel Sandy Bridge processor.

The capabilities of the voltage control of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard are much more modest than the older sister of the Pro series, which is quite logical, given the market positioning of the latter. The firmware of the participants of today's testing allows you to change only four main system stresses. Also available to control the Load-Line Calibration function, however, control the amount of feedback, unlike the older model, is impossible.

The list and limits of changes in the supply voltages are presented in the table:

Parameter	Range of changes, in	Step, B.
CPU Voltage.	-0,315...+0,635	0,005
Dram Voltage.	1,185-2,135 B.	0,005
Vccio Voltage.	0.735-1.685 B.	0,005
PCH Voltage.	0.735-1.685 B.	0,005

The set is small, for moderate overclocking quite enough of these opportunities. However, practical potential research will disappear all in their place.

The Advanced menu includes the options for controlling the disk subsystem, USB ports, peripheral controllers and built-in system logic set features.

Here, in the CPU Configuration tab, you can configure multiplication coefficients for computing kernels, activate processor technologies and additional energy saving options.

Another important subparagraph is System Agent Configuration, which focuses on the management of the video subsystem and LucidLogix Virtu technology.

The last section of the firmware, which is worthy of mentioning this monitor. Here, in addition to two temperatures and four fan speeds, the values \u200b\u200bof four supply voltages are displayed. In addition, the user can set the automatic or manual mode of control of the rotational speed of two of the four cooler impellers.

At the end of the consideration of the UEFI BIOS ASUS P8Z68-V LX, we note the presence of built-in utilities to update the ASUS EZ Flash 2 Utility firmware and managing user settings for ASUS O.C. Profile.

Thus, the functionality of the microcode of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX is not much different from senior models, although in terms of overclocking capabilities, especially in the power management, there are certain simplifications. And otherwise, this is all the same convenient and functional UEFI BIOS, which we used to see on the fees of ASUS.

Complete PO

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX system board is equipped with a disk with a variety of useful programs, among which the greatest interest is Ai Suite II, which combines several software modules intended for overclocking, system monitoring and controlling fans. In addition, it is possible to display system monitoring readings with their saving to the log file, as well as an automatic firmware microcode update from ASUS servers.

The ASUS TURBOV EVO subprogram allows you to manage the main overclocking parameters directly from the MS Windows environment. A change in the base frequency, four stresses, as well as separate management of multipliers of computing nuclei.

Here you can use the mode of increasing the speed of Auto Tuning, which uses mechanisms similar to AUTO OC activation from the firmware menu or the TPU microswitch on the RSV.

The next useful utility is ASUS Fan Expert, which, as follows from the name, is responsible for adjusting the frequency of rotation of the impeller fans connected to the four-pin connectors.

For each of the fans, the mode of operation is set depending on the indication of temperature sensors. The flexibility of the configuration that Fan Expert offers is much more than the features of the monitor of the UEFI BIOS firmware.

The ASUS Probe II module is responsible for the hardware monitoring of the main components of the system board. In addition to displaying readings, the limit values \u200b\u200bof the parameters are specified, to achieve which you can configure the sound of sound alarm or even disconnecting the PC.

The last subroutine that deserves is ASUS Update, which is designed to work with the microcode of the system board firmware. The user can back up, write the EEPROM from the file or download the firmware update from the Internet. The program works absolutely stable, though, many will prefer to use the ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility built into the UEFI BIOS as a more reliable way.

The program complex AI Suite II we see not for the first time, its functionality and stability do not cause special complaints and can serve as an instructive example for creating such software products. The only thing that can be present is the impossibility of controlling the frequency and RAM delay, which greatly limits the possibilities for fine-tuning performance from the MS Windows environment.
Acceleration

Honestly, we did not expect special wonders of overclocking potential from ASUS P8Z68-V LX, but the fee was pleased to surprise us. The stock of the base frequency is even more than that of the older ASUS P8P67 Pro model, and amounted to exactly 107 MHz.

Of course, it is completely insufficient for a full overclocking of this, but, together with the increase in the multiplier to four points, this increase can give an increase in clock frequency in 428 MHz! This applies to the "ordinary" Intel Sandy Bridge, but our Core i5-2500K has a unlocked multiplier than we used. Alas, Sandy Bridge engineering samples, and we exactly such a processor, do not respond to the activation of Internal Pll Overvoltage, so that frequencies in 5GHz and above can be safely forgotten. However, it did not prevent us from raising our Core i5-2500K clock frequency when using ASUS P8Z68-V LX to 4800 MHz. To do this, it was only required to set the corresponding multiplication ratio in the CPU CONFIGURATION section and add +0.2 V to Vcore voltage. In this mode, the system without the slightest problems passed stress testing in the LINX program, while energy-saving technologies continued to function, lowering the frequency and voltage on computing nuclei.

The study of acceleration potential has completed an experiment with automatic determination of optimal performance parameters. The activation of the AUTO OC function led to an increase in BCLK to 103 MHz with a simultaneous increase of up to 42 multiplier on processor nuclei, which as a result gave 4327 MHz clock frequency. In this case, the VCore voltage was 1.328 V, and RAM modules worked at a frequency of 1648 MHz with delays 9-9-9-24-1t.

Note that exactly the same results of the automatic acceleration were achieved and on ASUS P8P67 Pro, which suggests the idea of \u200b\u200busing some predefined profiles. In any case, such a mode will provide a tangible speed gain, so that it can be recommended for use for beginners or users who do not regret comprehend wisdom overclocking.

Thus, the accelerated potential of the Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V LX produced a good impression. Of course, for an extreme acceleration, the board is hardly suitable, but for moderate overclocking can be a very good option.

Test stand

The speed of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard we compared with ASUS P8P67 Pro. Both testing participants worked as part of the following configuration:

• processor: Intel Core i5-2500K (3.3 GHz);
• cooler: Zalman CNPS10X Flex;
• memory: Silicon Power SP004GBLYU160S2B (2x2GB, PC3-12800, CL9-9-9-24);
• video card: MSI N480GTX LIGHTNING (GeForce GTX 480);
• hard disk: samsung HD502HJ (500 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB);
• power supply: SEASONIC X-650 (650 W).

During the tests, the board worked with such versions of UEFI:

• ASUS P8Z68-V LX - UEFI 7003 of 11/15/2011;
• ASUS P8P67 PRO - UEFI 2001 dated 09/20/2011.

As for the installations, the Intel Turbo Boost technology was activated, the RAM functioned at a frequency of 1600 MHz with timings 9-9-9-24-1t. Stand worked under the control of Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit (90-day introductory version). The paging file and UACs were disabled, no longer changed. Intel INF Update Utility 9.2.0.1025 from the drivers 03.03.2011 for system logic and NVIDIA GeForce 280.26 for the video card.

The performance test methodology remains the same: we repeat every test at least three times, after which we calculate the average value. If some of the results are very different from the other two - the tests are repeated until the result is obtained close to normal distribution. List of test to the following:

• AIDA64 2.00.1700 (Cache & Memory Benchmark);
• Futuremark PCMark 07;
• Futuremark 3DMark 11;
• Farcry 2;
• COLIN MCRAE: DIRT 3;
• TOM CLANCY "S H.A.W.X. 2 BENCHMARK.

Test results

Synthetic RAM bandwidth tests provide an idea of \u200b\u200bthe latency and speed of performing low-level reading, recording and copying operations in RAM.

The half-synthetic test Futuremark 3DMark 11 allows you to evaluate the speed of the graphics subsystem in applications using API DirectX 11 and calculations of a realistic physical model.

When using the PERFORMANCE profile, the integral performance of both participants in testing practically coincides. Only in the subtest of the calculation of the physical model, where the computational resources of the central processor are actively used, there is a small advantage of ASUS P8Z68-V LX, which, however, does not give any preferences when removing the total score.

The latter is a group of tests, which is considerable interest for the overwhelming majority of users. As you guessed, we will talk about modern 3D games. To minimize the influence of the video card to the test results, all speed measurements were performed in a resolution of 1680x1050 with full-screen smoothing and high quality settings.

In the racing simulator COLIN MCRAE: DIRT 3 and first-face shooter Far Cry 2 cannot be determined by the test leader, at the same time in the Tom Clansy game "S HAWX 2, which actively uses the central processor resources, the advantage of ASUS P8Z68-V LX is obvious that Allows you to argue about a better firmware microcode in the latter.

conclusions

Not so often in our test lab include products with such a good ratio of wealth of a set of consumer characteristics and a moderate retail price. And the Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V LX refers to their number. The model is practically devoid of redundant functionality, but at the same time offers all the most necessary to build a productive PC. Yes, the fee does not support the organization of AMD CrossFirex and NVIDIA SLI configurations, devoid of multiple additional controllers, fusion cooling systems, and its supply kit is otherwise you cannot call the poor. But, ASUS P8Z68-V LX demonstrates an excellent level of speed, offers a large number of slots to install the expansion cards, has a sufficiently powerful power subsystem, convenient and functional UEFI BIOS, and even demonstrates a decent overclocking potential. Do not forget that the support of integrated graphics makes it possible to die from the productive video card. To remain absolutely calm, we would prefer to see at least some radiators on the power elements of the VRM central processor.

