Sandy bridge ok on Z77?

[mikes1992]

My motherboard recently died and I'm having trouble finding another mid range P67 board. Should I be ok using a Z77? (they're pretty cheap) I won't loose USB 3.0? Will I be able to run 2 cards in SLI in the PCI-E 3.0 slots (i'm not currently running SLI but is a probable future upgrade... if I get a job i'll probably just buy an Ivy Bridge i5 k series).

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Yeah, it's fine. No problems with that,

 

[rgd1101]

should work, but check the motherboard manufacturer web site.

 

[hyrule571]

The answer in a simple form: Yes it will work just fine.

The answer in an extended form: Yes it will work just fine, but the PCI-E 3.0 interfaces will not operate at real PCI-E 3.0 speeds. They will work at stock PCI-E 2.0 speeds like your P67 based motherboard does. Do not get this confused with USB 3.0, for your USB 3.0 interfaces will work like they should.

 

[mikes1992]

The answer in a simple form: Yes it will work just fine.

The answer in an extended form: Yes it will work just fine, but the PCI-E 3.0 interfaces will not operate at real PCI-E 3.0 speeds. They will work at stock PCI-E 2.0 speeds like your P67 based motherboard does. Do not get this confused with USB 3.0, for your USB 3.0 interfaces will work like they should.

Isn't the USB 3.0 controller on the CPU on ivy? unless they mean it's native on the chipset as opposed to a 3rd party USB 3.0 chip.

 

[mikes1992]

Thanks for the info anyway, i'd choose a best answer but I opened it as a discussion :/. So I will be able to run SLI? I know ivy can't run SLI on old sandy chipsets

One last question... I shouldn't have any problems with existing drivers on the hhd for the old motherboard will I? I've never had to remove drivers before and I'm worried that they may conflict with each other if they don't replace each other.

 

[mikes1992]

Oh also I'm thinking about getting a MSI Z77MA-G45... it's kind of a middle ground between the Z77A-G43 and Z77A-G45. it supports SLI as opposed to the G43.

I just called the website and asked for a refund... noticed they had the Z77 for the same price as my current board and I just asked for that board over the phone and I think they're going to sort something out.


Wow... they just got a message back from MSI. They found no problems with the motherboard.

The board that I thought died was my 2nd motherboard, when I first built it the bios was posting a CPU failure beep code which stopped after I updated the bios. when the board "died" it instantly powered down and there was no activity at all when I attempted to power up.

On the phone he did mention if I got blue screens and I did get a blue screen once after I increased the CPU base clock by .010mhz lol... I just assumed that since I was running my memory at a XMP this time and I assumed that it was a little less friendly with changing base clocks so I just stuck with stock 99mhzx36. I never told him that over the phone since it may compromise my warranty. It had been running flawlessly for 2 months after I had set it up until it shut its self off and everything was completely dead (same as the last time :S)


What would prevent a power up sequence other then the motherboard? (no fans power up, PSU doesn't power up etc)... I've already got a replacement PSU because I didn't trust it (I saw a blue flash around the bottom of my case!). the Guy on my phone asked me about the memory but I'd tested booting with 1 stick of ram and he told me to boot up with one of my old GPU's but these wouldn't prevent a power up would they?

I also don't see the likelihood a defective CPU running perfectly (apart from a blue screen with minor base clock changes until it decided to drop dead)... maybe it was my PSU? It was a Corsair TX650 v2 (which should be great?).

I'm really confused now...

 

[InvalidError]

Isn't the USB 3.0 controller on the CPU on ivy? unless they mean it's native on the chipset as opposed to a 3rd party USB 3.0 chip.

PCIe 3.0 lanes are in the CPU on LGA1155 and LGA2011 sockets.

USB3.0 and SATA3 are integrated in the 3rd-gen chipsets (z77/z75/h77/b75) so board using those no longer need add-on controllers which saves the IO Hub's PCIe lanes for other stuff.