Asus X79 or Z77 for Gaming

Discussion in 'Processors and motherboards Intel' started by Siamak8286, Aug 18, 2012.

  1. Siamak8286

    Siamak8286 Guest

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    Dear Guru3D community.
    IM currently in a dilemma in regard to building a new gaming rig. Im can't decide between Asus Maximus V Extreme (Z77) and Asus Rampage IV Extreme (X79), ill be using a i7 3820 for X79 or 3770K for Z77 and im only gonna use maximum of 2 cards which currently is 2 Asus GTX670 TOP. also ill be keeping this system for another 3 years or so as im investing most of my savings in this build. so in short:

    Option 1:
    Asus Maximus V Extreme + Intel i7 3770K


    Option 2:
    Asus Rampage IV Extreme + Intel i7 3820
     
  2. PhazeDelta1

    PhazeDelta1 Guest

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    You can't go wrong with either build. I'd go for the 3770k and put the extra cash into something else.
     
  3. XBEAST

    XBEAST Ancient Guru

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    3770K is better in any way possible. 3570K would be just as good for games, but cheaper.

    Also, 1200W PSU is a total overkill for system like that. It could easily feed system with 4 GTX 670's...
     
  4. Siamak8286

    Siamak8286 Guest

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    I can't seem to find the answer but can I run 2 GTX 670s in SLI at native 16X on Z77 Maximus V Extreme or not?
     

  5. PhazeDelta1

    PhazeDelta1 Guest

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    No. It be dual x8 slots on that board. The Rampage IV Extreme offers dual x16 slots.
     
  6. Siamak8286

    Siamak8286 Guest

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    So here is another problem, now I think it would be better to go with Rampage IV Extreme since in a year or so I can upgrade to 6 core or 8 core CPU if they ever come out but another thing I hear is Nvidia graphic cards won't run in PCI-E 3.0 mode on X79 chipsets due to a bug.
    Also another thing that keeps me from choosing Rampage IVE over Maximus V E is the fact that Z77 chipset has native support for USB 3.0 whereas Rampage IVE use 3rd party USB3.0 controller. Also I know I'll upgrade my Video Card in a year or 2, will the bandwidth limitation of Z77 hold me back or it wont matter?
     
  7. BlackZero

    BlackZero Guest

    Performance will be close but you'll possibly be better off with Option 2:
    Asus Rampage IV Extreme + Intel i7 3820 as then you'll have a clearer upgrade path and if you decide to get more/better graphics cards this will likely become important.

    Nvidia have already launched an x79 patch and they will likely improve compatibility as x79 still has more CPUs to come.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 18, 2012
  8. ---TK---

    ---TK--- Guest

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    option 2 is the better upgrade path, there are no 6 core cpu`s for sk 1155 and you have IB e to look forward too. you also have more pci e lanes from the cpu
     
  9. Siamak8286

    Siamak8286 Guest

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    If Im using only 2 video cards now or even with future video cards will the Z77 board which use 8X/8X hold back the cards? reason im asking is after searching various forums it seems people say 3770K is much better for gaming and even future six core CPUs won't help gaming and in some cases will reduce the performance. how much of this is true, if I get the 3770K will it be enough for 3-4 years with GPU upgrades in between?
     
  10. BlackZero

    BlackZero Guest

    If all you are after is a few years of decent gaming then a Z77 + i5 3570 will be more than sufficient.
     

  11. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    If your located in the usa, you can go to a microcenter if there one near you and take advance of the I5 3570k + mobo deal that they have. Where they take off 50 dollars off which ever motherboard you get.
     
  12. TruMutton_200Hz

    TruMutton_200Hz Guest

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    Get the Maximus, or maybe just the Deluxe, even. Save your money for both Maxwell and another obvious new motherboard.
     
  13. JoeyFUZZ911

    JoeyFUZZ911 Guest

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    I'm running an x79 rig and its been awesome! Remember too that with the 2011 socket chips you get up to 64GB of Quad Channel RAM and alot of room for overclocking considering its a Sandy Bridge -E (Extreme). Ivy Bridge is always good as well. Mobo wont be as much.
     
  14. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    Option 2,no brainer,Rampage extreme blows any other mobo clean out of the water with ease.
     
  15. Octavean

    Octavean Guest

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    For what its worth I have the following setup:
    It’s a great setup and I like it a lot. I just got a good deal on a Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 kit for about ~$38 USD so I might bump it up to 32GB of system RAM but then again might not. I got the processor at Microcenter for about ~$499.99 and the motherboard from Amazon for about ~$160 or so. I had a coupon from selling my first gen iPad so I applied it to the motherboard. Those were the only parts I needed (CPU and motherboard) so the whole thing only cost me about ~$660.