Equipment for testing was provided by the following companies:

• ASUS - ASUS P8Z68-V LX and ASUS P8P67 PRO system boards;
• Eletek - cooler Zalman CNPS10X FLEX;
• Intel - Intel Core i5-2500K processor;
• MSI - MSI N480GTX Lightning Video Card;
• Silicon Power - SILICON POWER SP004GBLYU160S2B memory kit;
• SYNTEX - SEASONIC X-650 Power Supply.

The basis of which is a set of Intel P67 Express system logic. The fee has demonstrated a successful combination of expansion and good acceleration capabilities, and only an outdated audit of the chipset and low performance did not allow it to win the award. At the same time, a rather high price can scare the potential buyer who wants to get a quality product, but does not have an excess of money. It is especially advantageous in the latter case, it is possible to temporarily use the integrated Intel HD Graphics graphics with the subsequent purchase of a powerful discrete video card. Of all the chipsets offered for the LGA1155 platform, only Intel Z68 Express is optimally suitable for these purposes, as it combines the possibility of outputting the image from the built-in graphics core and the acceleration of the Sandy Bridge Processor series "K". Of course, in the case of a limited budget, the price of the motherboard will play one of the key roles, so inexpensive models, such as ASUS P8Z68-V LX, the main technical characteristics of which are given in the table are the greatest interest.

Model
Chipset	Intel Z68 Express
Processor connector	Socket LGA1155
Processors	Core i7, Core i5, Core i3 (LGA1155)
Memory	4 DIMM DDR3 SDRAM 1066/1333/1600/1866 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) / 2200 (O.C.), Maximum 32 GB
Slots PCI-E	1 PCI EXPRESS 2.0 X16 1 PCI Express 2.0 [Email Protected] 2 PCI Express 2.0 x1
Slots PCI	3 (Asmedia ASM1083)
Built-in video card (in processor)	Intel HD Graphics.
Video invoices	DVI-I, HDMI, DisplayPort
Number of plug-in fans	4 (2X 4PIN and 2X 3PIN)
PS / 2 ports	1
USB ports	2x 3.0 (Asmedia asm1042) 12x 2.0 (4 connectors on the rear panel)
ATA-133.	-
Serial ATA	2 channel SATA 6 Gb / s (Intel Z68 Express) 4 channel SATA 3 Gb / s (Intel Z68 Express)
esata.	-
RAID	0, 1, 5, 10 (Intel Z68 Express)
Built-in sound	Realtek Alc887 (7.1, HDA)
S / PDIF.	Optic
Built-in network	Realtek 8111e (Gigabit Ethernet)
Wireless network	-
Firewire.	-
LPT.	-
Com.	1 (internal)
BIOS / UEFI	Ami UEFI.
Form factor	ATX
Dimensions, mm.	305 x 229.
Additional features	ASUS TURBOV, GPU BOOST, MEMOK!

As you can see, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX specification is typical of low-cost level models. We add that thanks to the use of ATX Form Factor, the motherboard has a large number of ports for installing expansion boards. With design features, we will introduce you to the appropriate section, in the meantime, consider the package and branded features.

Contents of delivery

As relying in low-cost products, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX system board comes in a modest cardboard box, the dimensions of which barely exceed the size of the product itself. Honestly, it is not clear how the delivery kit also fits there, although the answer turned out to be quite trivial, but we will sound it a little later. Packaging design is made in style characteristic of all asus systemics of the last generation. The front side can tell about the name of the model, distinctive features and the availability of branded technologies.

Among the features that are provided by the Intel Z68 Express chipset, you can note the support of LucidLogix Virtu technology and Intel Smart Response. The first technology is already familiar to us, it allows you to flexibly use the resources of built-in and discrete video cards. The second one is designed to increase the performance of the disk subsystem by using a separate SSD drive to caching frequently used data. The ASUS brand technologies include the presence of EPU and TPU hardware controllers, which are responsible for energy saving and acceleration, respectively, as well as the graphical interface of the UEFI BIOS firmware. In addition, ASUS P8Z68-V LX supports the GPU BOOST function, which, as follows from the name, is designed to overclock the graphics kernel built into the Intel Sandy Bridge processor processors.

The reverse side, besides the schematic image and short characteristics of the motherboard, contains an extended description of key branded technologies.

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX supply kit includes:

• plug on the rear panel I / O Shield;
• two SATA cables 6 Gb / s;
• DVD drives with drivers and software;
• detailed user manual.

A set of accessories is very modest, if not to say "poor"! A pair of optional SATA cables and a set of Q-Connectors branded connectors would certainly have prevented.

Design

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard is made in the ATX Form Factor, but the size of the printed circuit board is 305 x 229 mm, which is 15 mm already standard. This means that the right edge of the board has no attachment points, so you need to be careful when manipulating with memory modules and ATX24 power cable.

