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PAGE 1: Introduction
PAGE 2: Features
PAGE 3: Specifications
PAGE 4: Packaging and Accessories
PAGE 5: Board Layout
PAGE 6: Hardware Install
PAGE 7: BIOS
PAGE 8: Software and Utilities
PAGE 9: Test Setup and Methodology
PAGE 10: Benchmarks
PAGE 11: Overclocking
PAGE 12: Summary
Review: P8Z68 Deluxe Motherboard Review
Reviewed by: Kip Rouse
Provided by: ASUS USA
Today I have one of the first high end Z68 based boards on my test bench. ASUS has an Industry leading Research and Development Team and the fruits of their labor has gone into the development of ASUS’s newest offering in their Z68 chipset motherboards; the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe.
With their P8Z68 Deluxe ASUS hopes to deliver a board which exceeds anything else on the market and I will be testing it in several synthetic and real world tests to see if this board lives up to the lofty goals that ASUS always sets for themselves.
“The next “Revolution in Performance” featuring new Intel Z68 chipset, the P8Z68 Deluxe is equipped with the latest transfer technologies. Four USB 3.0 and four SATA6Gb/s ports and support for Quad NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX graphics cards ensure that there are plenty of spots for future upgrades. Also on board are dual Gigabit Intel Ethernet ports and dual-channel DDR3 2200(O.C.) RAM. All this makes the P8Z68 Deluxe the world’s most refined motherboard for overclocking, ready to tackle anything power users throw at it!”
Let's take a closer look at the P8Z68 Deluxe and see what a premium Z68 motherboard can do.
PAGE 2: Features
PAGE 3: Specifications
PAGE 4: Packaging and Accessories
PAGE 5: Board Layout
PAGE 6: Hardware Install
PAGE 7: BIOS
PAGE 8: Software and Utilities
PAGE 9: Test Setup and Methodology
PAGE 10: Benchmarks
PAGE 11: Overclocking
PAGE 12: Summary
Reviewed by: Kip Rouse
Provided by: ASUS USA
Today I have one of the first high end Z68 based boards on my test bench. ASUS has an Industry leading Research and Development Team and the fruits of their labor has gone into the development of ASUS’s newest offering in their Z68 chipset motherboards; the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe.
With their P8Z68 Deluxe ASUS hopes to deliver a board which exceeds anything else on the market and I will be testing it in several synthetic and real world tests to see if this board lives up to the lofty goals that ASUS always sets for themselves.
“The next “Revolution in Performance” featuring new Intel Z68 chipset, the P8Z68 Deluxe is equipped with the latest transfer technologies. Four USB 3.0 and four SATA6Gb/s ports and support for Quad NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX graphics cards ensure that there are plenty of spots for future upgrades. Also on board are dual Gigabit Intel Ethernet ports and dual-channel DDR3 2200(O.C.) RAM. All this makes the P8Z68 Deluxe the world’s most refined motherboard for overclocking, ready to tackle anything power users throw at it!”
Let's take a closer look at the P8Z68 Deluxe and see what a premium Z68 motherboard can do.
I really like AIDA64 Extreme Edition which is streamlined for Windows diagnostic and benchmarking for home users. AIDA64 Extreme Edition provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives. AIDA64 is compatible with all current 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems, including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
AIDA64 Extreme Edition 1.85 - CPU & FPU Benchmarks
AIDA64 Extreme Edition 1.85 - Memory Benchmarks
Next up we will do some System Benchmarks………..
WPrime 2.04
wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sorting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n (k) 2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum. This is a highly multi-threaded workload.
Cinebench R10
Cinebench R10 64-bit
Test1: Single CPU Image Render
Test2: Multi CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
Developed by MAXON, creators of Cinema 4D, Cinebench 10 is designed using the popular Cinema software and created to compare system performance in 3D Animation and Photo applications. There are two parts to the test; the first stresses only the primary CPU or Core, the second, makes use of up to 16 CPUs/Cores. Both are done rendering a realistic photo while utilizing various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders.
Cinebench R11.5
Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
Test1: CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
MAXON’s latest benchmark, Cinebench R11.5 makes use of all your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene using various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects containing more than 300,000 total polygons and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights and shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. This particular benchmarking can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. The result is given in points (pts.). The higher the number, the faster your processor.
