Z68

[darksbain]

Hi guy's
I am getting ready to build my first system! After reading everything I can find on the subject for the last 6 months I decided to try to go with a z 68 mobo and i3 or i5 processor.I already have 2 x 6950 graphics cards that I want to xfire,the problem I seem to be running into is they are pcie 2.1 instead of 2.0.All the gen 3 asus boards do not support it,(or so the reviews say on newegg)I was going to go with an i3 and wait on the ivy bridge before I drop $ on an I5 or I7.I know about the pcie 3.0 debate over saturation but if I am buying new and am going to get an IB processor would I not want latest and greatest mobo?If anyone knows of a 3.0 pcie mobo that will support 2.1 and is full atx please respond.
tnx

 

[abekl]

I think you are incorrect. PCIE 3 slots are supposed to be backwards compatible with PCIE 2.1 and 2.0 cards. Check again.

 

[darksbain]

tnx I will investigate further Asus web site says (in fine red print)fully backwards compatible with pcie 2.0 and there were a couple of reviews on newegg that said they would not work.I really like the p8z68-v/gen 3,but with all the bad reviews I think I will try to get it from best buy or tiger direct.newegg has so many issues with bent pin rma denials I doubt it is asus problem,more likely distributor bait-n-switch.unsealed anti static bags and such.

 

[HostileDonut]

You can use PCI-E 2.1 card on any PCI-E system, just PCI-E 1.x just has some bugs sometimes. But any modern board you will buy will most likely use PCI-E 2.x or better. As for getting a CPU, I would suggest just getting a 2500k or 2600k now because IB won't be a great performance increase over SB and an i3 CPU will bottleneck those two GPUs.