# Fatal1ty Z77 Professional-M, G1.Sniper M3 or Maximus V Gene?



## DerRichter (Apr 24, 2012)

I'm planning to upgrade my current PC, switching from a common ATX system to a brand new micro-ATX one in order to gain space on my desk  The only thing I cannot decide on is which mobo I have to buy, there are so many Z77s that is impossible to be sure on purchasing!

The CPU I will use is my 2500K and gfx is a GTX 560 Ti atm, waiting for some more bucks to buy a 680... so the PC will be used first of all for gaming, then I'll do some OC but nothing really extreme - for example now I'm on 4,2 GHz and it is super 

So... which mobo is the best for me? Fatal1ty Z77 Professional-M, G1.Sniper M3 or Maximus V Gene?

Thanks in advance!


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## W1zzard (Apr 24, 2012)

i've got the m5g in my vga bench system and haven't found anything wrong with it. there is no native dual link dvi, only dvi via hdmi adapter = single link. won't matter if you dont plan on using the integrated graphics.
edit: none of the three boards offer dual link dvi. looks like you can get high resolutions only via displayport

some huge cpu coolers might block access to the first slot (which is the one you want to use because it's the only one with pcie x16).

no experience with the other boards you mentioned


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## cadaveca (Apr 24, 2012)

All offer similar features, but with their own take; that's a hard choice. I am pretty positive I will be reviewing both the Sniper M3 and the Gene board; I'll have reviews up in the coming weeks. ECS Z77H2-AX first, then Biostar TZ77XE4. Maybe Sniper M3 third. Just gotta wait for CPU.


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## DerRichter (Apr 25, 2012)

Thanks 
The only thing that makes me wonder is the 4-pin power connector on the Gigabyte, while the other 2 have an 8-pin one. Maybe the OC cannot be so rock solid?


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## cadaveca (Apr 25, 2012)

DerRichter said:


> Thanks
> The only thing that makes me wonder is the 4-pin power connector on the Gigabyte, while the other 2 have an 8-pin one. Maybe the OC cannot be so rock solid?



Seems like IVB can pull 225W+ under extreme clocks, but the power 1 4-pin CPU connector provides should be enough for daily usage. I think it's like 195W or something for single 4-pin, which is still twice what a 3rd Gen I7 chip needs TDP-wise.


The G1.Killer line from Gigabyte is not meant for extreme clocking, and is more intended for moderate clocking with extra features, like the audio and LAN chips that it uses. The Gene, on the other hand, is built for extreme clocking, but features thrown in for gaming as well. It's basically ready to run Liquid Nitrogen cooling, while Gigabyte has an entirely different product line for that.


Unfortunately i don't have any experience with AsRock products, so I cannot comment about them, or what the design focus seems to be.


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## Batou1986 (Apr 25, 2012)

Since your buying a -K i assume your going to OC so i would go with the Maximus V it will likely be the best outa the bunch for OC and quality as Gigabyte has been slipping lately and 4pin CPU power scares me.


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## cadaveca (Apr 25, 2012)

Batou1986 said:


> Since your buying a -K i assume your going to OC so i would go with the Maximus V it will likely be the best outa the bunch for OC and quality as Gigabyte has been slipping lately and 4pin CPU power scares me.



W1zz seems pretty happy with his Gene, and i think he's got a decent OC too, but I think that 4-pin power is really fine.







More info will have to wait for Preview/review


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## nleksan (Apr 25, 2012)

I am curious if you will be testing any of the upcoming Z77 boards that feature the PCH(?) chips (i.e. Asus Z77-WS and EVGA Z77 FTW) to allow for x16/x16/x8/x8 PCIe3.0 bandwidth??  I would really love to see how they compare to "regular" boards...
What I am most interested in is something like "GPU/GPU/Sound-Card/RAID-card" or similar, so that it can be compared against other 2-card SLI/CF boards but with the added toll of the Sound/RAID cards on the CPU...

The reason I ask is because I am really, really stuck between IVB and SB-E, with the latter having my attention pretty much solely because with a Rampage IV Extreme I could run 2-Way SLI (2x GTX680's/690's), an HT Omega Claro Halo (or professional-level sound card...I do sound editing), and a PCIe x8 RAID card (LSI/Promise/etc) that offers an extra 8-12 SATAIII ports and hardware RAID capabilities...  
I would like to see what, if any, impact the two add-on cards would have on GPU performance, AND what impact the graphics cards would have on RAID and audio performance.
It's something that very much interests me and is very much relevant, likely to a number of people who are also looking at a power-gamer + workhorse all-in-one type-rig, same as myself.

