x99 PCIE Lanes vs Z170

[Hahnzo]

I want to build a 4k gaming rig with 2x Paschal Nvidia cards in SLI when they come out. I also run a Samsung m.2 SSD that takes up PCIE lanes as well as a Creative Sound Blaster ZxR sound card. Will the extra lanes be more beneficial to me (and if so, how much more?) or is it better to go with the z170 because of the new skylake processors? I have seen similar questions on here, but I figured it may be different with my setup.
For me, "better" would be: which one would have better performance for 4k gaming given this setup, and does the 28 lanes of x99 vs the 16 for z170 matter for me?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Calculagator]

I don't think anyone knows yet what sort of SLI abilities the new cards will use or what their PCI-e requirements will be. Current GPUs don't ever need more than x8 PCI-E 3.0 (in fact, they do fine with less), but Nvidia requires at least x8 for SLI.
The new skylake CPUs don't really have much/any advantage over the Haswell-E for gaming. Both are sufficient. I believe the Broadwell-E CPUs are supposed to be released the end of May. If you are waiting for Pascal, it would only make sense to wait and see what Broadwell-E offers.

 

[atomicWAR]

if your going to run SLI plus an M.2..I would go with intel HEDT (ie X99). I am still running a OC'd Sandy Bridge-E hexacore (HEDT). One reason I did so was PCIe lanes. I always use more PCIe lanes then the mainstream chipsets have and hit a bottleneck. Usually run SLI (x2 cards + 1 for physx) currently to drive my 4K UHD TV and maybe the HTC VIVE down the road. My next rig will likely be Broadwell-E and this time I will be adding an M.2 SSD to the mix so I don't have a choice about what platform I run. From what I hear of what you want, to fully utilize the hardware you plan to get you'll need more then the 16 lanes the Z170 has to offer.

 

[Eximo]

i7-5820k = 28 PCIe 3.0 lanes, i7-5930k / i7-5960X = 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes + 8 PCIe 2.0 lanes from X99
i7-4790k = 16 PCie 3.0 lanes + 8 PCIe 2.0 from Z97
i7-6700k = 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes + 20 PCIe 3.0 from Z170

Basically you can only do 8x PCIe 3.0 SLI with everything but the top end X99 chips, then you can do two cards at x16 if you really want to, only leaves 4x for your SSD, so you might have to shut off some peripherals. If you don't mind using the chipset lanes on the Z class processors, Z170 is definitely the way to go right now.

 

[Geekwad]

I want to build a 4k gaming rig with 2x Paschal Nvidia cards in SLI when they come out. I also run a Samsung m.2 SSD that takes up PCIE lanes as well as a Creative Sound Blaster ZxR sound card. Will the extra lanes be more beneficial to me (and if so, how much more?) or is it better to go with the z170 because of the new skylake processors? I have seen similar questions on here, but I figured it may be different with my setup.
For me, "better" would be: which one would have better performance for 4k gaming given this setup, and does the 28 lanes of x99 vs the 16 for z170 matter for me?
Thanks in advance!

x99 has either 28 or 40 PCIe lanes (CPU dependent). m.2 use 4 lanes for each one max, with some boards having more than one slot available to populate. Graphics cards can run x16/x8 with x4 left for an m.2 on 28 lane CPUs, or x8/x8/x4 for GPU/m.2 with up to x4/x4 or x8 available for something else. 40 lane CPUs have even more options. Several boards also have x1 slots that either use CPU lanes or route through the PCH (chipset) so you have to be careful as you plan your build to make sure. Some boards also have x4 or x8 slots (physical, electrically or both) and these also typically go through the CPU.

1151, as you said, has a max of x16 to the CPU to work with. This usually means, for multi-GPU setups, that x8/x8 is reserved for the GPUs, with no other options available to the CPU directly. However, m.2 is routed through the PCH on 1151, so m.2 (up to three, board dependent) do not use your CPU lanes. x1 lanes almost always go through the PCH too, so doesn't require as careful of planning and research as x99 (if you're really packing it in there).

All that said, it sounds like either setup would work for you. My recommendation is x99 though, as I believe it is the platform that will have the most staying power. More cores, and even more important, more cache with more PCIe configurations possible make it a very very flexible machine over time. It isn't inconceivable that, in the coming years, having your primary GPU in a multi-GPU set running at x16 speed would have performance advantages. As this is a system that should last for close to a decade, and GPU and storage technology advancing very rapidly, that having the flexibility to integrate new technologies into your core system would be worth the investment.

 

[Hahnzo]

Thank you all for the responses! It seems like X99 is the way to go for my needs, Do you have a specific motherboard or manufacturer that you think is better than others? I see the list on this site, but was just wondering if you had any other thoughts as you have been so helpful.

 

[atomicWAR]

I prefer Asus, Asustek, Gigabyte, and EVGA. Currently in that order, though the order has changed over the years. As for what model I would just choose one that best suits your needs. I like to overclock and run a lot of extras so i tend to get Asus Rampage series motherboards but you may not need that many PCIe slots or want to pay the premium. Point is any of the manufacturers I listed should be excellent to average (depending on board). What kind of budget do you have for your motherboard? do you overclock? Clearly you need at least two PCIe 16x slots and an M.2 but is there any thing else you "need" in a board.

 

[Hahnzo]

I prefer Asus, Asustek, Gigabyte, and EVGA. Currently in that order, though the order has changed over the years. As for what model I would just choose one that best suits your needs. I like to overclock and run a lot of extras so i tend to get Asus Rampage series motherboards but you may not need that many PCIe slots or want to pay the premium. Point is any of the manufacturers I listed should be excellent to average (depending on board). What kind of budget do you have for your motherboard? do you overclock? Clearly you need at least two PCIe 16x slots and an M.2 but is there any thing else you "need" in a board.

I want to have at least the two video cards, the sound card, I have a 10 gigabit (I know its unnecessary it came with my Maximus VIII Extreme Assembly z170 that stopped working) Ethernet card, and I like to add things as I go....So I want as much room and performance as possible...and I will pay a premium for that. I want it to do some mild overclocking like an auto-tune or something (I do have a water loop set up), but I don't think I will need to OC much besides the videocards. Sorry for the late reply, and thanks again.