Asrock Z77 Extreme 6 & 2 Way SLI Support

[fl-gators-fan]

Hey Everyone,

I'm looking into buying a new Asrock Z77 Extreme 6 motherboard that I will pair with an i5 3570K chip & X2 Gigabyte GTX 560Ti Super Overclocked cards in 2 way SLI. My question is; are the 2 PCI express 3.0 lanes far enough away from each other to not have my cards 1 on top of the other? From the image on Newegg I can't make a judgement & would like to ask for your help.

Thanks guys

Link here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[dudewitbow]

they should be far enough unless you had like a triple slot cooler on your cards.

 

[fl-gators-fan]

My 2 GTX 560 Ti's look like this;



You can click on the picture for a larger view

 

[jaquith]

First, unless you purchase (a) new GPU(s) the nVidia GTX 500 series is PCIe 2.0.

The ASRock Z77 Extreme6 is spaced for triple slot GPUs so you'll have good airflow to each GPU. My preference is the ASUS Sabertooth Z77 or ASUS P8Z77-V PRO/P8Z77-V or P8Z77-V PRO Thunderbolt (if you'll ever use or want Thunderbolt).

 

[fl-gators-fan]

Would there be any noticeable difference between PCIe 2.0 & 3.0? I'd upgrade my graphics cards if it were possible, but money is an issue & I'm pretty happy with the 2 GTX 560 Ti's in SLI

A GTX 670 or 660 TI would be great, but I'm already at my upgrade limit of about $700

I checked out the Asus P8Z77-V Pro & it looks like a nice board & is only a little more then the Asrock Z77 Extreme 6 (I'll have to think more on that)

 

[dudewitbow]

the difference between pci-e 2.0 and 3.0 is like 1-2 fps, and thats only applies to pci-3.0 cards. GPU's this age havent fully utilized the full speed of a pci-e 2.0 lane. heck technically a gtx 680 in a 4x slot still runs at like 94% speed according to a slightly old test i cant remember which page it was on. Its going to be awhile till gpus fully utilize a pci-e 2.0 slot+

 

[jaquith]

Here's a great PCIe 3.0 Scaling bandwidth article - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/

Short answer the PCIe 'Interface' is negligible until you look at 3/4-WAY SLI with very High Resolutions and Settings. 1 GTX 670/680 = 2 GTX 560 Ti's.

SLI GTX 560Ti is perfectly fine for HD (1920x1080) and there's only a few games where you'll have issues with very high settings and AA.

 

[fl-gators-fan]

Best answer selected by fl-gators-fan.

 

[fl-gators-fan]

Thanks for the article It was nice to read & check out some of the results (there's not much difference between 2.0 & 3.0 with only a few FPS difference)

Thanks for your replies guys I'll have to decide on either the Asrock Z77 Extreme6 or the Asus P8Z77-V Pro. Both boards seem like a great addition to my upcoming upgrade paired with an I5 3570K.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr