z68 vs x58 and upcoming z77 and x79? confused

[gordonie]

I am want to do a build soon but I cant seem to distinguish the difference between the z68 chipset and the x58 other than the x58 is for the i7 extremes and the z68 is for the normal i7's.

Do they offer different features, expansions slots and ram slots etc? sorry I am kinda new to intels side of the PC world. the AMD side seemed to have everything iriond out where if you got an AM3+ you got the best and got everything you wanted.

I understand they use different socket types, the z68 uses the 1155 and the x58 the 2011 but thats about it.

And also, should I wait for their successors the z77 and the x79? what new improvements are these making?

for the CPU i was wanting to go ivy bridges i7's or possibly sandy bridge E.

would love some training here lol thanks guys! googled didnt answer my questions

 

[BurningSkyline]

Well, X58 supports triple channel memory and x16/x16 while Z68 only does Dual-channel and x8/x8. I think X58 can do x16/x16/x8/x8 or x16/x8/x8/x8, but I'm not sure. Z68 has more features relating to the IGP on the newer sandy bridge chips, along with SSD Caching.

I'm trying to help but I don't know a whole lot relating to the chipsets.

 

[Aastii]

Well, X58 supports triple channel memory and x16/x16 while Z68 only does Dual-channel and x8/x8. I think X58 can do x16/x16/x8/x8 or x16/x8/x8/x8, but I'm not sure. Z68 has more features relating to the IGP on the newer sandy bridge chips, along with SSD Caching.

I'm trying to help but I don't know a whole lot relating to the chipsets.

X58 is last generation socket 1366.

Z68, current generation Sandy Bridge socket 1155

Take Z68, it has Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge support (not for all chips, same as 1156 didn't have support for 1366), so greater upgradability, and right now, the same or better performance than X58