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Asus X99-E WS, how should i understand the PCI-E lanes?

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Pierre3400

Pierre3400

annnnnnd it's gone
​
Joined
May 15, 2010
Location
Euroland, Denmark
Hey guys.

I am wondering about the Asus X99-E WS motherboard, i am aware this is a server board, but I am still left a bit puzzled by it.

http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/X99E_WS/

Asus Spec page said:
40-Lane CPU-
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)
28-Lane CPU-
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)
Click to expand...

Should this be understood as, no matter what CPU stuffed into it, you will still have (for quadfire/quad SLI) 64pci-e lanes to use?
 
40 lane CPU = 5960X, 5930K
28 lane CPU = 5820K

All is limted by CPU , not motherboard. Maybe we will see Xeons with higher lane support.

At 28 lines it simply won't run at 16+8+8+8+8+8+8 on PCIE 3.0. Board has to mix it with 2.0 so it's more like real performance of 4+4+4+4+4+4+4 PCIe 3.0 or 3x ( 8x PCIe 2.0 ) + 4x ( 4x PCIe 3.0 ) :)

At 40 it's also mix of PCIe 2.0 and 3.0 as it's impossible to make it run at 7x PCIe 8x+.

Real performance for Quad CF/SLI will be 8+8+8+8 for 40 lane CPUs and 8+4+4+4 for 28 lane. I would pick any cheaper mobo for gaming as most will have the same config for 3-4 graphics cards.
 
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But thats not what the specs say, i would presume that same as you said, but the specs say different, and the boast about it with this motherboard, since there is not 64 lane CPU yet, it must be down to the Chips on the motherboard to run all those lanes instead of the cpu?
 
I can't see any info about PLX. There is info that these lanes are at PCIE 2.0/3.0 and it's mixed depends from used cards. ASUS says only that each port can work at x8 or x16 but no info if all are 2.0 or 3.0 if all slots are occupied. All slots are physical/electrical x16 but max bandwidth may change depends from card config.
At least I see it this way looking at board's specs and description.
 
Now I see, there are 2 PLX chips on this board, no info at all but they're marked in the manual.
In the table there is 16+8+8+8+8+8+8 regardless of used CPU.
 
The PLX was never a performance killer or the difference wasn't "a buttload". It added a bit of latency vs direct connect (to the tune of 1-2% difference). It still has that negligible difference. Not to mention, Z77 and Z87 had the same amount of PCIe lanes without a PLX chip in the first place. So if you needed more than 16, you had a PLX on the Z87 as well. ;)
 
Looks like SLI/CF is used on CPU lanes and additional lanes are dedicated for grey slots/additional cards. In this case there shouldn't be additional latency for SLI/CF setup. Hard to say exactly as there is no clear description.
 
EarthDog said:
The PLX was never a performance killer or the difference wasn't "a buttload". It added a bit of latency vs direct connect (to the tune of 1-2% difference). It still has that negligible difference. Not to mention, Z77 and Z87 had the same amount of PCIe lanes without a PLX chip in the first place. So if you needed more than 16, you had a PLX on the Z87 as well. ;)
Click to expand...

On my AsRock it didn work all that well, i saw huge performnace increase with the Maximus VI Z87, if this is down to CPU difference i dont know.

My 2x 7970 overclocked, would score 16000p in 3dmark11 with Z77, 3770K overclocked to 4.2 (or 4.3 cant remember),
while the Z87 would push out 16000 on 2 cards, with everything at stock speed, Cards and CPU.

I just remember seeing a big performance leap with the Z87.

I have to be honest, this X99 is on my mind as a replacement for my current setup. (Dont worry, unless i can sell my current stuff for a decent amount, it wont happen... But its getting close to 12months now soo.. its getting old :p)
 
There is a PLX chip Pierre. I mentioned that, and Woomack chimed in and clarified and said there are two (he looked up the manual... you can do the same...).

Pierre3400 said:
On my AsRock it didn work all that well, i saw huge performnace increase with the Maximus VI Z87, if this is down to CPU difference i dont know.

My 2x 7970 overclocked, would score 16000p in 3dmark11 with Z77, 3770K overclocked to 4.2 (or 4.3 cant remember),
while the Z87 would push out 16000 on 2 cards, with everything at stock speed, Cards and CPU.

I just remember seeing a big performance leap with the Z87.

I have to be honest, this X99 is on my mind as a replacement for my current setup. (Dont worry, unless i can sell my current stuff for a decent amount, it wont happen... But its getting close to 12months now soo.. its getting old :p)
Click to expand...
There was a few % performance increase from Ivybridge to Haswell, yes. That benchmark also relies on the CPU score to make its final score. There is no reason what-so-ever that the PLX setup would show that big of a difference in 3D11. None. A better, more granular look, would be required, but you are missing something there...
 
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I didnt fully understand the last part, about what im missing but never mind.

As of right now, im just going threw the process of seeing what i can get for my current hardware.

But i am considering this upgrade, is miss my old X58 setup, some how it just did stuff the Z series has never done.

That said.

This is where this Asus X99-E WS shines for me. The PCIe lanes.

X99 Rampage + 5930K will give me 16x/16x/8x and then im about out of lanes. Price $1228 (Here in DK)
X99-E WS +5820K will give me full blast on all sectors. Price $1177

[ X99-E WS + 5930K is out the question at a price of $1370]

From my understanding the main difference between the 5820K and 5930K is the a tiny bit of speed and then the 28 vs 40 lanes, which would become a void spec with the WS board.
 
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But i dont understand what you mean? Make sure i can use it in which way? That the CPU is supported? That it uses some strange stuff? Can you spell it out in card board?

The board supports I7 cpu's regular DDR4 ram, has no odd size, what else is there to be aware of?
 
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Google "CEB form factor", I don't have time to type out everything for you at work right now.
 
Google is how I answer the majority of question I don't know for people on here. If you can't find it in google, you are not looking the right way.

That said, its a form factor. Make sure your case supports the oddly sized form factor for that motherboard.

I am struggling to figure out what X58 did for you that Z7x/8x/9x doesn't do for you...

Do you need all the lanes? What do you need them for?
 
EarthDog said:
Google is how I answer the majority of question I don't know for people on here. If you can't find it in google, you are not looking the right way.

That said, its a form factor. Make sure your case supports the oddly sized form factor for that motherboard.

I am struggling to figure out what X58 did for you that Z7x/8x/9x doesn't do for you...
Click to expand...

Trust me, i am too, but it felt more solid when i was running Invetor, SolidWorks and other 3d programs. My x58 felt more bullet prof as a work horse. I cant get closer than that.

The Enthoo Primo does not list CEB, but i dont see why is shouldnt fit? I hae plenty of space to work with width wise, my GPUs are currently 40mm at leasst longer than my motherboard, and the CEB format is only 20mm wider.
 
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