GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 ATX Intel Motherboard

Comment:
great board, looks wise and performance wise.

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This is a solid board with great features. The back panel is loaded with USB ports, both 2.0 and 3.0. It also has 2 eSATA ports that don't come on cheaper boards. The Intel Smart Response Technology feature that comes on these Z68 boards was a major reason for my upgrading at this time. Just add a cheap 60GB SSD and you've got a nice boost in performance of your larger HDD. I used a refurb Corsair SSD and a WD Black combo. The board posted first try and set up was easy with a 2500K and 8 GB of GSkill 1600 memory. Lots of overclocking features in the BIOS for those inclined. The black board would look nice behind a case window.

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I got the price on this brought down from $219 to $115 before taxes; an absolute steal at that rate! There are probably better ones out there if you're paying closer to the $200 mark, though.

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sexy black lookgood feature set/price gigabyte is at the top of their game right now

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The Z68X-UD4-B3 is a good motherboard although I don't think it is one of the best in class. Compared to competitors I think it lacks features. I bought because it came in a bundle, and Gigabytes good name.First off despite being Z68 motherboard it does not allow access to the Intel IGP. Gigabytes softwares works but is not great, especially the auto updates(doesn't work for me at all). The BIOS is still text based, though you can change many things from an App inside windows. Overall this is a good basic motherboard, not alot of extra features. It has be reliable so far. The SSD Caching features works, though I'm not sure how much of a performance improvement I am really getting.

Comment:
It has been a good board so far. My only gripe with it is the lack of the lucid virtu chip. I did not know this board does not have this until I tried to transcode a file.