Slightly Confused About Ivybridge

[OCAspire]

Hey Everyone

I was looking at Ivybridge CPU's in the online store and I was reading the product description and came across this:

Intel's new IvyBridge based CPU's is a refresh that requires socket LGA1155 mainboards based on Intel Z77 Chipset.

Now Does this mean that you HAVE to buy a z77 motherboard to use the Ivybridge processors or..........?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Martini1991]

Ivybridge works on all socket 1155 consumer desktop chipsets.
H61/H67/P67/Z68/Z77/B75.

 

[OCAspire]

Would there be any advantage to using each one?

 

[Martini1991]

There's some select features which are limited to certain chipsets.
Such as quicksync, lucid hydra etc.

PCI-E 3.0 works on all of the chipsets (Although depending how the lanes get their bandwidth not all lanes on a board would get PCI-E 3.0, needs Ivybridge for the PCI-E 3.0 anyway)

 

[OCAspire]

Thank you Would I be better off with a B75 board rather than a H61?, Ive read that the BIOS would need updating for an IvyBridge CPU to work on a H61 board and for that to happen surely you would need a CPU in the board already just to update the BIOS?

 

[Martini1991]

Some boards will ship with the correct BIOS and already work straight off, I recently bought a cheap H61 Asus board and it had the correct BIOS, even advertising PCI-E 3.0.

You'd be fine with a B75 board, but the cheapest B75 boards are Asrocks, and I'm not a fan.

 

[OCAspire]

Ok thanks for the advice . Im going to arrange a build and post here what I want to get and maybe people will give me some advice or find something more suitable for my needs

 

[opethdisciple]

If I was buying an IB CPU, I would defo get a (x)77 mobo.

They unlock all IB features. Biggest one being PCIE3.

If your looking for a cheap mobo the H77 look cheap. No reason to go for a (x)68 or other board.

 

[Martini1991]

PCI-E 3.0 isn't dependant on a 77 board.

 

[opethdisciple]

PCI-E 3.0 isn't dependant on a 77 board.

Are you sure?

Im fairly sure when I was looking in to buy my gear, I found out that yes, you can put the IB cpu in any 1155 socket mobo, but you dont get pcie3 as thats is (x)77 dependant.

I have just done a scan of non (x)77 mobo and cant find a mention of PCIE3.

Could be wrong.

---

OK, it was the other way round, your right. If you put a SB cpu in a (x)77 mobo you dont get PCIE3.

 

[Martini1991]

The bandwidth comes from the CPU.

It's just another misconception (Not helped when MSI went on their tirade against Gigabyte), like with Crossfire downclocking cards (Which it hasn't done for years, yet people will always need correcting)

Recently did a H61 set up with an i5 3330, works fine PCI-E 3.0.

EDIT : Although, I will add that PCI-E 3.0 with certain boards won't work in every lane, depends how they're getting their bandwidth.

 

[PCZ]

You can get PCI-E 3 on non 77x boards with an IVY.
It depends on the configuration of the PCI-E slots and the capabilites of the bridge/splitter chips if used.

Cheaper boards hard wire the Ist PCI-E slot direct to the CPU.
These will work at PCI-E 3 speeds with IVY but only on the Primary PCI-E slot.
These have a 16/4 PCI-E slot config

The more expensive boards with an 8x8 PCI-E config are more problematic.
In order to split the 16 PCI-E lanes from the CPU they use bridge/splitter chips.
Most of these chips do not support PCI-E 3 signalling speeds.

However there are some that do.
For example the ASROCK x68 extreme3 gen3 has PCI-E 3 capable bridge chips and does PCI-E 3 at 8X on both PCI-E slots with an IVY installed.

Do your homework before buying a Z68 board if you want PCI-E 3 on both slots.
Look for mention of gen3, most manafactures sites will have PCI-E 3 support info as well.

Gigabyte were advertising PCI-E 3 support on a lot of there boards without mentioning the fact that it was limited to one slot only.
There more expensive boards did not support gen3 at all because of the bridge chips used to split the lanes.
Thats why MSI called them out.