Z77 Sabertooth

[tougas]

I currently have the P67 sabertooth and i love this board but unfortunately it doesnt support the new gtx 680 so i will probably upgrade my board soon so i was wondering if anyone has bough the new z77 chipset mobo and what the thoughts were on it. Even non-owners thoughts are welcome. Thanks guys!

 

[kelthic]

Why is the p67 Sabertooth not compatable with the GTX 680? The 680 works in PCIe 2.0 slots, which the P67 Sabertooth has.

 

[tougas]

The 680 requires a PCIe 3.0 for full capabilities. I just wish i knew what i know now before i bought it back in the day. The p67 is a great motherboard dont get me wrong but i guess i just get bored and need to frequently update or upgrade. I may just hang on to this one a bit longer lol well see.

 

[kelthic]

well, if it's a matter of personal preference, I have a sabertooth board as well and love it also, though most people consider them overpriced. Personal preference is just that, it's the right to say "i just don't care how relevant this upgrade will be, i want it and i'm getting it."

 

[tougas]

thats about where i was. I had a small little mid tower case and i was playing a game and skyping with my gf and saw my temps reach 60c on my cpu and ram and decided i needed a full tower. now with all this space i just want to make it cramped like my mod tower was lol. i just heard mix reviews on sli-ing my 560ti so im torn between that and a new card all together. but if i go new ill be going all the way new so the 680 would be my choice

 

[kelthic]

680 would definitely be slick, no doubts about that. Yeah, absolutely go for it!

 

[tougas]

ugh how come every time i watch reviews on it or unboxings i find my mouse hovering over the add to cart lol. cant wait to get it now.

 

[kelthic]

or drooling....

 

[tougas]

lol yea exactly. i just dont find the 680 as attractive as some of the older GPU's i miss the old circuit looking cards the looked so much more techie from outside the case. theyre all covered with a plastic shroud now. its depressing.

 

[kelthic]

lol yeah i get that.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

i am 95% sure a GTX680 cannot fully saturates a PCI-E 2 at x16.

from all the benchmarks i have read. it seems only to be an issue when running SLI. and the PCI-E 2 will drop to 8x8. vs PCIe3 at 8x8

PCIE 2 @16 is roughly = to PCIE 3 @ 8

i would keep the board run the tests and benchmarks then if your not happy change to a Z77 and run the same benchmarks.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

See link below

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038608078

Quote "Heaven 3.0 at 4xMSAA, there is about a 4% loss on x8/x8 vs. x16/16, however at 8xMSAA it's about a 19% loss. This is about the same in Metro 2033 (AAA vs 4xMSAA, No DoF)."

talking about 4% loss when using SLI 680's (8x8 vs 16x16 PCIe 2.0)

 

[HugoStiglitz]

And Here again. NOTE its RE the 7970 but as performance is quite close so is the bandwidth limiations.

"QUOTE:Ultimately what is clear is that 8GB/sec of bandwidth, either in the form of PCIe 2 x16 or PCIe 3 x8, will be necessary to completely feed the 7970. 16GB/sec (PCIe 3 x16) appears to be overkill for a single card at this time, and 4GB/sec or 2GB/sec will bottleneck the 7970 depending on the game. The good news is that even at 2GB/sec the bottlenecking is rather limited, and based on our selection of benchmarks it looks like a handful of games will be bottlenecked. Still, there’s a good argument here that 7970CF owners are going to want a PCIe 3 system to avoid bottlenecking their cards – in fact this may be the greatest benefit of PCIe 3 right now, as it should provide enough bandwidth to make an x8/x8 configuration every bit as fast as an x16/x16 configuration, allowing for maximum GPU performance with Intel’s mainstream CPUs."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5458/the-radeon-hd-7970-reprise-pcie-bandwidth-overclocking-and-msaa


In summary there would be no improvement for getting a PCIe 3.0 compatible mobo unless your looking to SLI 680's or getting a 690 when it's out. I would stick with the P67 and get the 680 if it comes time that u want to SLI then look at getting a PCIe 3.0 board and IVY bridge CPU if u feel the need.

 

[monsta]

Grab the 680 and enjoy it , you should not have any problems , later on you can add the 680 to a new mobo or upgrade your system and it will perform better, but in no way will the P67 perform badly.

 

[tougas]

Well my thought is if I get the 680 it may well function but with my i7 installed the bottleneck is the mother board itself

 

[monsta]

Wait till Ivy Bridge is released , see how much better the Z77 platform is with it and then you can see if its worth it.
The release date is on the 23rd of this month , so soon we will have a chance to see the reviews.
I just dont think you will have a bottleneck at all , your current system is excellent from looking at your config, and you will have excellent performance using a 680 and it will beat the pants off your 560ti.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

@tougas....

NO your board will NOT bottlekneck a 680. the 680 CANNOT fill the PCI-e 2 @16 bandwidth (8gb/sec) so upgrading to a PCI-e 3 @ 16 (16GB/sec) WILL NOT IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.

even at 2GB/sec (PCI-e 2 @ 4x) the bottlenecking is minimal and only a hand full of games are effected.

There is absolutly no need to get PCI-e 3.0 for ANY single card avaliable at the moment. Unless ur going to Crossfire / SLI these cards or get one of the currently unreleased 690 / 7990 cards its a waste of money.

 

[tougas]

Best answer selected by tougas.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr