• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Asus P8P67 Pro vs Maximus IV GENE-Z for stable overclocking

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Energo

New Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Hello,
I need help making a good reasonasble choice looking for new MB for my system. I saw a lot of reviews and tests and in fact know a lot now but still not sure what I need. Please read to the end to see the... "whole story" and help me with advise if you can :)

1) What I have:
i5 2500K
SB X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro
Asus GF560GTX448cores (which takes 3 slots at MB)
Corsair Hydro Series H100

2) What I want:
I want to overclock i5 2500K to its possible max. The target is 5Ghz for constant stable use. Memory will run at 2133 or higher if possible.

3) Now to the point:
I do not have money for Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z right now (and I do not need most of the additional things it has) and at first I was looking at Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3. I do not need additional PCI-e slots and will use only 1 SSD as a main drive. This MB has "honest" 10 phases of power supply and seems to be the best in my case. The problem that I see is that I'll have to install SB X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro in the last PCI-e slot and it will be right close to the video card that takes 3 MB slots as I already mentioned. Maybe not good - I'm abs. not sure. From one side such video cards are made to work in SLI being really close to each other but from another side the hi-end audio card may be affected by the video card that is so close to it. Also, while this is not principal, this MB understands Intel's grahic card that is inside the CPU and features Virtu... I do not believe in both and do not need them... can swicth off this in BIOS as I understand.

From the other side comes Asus P8P67 Pro that maybe can work the same as Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3... in my case. It does not have anything connected with Intel's graphics and from this point of view ma be better than Asus P8Z68-V Pro just because its "honest" 6 phases work together with additional 2 phases which are dedicated to the Intel's grahics in the Asus P8Z68-V Pro. It has funny Bluetooth adapter on-board which is useless in most cases but something is "wrong" with nearly any card layout :) It can be also switched off as I understand. On that card both my video card and sound card could be installed "freely" with a lot of space between them.

4) Now to the end:
So... If you tell me for example that Asus Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3 is much better choice in my case (for stable overclocking) I could even forget about the SB X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro if it is not good to install it so close to the video card and use the on-board sound for games.
OR
If you tell me that, while Asus P8P67 Pro is a really old and "weaker" MB, it can still give me the same good results I'd be able to keep my sound card and even save some $$$ just because it is cheaper now.
In fact I can't make a correct choice by myself in such situation.

Thanks in advance
P.S. I understand that overclocking results differ from one CPU to another and I look only for Asus MBs.
 
:welcome:
they both are good boards, they will also both overclock the boards pretty much the same. although if it were me I would go with the Gene-Z (i own it and love it).

which ever on fits the bill better for stuff you need get it. overclocking potential won't be an issue with the SB stuff.

hope this helps
 
+1... Its really 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Boards are not really a huge part in overclocking SB for most people (meaning you arent pushing the CPU to its maximum under extreme cold).
 
:welcome:
they both are good boards, they will also both overclock the boards pretty much the same. although if it were me I would go with the Gene-Z (i own it and love it).

which ever on fits the bill better for stuff you need get it. overclocking potential won't be an issue with the SB stuff.

hope this helps

This. ^
I have a MIVG-Z in my daily driver, and it gets OC'd up and over 5GHz regularly with no trouble. It also comes with the XFi SupremeFX 2 soundcard built in.. So you wouldn't necessarily need to install your soundcard. I love the board.
 
Thank you for help everybody. I'm really close to choose Gene-Z MB. Just 1 Q more - whie it has XFi SupremeFX 2 sound card on board that must be software powered it is still Realtek, not Creative. Does it provide EAX effects using Creative Alchemy etc? I see Realtek drivers on their site only.
 
This. ^
I have a MIVG-Z in my daily driver, and it gets OC'd up and over 5GHz regularly with no trouble. It also comes with the XFi SupremeFX 2 soundcard built in.. So you wouldn't necessarily need to install your soundcard. I love the board.

Don't compare any kind of built-in soundcard with a good one. IMHO, that's just marketing. X-Fi MB is just marketing stuff. I personally never use any of the X-Fi features like Crystalizer or Alchemy or EAX, and that's the only thing you get from a X-Fi MB card. Plus, EAX was buried long time ago by Vista.

IMHO, if you're not going cold, grab the P8P67 Pro. For SNB, higher clocks depend on if you have a nice or not so nice processor. For 24/7 usage, you'd require some kind of gold/silver chip that can do 5GHz below 1.45v (max recommended safe 24/7 voltage for me).
 
Z68 is a better chipset compared to the P67. Just something to note in your decision making process.
 
Z68 is a better chipset compared to the P67. Just something to note in your decision making process.

But what is special with these new boards? I could choose not P8P67 Pro but P8Z68-V Pro that also works with Intel's graphics... But I think that choosing the "old" MB must be better from any side of view - polished BIOS, additional power phases and I don't need that funny false Virtu with ugly interface and some really virtual features. And SSD will be the main drive... I do not see any reason for Z77. Also P67 will cost me much less and give me even more as I see.
Maybe I am missing something?
 
Quicksync is another depending if you would use it. As for what the OP said about the bios/uefi being more polished on the older board that is not so. They will both be good. Like I said in my original post get whatever board has the features you want. They will both overclock fine. This is just nit picking now.
 
But what is special with these new boards? I could choose not P8P67 Pro but P8Z68-V Pro that also works with Intel's graphics

^This is the main selling point of Z68 for me, rather than SSD caching or Virtu. If you melt a GPU power phase playing a game when you're supposed to be finishing a presentation on a Z68, your game is done but you switch to iGPU and finish what you were supposed to be doing. On a P67 (or X58) you fabricate half-truths at work the next morning.

I have three Gene-Z's and have had great luck with them
 
Gmmm... I tried the built-in sound and it is soooo far from what I get from X-Fi that can't be even compared :( I have to keep my sound card as I see. Well... If I choose Gene-Z after all will I be safely running my video card and sound car together side by side? Or it will hurt both?
 
Back