Motherboard/Platform Advice :confused:

[mudy]

Hi To All

Have been an ardent reader of this website / forums since a decade or so. But this is my first post. I have been looking around to get a new motherboard for myself. I had an EVGA X58 Classified (e760) since aug 09 and now sort off awaiting a RMA from my dealer. I have been without a computer since 1 1/2 month already and my hands are itching to grab the new z77 platform. But due to PCIe lane restriction I am sort of reluctant as well as confused. The following devices will be attached to the mobo (only PCIe devices):
1. 2x 580s. Since I went SLI with GTX 275 I can't go back - love the SLI config.
2. 1x x-Fi Titanium
3. 1. Highpoint RocketRAID RR2720 PCIe Card requires x8 slot.

My requirement: I want all these devices to run at specified speeds. I liked the current EVGA Classified's layout; first the sound card in x1 slot, then GPU in the second and fourth slot, one slot gap in between, where I had planned to put RR2720SGL (ordered last week but in back order).

Current situation: I am weighing between Z77 and X79 but current more inclined towards x79 due unrestrictive PCIe lane structure. My budgets is (or was) AU $350 to AU $400 for the motherboard.

Any help would highly appreciated.

 

[mudy]

No advices despite after 18 hours?? Come on guys!!

 

[arnoc]

You do realize that you'll have to upgrade your CPU as well with either of these two motherboards, with the X79 requiring the more expensive of the two CPU? The cheapest Sandy Bridge-E processor on Newegg is $309 US. So with the cheapest x79 options you're looking at a minimum $500 US ($482.3460 AU according to google conversion) investment.

And with the z77 boards (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) I believe that when running a dual SLI setup, both PCIe 3 lanes will run at x8/x8, which is equivalent to a PCIe 2 lane running at x16. Of course, I believe they will only run at PCIe 3 speeds with an Ivy Bridge processor.

Does this answer your question?

 

[mudy]

Thx for replying arnoc! Look, I do realize that I've to change the processor. For x79 most viable option for me is 3820 and for ivy bridge it would be either 3770K or 3750K depending on the reviews and OC capabilities. My main concern is thenthird PCIe x16 lane dropping to x4!!! And don't forget I've a PCIe 2.0 compliant cards so the speed will be x8/x4/x4 with triple PCIe 2.0 cards - GPU 1/GPU2/RR2720SGL. Now the speed of x8/x4/x4 is PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 2.0?? I can forgo the sound card if I choose a motherboard the comes with supreme fx or core 3d or similar sort of sound card built in to it.

 

[arnoc]

I'm basing my information off of this article:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5728/...view-asrock-asus-gigabyte-msi-ecs-and-biostar

So I'm not sure if I'm interpreting this correctly or not but, if the third PCIe 3.0 lane drops down to x4, it will be equivalent to a PCIe 2.0 running at x8 for your Sound Card.

So your final configuration would be equivalent to running your SLI in x16/x16 configuration and your sound card would be at x8 in terms of PCIe 2.0 speeds.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Arnoc is right you do need to run a 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor in order to get PCI-E 3.0. Most like you would have to look at an X79 chipset based board or a high end Z77 chipset based board like the ASRock Z77 Professional or the Asus Z77-V Deluxe to get the ports you need.

 

[BrightCandle]

You want a grand total of 41 lanes of PCI-E

2011 X79 gives you 40 from the CPU, you'll likely drop down to 8x but version 3.0 on the second card if you can find a board that will work this way.
Z77 gives you just 16, there is no way you can shoehorn what your trying to do into this platform reasonably.

Thus neither can quite deal with all the devices but the X79 will get you a lot closer. But your going to have to research precisely the slot layout and how the lanes split on the boards you consider to make sure it'll do the right thing.

 

[mudy]

Thx for the reply guys, much appreciated!

@BrightCandle: at full speed I will be needing 41 lanes. But that laneshould be under PCIe 2.0 speed not 3.0. I'm happy to achieve 32 lanes under pcie 2.0 std shared by my cards. My main concern is, for eg., I opt for Asus p8z77 WS motherboard, it says 4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16; x16/x16; x16/x8/x16 and x16/x8/x8/x8), now these spec for the lanes, are they measured under 2.0 standards or 3.0 standards??? Sorry if I'm confusing you guys. Trust me, my mind is so twisted with these damn things I get nightmares of LARGE PCIe lanes and am stuck in between trying to find a way out....LOL!!!!!

As far as choices go, I have boiled down to these:
X79: Asus Rampage iv Formula with a 3820 (AU$ 350 + AU$ 315=665)
Z77: Asus P8Z77 WS or EVGA Z77 FTW with 3770K/3750K (both have the PEX 8747 chip but price unknown)

With R4F I can dump the Sound Card and use the built in Supreme FX II. So that will be x16/x8/x16 (first and fourth slot are PCIe 3.0 and the black slot is PCIe 2.0); correct me if I'm wrong. With Z77 boards above mentioned, I will be getting, x8/x8/x8/x8 mode.

 

[mudy]

Thanks mate!! Good to see an intel rep confirming this!! And asrock z77 professional is a very very nice board in terms of PCIe layout and also relatively cheaper compared to Asus!!! But I think to be on the safe side I'll wait for PEX enabled boards for future proofing!!! Excited now, as a bucket load of research/information is settling down, towards the launch of IVB!!!

Arnoc is right you do need to run a 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor in order to get PCI-E 3.0. Most like you would have to look at an X79 chipset based board or a high end Z77 chipset based board like the ASRock Z77 Professional or the Asus Z77-V Deluxe to get the ports you need.