Maximum PC

I'm building a PC for the first time in ~7 years, so of course there's once again a great deal to learn. I see from various reviews that the Z68 chipset offers two innovations: SSD caching, and the Virtu graphics switching software.

Since I was already planning on hosting the operating system and most apps on an SSD (OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk), I don't see SSD caching as being particularly useful to me. A few comments on this site seem to support this view.

Opinions on the net seem to vary widely over whether the Virtu software does a good job or not. In addition, one source says you need two video cables connected to your monitor to benefit from this feature - one connected to the motherboard's video outputs and the other to a video card. Is this true?

Applications: I do play some games, including a few relatively modern ones like Batman: Arkham Asylum, so I was considering a video card with some horsepower. I also rip and encode videos (so far, only DVD) for watching on my PC, and on a standalone player that is networked. I rip audio, do some basic image editing (using GIMP), some software development (I am semi-retired). The two big reasons for building now are the age of my current system and the fact that increasingly, it cannot handle games I might want to try. I'm not looking for the kind of bleeding edge system that costs huge dollars, but I'd like something

I've noticed people here seem to like ASRock motherboards. My current build has an ASUS board and that has been satisfactory, so I was considering them. Is ASRock better? Worse? I don't know too much about other makers, but I am told Gigabyte makes generally good products.

Thanks in advance.

FYI, ASrock is Asus, its just their "value oriented" brand. They are designed and built by the same engineers, just that they lack some higher end features that some people would never use or need. They also have a limited warranty at 2 years instead of 3 on most of their products compared to Asus. It just depends on what requirements you need from a motherboard that fits your budget.

The P67 and Z68 chips is basically the same; performs the same and has most of the same features. Like you said, it has two differences: Intel's SRT SSD cache feature (which is moot if you plan on running a 120GB or larger SSD as your MBR drive) and the use of Intel's HD3000 gpu core in sandy bridge (which is completely rendered moot if you add in a discrete video card).


Why most people suggest getting the z68 over the p67 even if those features are rendered moot is because most of the time, those two chipsets are basically the exact same cost and with the z68 being newer, its just more logical with getting something newer. There are cheaper p67 boards out right now, but even then, you are still hitting the $100 mark and they don't have the same features of the cheapest z68 boards for a few bucks more. Also I'm not entirely sure if the p67 chipset will support Ivy Bridge, but the z68 does. I'm sure the p67 would with a simple bios update.

The best value board for a budget build is the Asrock z68 ext3 gen3 board and its about $130ish. Unless you plan on spending some money on a triple or quad SLI system, it's more than enough for most people. Asus, Gigabyte and MSi do make other comparable boards and with the z77's right around the corner, it will most likely change once ivy bridge hits the market. But again, it depends if you plan on building a system now, in the near future or just completely wait for win8; as well as your budget and application requirements.

I would recommend against getting the agility series SSD they use the slower Asynchronous NAND chips which inhibit performance on some tasks, and is in general considered a lower end drive which is only slightly less than better drives that do not use Synchronous NAND.

Agility 3 hits a different price point than similar sized SSD's that use sync NAND and honestly, the performance hit really isn't a deal breaker since its still going to be way faster than any mechanical hard drive. If the OP just wants to get a cheap SSD close or below the $1/GB mark and the only thing he has to compare performance is from older mechanical hard drives, he will love anything SSD's really.

Now, it is a good idea to shop around specially considering some sync NAND SSD's aren't that terribly expensive as they use to be, like the Vertex 3 and Force GT; even the Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe hits fairly close to the cheaper SSD's. But then again, you are talking about a $30-50+ price difference from async to sync drives.

http://www.adorama.com/CT128M4SSD2.html ... cj_3938566 Cheaper than the agility before rebate.

What? are you mad? Agility 3 is $159 before the $30 rebate on newegg right now for the 120gb version. The crucial m4 is listed as $179.99 at Adorama right now...

It was $153 when I posted it...

fast sale? would have made sense; that would have been the cheapest m4 in a long while.

They went for 150 on amazon a week or so ago. But same ballpark. I don't normally check Adorama so it might not have been a quick sale but just an oversite.

Still not to shabby, I don't really check the prices on the m4 that often, but the lowest I've seen was 160 and the normal price of 180ish.