Motherboard selection

Hi guys

Another post about hardware selction im affraid.

I come on here from time to time to ask for system build advice to make a system to play PR and ARMA on.

The last time I was told to wait for Ivybridge CPUs to arrive.. which has now happend so now rather than come here with a list of componets I have one question.

I understand the building of a system now, apart from a few little niggles that i can work out myself.

I want to make a future proof system, I intend to play ARMA 3 when it is released at high settings so I dont want to make a bottleneck.

So, I need a motherboard that can handle what I want, As i understand I can just up the CPU add more memory and add a new graphics card in SLI. So i want a motherboard that will SLI two cards at full speed, Is this PCI 3.0 x2 x16?

Is this what im after?

MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure [Z77 MPower]

Or are there cheaper alternatives?

Im going for a high end i5K
16gb ram
unsure of GFX card atm
500gb hd with the potentail to add a catching SSD

Cheers in advance.

[Cossack]

Yeah, MSI have pretty solid boards. For me its three companies to chose from - MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte.

And I was looking for MSI Mpower board as well... Its kind a OC people oriented but looks very clean.

ASUS P8Z77 V-Pro is solid board as well or you could go for Gigabyte Z77 UP4 or MSI Z77GD65 or GD80

Do these boards offer dual 16x gfx cards? I plan on getting one now, and then in a few years, a new CPU, 16gig more ram and a replica gpu to twin up

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[Steeps]

You just have to be aware that processors can rarely upgrade without a new board these days. This is due to a new socket every time a processor comes out.

[LITOralis.nMd]

Your link for the MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 looks like a good price, I am in the US but have helped a few UK guys find mobos in this forum.

It's a solid mobo, I looked at it but ended up buying the ASUS P8Z77 V-Pro because it was on sale and I don't think I'll ever go down the multiple GPU upgrade route. ASUS P8Z77 V-Pro is only pcie2 x8/x8 when using both slots.

All the technical points you added are spot on, the board you selected has two separate Pcie3 x16 slots, which means that motherboard will be able to take any new graphics card on the market for the next 3 to 5 years, at which point the motherboard and CPU will be antiquated.

[LITOralis.nMd]

As to looking at alternatives,

the pciex pipeline for the motherboards you are looking at have either 16 or 32 pipes for the two GPU slots.

The best when two GPUs are installed, are Pcie3 , slot one with x16 pipes and slot two with x16 pipes.

Cheaper ones will be pcie2 or pcie2.1 , slot one with x8 or x16, and slot two with x8.

The GTX 690, HD7970, (and possibly the HD7950) will fill the pciex2 x8 pipeline, creating a bottleneck in Dual SLI/Crossfire configuration.

Keep in mind that a pcie3 x8 pipeline is near equivalent to the pcie2 x16 pipeline in available bandwidth.

PCI express basics - Page 3

This will answer questions:
Can An Overclocked GTX 690 be bottlenecked by PCIe 3.0 X8 or PCIe 2.0 X16 ? | AlienBabelTech

Effective bandwidth is what you are looking for.

[Cossack]

Yeah - if you want full 16x/16x SLi support - go with x79 chipset. As far as I know that is the only modern chipset able to pull of. Z77 is 8x/8x.

But dont worry about it - difference of 16x and 8x most of the time is like margin of error. You will never feel it in real world scenario.

[LITOralis.nMd]

THe MSI z77 Big Bang is 3 PCI-E x16 3.0 (16/4/4; 8/8/4)

The Asus V Pro is PCI Express 3.0 x16: 2 (x16/0 or x8/x

same difference in the daily functionality.

regards,

Originally Posted by Steeps5

You just have to be aware that processors can rarely upgrade without a new board these days. This is due to a new socket every time a processor comes out.

Yep i understand this, however if i opt for an i5 now,in a few years i should be able to fit the top of the range (at this moment in time) i7 for a reduced price

So the general train of though is x16 x 16 isn't that essential and x16 x8 would suffice.

What do we reckon ARMA 3 we run like with a single gpu, say a 7800 series? And if not well, would SLI'ing another one in a x8 lane make a significant difference. The reason i ask is if not ill get a. A cheaper board to start with.

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Originally Posted by [R-COM]LITOralis.nMd

As to looking at alternatives,

the pciex pipeline for the motherboards you are looking at have either 16 or 32 pipes for the two GPU slots.

The best when two GPUs are installed, are Pcie3 , slot one with x16 pipes and slot two with x16 pipes.

Cheaper ones will be pcie2 or pcie2.1 , slot one with x8 or x16, and slot two with x8.

The GTX 690, HD7970, (and possibly the HD7950) will fill the pciex2 x8 pipeline, creating a bottleneck in Dual SLI/Crossfire configuration.

Keep in mind that a pcie3 x8 pipeline is near equivalent to the pcie2 x16 pipeline in available bandwidth.

PCI express basics - Page 3

This will answer questions:
Can An Overclocked GTX 690 be bottlenecked by PCIe 3.0 X8 or PCIe 2.0 X16 ? | AlienBabelTech

Effective bandwidth is what you are looking for.

Cheers for the links! I understand alot more now. It kinds of makes pcie3 sound a bit useless tbh

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