Differences between ASUS P8Z77-V and P8Z77-V LX

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PGHammer

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Okay - aside from the obvious feature differences between the P8Z77-V LX and P8Z77-V, what are the differences between the two in the VRM department, and what does it mean for i5-3570K overclocking?

I have no plans to change the degree of OC if (and that's a biggie) I go with the higher-end mobo; however, since it may well be in the running (local MarketPro show this weekend; therefore, I may wind up scoring a deal on one - minus is, no WAY they are going to match MicroCenter on CPU or mobo pricing, so I'll wind up paying more for the mobo than I would by going to MicroCenter). I've downloaded (and read) their respective manuals; however, I'm as familiar with the different VRM schemes as a cow would be with geometry (not at all). The YouTube videos on ASUS UEFI overclocking all feature the higher-end (generally, the V and above) motherboards - for all I know, the BIOS in the -V LX may be lacking some OC-friendly features compared to the -V. So, help me out here, [H]orde!
 
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You want the non-LX for sure. Both mobos are capable of a good overclock on a i5 3570K. What worries me a little more is the LX's second physical PCI-E x16 slot is only wired to 4 lanes electrically so if you ran a high end SLI or Crossfire your second card could potentially be bottlenecked in that slot.

The bandwidth provided by a PCI-E 3.0 x4 is still equal to PCI-E 2.0 x8 which honestly does provides a sufficient amount of bandwidth for pretty much any video card out there without performance loss. Still, I would go with the non-LX version if the the price difference is $20 or so.

You can do some reading here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/
 
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GigabyteZ said:
You want the non-LX for sure. Both mobos are capable of a good overclock on a i5 3570K. What worries me a little more is the LX's second physical PCI-E x16 slot is only wired to 4 lanes electrically so if you ran a high end SLI or Crossfire your second card could potentially be bottlenecked in that slot.

The bandwidth provided by a PCI-E 3.0 x4 is still equal to PCI-E 2.0 x8 which honestly does provides a sufficient amount of bandwidth for pretty much any video card out there without performance loss. Still, I would go with the non-LX version if the the price difference is $20 or so.

You can do some reading here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/
Click to expand...

Partially wrong. The secondary PCI-e x16 slot on the P8Z77-V LX is actually only PCI-e 2.0 compliant - and runs at only PCI-e 2.0 x4 bandwidth, at that. In fact, the secondary x16 slot is not connected directly to the CPU's PCI-e hub at all - but it's connected to the Z77 PCH instead, which offers up to eight PCI-e 2.0 lanes.

Other differences between the two boards:

1) The P8Z77-V LX has one additional PCI-Legacy slot for a total of three PCI slots. The P8Z77-V has two PCI-Legacy slots.

2) The P8Z77-V LX makes do with a Realtek GbE that steals one PCI-e 2.0 lane off of the PCH. The regular P8Z77-V uses an Intel GbE with a dedicated PHY connection.

3) The P8Z77-V LX has onboard audio that's inferior to the one on the P8Z77-V: Although both use Realtek audio controllers, the one on the P8Z77-V LX is the lesser-specced ALC887 versus the P8Z77-V's ALC892.

4) The P8Z77-V has two extra SATA 6.0 Gbps ports controlled by an onboard ASMedia controller (in addition to the two SATA 6.0 Gbps ports and the four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports native to the Z77 chipset). The P8Z77-V LX has only the Intel SATA ports.

5) The P8Z77-V supports SLI in addition to Crossfire. The P8Z77-V LX supports only Crossfire.

Also, there are two additional models in between the P8Z77-V LX and the P8Z77-V in the Asus Z77 regular ATX board lineup: The P8Z77-V LE has the more mainstream ALC892 audio controller instead of the LX's ALC887. The P8Z77-V LK has the secondary PCI-e x16 slot running at PCI-e 3.0 x8 but one fewer PCI-Legacy slot. That allows the P8Z77-V LK to support SLI in addition to Crossfire. As such, the P8Z77-V LK is a cut-down version of the plain P8Z77-V, omitting the latter's ASMedia SATA 6.0 Gbps controller and using a Realtek GbE instead of an Intel one.
 
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E4g1e said:
Partially wrong. The secondary PCI-e x16 slot on the P8Z77-V LX is actually only PCI-e 2.0 compliant - and runs at only PCI-e 2.0 x4 bandwidth, at that. In fact, the secondary x16 slot is not connected directly to the CPU's PCI-e hub at all - but it's connected to the Z77 PCH instead, which offers up to eight PCI-e 2.0 lanes.

Other differences between the two boards:

1) The P8Z77-V LX has one additional PCI-Legacy slot for a total of three PCI slots. The P8Z77-V has two PCI-Legacy slots.

2) The P8Z77-V LX makes do with a Realtek GbE that steals one PCI-e 2.0 lane off of the PCH. The regular P8Z77-V uses an Intel GbE with a dedicated PHY connection.

3) The P8Z77-V LX has onboard audio that's inferior to the one on the P8Z77-V: Although both use Realtek audio controllers, the one on the P8Z77-V LX is the lesser-specced ALC887 versus the P8Z77-V's ALC892.

4) The P8Z77-V has two extra SATA 6.0 Gbps ports controlled by an onboard ASMedia controller (in addition to the two SATA 6.0 Gbps ports and the four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports native to the Z77 chipset). The P8Z77-V LX has only the Intel SATA ports.