PCMark 7
PCMark 7 v1.0.4
PCMark Suite / Default Settings
Comparison: Generated Score
The main focus of our General Tasks category lies with the most recent installment of the PCMark series, Vantage. While still classified under the description of a Synthetic benchmark, PCMark Vantage uses many of Vista's (Note - Vantage is Vista-only) built-in programs and features along with its own tests, so it is "real-world" applicable in regards to CPU performance. The following is a general list of the tests in the PCMark suite, very much in line with tasks of an average user: Data encryption, Data compression, CPU image manipulation (compression/decompression/resize), Audio transcoding, Video transcoding, Text editing, Web page rendering, Windows Mail, Windows Contacts, and CPU game test.
X264 HD Benchmark 4.0
This benchmark will measure how your machine can encode a short HD-quality video clip into a high quality x264 video file. It's nice because everyone running it will use the same video clip and software. The video encoder (x264.exe) reports a fairly accurate internal benchmark (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encode and it also uses multi-core processors very efficiently.
Intel Smart Response Technology:
Another nice feature on the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe is its ability to improve hard disk performance by using an SSD as a cache for a spinning hard drive. This is controlled via Intel’s RAID driver which controls the caching; the caching is available in two modes; enhanced and maximum.
Intel allows for a maximum of 64GB SSD space to be used for the cache so there is no need for anything exceeding 64GB. I just happened to have an OCZ Onyx 32GB for testing along with a WD 320 GB Blue spinner.
I used PCMark Vantage HDD benchmark and have included a Bar Graph below to show the gains while using my Onyx SSD in Enhanced and Maximum Modes.
In my normal daily using I really believe the system is considerably snappier using Intel’s SRT.
Next up let’s take a look at Overclocking with the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe……….
AIDA64 Extreme Edition 1.85 - CPU & FPU Benchmarks
AIDA64 Extreme Edition 1.85 - Memory Benchmarks
Next up we will do some System Benchmarks………..
WPrime 2.04
wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sorting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n (k) 2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum. This is a highly multi-threaded workload.
Cinebench R10
Cinebench R10 64-bit
Test1: Single CPU Image Render
Test2: Multi CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
Developed by MAXON, creators of Cinema 4D, Cinebench 10 is designed using the popular Cinema software and created to compare system performance in 3D Animation and Photo applications. There are two parts to the test; the first stresses only the primary CPU or Core, the second, makes use of up to 16 CPUs/Cores. Both are done rendering a realistic photo while utilizing various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders.
Cinebench R11.5
Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
Test1: CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
MAXON’s latest benchmark, Cinebench R11.5 makes use of all your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene using various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects containing more than 300,000 total polygons and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights and shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. This particular benchmarking can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. The result is given in points (pts.). The higher the number, the faster your processor.
PCMark 7
PCMark 7 v1.0.4
PCMark Suite / Default Settings
Comparison: Generated Score
The main focus of our General Tasks category lies with the most recent installment of the PCMark series, Vantage. While still classified under the description of a Synthetic benchmark, PCMark Vantage uses many of Vista's (Note - Vantage is Vista-only) built-in programs and features along with its own tests, so it is "real-world" applicable in regards to CPU performance. The following is a general list of the tests in the PCMark suite, very much in line with tasks of an average user: Data encryption, Data compression, CPU image manipulation (compression/decompression/resize), Audio transcoding, Video transcoding, Text editing, Web page rendering, Windows Mail, Windows Contacts, and CPU game test.
X264 HD Benchmark 4.0
This benchmark will measure how your machine can encode a short HD-quality video clip into a high quality x264 video file. It's nice because everyone running it will use the same video clip and software. The video encoder (x264.exe) reports a fairly accurate internal benchmark (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encode and it also uses multi-core processors very efficiently.
Intel Smart Response Technology:
Another nice feature on the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe is its ability to improve hard disk performance by using an SSD as a cache for a spinning hard drive. This is controlled via Intel’s RAID driver which controls the caching; the caching is available in two modes; enhanced and maximum.
Intel allows for a maximum of 64GB SSD space to be used for the cache so there is no need for anything exceeding 64GB. I just happened to have an OCZ Onyx 32GB for testing along with a WD 320 GB Blue spinner.
I used PCMark Vantage HDD benchmark and have included a Bar Graph below to show the gains while using my Onyx SSD in Enhanced and Maximum Modes.
In my normal daily using I really believe the system is considerably snappier using Intel’s SRT.
Next up let’s take a look at Overclocking with the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe……….
Overclocking – overview
First off, we need to discuss overclocking the Sandy Bridge chips before we move onto the actual results because things are very different now from previous generation processor.
As far as overclocking goes now, Intel has changed the rules, plain and simple. There are some significant differences, and we'll try to break these down succinctly in order to best understand the methods and implications of what can be done (or not) in terms of overclocking.
