Presently have an ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 Motherboard

 

My complete system configuration is listed below. My motherboard is no longer available from Newegg although I have found it by other sources. I am debating whether to replace this board with another of the same model, or upgrade to a newer model.

 

Any recommendations for a newer model motherboard with equal provisions to my original would be appreciated. I guess I am partial to ASUS thanks to past experience over the years, but am open to anything that works well and is not a bear to set up.

 

A little history:

 

My Cosasir HX1000W Power Supply played out some time ago, I replaced it with a Thermnaltake Toughpower XT 675 watt model I had on a shelf. I was apprehension about the size, but it has worked fine for well over a year now.

 

A few months ago, I had a computer crash (Don't even remember the details). My discovery was that if I removed one of my 4GB sticks of memory and used only one, that everything worked fine. Both sticks by themselves worked fine in either of the two applicable slots, but when the two were installed in either of the two slots together, the computer would not boot up. I ran with the single stick for months. The conclusion was that the Motherboard was the culprit (I have another post regarding this issue).

 

A few days ago the computer would not boot up at all. Fans ran, but there was no progress, display or anything else. Periodically, a second or third try would work. When I could get her running ok, Being suspicious I checked temperatures and everything looked normal (RealTemp and another highly recommended utility whose name I cannot remember at the moment, (starts up with the two men hammering).

 

 Yesterday, while flying FSX, the computer locked up. I tried to reboot the computer and it would not start up. On multiple tries later, I would get a partial boot up and then she would lock up. At least twice I was able to completely boot, but shortly, she locked up again with the displays still on the monitors.Reboots were unsucessful.

 

I opened her up and isolated components. Lights on the Power Supply (Standby, PGSignal, and Temperature) all have a green light. Still no luck. Based on the above history, my first notion is that the Motherboard has finally given up the ghost. In any case, if I want to use both sticks of memory, it needs to be replaced anyway. I probably will order another 1000Watt PS for good measure as well.

 

Any ideas, particularly for a new model ASUS Motherboard that will accept my memory and have similar provisions to my current one.

 

Respectfully:

RTH

 

System Specs:

ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2700K CPU

Corsair H80 (CSCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Awaiting NewEgg Ecchange due to a leak

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2X4GB) 240 Pin DDR3 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC312800) Memory

Windows 7 Premium 64 Bit Operating System (To be installed immediately)

EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 Video Graphics Card

24" Viewsonic VA2431wm LCD Primary Monitor

24" Viewsonic VA2431wm LCD Secondary Monitor

Nvidia version 296.10 Drivers for GTX580 Video Card

1 Western Digital Velco/Raptor WD3000HLFS 300 GB 10000RPM WATA 3 GB System Harddrive

1 Western Digital Velco/Raptor WD3000HLFS 300 GB 10000RPM WATA 3 GB FSX Harddrive

1 each Segate 320GB SATA FS9 Harddrive

1 each Segate 320GB SATA Backup / Utility Harddrive

2 Each CDRW/DVDRW

PlusDeck 2C Audio Tape Player/Recorder

Konica Minolta magicolor 2400W Laser Printer

CH Pro USB Pedals

CH USB FlightSim Yoke

Microsoft FFB2 USB Joystick

Logitech Keyless Keyboard

Logitech cordless mouse

High Speed Cable Internet/email Service with Router

Thermaltake Toughpower XT 675 Watt Power Supply

SuperPower ATX Full Tower Case with sides Customized for more ventilation

Note: Keyboard and Mouse are shared with a secondary Core 2 Duo Computer for WinXP Pro 32 bit programs, WideFS6 (FS9) and Wide FS7 (FSX). Implementation is by Synergy Free Software.

 

 

 

 

Hi RTH

Over the past two (2) years, I used a ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 Motherboard and the one above that (P3-Z68 V-Pro) as well. Unfortunately, both my boards went the same as yours so, I'm thinking of a Gigabyte Assassin as a replacement. My system mimics yours almost with the addition of a Full GoFlight Commercial kit, a TripleHead2Go box and ToughPower 1500W. My tech friend says Gigabyte are better than Asus and based on my experience, at least, I'm not fussed about buying any more Asus boards.

RR

ASRock also makes some great MBs.

Well, looks like the old blind sow found an acorn.

 

As I suspected, the Motherboard was the culprit. RR and VeryBumpy, I am afraid I had already ordered before I saw your replies. A new ASUS P8Z77-V board was my replacement. If I have a similar problem in the future I will follow your advice and change manufacturers. I now can put my second stick of memory back in and everything looks great. She worked with my present Power Supply, but for good measure I upgraded it too with a new 1200 Watt model.

