Z77 or X79 Platform: Which Is better for SLI?

[cpuxtech]

I have read somehwere that you can do a dual SLI, and on Z77 you would get 8x/8x but on X79 you could still get 16x/16x.

1) is this true?

2) wouldnt this yield the same overall bandwidth, since 16x on SB-E is the same as 8x on IvyBridge(regular)? 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI3.0)

[EChondo]

Well, the differences between 16x and 8x are very minimal, we are talking like, 5% difference in performance at most. I would argue that both are great for SLI/Crossfire and that the performance difference is indistinguishable in most cases.

1) Technically, yes. I haven't seen a Z77 board with 16x/16x ability, but I have seen a handful of X79 boards with that feature.

2) Again, very minimal difference, but technically Ivy Bridge has more bandwidth, but it wouldn't matter as it doesn't add that much performance.

Is this just a random question you had or? I am asking because if you are determining to build a gaming/rendering rig in a bit, I would recommend you wait till Haswell or IB-E too see if performance is increased further. Good question however, hope my answer was the one you were seeking.

[Guest]

From memory, most Z77 boards have 16 lanes between the CPU and the PCI slots that is then distributed across the slots whereas X79 offers 40 lanes. I know the Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe along with a couple of other high end Z77 boards have a specialist PCI chip which also allows for better optimization across the PCI slots.

[cpuxtech]

Well, the differences between 16x and 8x are very minimal, we are talking like, 5% difference in performance at most. I would argue that both are great for SLI/Crossfire and that the performance difference is indistinguishable in most cases.

1) Technically, yes. I haven't seen a Z77 board with 16x/16x ability, but I have seen a handful of X79 boards with that feature.

2) Again, very minimal difference, but technically Ivy Bridge has more bandwidth, but it wouldn't matter as it doesn't add that much performance.

Is this just a random question you had or? I am asking because if you are determining to build a gaming/rendering rig in a bit, I would recommend you wait till Haswell or IB-E too see if performance is increased further. Good question however, hope my answer was the one you were seeking.

Random question I thought id try to get the answer 2

[ZeroPlasm]

Yes, z77 does not support 16x 16x and x79 boards does. If I have the $$$ and wanna buy a PC now, I would get a X79 board and a 3820 and wait for Ivy Bridge E, then sell away the 3820 and buy the Ivy Bridge E.

[Art Vandelay]

X79 is significantly better for 3+ cards, but it is not significantly better than Z77 for 2 cards. You could also go for a Z77 with a PLX splitter, which won't provide full X79 performance, but it will make a noticeable difference on 3+ cards, especially if you want to go with Sandy Bridge.

[LOLPhilips]

I'm guessing you already got your answer.. But just a little remark

"2) wouldnt this yield the same overall bandwidth, since 16x on SB-E is the same as 8x on IvyBridge(regular)? 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI3.0)"

But this is ofc only true went the 16x lanes are 2.0 = 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI2.0)"

But you probably meant to say this.. Chipset datasheet of the x79 chipset most of the times only mentions pci-e 2.0 thats because of the 40 lanes only 32 are 3.0 directly connected to the videocards the other 8 are 2.0 but these adress usb and sata ports

Amd cards and their driver support pci-e 3.0 on the x79 platform though and nvidia has (although you'll have to search for now) have released a 3.0 patch enabelling pci-e 3.0 on the x79 motherboards.. A little proof

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n3128[/ATTACH]

Still 16x/16x or 8x/8x not much differnce unless you get to 3+ cards, still I'd go with the x79 more powerfull overall and you have the option of a good 3/4way sli/crossfire

More info just read the entire second post it'll be all clear to you http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/310170-12-pcie

[cpuxtech]

I'm guessing you already got your answer.. But just a little remark

"2) wouldnt this yield the same overall bandwidth, since 16x on SB-E is the same as 8x on IvyBridge(regular)? 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI3.0)"

But this is ofc only true went the 16x lanes are 2.0 = 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI2.0)"

But you probably meant to say this.. Chipset datasheet of the x79 chipset most of the times only mentions pci-e 2.0 thats because of the 40 lanes only 32 are 3.0 directly connected to the videocards the other 8 are 2.0 but these adress usb and sata ports

Amd cards and their driver support pci-e 3.0 on the x79 platform though and nvidia has (although you'll have to search for now) have released a 3.0 patch enabelling pci-e 3.0 on the x79 motherboards.. A little proof

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n3128[/ATTACH]

Still 16x/16x or 8x/8x not much differnce unless you get to 3+ cards, still I'd go with the x79 more powerfull overall and you have the option of a good 3/4way sli/crossfire

More info just read the entire second post it'll be all clear to you http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/310170-12-pcie

Ok gotcha.. So technically, 8x/8xPCI3.0 and 16x/16x PCI2.0 are very similar, but if you get a patch such as NVIDIA released enabling SB-E cpus to support PCI 3.0 on the x79 mobo, then the x79 suddenly becomes much better because you have 8x/8x PCI2.0(Z77) vs 16x/16x PCi3.0(X79) and doesn;t that mean, theoretically....2x Bandwidth on your x79 with the patch sort of thing.

[LOLPhilips]

I'm guessing you already got your answer.. But just a little remark

"2) wouldnt this yield the same overall bandwidth, since 16x on SB-E is the same as 8x on IvyBridge(regular)? 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI3.0)"

But this is ofc only true went the 16x lanes are 2.0 = 8x/8x(PCI3.0) = 16x/16x(PCI2.0)"

But you probably meant to say this.. Chipset datasheet of the x79 chipset most of the times only mentions pci-e 2.0 thats because of the 40 lanes only 32 are 3.0 directly connected to the videocards the other 8 are 2.0 but these adress usb and sata ports

Amd cards and their driver support pci-e 3.0 on the x79 platform though and nvidia has (although you'll have to search for now) have released a 3.0 patch enabelling pci-e 3.0 on the x79 motherboards.. A little proof

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n3128[/ATTACH]

Still 16x/16x or 8x/8x not much differnce unless you get to 3+ cards, still I'd go with the x79 more powerfull overall and you have the option of a good 3/4way sli/crossfire

More info just read the entire second post it'll be all clear to you http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/310170-12-pcie

well Pci-e3.0 is double the bandwith of pci-e2.0 so 8x3.0=16x2.0 Both x79 and z77 have pci-e3.0 nativelly supported.. Its just that nvidia dissabled 3.0 on the x79 platform which you can enable via the update yourself, z77 is always 3.0 enabled.. The advantage of x79 is that it has 32 lanes for the videocard so one card will be 16x. two cards will be 16x/16x three cards will be 16x/8x/8x.. z77 has only 16 lanes for videocards so it will have to split earlier 1 card is 16x two cards 8x/8x three cards 8x/4x/4x There are z77 boards which use an extra chip to offer more lanes to the videocard, but these are third party chip and although they offer more lanes will get you a bit of a output lag for the cards.. If your not gonna run more then two cards I'd say go with z77 this will probably save you some money.. If you want more then two go with x79 since it offers more lanes nativelly.. I hope this makes it all a little easier to understand