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

Pros: Nice board if it were reliable.

Cons: I've owned this board (actually I'm on my second one) for over a year. After six months I had to send my old one in for a warranty replacement as it died. Ever since I've gotten the replacement (obviously a refurb), it's been lousy as well!

Problems?

It loses touch with the network adapter usually once or twice a day. I use a simple batch job to disable and enable the adapter to bring it back, but obviously this precludes any unattended network operations!

The USB ports don't wake from sleep with any regularity, sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. I reloaded Windows 7 from scratch because I thought it was a Windows problem, that was a waste of a day getting all the applications running again!

About every two weeks I get a blue screen crash. Since I have 16 gig of memory, I've removed half of it for a few weeks to see if there is any change, then removed the other half. Since the blue screens happen with either set of memory modules, I doubt it's memory.

The real issue is they have no exchange, so you have to rip your system apart and wait two-three weeks for the replacement board to show up before you can use the computer again. Imagine if you had no other computer to use while you wait!

Other Thoughts: This is the second ASUS board I've had that had issues, and they don't seem capable of delivering a working replacement for a failed board. I suggest you shop a different brand until these guys improve their customer support and reliability.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that you are having issues with your replacement board. Do you get any RED lights on that indicate one of the hard ware being bad.

You may have to send the unit in for service. Please provide me with your RMA number and serial number so I can look at your previous case and see what I can do.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me again at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey

Pros: I am very pleased with this product! It has all the requirements for any type of computar needs anyone could need. From every day computing to heavy gaming if desired. I have had no problems with this board and will most likely buy another one when building my next computar!

Cons: None to tell!

Pros: Works flawlessly with CentOS Linux. I'm using one of these as a server with half a dozen virtual machines running under it. Performance is awesome both in terms of speed and stability. I'm using an i7-2600 CPU with 32 GB of RAM. Drive I/O also very good.

Cons: The way the heatsink attaches with the four plastic screws isn't very good, it can come undone with vibration as it did during a car ride. I much prefer the older metal clamp things that really held the CPU heatsink solid.

Other Thoughts: Overall I like this motherboard a lot. In my line of work stability is everything and this has been hands down the most stable machine I've assembled.

Pros: Great board for the price and loads of overclocking options. Runs great.

Cons: A heatsink for the memory controller was broken off and missing the stem when I received this. I wasn't about to go through the long dumb process of waiting for another one so fixed it myself. I've ordered mostly ASUS since 1998. Mostly, but was once ONLY. That is because quality control and support. Once #1, now horrible in comparison. Rude on the phone and what I got (the broken stem) should have been caught and never shipped that way.

Rebate - What a joke. Don't expect it anytime soon. I chose the online option to expedite it. I ordered this Dec 2012. They said the rebate would ship 1 week after they received my paperwork. Also maile out Dec 2012. I just got my rebate card last week and it is now 3-21-2013. The card is bogus and no you cannot do anything online with it, including tag it to your paypal. It's an American express "Reward" card. Junk.

Other Thoughts: I'll still buy ASUS, but once again, not nearly as much. I buy about a dozen MB's a year for custom builds for business, and in 1998 it would have been 12\12, now it's more like 3\12. If I can find better or equal to from someone else, I will go that route.

Inspect your ASUS boards before wasting the time to install it.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that the damaged heatsink on the motherboard. We recommend returning to the retailer for replacement, or if you are outside of the return window, RMA the motherboard for repair.

According to the terms and conditons for Dec. 2012 motherboard rebate (http://promos.asus.com/US/rebate/Dec12/ASUS_MB_MIR_Dec2012%28US%29.pdf), rebates amounts $5 or more will be presented as a Amercian Express gift card. It can be used at merchants in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands that accept American Express Cards. The Reward Card is given to you as a reward, refund, rebate or gift and no consideration, value, or money has been paid by you in exchange for the Reward Card. The Reward Card cannot be used at cruise lines, for recurring billing charges, at casinos or ATMs. Paypal unfortunately do not accept pre-paid debit or credit cards (https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/About-Settings-Archive/American-Express-Pre-Paid-Card/td-p/432607). To help us investigate why your rebate card came in much later than expected, or if there's anything else that you'd like us to assist you with, please feel free to contact me below. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you.

For support information, please visit http://support.asus.com. For service, visit http://service.asus.com. For motherboard warranty, visit http://www.service.asus.com/warranty.aspx#!Motherboard%20Warranty/c1c20; Refurbished products/accessories: http://www.service.asus.com/warranty.aspx#!refurbished-warranty/c16us. For RMA status, visit: http://am.eservice.asus.com/rmaweb/search/rmCustomerQueryAction.do?.

