MSI Calls Gigabyte’s PCIe Gen3 Support “Fake”

Courtesy: PCIsig.com
Courtesy: PCIsig.com

Dennis Achterberg with MSI’s Product Marketing is calling out Gigabyte on their claim that all of the Gigabyte 6 series boards support native PCIe Gen3. While MSI’s website doesn’t contain any official press release, their marketing department has released a set of slides that can be found all over the web. The slides get rather granular, referencing the spec requirements for Gen3 switch chips, capacitors and resistors. Impressively, they even go as far to reference part numbers for the Pericom switch chips on the motherboard.

Basically, MSI is saying that Gigabyte’s claim is false, with the exception of their G1.Sniper2 motherboard. If what MSI claims is true, then none of Gigabyte’s motherboards are PCIe Gen3 ready, except for one. Gigabyte’s initial claim was made around the same time as the G1.Sniper2 announcement.

Let’s take a peek at some of the slides that MSI released:

True Vs. Fake (Courtesy MSI)
True Vs. Fake (Courtesy MSI)

Intel Gen3 Specifications
Intel Gen3 Specifications (Courtesy MSI)

True Gen3 Switches
MSI: True Gen3 Switches (Courtesy MSI)

Notice that they are being extremely specific about the differences between their product offering and Gigabyte’s product line, specifically where it pertains to PCI3 Gen3. Let’s close with a few more slides, shown below. The entire deck of slides is available directly from MSI’s site.

Gigabyte Fake Gen3 BIOS (Courtesy MSI)
Gigabyte Fake Gen3 BIOS (Courtesy MSI)

Gigabyte's True Gen3 Model (Courtesy MSI)
Gigabyte's True Gen3 Models (Courtesy MSI)

As we mentioned previously in the G1.Sniper 2 announcement, it looks like top manufacturers are in a heated “arms race” to be the first to market with this technology. With no devices currently taking advantage of PCI3, this is just a battle of marketing departments. It will however, be interesting to follow this story as it continues to unfold. At this time, Gigabyte has not released a statement, but we will keep an eye out for further information.

– John Tyra (Jmtyra)

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Avatar of Automata
Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

32,687 messages 179 likes

MSI seems to have pulled the files from the website. Guess they didn't want this to get out! Oops!

I don't think Gigabyte will like being called out like this.,

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cabanaboy38

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1 messages 0 likes

If it is true I'm glad that MSI called them out.

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SuperDave1685

Member

2,577 messages 0 likes

Very interesting. Surprising to see MSI get so specific with the part numbers on those PCI-# 3.0 chips. However, I don't quite follow their logic on the BIOS slide. What does the F5 BIOS have to do with anything?

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David

Forums Super Moderator

15,810 messages 10 likes

Interesting... I can't help but feel that there must be more to this ...

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Knufire

Senior Member

13,235 messages 1 likes

As long as the board supports Ivy Bridge, does PCIe 3.0 matter to most people?

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Archer0915

"The Expert"

5,057 messages 215 likes

I see they have something about Intel specifications. As far as PCIe Intel can say all they want but the fact is PCI-sig sets the standard not Intel alone. From the article I would say MSi is confused because they don't even know where the spec comes from.

I am not saying that those specs are not correct just that calling it Intel Gen3 specification is wrong and those specs may differ.

EDIT: http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie3.0_faq/#EQ1 Some information.

EDIT 2: http://www.pcisig.com/developers/ma...c_id=2d3f06d33264c8a919556787ef8ce09ce7d9479a

EDIT 3: Pericom is not the only manufacturer of the signal conditioning retimer chips (the chip that is highlighted). I really don't want to pull my GB board to see exactly what chip is used but IDT also makes the chips. Hell I am curious though.

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neliz

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The article hasn't been pulled, the URL has been copy-pasted wrong:

Correct URL: http://media.msi.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=68762

I see they have something about Intel specifications. As far as PCIe Intel can say all they want but the fact is PCI-sig sets the standard not Intel alone. From the article I would say MSi is confused because they don't even know where the spec comes from.

I am not saying that those specs are not correct just that calling it Intel Gen3 specification is wrong and those specs may differ.
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We know very well where the specs are coming from, but before claiming "Gen3 enabled" on your products, you must first pass verification from Intel for its future 22nm CPUs.

If it was written in text on the slide it would say something like: "Intel requires a certain number of components before a mainboard can comply with the PCI express Gen3 standard, here is what Intel needs for socket 1155 boards"

That's also the factual basis on which we can claim that other boards will not comply since they simple don't meet the specs&requirements .

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Archer0915

"The Expert"

5,057 messages 215 likes

I have some gen 2 chips on my board (I checked). I am looking at the sig information but there again this could have simply been a marketing move by GB because the sig is so stringent on backward compatability. I think all boards with PCIe X.X will support a native 3.0 card just not at 3.0 speeds.

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Automata

Destroyer of Empires and Use

32,687 messages 179 likes

The article hasn't been pulled, the URL has been copy-pasted wrong:

Correct URL: http://media.msi.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=68762

Perfect. I've got a copy in case someone wants it and it disappears.

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Avatar of Archer0915
Archer0915

"The Expert"

5,057 messages 215 likes

The article hasn't been pulled, the URL has been copy-pasted wrong:

Correct URL: http://media.msi.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=68762

We know very well where the specs are coming from, but before claiming "Gen3 enabled" on your products, you must first pass verification from Intel for its future 22nm CPUs.

If it was written in text on the slide it would say something like: "Intel requires a certain number of components before a mainboard can comply with the PCI express Gen3 standard, here is what Intel needs for socket 1155 boards"

That's also the factual basis on which we can claim that other boards will not comply since they simple don't meet the specs&requirements .

But there are two completely diffrent things going on here.

Are the GB boards capable of supporting a Gen3 card? Well they should but only at gen 2 speeds. So yes they have gen 3 native support. They may not have the gen 3 speeds though.

I have one of those boards and I bought it before the announcement of native gen 3 support but if I had bought it because I thought it had the support I would be peed.

I dont call it fraud but there is a marketing issue here and I expect they will be getting some boards back. I also do my own investigating and reach my own conclusions. I dont really see MSi as being anything but truthful at this point.

EDIT: Are you saying that even if they perform at gen 3 speeds and meet all of the SIG requirments it is not gen 3 because Intel does not say so? Perhaps I should say it can not be 3.0 because "Intel requires a certain number of components before a mainboard can comply with the PCI express Gen3 standard, here is what Intel needs for socket 1155 boards"? The SIG is not Intel. The Sig sets the standards not Intel or MSi. Are they in full compliance with the 3.0 standard for all ports? It does not look like it at this point.

That is a matter of semantics though because to me it is not 3.0 if it does not support the speeds.
So you must work for msi then :welcome:

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