X77 PCI-E 3.0 or 2.0?

[robbversion1]

So i've been doing research so I can purchase a new mobo. One thing that i've come across is that various z77 with a third x16 slot are showing as either pci-e 3.0 or 2.0

For example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819
This asus has the third showing as a pci-e 2.0 x4

But if you look at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643
This msi has the third as pci-e 3.0 x4

Is newegg just using the 2.0 and 3.0 interchangeably or is this really the speed of those mobo pci-e slots? I remember seeing the layout of the z77 and dont remember any mention of 2.0 x4. But I dont remember seeing that the z77 has x8 lanes of pci-e 2.0 which = pci-e 3.0 x4.

Anyone have a definite answer on whats going on with this?

 

[ss202sl]

I think what you are looking at is what is supported. The Asus only has 2 PCIe 3.0 slots. It will take a 3.0 card, or a 2.0 card, and it is showing the speeds.

The MSI MB actually has 3 PCIe 3.0 slots.

 

[Guest]

So i've been doing research so I can purchase a new mobo. One thing that i've come across is that various z77 with a third x16 slot are showing as either pci-e 3.0 or 2.0

For example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819
This asus has the third showing as a pci-e 2.0 x4

But if you look at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643
This msi has the third as pci-e 3.0 x4

Is newegg just using the 2.0 and 3.0 interchangeably or is this really the speed of those mobo pci-e slots? I remember seeing the layout of the z77 and dont remember any mention of 2.0 x4. But I dont remember seeing that the z77 has x8 lanes of pci-e 2.0 which = pci-e 3.0 x4.

Anyone have a definite answer on whats going on with this?

PCI-e 3.0 is the latest and fastest. Although Im not sure anything actually takes advantage of the extra bandwidth. Nor does it make much of a dif. maybe 5% in frames if that.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

The issue really comes down to the limited number of PCI-E 3.0 lanes that the Z77 chipsets support. On the "6" series boards they would only support a total of 20 PCI-E 2.0 lanes and I wouldnt be shocked if it wasn't the same.

 

[robbversion1]

Thats the thing z77 supports 8 lanes of PCI-e 2.0 which is the same as 4 of PCI-e 3.0. Thats what got me confused when some boards offer 2.0 @ x4 and others have 3.0 @x4. And for the same price really.