Regards,
Benson
ASUS Customer Loyalty
cl-benson@asus.com
cl-benson@asus.com

Pros: Detailed manual, solid board, well packed. Many options in BIOS.

Cons: slow to boot (doesn't seem to be an option to pause less on bios splash screen), Bluetooth module does not have a drive for windows 8. The driver is not on the website either.

Other Thoughts: Asus offers no Bluetooth driver and no explanation for Windows 8. For a very new uefi-capable board, this is not reasonable.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for your feedback. Regarding slow boot, please try a basic hardware setup, update to the latest BIOS and load BIOS defaults (F5), and disable onboard devices that are not used. For Bluetooth drivers in Windows 8, it may be provided by the OS. Is the Bluetooth device shown in Device Manager? To continue support, please contact me at the email below. Thank you.

For support information, please visit http://support.asus.com. For service, visit http://service.asus.com. For motherboard warranty, visit http://www.service.asus.com/warranty.aspx#!Motherboard%20Warranty/c1c20; Refurbished products/accessories: http://www.service.asus.com/warranty.aspx#!refurbished-warranty/c16us. For RMA status, visit: http://am.eservice.asus.com/rmaweb/search/rmCustomerQueryAction.do?.

Regards,
Benson
ASUS Customer Loyalty
cl-benson@asus.com

Pros: Board has most things that the average to advanced users will want. This board hasn't blown me away.

Cons: Come to find out after having this board. That pci-e x1 slots doesn't work. Anything that I plug into that slot is undectectable. Which now is a big problem since I need to use that slot for capture card I just bought.

Other Thoughts: There was a time when ASUS was thought to be a Top shelf motherboard maker.Heck they still have high prices on their motherboards. But they clearly are not the quality company they used to be. This mother board only gets 3stars for having a defective none working pc i-e slot. Heck it should only get 1 star.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We're sorry to hear about the issue with the PCIe x1 slot on this motherboard. Can you try plugging your capture card into one of the blue or black PCIe slots for another test? Typically, PCIe x1 addon cards can be installed on PCIe x4, x8, x16 slots with full functionality. Given PCIe x1 slot issue, please RMA the motherboard by using the online submittal form at: http://vip.asus.com/eservice/usa_rmaserv.aspx or call us at 1-812-282-2787. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact me below. Thank you.

For support information, please visit http://support.asus.com. For service, visit http://service.asus.com. For motherboard warranty, visit http://www.service.asus.com/warranty.aspx#!Motherboard%20Warranty/c1c20; Refurbished products/accessories: http://www.service.asus.com/warranty.aspx#!refurbished-warranty/c16us. For RMA status, visit: http://am.eservice.asus.com/rmaweb/search/rmCustomerQueryAction.do?.

Regards,
Benson
ASUS Customer Loyalty
cl-benson@asus.com

Pros: Fantastic motherboard. Easy to setup and I love the LUCID bios.

Cons: None

Pros: this mother has been working perfect since day one. There's nothing bad that i have encountered with this motherboard. I recently built my very first rig and chose this board and has been fulfilling all my needs for anything.

Cons: Doesn't teleport to the future.

Pros: I own three of these boards which have been running 24/7 for a year and a half now crunching numbers for seti. The boards are feature packed and took a while initially to fully comprehend. I have read some of the poor reviews on this product but have experienced none of the grief that other users have. I have been Experimenting with clocking, memory and configurations causing shutdowns or errors, which have always been been corrected by the board through auto reset. Alll three rigs running Intel I7 2600K Cpu's overclocked to 4.73 Mhz.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: This board is nothing to be afraid of. I would recomend it for new builders or those learning about the process.

Pros: Very Stable, Nice layout, UEFI, PCIe 3.0, Intel LAN, Bluetooth, HDMI, Auto OC, Energy Efficient. The list goes on and on...

Cons: I can't think of any.

Other Thoughts: This board is packed to the gills with features. After 7 months of ownership I still haven't used everything. It also has every port imaginable and plenty to spare. So far it has been rock solid at stock speeds. Overclocking however is easy. The auto tuning feature works really well, and can be done through the Windows utility or by a simple flip of a switch on the board. It also can be put into a green mode to conserve power for more casual users. All fans and power are controlled automatically. Memory settings can also be detected automatically by a push of a button in the event boot fails. A nice fail-safe that I luckily haven't had to use. The Z77 boards were gaining popularity at the time of purchase, but this board after rebate was a better deal, and it is still very capable. Glad I bought it.