    If I were to buy a Z77 motherboard now to replace my Asus P8P67 Pro I would probably go with the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH (Dual Thunderbolt ports), GA-Z77X-UP4 TH (Dual Thunderbolt ports) or Asus P8Z77-V Pro Tunderbolt (single Thunderbolt port).
     

  16. systemlord

    systemlord Active Member

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    I hope I'm not intruding on the OP thread.

    I was about to start a thread but this is exactly what I'll be doing, internet and gaming with some photography. I plan on 2 cards in SLI (two GTX 680/690) at most and will be running at 1920x1080, one thing still bothers me! I'm also having a big dilemma in making my decision between Z77 vs X79, there's a couple of questions that need answering.

    Does X79 and Sandy Bridge-E support PCI-E 3.0 or not, if not now will there be a point in time that it will? I must have a PCI-E 3.0 motherboard for me to upgrade, on the other hand Z77 already supports PCI-E 3.0, true USB 3.0, Displayport, HDMI and Thunderbolt.

    As you see I don't upgrade as often as I should, I'll be upgrading every three years from this point on. On either board I plan on water cooling the MB, CPU and GPU's in my Case Labs STH10 with two HWLabs SR1 560's!

    X79 Pros: Open upgrade path to Ivy Bridge-E.
    X79 Cons: Questionable whether or not it will truly support PCI-E 3.0.

    Z77 Pros: Official support for PCI-E 3.0, Plex IC for two x16 lanes at PCI-E 3.0, official USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt support.
    Z77 Cons: No upgrade path

    Much appreciated!

    Systemlord:)
     
  17. Kaerar

    Kaerar Guest

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    Having just gone X79, I'd definitely take it over Z77.

    Yes it has native PCI-E 3.0 support too.

    Seeing as I'm running at 4Ghz with the crappy Intel $20 cooler without noticeable temperature rise with the 3930K it's definitely off to a good start. The boards also have many more features than the Z77's with the exception of Thunderbolt which as far as I can see is just a jumped up Sata port which can double as a monitor outlet too.

    Also the new Gigabyte X79S-UP5 on the C606 chipset is a very intriguing proposition especially with the additional 8 SAS ports and support for Xeon processors...
     
  18. JonasBeckman

    JonasBeckman Ancient Guru

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    I believe x79 or rather the CPU series currently available for it does not fully use PCI-E 3.0 however third party motherboards can support it via other ways, unsure if it's as effective but it likely doesn't matter much since you won't exhaust the bandwidth limit in either case from what I know, at least not with current GPU cards.

    For the Rampage (Or well I guess any motherboard actually.) also be sure to update the Bios fully, they did a switch a few weeks back to .CAP instead of .ROM for better compatibility with Windows 8 (It's extremely fast with what I've tried with that 90-day trial thing.) and this also added some other features and improvements (That bios offers pretty much anything you would need.) but it's a bit more cumbersome of a update although the in-built tool for updating worked great. :)
    (Put the bios files on one of the HDD's use the utility to browse to this and upgrade to the new format via a special bios and then from that bios - 2104 or 2103 I believe it was - to the current 2105 bios.)
     
  19. systemlord

    systemlord Active Member

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    According the a review of the X79, the Intel 3930K lost it's PCI-E 3.0 uplink. Is there an official statement from Intel or Nvidia acknowledging that X79 and Sandy Bridge-E supports PCI-E 3.0? Not that I'm doubting you, I do expect Ivy Bridge-E to better than Ivy Bridge was in regards to the use of cheap thermal paste! Minus 20C has been reported when removal of IHS using much better thermal compound, I know Intel won't use cheap thermal compound for their enthusiast CPU.
     
  20. Kaerar

    Kaerar Guest

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    That is indeed a good point. I was only referencing the motherboards which both the Rampage IV Extreme and the GA-X79-UD5 both come with PCI-E 3.0 and dual x16 slots. Whether the CPU supports it I didn't check.

    There seems to be some debate as to whether the Sandy-E chips do have PCI-E 3.0. Even if you have to wait for Ivy-E for that currently there is little to no performance gain from 2.0 vs 3.0 anyway. Probably won't be for at least a year if not two. Then you can get a Ivy-E anyway.

    But on the heat side of things Sandy-E still whoops ass.
     

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