You’Ve got $175 to spend on a Z68 board–what do you get?

So sometime this week I’ll be receiving my 2700K in the mail from Intel from their Holiday Deal (Retail Edge exclusive). As such, I’ll be selling my current board/CPU/memory to help pay for new parts. I’ve got a pretty good idea what RAM I’m going to go with, which only leaves the motherboard to pick out. Some features that I’d prefer the board to have: SATA/USB 3, UEFI instead of BIOS, 8 SATA ports (I suppose 6 would be sufficient), and a black/red color scheme.
These are the two boards I’m between right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
Are there any others I should consider?
Answer #1
You don’t play games if i remember correctly so you would probably be just as happy with a cheaper board?
Answer #2
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
$124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
USB3, SATA3, PCIE3, Gigabit LAN, SLI, SSD Caching, Upgrade to Ivy Bridge, and more…
Answer #3
The Gene-Z while a spectacular motherboard is a bit overpriced in features and offers less compared to it’s bigger form factor brothers in the price range. ASUS has better UEFI/features except for PCI-E 3.0 which is found on AsRock boards. If you can stretch the P67 Professional is a ridiculous board for the money it’s going for right now (~$185). If you don’t need SSD caching or the Z68 features go for it. It will have the color theme you need too.
Edit: It’s also the best looking motherboard bestowed upon this earth.
Answer #4
-paroxysM^ replied: The Gene-Z while a spectacular motherboard is a bit overpriced in features and offers less compared to it's bigger form factor brothers in the price range. ASUS has better UEFI/features except for PCI-E 3.0 which is found on AsRock boards. If you can stretch the P67 Professional is a ridiculous board for the money it's going for right now (~$185). If you don't need SSD caching or the Z68 features go for it. It will have the color theme you need too.
Edit: It's also the best looking motherboard bestowed upon this earth.
It is a nice looking board–but the guy is a total ~censored~ IMO.
Decisions, decisions.
Edit: Really? I can’t say d-bag?
Answer #5
It is a nice looking board--but the guy is a total ~censored~ IMO.
Digital 16+2 phases
6x USB 3.0
10x SATA (2x Intel 6Gbps 4x Marvel 6Gbps 4x Intel 3Gbps)
PLX chip
Your choice.
Edit: Really? I can't say d-bag?Apparently not lol.
Answer #6
prozac4312 replied: Decisions, decisions.
One deciding factor might be front USB3 headers, if you plan to fill up all your expansion slots.
ASRock board has no USB3 headers up front,
where the ASUS’s normally include those standard.
-paroxysM^ replied: Edit: It's also the best looking motherboard bestowed upon this earth.
Rampage IV Extreme for X79 looks the best IMO with its 64GB RAM capacity =D
Answer #7
Rampage IV Extreme for X79 looks the best IMO with its 64GB RAM capacity =DI don’t like the RIVE look. Mine looks better (R3E) than that
ASRock board has no USB3 headers up front,
Nope. Only their budget boards don’t have USB 3.0.