This January saw numerous steps forward with regard to Intel microarchitecture. Nowadays, while we’re preparing for the next step and further size decrease in the existing production process, it’s finally time for Intel to show the full potential of the platform intended for use with the second generation of Sandy Bridge Core CPUs. It’s our belief that Intel’s plans weren’t really the way they were originally presented, and we’re referring to P67 and H67 chipsets primarily. First and foremost, overclocking capabilities, afterwards unleashed on the P67 chipset together with multi-GPU configurations, weren’t initially intended to be a feature of this chipset, until the decision came stating that P67 should be the compromise solution until the appearance of Z68. Consequently, Z68 lost much of its intended splendour intended for the cream of the crop of the LGA 1155 platform, as there was a clear déjà vu effect stemming from P67 and H67 chipsets. One thing is for sure, though - the enormous potential of Sandy Bridge CPUs that caused raving reviews from the critics wasn’t reflected in motherboards used to run them. The new Z68 is finally here, and supposed to improve this image drastically, finally giving the aforementioned CPUs a worthy platform.
Z68 novelties
This chipset was touted as the ultimate overclocking toy, as it offers the iGPU overclock as well as CPU overclock. Some would propose that this isn’t such a drastic improvement after all, as very few users who buy motherboards this expensive use the integrated GPU, but Intel’s been packing two other surprises for those users: first, SSD caching, and second, the additional Virtu software made in conjunction with LucidLogic, the company known for their Hydra chips that enable AMD and NVIDIA cards to work together; this time around, they’re enabling integrated Intel graphics to work in conjunction with discreet solutions. Although this isn’t something that’s come out of Intel’s kitchen, most manufacturers will include Virtu software onto their motherboards in order to distance them from P67-based ones. But first things first.
Overclocking unleashed
Overclocking has been entirely unleashed. This means that Z68-based motherboards offer the option of unlocking the CPU (previously only on P67) and iGPU (only H67) with no limitations whatsoever. In other words, if you buy an Intel Core i5 2500K or i7 2600K, you’ll be able to enjoy a high multiplier without messing with the BCLK in order to squeeze out additional megahertz, i.e. raise the frequency of the GPU and use HD 3000 to the max. Everything’s the same as on P67 motherboards as far as the CPU is concerned. The main overclocking section isn’t tied to BCLK, but to the multipliers, that go up to 57x in the case of “K” CPUs, enabling clocks up to 6 GHz - and these are actually achievable with a suitable cooling system. Expectedly, Z68 motherboards have stronger power units, and many manufacturers strive to provide separate voltage filtering for CPU, iGPU and memory, as is the case with the model that we’ve received for testing.
The integrated GPU, on the other hand, has a story of its own. As was the case with H67 motherboards, the HD graphics component can be overclocked, which is going to be very relevant to all those who make good use of hardware transcoding and other features in which Intel excels. If you recall, when first testing the Sandy Bridge platform some months ago, transcoding and video manipulation benefited heavily from the integrated GPU. Of course, the question was and is: “Who’s going to buy an expensive unlocked “K” CPU in order to use the integrated GPU?” Intel has yet to provide a clever answer to this question, but Z68 is the right solution for these purposes at least, as far as logic and justifiability go.
