ASRock Z68 Extreme4 (Intel Z68) Motherboard Review

Introduction

Having already previewed three boards that use the Z68 chipset, we already have a good idea of what's going on with the new chipset launched by Intel today. If you haven't already looked at our previews, I'd recommend checking out the ASRock Z68 Pro3 and Extreme4 Preview along with the MSI Z68A-GD80 Preview to get a better idea of what exactly we're dealing with here today.

Also, because we went into so much detail on the motherboards in those previews, we won't be looking at the board or package here today, as everything is covered in extensive detail already. So because we've been able to have a look at this board and others in great detail already, we'll be able to instead get stuck straight into the fun stuff like the BIOS, Overclocking and of course, performance.

Just looking over the boards and the tech documentation that we've received, it seems fairly safe to assume that the Z68 isn't going to be something you'll upgrade to if you're a P67 owner. Instead, it's a slight step up with a couple of new features like Intel Smart Response Technology and fast video encoding via Lucid Virtru. At the same time, you'll probably start to see people pick this chipset over the P67 if the pricing of both is similar.

For now, though, that's all neither here nor there. Let's get into the BIOS and see what ASRock are offering us before looking at overclocking and performance of the board.