5) The P8Z77-V supports SLI in addition to Crossfire. The P8Z77-V LX supports only Crossfire.

Also, there are two additional models in between the P8Z77-V LX and the P8Z77-V in the Asus Z77 regular ATX board lineup: The P8Z77-V LE has the more mainstream ALC892 audio controller instead of the LX's ALC887. The P8Z77-V LK has the secondary PCI-e x16 slot running at PCI-e 3.0 x8 but one fewer PCI-Legacy slot. That allows the P8Z77-V LK to support SLI in addition to Crossfire. As such, the P8Z77-V LK is a cut-down version of the plain P8Z77-V, omitting the latter's ASMedia SATA 6.0 Gbps controller and using a Realtek GbE instead of an Intel one.
Click to expand...

1A. Normally, this would have been a deal-breaker; however (for other reasons) I'll be only using the one legacy PCI slot below the legacy PCI-E x16 slots. (The -V does, in fact, have a PCI slot between the first and second - of three - PCI-E x16 slots; if you aren't running CrossFire or SLI, this slot is usable.)

2A. I admit it - I love Intel's PHYs (the -V wouldn't be my first experience with them, either; that honor goes to the last ATX mobo I've ever used - the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe). However, I can't say that Realtek GbE has been bad (the two mATX boards I've owned - both from ASUS - have Realtek gigabit onboard, as does the V-LX); therefore, largely a non-factor. What is a factor, however, is the WiFi-GO feature (which the -V has, and the V-LX lacks); this will come in real handy when the PC gets moved from the router to my bedroom (right next door) for really-widescreen (42" plasma currently - however, if things work out, the plasma will be replaced with a 40" LED flat-panel) Windows work and play.

3A. Non-factor - the carryover PCI card is the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer low-profile PCI card (complete with original X-Fi DSP and attached passive heatsink).

4A. Another non-factor - I don't have enough SATA devices to need (let alone use) the two ASMedia-controlled SATA ports; even after adding an SSD, I'll be using one of the SATA-6.0g ports (for the SSD) and three SATA 3.0g ports (optical drive and two HDDs) - leaving two SATA ports (one of each connected to the Z77) free.

5A. Last non-factor - I have never owned an nVidia discrete GPU - ever. I've gone AMD (and before that, ATI) for discrete graphics ever since my first PCI graphics card - an OEM 3D Xpression. No; that does NOT mean I have no experience with nVidia graphics, as my first non-ATX ASUS motherboard was the nForce7100/630i-chipset P5N-M HDMI; however, when I replaced the onboard nForce graphics with discrete, I plopped in an HIS HD3450 iFan in the PCI-E x16 slot. And as persnickety as CrossFire in general is, my going that route is as likely as the Maryland Terrapins making the Frozen Four.
 
PGHammer said:
1A. Normally, this would have been a deal-breaker; however (for other reasons) I'll be only using the one legacy PCI slot below the legacy PCI-E x16 slots. (The -V does, in fact, have a PCI slot between the first and second - of three - PCI-E x16 slots; if you aren't running CrossFire or SLI, this slot is usable.)

2A. I admit it - I love Intel's PHYs (the -V wouldn't be my first experience with them, either; that honor goes to the last ATX mobo I've ever used - the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe). However, I can't say that Realtek GbE has been bad (the two mATX boards I've owned - both from ASUS - have Realtek gigabit onboard, as does the V-LX); therefore, largely a non-factor. What is a factor, however, is the WiFi-GO feature (which the -V has, and the V-LX lacks); this will come in real handy when the PC gets moved from the router to my bedroom (right next door) for really-widescreen (42" plasma currently - however, if things work out, the plasma will be replaced with a 40" LED flat-panel) Windows work and play.

3A. Non-factor - the carryover PCI card is the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer low-profile PCI card (complete with original X-Fi DSP and attached passive heatsink).

4A. Another non-factor - I don't have enough SATA devices to need (let alone use) the two ASMedia-controlled SATA ports; even after adding an SSD, I'll be using one of the SATA-6.0g ports (for the SSD) and three SATA 3.0g ports (optical drive and two HDDs) - leaving two SATA ports (one of each connected to the Z77) free.

5A. Last non-factor - I have never owned an nVidia discrete GPU - ever. I've gone AMD (and before that, ATI) for discrete graphics ever since my first PCI graphics card - an OEM 3D Xpression. No; that does NOT mean I have no experience with nVidia graphics, as my first non-ATX ASUS motherboard was the nForce7100/630i-chipset P5N-M HDMI; however, when I replaced the onboard nForce graphics with discrete, I plopped in an HIS HD3450 iFan in the PCI-E x16 slot. And as persnickety as CrossFire in general is, my going that route is as likely as the Maryland Terrapins making the Frozen Four.
Click to expand...

I listed those that are factors to a sizable number of people. I did not state that they are necessarily applicable to you.
 
E4g1e said:
I listed those that are factors to a sizable number of people. I did not state that they are necessarily applicable to you.
Click to expand...

True - and I wasn't being critical. Those are indeed critical factors to a LOT of folks - I was simply explaining why they weren't critical to me.

One thing you did point out was the networking controller difference. The dedicated PHY lanes for the Intel PHY remind me (favorably) of the old Communications Streaming Architecture (from the P4C800-E Deluxe) - CSA was, in fact, why I had chosen the E over the P4C800 Deluxe (and the 3Com PHY).
 
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