Need help- PCI e 3.0 single card @ x16 vs dual @ x8

[Rotfl cyclone]

Hello all. As you can see, I'm having a little trouble understanding the pros/cons of a single PCI 3.0 running x16 compared to SLI in x8/x8.

The board I am currently running is an Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe, and I decided its time to upgrade from my old 470GTX to either two 660GTX Ti in SLI or maybe a single 680.

After digging around online looking at benchmarks and techie opinions I had pretty much decided to go for the 660's in SLI. I made sure that my 750psu would be powerful enough and then went on to look at my mobo details and saw this, "PCI Expess 3.0 Slots (dual @ x8, single @ x16)"

I know that there are only 16 lanes avaliable and that even when each card is using 8 lanes in 3.0 that's still equivalent to two cards @ x16 in PCI 2.0. But my real question is this-

Performance wise, is there any reason I should reconsider SLI with the 660Ti's because of this and just go for a 680? I know SLI does not double the graphics power just because there are 2 cards, will each running at x8 be less powerful than a single slightly more beefy card running at @x16? Please help me understand this! 😀

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

There will be no performance difference in x16 vs x8. If I were you I would consider just 660's if you never plan on upgrading. That will still beat a 680 by a pretty good margin. You should also look into a 7970 ghz. That will beat a 680. You could also cfx that at some point.

 

[Rotfl cyclone]

Thanks for the info Dan. Glad to know SLI won't be effected in a negative way and is still on the table. I'll check out the 7970 as well.

 

[Rotfl cyclone]

Best answer selected by Rotfl cyclone.