The first thing to understand is that the locked CPU models have limited overclocking: 2400, 2500, and 2600. The K-models such as 2500K, 2600K and the new 2700K can be overclocked significantly, and for a modest price increase, we recommend the K models over the regular chips.
The second thing to understand here is that the BCLK of 100 can be increased only slightly. Unlike the old days where a 450 FSB was possible, and a 220 BCLK was achievable on a Core i7 900, Sandy Bridge boards will only hit about 109 BLCK at most. The bus cannot be changed much at all, which is why the locked chips cannot be overclocked much due to their limited multiplier and minimal BCLK movement.
Essentially, non-K CPUs will therefore have very limited overclocking, end of story. Since overclocking Sandy Bridge is more reliant on the multiplier, the unlocked K-series chips can be pushed much farther even though the BCLK has little wiggle room.
The next major difference is that Turbo now comes into play very heavily. Even the base 2400 has a Turbo Mode that will inherently act like an overclocked situation. The Turbo will boost the multi on the chip when under load, like an "insta-OC". Linked to all this is that C1E, EIST, and Speedstep must be left ON. Unlike all previous generation processors that overclocked better with these turned off, that has now changed and these "speed adjusting" settings must be enabled.
Another critical point in overclocking Sandy Bridge is that all K-series chips have a multiplier wall. Previous generation Intel CPUs responded to increased voltage and lower temperatures to achieve higher clock speeds. That is no longer the case. A chip has a maximum multiplier it will achieve; additional voltage or lower temperatures will not improve the results. As mentioned, there is currently D1 and D2 stepping, and the D1 is preferred. Each chip will have an inherently different multiplier wall. Essentially this means that voltage, temperatures, and motherboard model will not make a difference in the maximum overclock of a particular chip; it all depends on the chip now.
Therefore, this also means that sub-zero cooling with dry ice or liquid nitrogen will no longer help improve overclocking results. In fact, Sandy Bridge chips will down clock and will lose performance scaling when very low temperatures are applied. As a result, air cooling is all that's really necessary to hit the maximum overclock on a particular chip. Water cooling will help keep load temperatures lower, but will not produce a higher multiplier.
So, despite having an unlocked K-series CPU, you may reach the maximum multiplier regardless of the cooling used or voltage applied. There is a bit of wiggle room to tweak the BLCK to squeeze a bit more out of a chip to hit the magical 5GHz if you have a cherry chip to begin with, but the days of juicing up a cheap chip to insane speeds are pretty much over.
Let's take a look at our overclocking results now.
My Test System:
Opening up the AI Suite II software I selected TurboV EVO and you will find two choices, “Fast” or “Extreme”. Throwing caution to the wind I hit “Extreme” and then start.
As the process continues with a few reboots and the P8Z68 Deluxe runs its own stability testing you will see these screens and you have the option to stop the process and accept the current level of OC or just sit back and watch as the process continues until the system finds a “Happy Place”. So I let the system continue hoping for a 4.7 or maybe a 4.8GHz.
My 2600K is just one of the “run of the mill chips”; I wish I had one of the few that are proving to be the “cream of the crop” capable of hitting 5GHz or more.
TurboV EVO auto tuning finally settled in at 4532MHz which is nothing to be ashamed of. The entire process took less than 10 minutes of well spent time.
Manual Overclocking
As you know, you might have a little headroom in your BCLK to play with but you won’t get much more than the 100 MHz and then playing with voltages and your multipliers you might break that 5.0GHz ceiling.
I decided to leave the BCLK at 100MHz and bump the multiplier up to 50 and then finding the Core Voltage where the system would run stable which in my case is 1.480. I managed to hit 5000.5MHz which I stressed with AIDA64 for 1 hour.
With my adventures at overclocking the P8Z68 Deluxe with my average performing 2600K I am satisfied that the Auto OC abilities are great at finding a decent OC without any user intervention other than selecting your option and clicking start.
I used an OC of 4800MHz while running the benchmarking tests for this review.
Well, that wraps up my review for the P8Z68 Deluxe board so let’s move on to the summary…
First off, we need to discuss overclocking the Sandy Bridge chips before we move onto the actual results because things are very different now from previous generation processor.
As far as overclocking goes now, Intel has changed the rules, plain and simple. There are some significant differences, and we'll try to break these down succinctly in order to best understand the methods and implications of what can be done (or not) in terms of overclocking.
The first thing to understand is that the locked CPU models have limited overclocking: 2400, 2500, and 2600. The K-models such as 2500K, 2600K and the new 2700K can be overclocked significantly, and for a modest price increase, we recommend the K models over the regular chips.
