ASROCK Fatal1ty z68 (1155)

[g3bb]

Hi Guys,

This motherboard http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Fatal1ty%20Z68%20Professional%20Gen3 specs say it will run quad sli / crossfire, just wondering if that would be at x16/x16 (2 pci-e 3.0 with 2 dual gpu cards) cos i heard that running dual gpu cards at x8 is ***.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Hi Guys,

This motherboard http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Fatal1ty%20Z68%20Professional%20Gen3 specs say it will run quad sli / crossfire, just wondering if that would be at x16/x16 (2 pci-e 3.0 with 2 dual gpu cards) cos i heard that running dual gpu cards at x8 is ***.

Any help is much appreciated.

Nop, it will only run on X8 in quad CF using dual GPU video cards (same with Asus Maximus IV Extreme). It's not really a big factor hence the performance increase is only 1% (as the youtube video showed below).

Between this ASRock Fatal1ty mobo & the Asus Maximus mobo (both I used), I would have to say that this Fatal1ty mobo is the best among the two. It has the best PCIe layout & with high OC ceiling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFMzRZqFh-w&feature=channel_video_title

 

[g3bb]

Hi mate,

Thanks for your help, wat about 3 way crossfire? with 3 single gpu cards?
Thanks

 

[suteck]

Sorry, it's a bit winded -
The first two PCI Express x16 slots are connected directly to the CPU integrated PCI Express controller. When only one video card is installed, the first slot works at x16 speed, but when you install two video cards, each slot works at x8 speed. These slots support both SLI and CrossFireX technologies.

This motherboard is touted to have “PCI Express 3.0” (a.k.a. “Gen3”) slots. For a Z68-based motherboard to support PCI Express x16 3.0 slots, two prerequisites are necessary. First, since these slots are controlled by the CPU, you will need to have a CPU with an embedded PCI Express 3.0 controller. Second, the motherboard must use PCI Express 3.0 channel switch chips.

Intel CPUs with an embedded PCI Express 3.0 controller are not available yet. (The first CPU with this feature will be the “Ivy Bridge.”) So, even if you install the latest Intel CPU, the PCI Express x16 slots will still be 2.0, since the PCI Express controller embedded in the CPU is 2.0.

However, this motherboard uses PCI Express 3.0 channel switch chips (NXP L04083B). See Figure 3. This means that when socket 1155 “Ivy Bridge” CPUs become available, you will be able to explore the full potential of the PCI Express 3.0 connection – if you have a PCI Express 3.0 video card installed as well. (There are no video cards based on this standard yet.) Motherboards based on the Intel Z68 chipset that use PCI Express 2.0 channel switch chips won’t support PCI Express 3.0, and even if you install an “Ivy Bridge” CPU with a PCI Express 3.0 video card, the slots will work at 2.0 speeds. The third PCI Express x16 slot always works at x4 speed!

 

[Guest]

Hi mate,

Thanks for your help, wat about 3 way crossfire? with 3 single gpu cards?
Thanks

It doesn't make sense you asked regarding 3 way CF when you can do quad CF with 2 video cards (with dual GPUs on each cards). You're far better off with running it on quad. Not only you have extra PCIe slot to use in the future, it's way faster with quad that tri CF. It's cheaper too (buying 2 GTX 590 than 3 GTX 580) & less component to cool down as well as more energy efficient (less power to consume). Anyway, if you look at the manual, the answer to your question would be that the last PCIe slot is X4 (though the manual didn't say it exactly, it would be X8X8X4) .

 

[suteck]

@ Cheaptrick

if you look at the manual, the answer to your question would be that the last PCIe slot is X4 (though the manual didn't say it exactly, it would be X8X8X4) .

I'm not doubting only asking for clarification - does only the last slot run at 4X or does it reduce all lanes to 4X when they're populated? Kinda like the 16X lane gets reduced to 8X giving you 8X 8X instead of 16X 8X when you populate the 2nd slot. If you populate 3 slots I thought that meant you'd be running in 4X4X4X.

 

[g3bb]

Best answer selected by G3BB.

 

[Guest]

@ Cheaptrick

if you look at the manual, the answer to your question would be that the last PCIe slot is X4 (though the manual didn't say it exactly, it would be X8X8X4) .

I'm not doubting only asking for clarification - does only the last slot run at 4X or does it reduce all lanes to 4X when they're populated? Kinda like the 16X lane gets reduced to 8X giving you 8X 8X instead of 16X 8X when you populate the 2nd slot. If you populate 3 slots I thought that meant you'd be running in 4X4X4X.

Not really. In the Asus Maximus IV for example, if you use (3) video cards. It would be X8,X16X16.

In the ASRock Fatal1ty, I think it's X8X8X4 or X8X4X4. Not sure between the two but I'm 100% sure that it's not gonna be X4X4X4.

ASRock got the PLX chip too.

 

[Badelhas]

Did anyone find any benchmarks of tri-sli with a x8x8x4 configuration? I would like to know the performance gains of adding another gtx570 to my current dual-sli rig, considering the x4 pci lane...
Cheers