Stephen MSI Z68A-GD80 @ TweakTown
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a look at a board from MSI, but the release of a new chipset from Intel seems like the perfect time to look at one. Today we’ll be looking at the MSI Z68A-GD80 which is one of the two Z68 boards MSI are currently listing on their website.”
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 @ TweakTown
“Also, because we went into so much detail on the motherboards in those previews, we won’t be looking at the board or package here today, as everything is covered in extensive detail already. So because we’ve been able to have a look at this board and others in great detail already, we’ll be able to instead get stuck straight into the fun stuff like the BIOS, Overclocking and of course, performance.”
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO & Z68 @ Hexus
“But Z68’s hybrid nature is exemplified by the ‘southbridge’, which really is an amalgamation of H67 and P67, plus some other goodies on top. The entire left-hand side is a replica of an H67, which means it has support for outputting Sandy Bridge CPUs’ video via three digital connections (only two concurrently), made possible by the Flexible Display Interface hook-up to the chip.”
ASUS P8Z68 V PRO @ Guru3D
“Next to that most Z68 motherboards will get the ability to switch in-between the processor IGP and a dedicated graphics card. That means you could use the Sandy Bridge IGP for seriously fast transcoding, yet once you want to play a game your dedicated graphics card, that 3D accelerated solution will kick in. Pretty cool stuff, in theory.”
ASUS M5A97 EVO & M5A99X EVO @ PureOC
“We’re looking at two mainstream AMD motherboards from ASUS: the M5A97 EVO and the M5A99X EVO. They’re very similar in their features and capabilities, but do have some distinct differences that can appeal to a good range of needs. Both come with fantastic prices and both come with deceptively strong overclocking abilities. How about 4.7GHz on a $120 board?”
MSI Z68A-GD80 @ TBreak
“Overclocking the MSI Z68A-GD80 can be done in 2 ways: through the traditional BIOS method or through the OC Genie II button on board. When using the OC Genie II button near the bottom of the board, you don’t need to touch anything else in the BIOS, MSI’s automated overclocking procedure will take care of all clock speeds and required voltage changes.”
Zotac Z68-ITX WiFi @ Hardware Secrets
“Zotac is establishing itself as one of the major Mini-ITX motherboard manufacturers. For the new Intel Z68 chipset, this manufacturer released two models, the Z68-ITX WiFi (a.k.a. Z68ITX-A-E, USD 170) and the Z68-ITX WiFi Supreme (a.k.a. Z68ITX-B-E, USD 210). Both come with integrated WiFi, but the latter also has an integrated GeForce GT 430 graphics chip. Let’s take a look at the Z68-ITX WiFi model.”
ASRock X58 Extreme 3 @ Motherboards.org
“Another feature of this chipset is native SATA 2 capability. This means that this chipset has up to 6 native SATA 2 ports for 3/Gbps bandwidth on compatible SATA 2 hard drives. This gives this board really good RAID functionality and storage options. With this type of support this chipset sets itself up for the future of mass storage.”
MSI Z68A-GD80 @ OC Club
“Overclocking the MSI Z68A GD80 is in reality the same as overclocking the MSI P67A GD65. The same tools are used and in the end I came up with a slightly better overclock than I did on the P67A GD65 (by about 80MHz). To get to this level I worked exclusively in the Click BIOS and made adjustments to the CPU core voltage, memory voltage and for the most part, left the balance of the voltages on auto.”
MSI P67A-GD80 @ Neoseeker
“The MSI P67A-GD80 makes a comeback with a new revision now that Intel was able to cure the SATA woes plaguing its P67 and H67 motherboards with an updated B3 chipset stepping. Even without the updated chipset, the GD80 looked like a strong contender for enthusiasts wanting to make the leap to new Intel CPU architecture thanks to its features.”