The P8Z68-VPro will be ASUS' flagship model regarding Intels upcoming Z68 chipset. Therefore it's able to score with a long featurelist. But first of all we will check out if it is able to convince from a layout and design perspective. 
The P8Z68-VPro will be ASUS' high end motherboard regarding Intels upcoming Z68 chipset. Therefore we're really curious what they've done from the layout and design perspective.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang
| CPU | Intel Socket 1155 Core i7, Core i5, Core i3 |
| Chipset | Intel Z68 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 2200 OC / 2133 OC / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered |
| Multi-GPU | ATI CrossFireX NVIDIA SLI |
| Slots | 2 x PCI-Express x16 (single at x16, dual at x8/x8
mode) 1 x PCI-Express x16 (at x4 mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices) 2 x PCI-Express 2.0 x1 2 x PCI |
| Sound | Realtek ALC892 8-Channel HD Audio Codec |
| Storage | 4 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1) 4 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD) 1 x eSATA 3.0 Gb/s |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth v 2.1 + EDR, ASUS BT GO! Utility |
| LAN | 1 x Gigabit LAN |
| Firewire | 2 x 1394a ports (2 via motherboard header) |
| USB | 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 (2 via back panel, 2
via front panel) 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 Connectors (8 via back panel, 4 via motherboard header) |
| Fan connectors | 6 header |
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 32 Mb flash ROM, EFI AMI BIOS) |
- Manual
- 1 x ATX I/O bezel
- 2 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s cable
- 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s cable
- 2 in 1 Q-connector
- 1 x ASUS USB 3.0 bezel
- 1 x SLI Bridge
- 1 x Driver CD, Antivirus software, ASUS Update, ASUS Utilities
Regarding the delivery you'll find everything you need. Under certain circumstances you might wish there was an additional SLI or CrossFire bridge in the delivery but the fact that this is an aggressively priced product makes it understandable why they didn't do that.
Features
| EPU | If you activate the EPU this chip monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds and automatically sets them to guarantee an energy efficient operation of you system. |
| TPU | As soon as one activates the TPU this chips monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds using the according software. The difference to the EPU is that TPU will provide as much performance as possible. Therefore it can increase clock speeds and voltages. |
| Digital Power Design | Meanwhile ASUS also provides its boards with digital power designs. Using the the right software, in this case ASUS DIGI+ VRM Utility it is not only possible to adjust voltages whilst being in Windows on can now also control impedances. |
| BT GO! | BT GO! can be classified as a very typical gadget using which it is possbile to for example remote control your PC via your mobile phone. There is also some functionality to synchronize folders in fact one can do quite a lot using BT GO! |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Layout
Already at a first glance the ASUS P8Z68-VPro looks very good with it harmonic design. The colors look suite nicely and the different blue tones on a black PCB are calming. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers.
ASUS provided the P8Z68-VPro with a 16+2 phase current supply whereas the CPU can rely on 16 phases and the memory gets its own two phases. Furthermore ASUS implemented a digital power design which should emit less electromagnetic radiation than its analogue counterpart. Therefore ASUS claims that the system stability can be enhanced even further, especially during extreme overclocking.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the P8Z68-VPro. Officially supported are DDR3-2200+ / 2133 / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 with up to 32 GByte capacity. The DIMM-slots are quite close to the CPU socket which might cause some compatibility problems with big coolers especially when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
Northbridge, Southbridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive heatpipe cooling solution. The aluminium blocks around the CPU socket are quite big. In fact they are that big that installing big CPU coolers might not be possible in some cases depending on the coolers clamping mechanism.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally ASUS provided the P8Z68-VPro with eight angled SATA ports which should be enough for any office PC or gaming system. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. Ufortunately you wont find a debug display which would be very useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system.
Totally you'll find six fan header on the P8Z68-VPro which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or high-end-system with fresh air. The fanheaders are located around the CPU socket as well as at the bottom edge of the mainboard.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS provided the P8Z68-VPro with six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, a firewire port, one eSATA ports, a bluetooth transmitter/receiver, one gigabit ethernet port, a optical out as well as an analogue audio panel and an HDMI, a DVI and a VGA port.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Fazit
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| At a first glance ASUS leaves a good impression with its P8Z68-VPro. Unfortunately there still are some things which could have been done in a better way. Most importantly there are the cooling blocks which keep the current supply at adequate temperatures. They're simply too big which has the consequence that several high end aircoolers are not compatible with this board. On the other hand the board looks absolutely marvellous. We very much like the color design and to us it very appealing. | - Design |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the ASUS P8Z68-VPro's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. Unfortuntately there is no debug display which would have been very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Furthermore the placement of the third PCI-Express slot isn't perfect. We would have love to see it as the second last expansion sloat onboard but in with the P8Z68-VPro it is the last and therefore when a dual slot video card is being installed in the last PCI-Express x16 slot it will cover the connectors at the bottom edge of the board. Unfortunately as we already phrased out in the text above there are some issues if you focus on the CPU socket. The aluminium blocks which keep the current converters cool can cause compatibility problems with high end CPU coolers. Another thing is the DIMM slots. They are also very close to the socket. In this case memory which is equipped with big heatspreaders can also collide with big aircoolers. |
- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display |
- Space
around CPU socket - DIMM slots close to the CPU socket - PCI-Express x16 as last expansion slot |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch