The Z68 chipset is the fruits of one of Intel’s most inspiring releases to date. Sandy Bridge represents a step in technology which marks a design level that may last for several years. This is comparable to when the first 64 bit processors were released and when the 1st quad core processors became reasonable available.

The reason behind Sandy Bridge’s success is that the CPU is way more interactive vis video performance than any CPU during the past. It is not just a central processing unit, but it's a PC Gamers central processing unit – no other processor transcends the i5-2500k for gaming performance. It is matched only by the i7-2600k (a hyperthreaded version of the i5). Shortly Intel will be releasing the Sandy Bridge-E enthusiast series with the x79 chipset, but that combo will run you $1500 on the cpu/mobo alone.

The Z68 chipset represents a perfect offering for the multi-user: the individual who espouses to be a fan Computer gamer but also has plenty of other uses for the PC – like graphical production, writing, school, development or anything you could think about to be used with a P. C..

Taking the best from the P67 chipset – overclocking capacities – and the H67 chipset – onboard video – the Z68 chipset provides an offering for those that like to overclock but also want the technical utility of the on board video (which is traditionally better for video trans-coding than a discrete 3d card). Along side the mix of the finest of these other chipsets, the Z68 provides 2 unique offerings.

The first of these bonuses from the Z68 chipset is known as Virtu. Virtu is an unrelated party program which employs the on board video capacities together with a discrete 3d video card – something any fan P.C gamer is going to use. Rather than having the on board video go to waste, Virtu will switch functions from the 3d discrete card to the on board if the current action would be better suited to the on board – such as Video trans-coding. This ends up having no effect on the gaming performance.

The other brilliant addition to the Z68 chipset is SSD caching. This provides one the power to acquire SSD speeds at a much lower cost. If one were to get an SSD to install O. S and all programs for the velocity of use – while keeping stored files on a HDD – you would have to spend at least $250 on a 120GB SSD for minimal effectiveness. With SSD caching, it is easy to get the same speed performance boost but with a 20-40GB SSD for not more than $100.

At the end, the Z68 chipset is just a capstone for one of the most brilliant tech releases of PC hardware. AMD is still staggering from Sandy Bridge, and it will take them years (if they're ever able) to supply an offering that may even compete in the same realm.

Joseph Robertson has been building computers for 10 years and for lots of that time has been helping others learn about new hardware like the Z68 Chipset. Check out his blog for more info on the Z68 Chipset.

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