 

The last time I upgraded, I overclocked from the default 3500 to 4200. I saved the default as profile one and the overclocked procedure as profile 2, using it only for Flight Simulation. For forgotten reasons, at some time months ago I just left the system at defaults. Flight Simulation X and 9 both ran so smoothly I just left the default settings. With the new board. I started up FSX at KJFK, with Active Sky weather (Raining), and the PMDG NGX 737. Smooth as silk with default settings. I then made a flight from KCLT to KSFO and everything went flawlessly. I am not sure I will even bother with overclocking now, but time will tell. I probably will setup the overclocked profile again, but doubt that I my ever use it if future flights go as smoothly as this first one did.

 

The only problem I initially had, was that the top two USB ports acted strange. During bootup, they were live (Remote mouse worked fine). But after Windows started up, these ports went dead and I had no mouse or keyboard response. Discovered that the Amedia USB 3.0 Driver V1.4.14.0 download and installation cured this problem and the ports remained alive (Latest driver on the ASUS Support site). None of the other optional drivers seemed to work.

 

One other thing, after updating BIOS and the other applicable items from the ASUS Support web site, Onboard sound is far better and more stable than it was with my previous board. With my previous board and the latest Audio drivers for that board, particularly engine sounds were pretty iffy. In particular, the NGX 737 had the engine whine as power was increased some of the time, and did not at others with constant volume. In addition, my 5.1 Surround sound worked some of the time, and at others only the front speakers worked. So far with the new board and the applicable Audio drivers installed, everything seems to be working like it should work now.

 

Happy Flying:

RTH

 

Updated System Specs:

 

Primary Computer:

ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 SATA 6GB/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

Intel Core i7-2700K CPU

Corsair H80 (CSCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

 

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2X4GB) 240 Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC312800) Memory

 

Windows 7 Premium 64 Bit Operating System

 

EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 Video Graphics Card

 

EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512 bigt DDR3 Video Graphics Card

 

24" Viewsonic VA2431wm LCD Primary Monitor

 

24" Viewsonic VA2431wm LCD Secondary Monitor

 

24" Acer LCD Primary Monitor off Secondary Video Card

 

Nvidia version 314.22 Drivers for Video Cards

 

1 Western Digital Velco/Raptor WD3000HLFS 300 GB 10000RPM WATA 3 GB System Harddrive

 

1 Western Digital Velco/Raptor WD3000HLFS 300 GB 10000RPM WATA 3 GB FSX Harddrive

 

1 each Segate 320GB SATA FS9 Harddrive

 

1 each Segate 320GB SATA Backup / Utility Harddrive

 

2 Each CDRW/DVDRW

 

PlusDeck 2C Audio Tape Player/Recorder

 

Konica Minolta magicolor 2400W Laser Printer

 

HP Officejet 4315V Fax/Printer,Copier

CH Pro USB Pedals

CH USB FlightSim Yoke

Microsoft FFB2 USB Joystick

Logitech Keyless Keyboard

Logitech cordless mouse

 

High Speed Cable Internet/email Service with Router

 

Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1200M 1200 W v2.92 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 Plus Gold Power Supply

 

SuperPower ATX Full Tower Case with sides Large Fans Customized for more ventilation (Seven Fans total)

 

Note: Keyboard and Mouse are shared with a secondary Computer for WinXP Pro 32 bit programs, Implementation is by Synergy Free Software.

 

Secondary Computer:

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel ATX Motherboard

 

Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Quad Core CPU

 

6GB (3x2GB) 240 Pin DDR3 1600 OCZ3P1600LV6GK Memory

 

WinXP Pro 32 Bit

 

NVIDIA Evga Geforce 8400GS

512MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card

 

24" HP LCD Monitor

 

Navidia version 314.22 drivers for Video Card

 

1 each Segate 250GB UIDE Harddrive

 

Std. Floppy Drive

CDRW/DVDRW

WINTV

 

Epson Perfection 2480 Photo Scanner

 

MicroTech Z!O! Flash Card Reader

Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Sound to Creative Inspire 5.1 5200

Speakers

 

Thermaltake Toughpower XT 675 Watt Power Supply

 

Note: Keyboard and Mouse are shared with a primary Computer for Win7 64 bit programs, Implementation is by Synergy Free Software.

I decided to tuck my tail between my legs and overclock. To my surprise, the Capt. Sim 757 at KEWR is much more demanding than the NGX at KJFK. I overclocked to 4300 MHz. That solved the lack of smoothness everywhere I have seen so far.

 

Happy flying:

RTH

Cool Have fun!