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P67/Z68 NF200/extra lane mobos? (3way sli)

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hifidelitygamin

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Feb 29, 2012
I am looking into LGA1155 motherboards with the plan to build an overclocking rig (2500K 5-5.5ghz target), and was curious what some of the recommendations are (or nonrecommendations/if one was particularily bad) among motherboards that have some kind of pcie lane expanding chip such as the NF200 (or another chip whose name I cant remember)? There do not seem to be an awful lot of these boards so perhaps it's a shorter list to shop among...

I am *preferring* lower cost (under $200 would be nice), and curious what the lower end available is, however things like the ASUS Maximus IV is still on the list due to stellar overclocking performance. (getting 500mhz more on the same chip tested elsewhere, from 4.8ghz to 5.3ghz at tomshardware I think, same air cooler and everything) I'm willing to pay more for certain features however on board features are often disabled when you go 3way/4way so some of that becomes moot.

My primary requirement is the support for 3way/4way SLI options with at least 8x per slot. I'm pretty sure I will want 3way due to wanting to run two video cards plus one dedicated PhysX card for games like Alice actually, and that wants an 8x slot it seems or it starts to slow down at higher levels.

The only other possible preference is an x1 pcie slot at the TOP of the board (near the cpu side) before the 16x slots - this is to run Soundblaster Xfi. I may need it if I actually wanted to run 4 video cards (3 SLI/1 PhysX) which i'm still researching if it's possible with an Xfi, even though the interest and likelihood is dropping due to finding 3D Surround scaling less than i'd hoped thinking 2 will be fine. Besides this would require at least 8 slots (last card overhanging) on an XL-ATX or Ultra ATX board.


What are others using and what have their results been?
 
What you are not aware of is just how little motherboards matter in overclocking this generation of CPU. Also, no cards, especially the GTX480 you are talking about in a couple other threads you started, will saturate PCIe 16x.

Though I love the goal, its awfully lofty for no reason. You do not need 2 480's + a PhysX card. Get a single 580/7970/7950/680 assuming you arent running a multi monitor setup. I mean do it if you want, but dont remotely thing its a NEED with a single monitor.
 
Well not to be rude but i'm a little confused at the response. >_< I was not looking for 16x, just 8x like I said. (16x would be nice for future 680gtx/kepler upgrade since we dont have benches to know yet but at least 8x, and those mobos are only pcie 2.0 even if kepler will be 3.0) I AM planning a multimonitor setup if I can afford it - 3dsurround probably. And SLI is because of how horrible the framerates are for that. (even double 580's in 3d surround on Metro 2033 border on barely playable at higher res so the 480's are a placeholder until I have enough nextgen games to demand a kepler upgrade but i'd like the same mobo then cuz I doubt more than 4 cores and 5ghz will be needed even in 2 years.)

The PhysX card is because I already have a 260gtx I wont need and might as well put it to work, and if you've ever seen Alice Madness Returns on 3d Surround using the pepper gun you'd see why I want a PhysX card even with SLI. :)
 
No recommendations at all? >_< I bump because i'm actually having a hard time finding any of them, other than the Asus Maxiumus Extreme IV. Which looks like a good motherboard it's just $300. I'm wondering what alternatives exist to it.
 
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Have you looked at any of the new 7 series boards? There are quite a few from asrock, asus and gigabyte out now.
 
you should lower your expectation on that 2500k oc =)

Getting a stable 5ghz.. let alone 5.5 ghz oc that dont run above 80 degree celsius is rare.
 
With Ivy Bridge due April 29 A Z79/Z77 board seems reasonable.
IF not assemble a list from the companies you like, there are not many 3/4 PCIe x 16 slot boards..
Possibly Asus P8PZ68 V PRO or Asrock P67/Z68 Extreme6 or so. EVGA does some very good top end boards,by review..
 
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I don't think that there are any Z77 boards with pcie bridge out yet. Probably more will show up after 29 April but it looks like all will cost ~$300 since better boards without bridge cost ~$200 now.
I found only 2 boards that are already on asus and gigabyte sites. Both aren't available yet.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4169#ov
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z77_WS/

From Z68 series there is ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 ( 200-270$ on newegg ). All other ASRock boards are 8+8+4 pcie ( or I missed something then correct me ).
 
asrock z77 extreme 9 would be a good choice, dunno if it's out yet or coming soon or what.

Personally I would tell you to go for a board without PLX/nf200, and just sell the 260 and get two 680 for 3d surround.
 
asrock z77 extreme 9 would be a good choice, dunno if it's out yet or coming soon or what.

Personally I would tell you to go for a board without PLX/nf200, and just sell the 260 and get two 680 for 3d surround.
That would be a good choice, but not remotely needed (cost wise). I also wouldnt worry about the NF200 option with PCIe3. It has double the bandwidth of PCIe2.x so no worries there.
 
the G1 Sniper 3, ASRock Extreme9, and ASUS Z77 WS Revo all use the PLX8747 its a PCI-E 3.0 bridge chip, i know the WS and the Sniper 3 support 4-way SLI and CF on Z77.
 
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