GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Absolutely no problems installing this board. XMP immediately configured my RAM and everything works beautifully. Detailed instructions available for those of you who are new to the build process.

Cons: Not enough to take off an egg, but all of these Gigabyte boards have VERY little clearance between the CPU and the RAM. I literally spent hours deciding and measuring before selecting an aftermarket CPU cooler and I still have no clearance between the cpu fan and the first stick of RAM. I feel lucky that I did not have to make any modifications to get it to fit though.

For those interested I am using a Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 and G.Skill Ripjaws and this combo fits.

Overall Review: Make sure you are using one (1) kit of RAM if you plan on using XMP. You will likely not get it to work if you try to install 2 separate kits.

When initially installing Windows, leave XMP off or you will likely BSOD during installation depending on your RAM's frequency.

AVOID pairing this motherboard with an Nvidia 400 series graphics card if you can. These motherboards do not play nice with 400 series cards and this is a known issue amongst the Nvidia community (if you spend time reading reviews, you will notice lots of negative reviews complaining about issues booting or boot loops after several weeks of use that is most likely due to this issue). While there may be particular cards/manufacturers that won't cause you any issues with this board, it is probably a safer bet to just avoid them and go for a 500.

My build:
Gigabyte Z68 Mobo
Intel i7-2600k Processor
16GB G.Skill 1866 RAM
EVGA 560gtx 1GB GPU
2x Intel 120 GB SSD's - Raid 0
Corsair 750watt PSU

Pros: -wide range of overclock setting
-lots of control over every aspect of the board

Cons: -First MoBo was super, over clock was a breeze. I was happy as a pig in S--t. Ran flawless for 2 weeks then boom... mobo died. It would boot loop and never even post. Bios would not reset... nothing... RMA-> sigh..
-2nd board I just received... right out of box, 100% default setting, Bios says overclock failed system won’t boot. I reset the “default” bios to default, same thing..
-update to F3 Bios, same thing... every time the pc boots I get an overclock failure notice and have to go into bios and do nothing but save the already default settings and reboot.. I am afraid to actually try and overlock…
What The F Gigabyte??

Overall Review: 10 years i have used Gigabyte boards, 1st real disappointment...
I-7 2600k beggs to be overclocked and this board wont even boot stock w/o errors... very disappointing...