Do I not get PCI 3 if I put a SB chip in a Z77 board?

[paradisiac]

sources are not really required, as you can tell that they are not related to the question you originally asked. you will not get a HUGE bottleneck on a Z77 mobo. if you havent purchased any components yet, then go for the Socket 2011 route, then you will get full PCI-e 3.0 X16 SLI. if you have already got parts, then go for whichever chip gives best value for money when IB is released as PCI-e 3.0 is a long way off being a reason to pick you parts.

 

[ChileanLlama]

sources are not really required, as you can tell that they are not related to the question you originally asked. you will not get a HUGE bottleneck on a Z77 mobo. if you havent purchased any components yet, then go for the Socket 2011 route, then you will get full PCI-e 3.0 X16 SLI. if you have already got parts, then go for whichever chip gives best value for money when IB is released as PCI-e 3.0 is a long way off being a reason to pick you parts.

Only thing with that is that nVidia don't consider x79 to be fully PCI 3.0 certified, and that IB will be first fully fledged PCI 3.0 certified platform. On x79 the current drivers fall back to PCI 2.0 unless you do a registry hack.

They have said they're looking to certify x79 but it's not happened yet.

 

[paradisiac]

Only thing with that is that nVidia don't consider x79 to be fully PCI 3.0 certified, and that IB will be first fully fledged PCI 3.0 certified platform. On x79 the current drivers fall back to PCI 2.0 unless you do a registry hack.

They have said they're looking to certify x79 but it's not happened yet.

ah, i was unaware of that. learn something new everyday, and usually from you

 

[ChileanLlama]

Thanks it's only cos you're asking the questions I've already had to ask

 

[dillingerdan]

BECAUSE ON A Z77 MOBO YOU WILL NOT GET 16X 16X SLI and even if there was, the one in your sig DOES NOT

Well a Z77 would give the bandwidth equivalent of 32x and 16x compared to PCIe 2.0.

But ignoring the fact the original question has been answered and the bickering continues, no-one can really answer your question until reviews hit next week. Not unless you pester the guess with early chips, who will probably ignore you due to testing or benchmarking the **** out of them.

On a separate note, something which just popped into my head.

On a board which is not technically limited to an 8x lane (electrically) and you force a limit in software (when multi-cards are installed), does it ignore or shut down the extra lane connections or is it a bandwidth thing, so it limits the bandwidth from the card?

 

[Surveyor]

Well a Z77 would give the bandwidth equivalent of 32x and 16x compared to PCIe 2.0.

On Z77 boards without bridge chips the best you're going to get is x8/x8 PCI-E 3.0 so the equivalent of x16/x16 PCI-E 2.0.

On a board which is not technically limited to an 8x lane (electrically) and you force a limit in software (when multi-cards are installed), does it ignore or shut down the extra lane connections or is it a bandwidth thing, so it limits the bandwidth from the card?

On boards with x16 and x8 speed slots the x8 slot shares bandwidth with the x16 slot.

8 lanes have to be shut off from the x16 speed slot so the bandwidth can be provided for the x8 speed slot.

With cards in both slots they're both physically limited to x8 speed.

 

[F4810]

I will also admit the 2nd graph is more represntative of what I will be experiencing, but:

32>53, 62% increase
69>97, 41% increase
52>78, 50% increase
40>61, 51% increase
79>108, 36% increase
56>85, 52% increase

How is that not huge?

If this is correct I agree that this is HUGE and have no idea why people are saying otherwise. I hope it is correct as it is an extra case for the X79 as a longer term bet as you move to faster GPUs and more pixels.

 

[paradisiac]

If this is correct I agree that this is HUGE and have no idea why people are saying otherwise. I hope it is correct as it is an extra case for the X79 as a longer term bet as you move to faster GPUs and more pixels.

yes that is correct for X79, but dont forget thats only a test for 1 game, its not representative as conclusive evidence that everything will see that sort of gain.
where the HUGE bottleneck issue was, was in the fact the statement was aimed at Z77 boards not X79. Z77 will only be X8 X8 not X16 X16 therefore the graphs/results were not related to the arguement in question.

 

[EL_JOCK]

Sorry to jump in, bit off track but along the same lines,

If you have a Z77 board, with sandy bridge i get that PCI-E 3.0 does not work at its bandwidth and becomes PCI-E 2.0,

However with the above in mind, if you crossfire 6970' for example or any PCI-E 2 based cards, does that mean it's PCI-E 2 (16x 16x) or does it become PCI-E 2 (8x 8x)?

Hope that comes out right its doing my head in, now that it looks like ivy it a HOT chip

 

[kitch9]

A single GPU on a single monitor resolution? No, there isn't one that will get bottlenecked under such circumstances. However, I never said there was such a case.

I think you need to re-read what I said, and more carefully too.

I was talking about a bottleneck in a setup including 2 high end GPUs like the 680 with multiple monitors, for example 3 1080p screens.

Setups like those is where you'll see PCI 2 bottlenecking, according to several people who have multi GPU multi monitor setups and have tested both PCI 2 and PCI 3.

Hmm, on second thought NVM.

 

[Spenty]

To be honest it must be something like 1% of gamers that have the kind of setup that will be bottlenecked by PCIE 2.0. Probably lower than 1% actually.