Four Multi-GPU Z77 Boards from $280-$350 - PLX PEX 8747 featuring Gigabyte, ASRock, ECS and EVGA
by Ian Cutress on August 22, 2012 9:15 AM ESTGaming Benchmarks
Clarification of Lane Counts
In this review, we are dealing with motherboards that utilize the PLX PEX 8747 chip differently, such that the PCIe lanes that power each of these boards can come from either the CPU or the PLX chip depending on routing. The following describes the behavior of the four motherboards in this review, along with the ASUS P8Z77-V Premium reviewed previously that also utilized the PLX chip.
ASUS: 16x CPU to PLX, x8/x8/x8/x8
Gigabyte: 16x CPU to PLX, x8/x8/x8/x8
EVGA: 8x CPU to PCIe 1, 8x CPU to PLX for overall x8/x16/x8/x8
ASRock: 16x CPU to PLX, x8/x8/x8/x8
ECS: 16x CPU to PLX, x16/x8/x8
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.
Despite the lane adjustment for EVGA to improve single GPU performance over the other boards, this does not materialize in Dirt3 which ends up being very power and memory hungry. When looking at a fully loaded setup, the eight lane uplink from the EVGA looks to be a limiting factor also.
In comparison, there does not seem to be much to stretch apart the motherboards when NVIDIA cards are used.
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 10 runs.
For single card setups in Metro2033, the routing via the PLX produces a 4.7% to 6.2% difference in frame rates compared to the top results.
Whereas for NVIDIA cards, Metro2033 shows indifference between PLX enabled motherboards and non-PLX motherboards.
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goinginstyle - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
I tried the G1 Sniper 3 and returned it a few days later. The audio was a significant downgrade from the Assassin series, EFI is clunky at best and the board had serious problems with a GSKill 16GB 2666 kit, not to mention the lousy fan controls.Purchased a Maximus Formula V and never looked back as the EFI, Fan Controls, Clocking and Audio are much better in every way compared to the Sniper board. There is no way Gigabyte has brought better value than ASUS with the Z77 chipset. You get what you pay for and the GB is overpriced once you actually use the board and compare it to ASUS or even ASRock.
JohnBS - Thursday, November 1, 2012 - link
I am looking for a rock solid MB, so of course I turned to ASUS. However, the reviews from verified buyers showed multiple issues with 3.0 USB ports losing power, system instability after months of use, and multiple instances of the board not working in one or more memory slots. Bent pins from the factory and complete DOA issues as well. A few reports of complete failure when the Wi-Fi card was inserted, yet gone with the card removed. This was mainly the Maximus IV series. Then I thought I'd look into the Maximus V series, because I really wanted ASUS, and was kinda sad to read reviews. Same issues from verified buyers of the Maximus V, more so with the USB 3.0 problems and the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth add-on card failures. In common were multiple complaints about customer service.So I emailed the ASUS rep who was replying to everyone's post, with specific attention on the recurring problems and how I was concerned about buying a MB. I got the email back, stating they were aware of the recurring problems listed on the user reviews, but that they are isolated occurrences.
I really need a rock solid x16 x 2 pci-e mb right now, and that's why I'm still searching. I'm planning on overclocking an i7-2700k with an gtx 690 and a 120z monitor for high res gaming. The sniper 3 looks good, but the front audio plug reaching the board's bottom audio header might be something I can't work around.
Just want something reliable. If there's a known issue, I'm always in that percentile that gets hit with the RMA process. I'm trying so hard to avoid that.
(Went with 690 instead of dual 680 for heat, noise, power draw considerations).
jonjonjonj - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
you mean gigabyte in the evga conclusion?"the EVGA does not keep pace with ASUS and EVGA even at stock speeds."
couchassault9001 - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link
So for gaming benchmarks is it correct that the cpu multipliers were at 40 on the g1.sniper and 36 on the evga? if so it seems to be a rather unfair comparison. Being that the sniper cpu is running 11% fasterI'd be amazed if someone was looking at these boards with no intent to overclock like crazy, as i'm trying to decide between these 2 boards myself, and i'm sure i'll be pushing my 3770k as far as it will go.
The evga consumed ~8% less power than the sniper under load.
dirt 3 showed a 9% frame rate drop in the frame rate going from g1 to evga. metro 2033 showed a 3.6% drop in frame rate going from g1 to evga. Both of these are on the 4 7970 benchmarks. the 3 and below the gap is much tighter with it being under 1% with one card.
I know this may be nit picking to some, but i plan on running 5760x1080 3d so 4 7970 performance on a i7-3770k is exactly what i'm looking at.