ASUS P8Z77-V Premium Review: A Bentley Among Motherboards
by Ian Cutress on August 13, 2012 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Z77
Gaming Benchmarks: A note on Multi GPU and PLX PEX 8747
In an upcoming review, we will go into detail regarding the PLX PEX 8747 chip on motherboards. This chip allows the manufacturers to adjust lane counts between PCIe slots, and increase bandwidth between PCIe slots at the expense of added latency to the CPU. Normally the Z77 chipset is limited to x8/x4/x4 in multi-GPU setups, but with the PLX chip this is expanded, such that x8/x8/x8/x8 in PCIe 3.0 is available. There is more under the hood than this, especially relative to performance, but it is important to note for this review and results where we are comparing many setups. Out of the boards we have tested, the configurations are below.
PCIe Comparison Chart | ||||||
Chipset | Motherboard | GPUs | GPU 1 | GPU 2 | GPU 3 | GPU 4 |
X79 | Rampage IV F/E | 1 |
16x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
|||
X79 | Rampage IV F/E | 2 |
16x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
16x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
||
X79 | Rampage IV F/E | 3 |
16x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
16x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
8x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
|
X79 | Rampage IV F/E | 4 |
16x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
8x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
8x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
8x PCIe 2.0 from CPU |
Z77 | Any | 1 |
16x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
|||
Z77 | Most | 2 |
8x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
8x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
||
Z77 | Few | 2 |
16x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
4x PCIe 2.0 from Z77 |
||
Z77 |
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H |
3 |
8x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
4x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
4x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
|
Z77 |
Biostar TZ77XE4 |
3 |
8x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
8x PCIe 3.0 from CPU |
4x PCIe 2.0 from Z77 |
|
Z77 |
ASUS P8Z77-V Premium |
3 |
16x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
8x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
8x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
|
Z77 |
ASUS P8Z77-V Premium |
4 |
8x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
8x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
8x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
8x PCIe 3.0 from PLX |
In general:
PCIe 3.0 > PCIe 2.0
Lanes from CPU > Lanes from PLX > Lanes from Chipset
More lanes > Less lanes
Civilization V
Civilization V is a strategy video game that utilizes a significant number of the latest GPU features and software advances. Using the in-game benchmark, we run Civilization V at 2560x1440 with full graphical settings, similar to Ryan in his GPU testing functionality. Results reported by the benchmark are the total number of frames in sixty seconds, which we normalize to frames per second.
Civilization V is unfortunately a bad game to see scaling with our 7970 cards, especially as we are locked in with our drivers during our Z77 testing. At each test, the Premium scores above 70 FPS, but falls a little in single GPU testing compared to others hitting 80 FPS.
Civilization V scales a little bit better on NVIDIA cards, giving a near top Z77 result in single mode, but is middle of the pack in dual GPU mode.
Dirt 3
Dirt 3 is a rallying video game and the third in the Dirt series of the Colin McRae Rally series, developed and published by Codemasters. Using the in game benchmark, Dirt 3 is run at 2560x1440 with full graphical settings. Results are reported as the average frame rate across four runs.
Dirt 3 loves GPU power, and it is not until we hit three GPUs where the difference in lane counts come into play. In our three-GPU testing, the Rampage IV Formula gets 194.55 FPS, the Premium is 193.55 FPS and the GA-Z77X-UD5H is 183.51 FPS. The latter two have similar CPU speeds but differ on lane count, giving the Premium an extra 10 FPS.
Not much to say for Dirt 3 + NVIDIA testing, all the motherboards perform roughly the same.
Metro2033
Metro2033 is a DX11 benchmark that challenges every system that tries to run it at any high-end settings. Developed by 4A Games and released in March 2010, we use the inbuilt DirectX 11 Frontline benchmark to test the hardware at 2560x1440 with full graphical settings. Results are given as the average frame rate from 4 runs.
In Metro 2033 + AMD, all the motherboards perform similarly in single and dual GPU mode, but at tri-GPU mode the Premium takes almost a 1 FPS advantage over the nearest challenger.
With Metro 2033 + NVIDIA, all the motherboards perform similarly in single and dual GPU.
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Deptacon - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - link
Does the eSata port support Port Multiplier??? This should always be addressed when dealing with an eSata port.Arcanedeath - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - link
the Asmedia controler used for the Esata ports does support Port Multipliers and FIS based switching which is required to work with most of the SI based backplanes.MacGyverSG1 - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
I am very interested in both the Premium and Maximus V Extreme for my next build. I just can't decide which would be the better choice. The extreme overclocking features of the V are useless to me, but I do like that the mSATA is optional.Hopefully a review of the Maximus V Extreme is in the works and it will be compared to the Premium.
The best review for the Premium I've read so far.