Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard Review

Kitguru has reviewed a huge array of Z68 motherboards this year and today we will focus on the ‘budget' oriented audience. Those people who won't spend several thousand pounds on configuring a new system.

The only exception to this rule with our test hardware today, will be a 240GB Patriot Wildfire solid state drive – we selected this specifically to test the ultimate SATA III performance of the motherboard. You may not be able to afford this, but we want to see if the SATA performance is at the level we would expect.

Processor: Intel Core i5 2600k @ reference clocks
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
Graphics: XFX HD6870 Black Edition
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard
Chassis: Cooler Master Storm Trooper Case.
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 600W.
Memory: 8GB ADATA  gaming memory @ 1600mhz
Storage: Patriot WildFire 240GB

System validation is available here.

Monitors: Dell Ultrasharp U3011

Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit

Unigine Heaven Benchmark.
PCMark 7.
3DMark Vantage.
3DMark 11.
Fraps Professional.
Steam Client.
FurMark.
HQV 2.0 Software.

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Nikon D3X with R1C1 kit.
Olympus E-PL1.
Keithley Integra unit.
Thermal Diodes.
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp.
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter.

Games:
Alien V Predator.
Dead Island.
Just Cause 2.
F1 2011.
Lost Planet 2.
Resident Evil 5.
Total War: Shogun 2.

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

Some game descriptions and information are taken with courtesy from Wikipedia.

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