The second thing to understand here is that the BCLK of 100 can be increased only slightly. Unlike the old days where a 450 FSB was possible, and a 220 BCLK was achievable on a Core i7 900, Sandy Bridge boards will only hit about 109 BLCK at most. The bus cannot be changed much at all, which is why the locked chips cannot be overclocked much due to their limited multiplier and minimal BCLK movement.
Essentially, non-K CPUs will therefore have very limited overclocking, end of story. Since overclocking Sandy Bridge is more reliant on the multiplier, the unlocked K-series chips can be pushed much farther even though the BCLK has little wiggle room.
The next major difference is that Turbo now comes into play very heavily. Even the base 2400 has a Turbo Mode that will inherently act like an overclocked situation. The Turbo will boost the multi on the chip when under load, like an "insta-OC". Linked to all this is that C1E, EIST, and Speedstep must be left ON. Unlike all previous generation processors that overclocked better with these turned off, that has now changed and these "speed adjusting" settings must be enabled.
Another critical point in overclocking Sandy Bridge is that all K-series chips have a multiplier wall. Previous generation Intel CPUs responded to increased voltage and lower temperatures to achieve higher clock speeds. That is no longer the case. A chip has a maximum multiplier it will achieve; additional voltage or lower temperatures will not improve the results. As mentioned, there is currently D1 and D2 stepping, and the D1 is preferred. Each chip will have an inherently different multiplier wall. Essentially this means that voltage, temperatures, and motherboard model will not make a difference in the maximum overclock of a particular chip; it all depends on the chip now.
Therefore, this also means that sub-zero cooling with dry ice or liquid nitrogen will no longer help improve overclocking results. In fact, Sandy Bridge chips will down clock and will lose performance scaling when very low temperatures are applied. As a result, air cooling is all that's really necessary to hit the maximum overclock on a particular chip. Water cooling will help keep load temperatures lower, but will not produce a higher multiplier.
So, despite having an unlocked K-series CPU, you may reach the maximum multiplier regardless of the cooling used or voltage applied. There is a bit of wiggle room to tweak the BLCK to squeeze a bit more out of a chip to hit the magical 5GHz if you have a cherry chip to begin with, but the days of juicing up a cheap chip to insane speeds are pretty much over.
Let's take a look at our overclocking results now.
My Test System:
· Processor: Intel i7 2600K
· Cooler: XSPC 750 kit
· Motherboard: ASSUS P8Z68 Deluxe
· RAM: G-Skill 8GB DDR3 1600
· Hard Drive: OCZ Onyx 32GB and WD 320GB
· Optical Drive: ASUS DVD±R
· Operating System: Windows 7 Home Pre x64
Auto Tuning· Cooler: XSPC 750 kit
· Motherboard: ASSUS P8Z68 Deluxe
· RAM: G-Skill 8GB DDR3 1600
· Hard Drive: OCZ Onyx 32GB and WD 320GB
· Optical Drive: ASUS DVD±R
· Operating System: Windows 7 Home Pre x64
Opening up the AI Suite II software I selected TurboV EVO and you will find two choices, “Fast” or “Extreme”. Throwing caution to the wind I hit “Extreme” and then start.
As the process continues with a few reboots and the P8Z68 Deluxe runs its own stability testing you will see these screens and you have the option to stop the process and accept the current level of OC or just sit back and watch as the process continues until the system finds a “Happy Place”. So I let the system continue hoping for a 4.7 or maybe a 4.8GHz.
My 2600K is just one of the “run of the mill chips”; I wish I had one of the few that are proving to be the “cream of the crop” capable of hitting 5GHz or more.
TurboV EVO auto tuning finally settled in at 4532MHz which is nothing to be ashamed of. The entire process took less than 10 minutes of well spent time.
Manual Overclocking
As you know, you might have a little headroom in your BCLK to play with but you won’t get much more than the 100 MHz and then playing with voltages and your multipliers you might break that 5.0GHz ceiling.
I decided to leave the BCLK at 100MHz and bump the multiplier up to 50 and then finding the Core Voltage where the system would run stable which in my case is 1.480. I managed to hit 5000.5MHz which I stressed with AIDA64 for 1 hour.
With my adventures at overclocking the P8Z68 Deluxe with my average performing 2600K I am satisfied that the Auto OC abilities are great at finding a decent OC without any user intervention other than selecting your option and clicking start.
I used an OC of 4800MHz while running the benchmarking tests for this review.
Well, that wraps up my review for the P8Z68 Deluxe board so let’s move on to the summary…