The location of the connectors is close to the classic, free placement of components on the RSV guarantees convenience when self-assembling system unit. The board is based on the Intel Z68 Express system logic set, which we have already said, combines full support for Intel Sandy Bridge series "K" with the possibility of using the Intel HD Graphics integrated video card. Thanks to the LucidLogix Virtu technology, you can automatically switch between the built-in video edge and discrete accelerators depending on the nature and severity of the load, as well as using the Clear Video HD video hardware processing technologies and accelerate the coding of the Quick Sync media engineer.

The capabilities of the chipset allow you to install any Intel Celeron, Pentium and Core i3 / I5 / I7 processors in the LGA1155 version, and the four SDRA slots are designed to support SDRAM DDR3 with a total of up to 32 GB. The frequency of operation of the RAM modules up to 2200 MHz is inclusive. Despite the declared support for AMD CrossFirex, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX has only one full-fledged PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, while only four PCI-E 2.0 lines are connected to the second connector. Such a scheme is unlikely to be suitable for organizing a full-fledged AMD CrossFirex, but it is quite good to install controllers demanding to interface bandwidth. For installation of extension boards, three PCI slots are designed to be implemented based on the Asmedia ASM1083 bridge. There are also two PCI-E 2.0 X1 ports that share bandwidth with PCI-E 2.0 connector. [Email Protected] This means that when using at least one of the PCI-E 2.0 X1 slots, the second PCI-E 2.0 x16 port automatically switches to mode [Email Protected]

The disk subsystem is implemented exclusively due to the capabilities of the system logic: two SATA ports 6 Gb / s and four SATA 3 Gb / s. Intel Smart Response technology and the ability to create RAID arrays of levels 0, 1, 5 and 10. Additional SATA channels, as well as ESATA and ATA-133 ports. Note that all Intel Z68 Express chips are initially devoid of errors that caused the storage subsystem failures in the early audits of system logic sets for LGA1155.

To connect the periphery, the ASUS P8Z68-V LX offers 12 USB 2.0 ports and a pair of USB 3.0 connectors. To support the last two there is an additional ASMEDIA ASM1042 chip. Note that the board is reserved for the installation of another controller of the high-speed serial tire of the third revision, but it does not apply in this model. Local network support is implemented on the basis of quite reliable Nic Realtek 8111e, which supports speeds of up to 1000 Mb / s inclusive. There is nothing unusual and in organizing an audio system where the eight-channel HD-audio code for REALTEK ALC887 is used. To output a digital audio stream, there is an S / PDIF optical output.

The configuration of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX rear panel is due to the support of the built-in schedule:

• combined PS / 2 port;
• four USB 2.0 connections and USB 3.0 pair;
• network port RJ-45;
• video outputs: D-sub, DVI-D, HDMI;
• six analog audioorts;
• optical output S / PDIF.

Note that the simultaneous use of DVI-D and HDMI is impossible, but this restriction is associated with the features of the graphics kernel integrated into the Sandy Bridge, and not the motherboard.

The ASUS P8Z68-V LX feed subsystem combines the features characteristic of low-cost models, with features that are more common in productive system boards. Thus, the "motherboard" is equipped with an additional eight-contact EPS12V connector, and VRM is made using a six-channel scheme, where four phases form voltages for computing nuclei, and the remaining two are for the UNCORE logic. At the same time, the power elements are devoid of radiators, which can lead to their overheating when processors are accelerated with a significant increase in voltage. The circuit of the converter is controlled by the EPU ASP1000RM PWM controller, the true manufacturer of which could not be installed.

The cooling system of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX is represented by the only flat radiator on the Intel Z68 Express chip. In this case, the use of such a simple design is absolutely justified, because the heat dissipation of the chipset does not exceed 6 watts.

To connect the fans, the board is equipped with four connectors, with two of them support the rotation speed of the impeller by means of a pulse modulation (PWM). From additional features designed to facilitate the acceleration process on ASUS P8Z68-V LX, we note the MEMOK button!, Located next to the ATX24 connector, and the TPU microswitch, which plotted at the bottom of the board, near the third PCI port. The first is intended for a safe start of the system in the event of an installation of the inoperative parameters of RAM, and the second activates the automatic acceleration function.

In our opinion, the design of the ASUS P8Z68-V LX motherboard is very successful, and the use of a high-quality element base has long been standard and does not need separate comments. The location of the slots and connectors provides convenience of assembly, and a fairly powerful power supply subsystem promises some overclocking potential. The only thing, we would like to see the radiators on the power elements of the VRM of the central processor, the presence of which most positively affect the stability of work in high speed mode.