PCI 3 vs PCI 2. Motherboards and Opinions...

[shorsfield]

Hello,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm building a gaming rig in the next few weeks and I want to finalize parts. I'm either getting a (PCI 3) GA-Z77-DS3H or a (PCI 2) Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3. Now I understand the Z68 is higher end but the Z77 still does what I want it to do (after I build my rig, I won't go crazy with overclocking and I won't need/want crossfire/sli anytime soon and by that time I would have upgraded motherboards). Now my question... Speaking ONLY on graphics performance the Z77 would perform better correct? Reading on forum's i've been getting mixed answers on whether or not a PCI 3 card would be worth using on a PCI 2 motherboard etc. Personally i'm thinking the Z77 board is a better buy because it does what I need (as long as it performs at LEAST at the Z68 for graphics and other basic things). Opinions?

Thanks

 

[monsta]

Won't make any difference on the graphics front using PCI-2 or PCI-3 as long as they are x16 you are good to go. Go for features and choose what motherboard best suits your needs. Grab the latest tech the Z77 if it does what you need.

 

[monsta]

Hope this helps , will show you theres hardly any difference between the two.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/

 

[shorsfield]

Thanks for such a quick and easy answer! What would be the benefit of having PCI 3 then in the first place? Down the road? I was also reading that the GA-Z77-DS3H is considered "bad for gaming", aside from it not having ALL the features in the world there isn't any reason it should be considered "bad for gaming" is there? I won't get anything more from any other boards if i'm only using ONE standard card?

Thanks

Won't make any difference on the graphics front using PCI-2 or PCI-3 as long as they are x16 you are good to go. Go for features and choose what motherboard best suits your needs. Grab the latest tech the Z77 if it does what you need.

 

[monsta]

PCI-e 3 is good for down the road, guess we will have to wait and see if the next gen gpu's will increase their bandwidth to show the benefit.
It really depends if you want to overclock or just keep it stock standard. Are you looking at overclocking and what is your budget?

 

[shorsfield]

PCI-e 3 is good for down the road, guess we will have to wait and see if the next gen gpu's will increase their bandwidth to show the benefit.
It really depends if you want to overclock or just keep it stock standard. Are you looking at overclocking and what is your budget?

Well i'm not really wanting to overclock if at all anytime soon.

My planned build would be:

3570K
Z77-DS3H
7850 or something similar (i'll buy that in a few months)
Corsair 400R
8GB Vengeance
Corsair 650w

I'd be using it for gaming, web browsing, school work, light coding, movies etc. Gaming would definitely be the most strenuous thing i'd be doing. My budget is $1050 ($830 USD). I'd rather not going AMD or use any other motherboard but i'm wondering if my build will run fine or if I should buy a different graphics card

Thanks

 

[echondo]

Your build looks more than acceptable! I can't really find anything wrong with that Z77 motherboard? Where have you heard this info of it being bad for gaming?

Either way, I love Gigabyte motherboards I have a Z68 UD4 Gigabyte board and I just love it, all black with expandability with SLI/CFx <3

 

[shorsfield]

Your build looks more than acceptable! I can't really find anything wrong with that Z77 motherboard? Where have you heard this info of it being bad for gaming?

Either way, I love Gigabyte motherboards I have a Z68 UD4 Gigabyte board and I just love it, all black with expandability with SLI/CFx <3

I was reading reviews on NewEgg and Amazon. Some of them said things along the lines of "bad for gaming" but never expanded to anything more. I couldn't find any "proper" reviews by legitimate review sites. I'm guessing because it's low end. Thanks for all the help guys

 

[monsta]

Yup its a budget motherboard but does not mean its bad , I think when they say it bad for gaming they may possibly mean its not a motherboard for overclocking.
If you choose not to overclcock your cpu , that motherboard will work just fine.

 

[shorsfield]

Best answer selected by shorsfield.