Are you looking for a top performer motherboard that supports the Sandy Bridge IGP QuickSync as well as capable for more overclocking possibilities? You're search is over because the ASUS P8Z68-V PRO is one of the best Z68 motherboard that is perfect for these applications.

Finally, intel releases the Z68 chipset that supports the Sandy Bridge 2nd generation processor. This board is built with the Z68 chipset that has the combined features of both the P67 and H67.

The Looks

The board has a traditional ASUS looks with the combinations of black, blue and white colors with almost identical with the P8P67 Pro motherboard. The 3 PCI-E slots are well spaced for proper air breathing.

The 4 DIMM slots are well position to prevent it from touching in case a big long GPU was installed. The 24/8 pin ATX power connectors and the 8 SATA ports are installed in right angle are all well placed for easy access and neat wirings.

Heatsinks are all having enough size with a very stylish looks that can withstand heat even at overclocked speed and also this is the ASUS Fanless features that reduces the noise.

Specs

It supports the latest Sandy Bridge processor in socket LGA1155 for Core i7/Core i5/Core i3. It has 4 DIMM's slot that supports dual channel DDR3 up to 32GB at 2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066MHz memory module.

It has three PCI-E slot that runs at single 16X configuration or dual at 8X/8X, the third (black) is at 4X and 1x PCI-E 1X slot. It also provides 2x PCI and 2x PCI-E 1X slots. It has 2x SATA 6GB/s and 4x SATA 3GB/s connectors that supports SATA RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and 1 eSATA 3GB/s. It can accommodate up to 12x USB 2.0 and 4x USB 3.0 ports to make sure you never runs out of USB ports.

It also has 2x Realtek LAN port and 8-chanel High Definition audio port DTS surround sensation with S/PDIF out support. A Bluetooth and 2x 1934a firewire support is a big factor for this motherboard. For integrated Graphics Processor an HDMI output with max resolution of 1920x1200, DVI output with max resolution of 1920x1200 and RGB output with max resolution of 2048x1536@75Hz a max shared memory of 1748 MB.

Features

This board is packed with the best features with state of the art technology that ASUS can offer. This board is built with the Z68 chipset so that you can take the advantage of its overclocking capabilities using the unlock version as well as the QuickSync features of the IGP in Sandy Bridge processor.

Some of the best features of this motherboard can offer are the EFI BIOS that replaces the traditional keyboard controlled to make it easier to navigate using a graphical user interface. It provides a 14+2 DIGI + VRM which is a precision digital voltage regulator that replaces the old analog version. This feature provides power efficiency to the CPU that maximized its usage with minimal power loss.

The hyper Duo feature creates a hybrid storage drive by combining the HDD and SSD. The Al Suite II is user friendly software for easy overclocking for DIGI+VRM, EPU, TurboV, BT Go, and fan speed. The ASUS DP2 is a dual intelligent processor which integrated on the motherboard that provides the EPU and TPU including the DIGI+VRM.

The TPU (Turbo Processing Unit) is a precise voltage control and advanced monitoring through Auto Tuning and TurboV. The EPU (Energy Processing Unit) reduces the power drain to provide more efficiency. The MemOK function is to enable to boot the motherboard even if there is a memory compatibility issues.

The BT Go is an onboard Bluetooth receiver for faster interface. The best thing about this board is the support for both SLI and CrossfireX that allow us to have freedom to choose our own multi GPU. This board is also equipped with GPU Boost that accelerates the integrated GPU for excellent graphics performance.

Overclocking


The board was tested using the Core i7 2600K processor. The 2600K has a stock frequency of 3.4GHz with 100MHz BCLK and a multiplier of 34. The good thing about the unlock version of Sandy Bridge processor is that you can easily do your overclocking by simply increasing its multiplier. But the bad thing is, not much in its Base CLK you'll be lucky if you go further than 105MHz.

Setting the multiplier at 47 and a BaseCLK at 100MHz we get a stable 4.7GHz and crashed at x48 therefore not possible at 4.8GHz. We want to push it further by increasing the BCLK with the best possible at 103.5 and lowering the multiplier at 46 we get a stable 4.761GHz. An increased of 1.31GHz or 40% on top of 3.4GHz stock speed. These increased can relatively observe on its overall benchmark performance especially in any 3D games.

Overclocking the IGP at 1800MHz which surpasses the 1350MHz, an increase can be made at 50MHz per steps. After doing some overclocking at the IGP the results were not so amazing because it doesn't show much improvement in its performance. Even it doesn't show much improvement at overclocked speed its Quick Sync features on the Sandy Bridge processor is still unbeatable when it comes to transcoding applications.

Conclusion

The ASUS P8Z68-V PRO is undoubtedly a great performing motherboard with the Z68 chipset. It does not only combine the features of the P67 and H67 chipset but having more advance technology to offer.  The Z68 chipset has finally released that many people are long awaited due to the limitations of the P67 and H67. And now it's here we clearly seen the big advantage of this chip has.

Just like the P8P67 Pro you can do the same overclocking with this board to push it more to the limit using the Unlock version processor. This is something that most gamers and enthusiast are very happy for it. In the case of the IGP, it doesn't show much any improvement at overclocked speed but still you can enjoy its unparallel performance that no other GPU can match in its trancoding performance. Using the LucidLogix Virtu is amazing with combining the IGP and the discrete GPU especially the intelligent switching between these two from low power applications to highly graphics situations using 3D games.

The price as of now is over $200 compare with P8P67 PRO motherboards this one is more expensive. In my own point of view, if you really want to enjoy both worlds of Quick Sync and Overclocking in which the Sandy Bridge processor can offer and an extra bucks is worthy for this one.

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