Z68 or P67? Microcenter or Newegg?

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IDigitalDeadI

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Ok guys, I made a thread previously about going AMD or Intel for my Immediate upgrade. Well I sided with Intel and I was planning on buying parts fairly soon. I just happened upon some good deals that I normally wouldn't find (since I don't look too often). I'm pretty much good to go, I just have one more issue. When I was browsing microcenter online (where these deals are coming from), I noticed that they do not sell P67 boards in my area, which is what I was going to originally get. However I found a similar Z68 board made by gigabyte as well, and its selling cheaper:
GA-Z68AP-D3 from MC
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0375352

GA-P67X-UD3-B3 from Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128488&Tpk=GA-P67X-UD3-B3

I was wondering is there any vast differences between them except for the north bridge? Would it be beneficial to grab the deal from microcenter instead of waiting and going with Newegg?

Note: I also figured in the price of an i5 2500k as well. I can possibly get one, if I go with microcenter, just need to wait on some money to clear via paypal.
 
Well, that z68 board has no onboard usb 3.0 headers, less usb ports, less sata ports, and only an x16/x4 pci-e config for dual card setups (though with mid range cards, this is probably fine still). Don't forget to figure in tax as well (not sure you have to pay tax on newegg where you are at). The only real plus I see for the z68 mobo is ssd caching, but if you are not going to take advantage of that, p67 is fine.
 
I'm your huckleberry said:
Well, that z68 board has no onboard usb 3.0 headers, less usb ports, less sata ports, and only an x16/x4 pci-e config for dual card setups (though with mid range cards, this is probably fine still). Don't forget to figure in tax as well (not sure you have to pay tax on newegg where you are at). The only real plus I see for the z68 mobo is ssd caching, but if you are not going to take advantage of that, p67 is fine.
Click to expand...

When I was looking at this this morning it seemed like a good deal, but now not so much. While I particularly don't need usb 3.0 headers, having them would help in the future. The major thing I noticed is that it does in fact have less sata ports, which is one of the main reasons I have to replace my stuff:facewall:. I think for now I'm going to look around and try to find another board, hopefully at microcenter. However if I don't find anything, i'll just go with my original choice.
 
Another difference between the P67 and Z68 is the ability to use on-board graphics from your CPU, which the i5 2500k has.

I use it at the moment to run a second screen which isn't entirely necessary but useful for my purposes.
It also means that if I upgrade and this MoBo goes to server duty (or nieces and nephew), I won't need a vid card for it.

I bought my Asus board at Microcenter after getting a bum Gigabyte board. I'm very happy with Asus. Really the only time I go with Microcenter is if they have a comparable price to Newegg in store as I have no patience for shipping.

Not all that consequential, but I prefer the Intel lan chip available with Asus boards over Realtek. If you're a numbers nut, it's better. Offloads less onto the CPU. Squeeze every last drop.
 
pillar said:
Hey digital dead, unless you plan on putting your sata drives into a raid setup, I have a possibly better mobo for u: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157230

Ive been hearing some great things bout this company as of lately. Also do you have more than 1 video card that you plan to chain together? If so, then disregard this message.
Click to expand...

It looks pretty nice, but I wouldn't mind having the option to add on another card in the future, just in case I feel the need to use more than 2 screens at once.

On another note, i've let this stress me out quite a bit more than when I first built this machine. At the time I wanted to build just to say I could actually do it, while now I'm building with a better purpose, higher performance and style. I just don't want to mess up and wait another year or two before I do it again. I think that even though I am close to making my decision, I am going to wait and look for alternatives. Maybe I can find an alternative to what I want, or I can save a bit more and be in the clear.

This situation would be as stressful if I had a job, because then it wouldn't be as big of a decision lol. I've been saving for weeks on end trying to replace my crappy motherboard.
 
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