SB Options for PCI-E x8/x8/x4?

[DBordello]

I am just finishing up my Sandy Bridge build and had a couple of questions about motherboard options and PCI-E.

I am going to start with a single NVIDIA GTX 570. However, down the line I intend to add another and go SLI. Therefore I want to leave myself with an option of going x8/x8 for the video cards.

The additional catch is that I plan on going with the OCZ Revodrive x2 which is PCI-E x4. Therefore in the future I will need x8/x8/x4.

The problem is that I am planning on going with a Core i7-2600K. Since it only has 16 PCI-E lanes, obviously something has to budge. Throw in the onboard components and we have a serious shortage of lanes.

Do I need a motherboard with the NVIDIA NF200? Are there other options? Does the NF200 add significant latency such that it does more harm than good? Should I go X58?

I was looking at the Gigabyte P67A-UD7. What about the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe? I was originally planning on going with either Gigabyte or ASUS.

Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated.

Dan

 

[Rifter]

Does the new SB chipset(H67/P67) not add lanes? It would be a monumental fail if the chipset did not add lanes, only 16 would be laughable.

 

[DBordello]

You are correct. The SB chipset has 16 lanes. However, they are now twice as fast as 1156.

 

[Rifter]

so i dont see the issue then, if the CPU has 16 and the chipset has 16 for 32 total then running 8x/8x/4x plus onboard NIC/SATA etc should not be an issue?

 

[=Wendy=]

It's only x8/x8/x4 with 3 cards if you have a board with the PLX8608 chip on the motherboard. (Asus P8P67 Deluxe and AsRock P67 Extreme 4/6). Otherwise with 3 cards it's x1 (check with Gigabyte and Asus on this).

The best option IMO, would be a board with the NF200 for this setup (Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 and Asus Maximus 4 extreme). That would give 3 cards @x8.

 

[Castiel]

If going with 3 cards you should definitely grab a board with the NF200