Anyone have any experience with the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 1155?

[wombinator04]

I'm thinking about buying the board. It looks sweet, lots of features at a low price. The reviews are good, but I want to know If anyone here that has the board or knows someone that does has had any Issues or w/e.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157271

[Barana]

I don't have that board exactly, I went with an Extreme4 P67, same socket. It's worked fine right out of the box, simple bios interface, easy overclocking, not too cramped.

Only problems I've had are the USB 3.0 ports don't work, probably missing a driver, and two of the 4 USB 2.0 ports in the back have loose springs. Not really enough of a reason for me to yank all the hardware out and RMA it.

All in all, ASRock makes good boards for a good price, and from what I've heard there aren't that many DoA boards from them. You're pretty safe buying from them, imo.

[wombinator04]

I don't have that board exactly, I went with an Extreme4 P67, same socket. It's worked fine right out of the box, simple bios interface, easy overclocking, not too cramped.

Only problems I've had are the USB 3.0 ports don't work, probably missing a driver, and two of the 4 USB 2.0 ports in the back have loose springs. Not really enough of a reason for me to yank all the hardware out and RMA it.

All in all, ASRock makes good boards for a good price, and from what I've heard there aren't that many DoA boards from them. You're pretty safe buying from them, imo.

Thanks. I have a ASRock 1556 right now and have had no Issues besides the audio screwing up so I'm having to use a Corsair HS1 USB.

[hurley84]

I don't know if you bought it already.. but couple of things about this board. No USB 3.0 headers, so if your case has front panel usb 3.0 you cant make use of those. Even though the board specs say its ATX, its actually one inch less wide (8.6 inches instead of 9.6) than standard atx boards. Main issue this causes is the ram slots are so close to the cpu socket, if you have an aftermarket air cooler you can only use two of the 4 slots for dual channel. Atleast thats the case with my hyper 212+ and g.skill ripjaws x.

Also if you plan on sli/xfiring the bottom pci-e card is going to be hanging off the board since the slot is so low and its going to cover all the front panel headers. Also I am having this very common issue with bios where the y axis is inverted for mouse which makes using mouse impossible but you can control/change everything with a keyboard, and once you are in windows mouse works just fine.

I do like the power buttons on the motherboard and the led debug. Makes sorting out everything on a testbed before putting the mobo inside your case very easy.

I somewhat wish I bought a mobo as part of the microcenter combo deals with the i5 2500k instead of this board. However if I didn't have that option I would definitely get this as the minor annoyances outweigh the features available if you consider the price.

Hope this helps.

[wombinator04]

I don't know if you bought it already.. but couple of things about this board. No USB 3.0 headers, so if your case has front panel usb 3.0 you cant make use of those. Even though the board specs say its ATX, its actually one inch less wide (8.6 inches instead of 9.6) than standard atx boards. Main issue this causes is the ram slots are so close to the cpu socket, if you have an aftermarket air cooler you can only use two of the 4 slots for dual channel. Atleast thats the case with my hyper 212+ and g.skill ripjaws x.

Also if you plan on sli/xfiring the bottom pci-e card is going to be hanging off the board since the slot is so low and its going to cover all the front panel headers. Also I am having this very common issue with bios where the y axis is inverted for mouse which makes using mouse impossible but you can control/change everything with a keyboard, and once you are in windows mouse works just fine.

I do like the power buttons on the motherboard and the led debug. Makes sorting out everything on a testbed before putting the mobo inside your case very easy.

I somewhat wish I bought a mobo as part of the microcenter combo deals with the i5 2500k instead of this board. However if I didn't have that option I would definitely get this as the minor annoyances outweigh the features available if you consider the price.

Hope this helps.

Hey, thanks for the Info. I'm also looking at the ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131773
But quite a few people have had a bad NIC. Anyone have any experience with this one? Also, there's another model of this board(ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155) that has the same exact price. The LE version said It was $10 more than It Is now. Is there anything different between the LE version and the LX version? I can't seem to find any off the specs.

---------- Post added 2011-12-13 at 01:27 PM ----------

Ok, I found one difference between the LE and LX version. The LE version has "Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection" and the LX version doesn't. Is this feature any useful? I won't be using a Blu-ray player In my rig.

[Xuvial]

Don't go on feedback about random bad eggs with motherboards (unless it is happening exceptionally frequently), that's just the nature of motherboards. Chances are good that you will end up with a perfectly fine mobo.

[Dizey]

I've used it a number of times now. It's a good board. It does lack the USB3.0 header as mentioned, but TBH, that's its only major downfall IMO. For a really basic Z68 board, the price is great, and the component quality is second to none versus comparably priced boards. The UEFI is probably my second favorite between MB manufacturers right now, and OC utility is the best, if you want overclocking to be even more simple than it already is with Sandybridge. If you don't have the front panel USB3.0 connections on your case, I would definitely recommend it.

[wombinator04]

Thanks for the Info guys. I'm going to go with the ASRock.