ASUS P8Z68-V PRO Review: Our First Z68 Motherboard
by Ian Cutress on May 11, 2011 3:13 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Z68
LAN Speed Test
LAN Speed Test is a freeware program designed for testing the network connection between two PCs on a home network. The speed of the transfer is limited by the lowest common denominator on the network, so if you have gigabit Ethernet capable computers but a 100 Mbit capable router, you are limited to 100 Mbit transfer. Note that this is really a formality – if a network port is rated at 1 Gbps, then chances are that it will hit at least 90+% of this value. The main test here is CPU usage, and how much is offloaded by the controller. For this test, we use LAN Speed Test to transfer a 1000 MB file across a home network with a 100 Mbps lowest common speed to the same machine each time, in a read/write scenario. CPU usage is taken as a visual max/average from task manager.
The board comes top in our read/write speed test by a decent margin, considering the 100 Mbps limit imposed by our router.
USB Speed
For this benchmark, we run CrystalDiskMark to determine the ideal sequential read and write speeds for the USB port using our 64GB Patriot SuperSpeed USB 3.0 drive. Then we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive, and monitor the time taken to transfer. The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are the videos used in the Sorenson Squeeze test.
The board isn't setting any USB records, being near the bottom compared to other boards we've tested.
SATA Testing
We also use CrystalDiskMark for SATA port testing. The operating system is installed on the Micron RealSSD C300, which is rated at 355 MB/s read and 215 MB/s write, and the sequential test is run at the 5 x 1000 MB level. This test probes the efficiency of the data delivery system between the chipset and the drive, or in the case of additional SATA ports provided by a third party controller, the efficiency between the controller, the chipset and the drive.
The ASUS board is near the middle of the pack when it comes to SATA speeds.
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests, such as audio, will be further down the line. So if the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled. If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time, resulting in an empty audio buffer – this leads to characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. Having a bigger buffer and correctly implemented system drivers obviously helps in this regard. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is processing DPCs from driver invocation – the lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds and taken as the peak latency while cycling through a series of short HD videos—under 500 microseconds usually gets the green light, but the lower the better.
The ASUS board may have come bottom in the DPC test, but the result is stil under 500 microseconds, and for the most part it was under 120.
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cybersans - Saturday, June 4, 2011 - link
if you need us to write a proper english language to reply a posts, i think you reach at the wrong place, because this is not a classroom or english language test at the school ;)as long as a people around the world understand the message, thats fine for me.
BaCh - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
Is ASUS P8Z68-V PRO compatible with Intel Xeon E3-1275 processor?cybersans - Saturday, June 4, 2011 - link
xeon e3-1275 is based on socket 1155, so yes, it is compatible. but why you want to use server processor into workstation motherboard since it is lack of some features?mattmc61 - Friday, May 13, 2011 - link
I 'm sorry if this sounds like nit-picking, but after the fifth gramatical error on the first page of this article, I feel it necessary to point out the poor grammer, model number mistakes, and what seems like a lack of editing. I would think an article on such a high caliber tech site would be more careful.austonia - Saturday, May 14, 2011 - link
Anandtech, I am disappoint. You didn't even benchmark the Quick Sync video transcode function, which is the main reason I'm getting a Z68. Trading in my P67 (recall) for it.I know Anand has covered this feature before in a previous article (Jan. 31) but it would be reassuring to see the results of tests run on retail hardware. As did Tom's:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z68-expr...
Googer - Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - link
Looks like my favoritism for ASUS has just swung in the favor of Gigabyte.As a die hard keyboard fanatic, the complete lack of PS/2 support is a complete deal killer for me. I have tried USB PS/2 adapters and find they are loaded with problems, input latency, and incompatibilities (keystroke combinations, stops working after holding W down for 15 seconds, etc). I can sort of understand dropping PS/2 mouse support (even though I prefer a PS2 mouse). but keyboards just work much better on PS2 since its using dedicated hardware vs software for USB keys and mice.
-Long Live PS2 and Good OLD Quality Clicky Keyboards.
Googer - Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - link
*I've tried nearly all PS/2 to USB keyboard adapters, including the expensive ones from PI Engineering.cybersans - Saturday, June 4, 2011 - link
agree, switching to this motherboard from previous p8p67 caused me to get ps2 - usb converter. seems like the conversion give some problem, when i type seems like some words is mistype, not because of my broken fingers, but i suspect because of the conversion. another thing when i play a game for example need for speed undercover, the up arrow use to accelerate the car is not continously accelerating. when i press the up button on the keyboard, the car accelerate until several seconds, it stops. seems like i press the fuel paddle and several seconds the fuel stops.ruzveh - Thursday, May 19, 2011 - link
When these motherboard builders will wakeup and understand? We dont want to see those VGA ports on motherboards. AIt is of no use for anyone. Today whoever is buying a $150+ boards have monitors which support HDMI DVI or DP. We actually dont want to see limited resolution VGA port which is now really outdated like ur brains. If you want to provide with VGA option then do so via a DVI to VGA connector accessory. Dont waste the unnecessary space on the mdb. It can be used to provide us with that extra space for USB ports or eSATA.Googer - Sunday, May 22, 2011 - link
Many gamers and photoshoppers out there still use Analog CRT monitors. As far as connectivity goes, the VGA port is the most common denominator and almost any monitor can accept it's input.If you are a system builder, a board like this would be a good basis for a value added system and vga is ideal for that situation.