ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Built my dream computer over Christmas holidays using this board w/i7-2600k CPU, 16 gigs Corsair Vengence memory, OCZ 120 SSD Vertex 3 boot drive. So far no problems. I plan to overclock from 3.3 mhz to 4.5 mhz in next week or so now that I know everything is stable. Installed in Antec P280 case (quiet). Using a Zalman CPU cooler and ATI HD5870 graphics card. Runs cool and quiet. Went with OCZ 850 Gold power supply - overkill, I know - but got it on sale & w/rebate. Very efficient PS. I'm a graphic designer and don't play games on computer (yet)... Running Win 7 Pro 64bit to take full advantage of memory.Didn't really need the /Gen3 model board but was only $20 more - I've found that after about 3 yrs, enough has changed that you might as well do a new build. The Gen3 makes the PCI slots upgradeable to the faster PCI 3 standard which is not available yet. I'll probably never use it prior to new build, but for $20 got the Gen3 model anyway.Also didn't really need the Z68 version. P67 would have been fine since I am using a dedicated graphics card. Z68 lets you use onboard cpu graphics & dedicated graphics card. Again, price difference wasn't that great, so decided to go with the newer board. P67 model allows for easy overclocking. H67 model allows for onboard graphics option, Z68 does both. I assume if you are buying a MB that you have a graphics card. So if you want to save money go with P67 board.Manual seems better than most... good details. I haven't read too much yet. Nice to have 4 Sata 3 (6gig) drive capability. Right now I have all drive 8 drive connectors full (only 1 Sata 6gb drive) - but plan to upgrade drives with new hybred Sata3 6gig drives when drive prices come down. Would like to have 10 drive connectors, but 8 is still good (4 Sata 2 & 4 Sata 3s). Lot of USB (2 & 3) connectors plus internal USB 3 connector is nice for case front USB 3 ports.Board is nicely laid out, memory slots far enough away from CPU that didn't have any problem with Zalman 9700 CPU cooler hitting memory. CPU avgs 25 C temp with fan running at a quiet speed of 1800 rpm. System stays at a cool avg 28c temp. GPU 51c. So board is quality made with good heat dispersement.Bottom Line: good quality board. Easy to overclock. Good documentation. Good online help. Lot of connectors (drives & USB). Probably don't need Gen3 for future proofing yet to come PCI 3 cards. Probably would have been just as happy with a P67 card for $20-$30 less. But since the board is something you don't replace often (opposed to drives), I am glad I went with this board - even though it was about $40 more than I needed to spend. If you are like me and reviewing lots and not sure what to buy... get this board, you will not be sorry.

I had high expectations for the first time building a system. When I had everything set I could not get power to stay on long enough for the computer to boot. Could not get an image on the monitor. I called ASUS tech support and got a very nice and cooperative american voice. He had me check a few connections and evertything was in it's proper place. He had me switch out memory, try one stick at a time, switch ports. At one point the fan on the CPU stayed on instead of pulsing and he declared that it was a bad ram stick. I was unsure. Called in a local computer repair guy who came to my house and checked out the build for a flat fee of $95.00. He was sure the motherboard was the problem and told me to get a new board. I wanted the computer up and running. I did not want to wait for an exchange so I went to the local MicroCenter to buy an Intel Z77 board that was advertised at the same price as the Asus Z68. When I got there, a guy was in the checkout line with what they said was the last or the Intel boards they had in stock and I would have to wait until they got more. So I asked about a recommended alternative and they steered me to a board I never of; ASRock. It was $30 less and had almost the same specs as the Intel. I bought it and replaced the Asus, got everthing hooked up, pressed the power button and it booted from the old hard drive without a hitch. It had a nice bios interface and the ram checked out. If I listened to Asus i would have had more days of frustration without a desktop. I gave it two stars only because I had an Asus board before and know that if I didn't get a lemon it would have been fine. Amazon was great. No problem getting a refund, but I did lose a net of $65 factoring the housecall and the discount.

This replaced my Asus P55 (with i5 760).The first board delivered almost immediately developed an issue graphics interfering with sound - whenever graphics changed on the screen, screechy noises emanated from my speakers - even though the speakers were disabled in windows. Amazon got me a return in two days and the replacement is working just fine sound and all. Kudos to Amazon for that. However, both were shipped with flimsy bubbles and with the replacement, the bubbles had burst,so the motherboard box slid freely around in the shipping box. Not good for a delicate piece of electronics.So I have been running this board for over a week with an i5 2500k and it works really well. KOW. Much more responsive than my P55 and my SSD is reaching its full potential on the Intel SATA3. I do use the iGPU for a second monitor and it plays videos well. The USB 3.0 works great(3.0 card reader and external disk). Has just enough SATA ports for all my peripherals (sans the Marvell ports, which I have disabled), including the eSATA which I use. I don't understand the bad review the Jmicron eSata got on this board - the eSATA runs any of my HDD at their internal speeds - I have been using Jmicron controllers for eSATA for some time with full bandwidth. I find the bluetooth and Marvell ports pretty useless though.The VRM is just terrific and provides very stable power to the processor. The UEFI BIOS is pleasant to use, though the documentation on the settings are, as usual, lacking.UPDATE: 6 months now and the board is still treating me well. I am OC to 4.5 GHz 24x7. Anything beyond that is a big jump in core voltage.