I have come to find your reviews to be impeccably performed and extremely well-written, Cadaveca, and while I would not expect you to go out of your way to crunch all of those numbers, acquire all of that equipment, and so forth simply for my own curiosity, I can't help but imagine that there would be some demand for results showing how well the IVB chips and Z77 chipset work with the "PCIe Expansion Chips".

Thanks, and I hope I at least got you thinking


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## DerRichter (Apr 25, 2012)

Really looking forward to your review cadaveca


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## mav2000 (Apr 25, 2012)

Just got the gene and have been playing with it for the last ten days. I wOuld go with an Asus board only for the bios support if not anything else


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## v8ornot2v8 (May 1, 2012)

I have a Fatal1ty P67 and love it - maybe I should have waited for the Z77, but too late. Anyways I would seriously look at the Fatal1ty Z77.


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## Anusha (May 3, 2012)

what problems did you find with M5G Wizzard? you have cut the part "and haven't found anything wrong with it." hmmm...


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## johnnyfiive (May 3, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> W1zz seems pretty happy with his Gene, and i think he's got a decent OC too, but I think that 4-pin power is really fine.
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=46813&stc=1&d=1335313068
> 
> ...



I dunno if its me not having enough coffee yet, but your hand looks GIGANTIC in that picture, haha


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## cadaveca (May 3, 2012)

Anusha said:


> what problems did you find with M5G Wizzard? you have cut the part "and haven't found anything wrong with it." hmmm...



The lack of dual-link DVI was the problem. That means that 2560x1600 requires a DP-supporting monitor, or an active adapter. I tihnk W1zz has a 2560x1600 monitor that doesn't have DP.



johnnyfiive said:


> I dunno if its me not having enough coffee yet, but your hand looks GIGANTIC in that picture, haha



Depth-of-field effect.


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## Anusha (May 3, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> The lack of dual-link DVI was the problem. That means that 2560x1600 requires a DP-supporting monitor, or an active adapter. I tihnk W1zz has a 2560x1600 monitor that doesn't have DP.
> 
> 
> 
> Depth-of-field effect.


btw, do you think the G1 Sniper M3 is a better alternative to the M5G? 

i'm thinking of buying this to replace my Z68 board. 
1. how does the Creative onboard audio quality compare to a dedicated Core3D card? i have an X-Fi titanium, and would like to play with the new driver. 
2. How is the overclocking compared to M5G? especially because this board has less CPU power phases(right?). i will be keeping my 2600k.


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## cadaveca (May 3, 2012)

Anusha said:


> btw, do you think the G1 Sniper M3 is a better alternative to the M5G?
> 
> i'm thinking of buying this to replace my Z68 board.
> 1. how does the Creative onboard audio quality compare to a dedicated Core3D card? i have an X-Fi titanium, and would like to play with the new driver.
> 2. How is the overclocking compared to M5G? especially because this board has less CPU power phases(right?). i will be keeping my 2600k.



Couldn't tell ya, got boards, no 1155 chips to test with. Hopefully I'll have more info soon, but for now it's out of my hands.


I did a preview of the Sniper M3 board, should be live at some point, I guess.


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## Anusha (May 3, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> Couldn't tell ya, got boards, no 1155 chips to test with. Hopefully I'll have more info soon, but for now it's out of my hands.
> 
> 
> I did a preview of the Sniper M3 board, should be live at some point, I guess.


the prices are down these days because of the Golden Week discounts in Japan. it might go up next week. shame that there aren't any reviews from major sites about the board.


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## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

4 pin power is fine. Put a probe in it and check out what its pulling.... 

Out of those, if you game, the Sniper is the best choice, if you are looking to benchmark I would go with the MVG. If the Fatality-M is as good as its full sized brother, thats also a good choice.

To me it honestly comes down to features you NEED as all boards will overclock IB or SB quite well. Just the Sniper offers better sound and NIC so thats why I picked that if you primarily game.


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## cadaveca (May 3, 2012)

EarthDog said:


> 4 pin power is fine. Put a probe in it and check out what its pulling....
> 
> Out of those, if you game, the Sniper is the best choice, if you are looking to benchmark I would go with the MVG. If the Fatality-M is as good as its full sized brother, thats also a good choice.
> 
> To me it honestly comes down to features you NEED as all boards will overclock IB or SB quite well. Just the Sniper offers better sound and NIC so thats why I picked that if you primarily game.



I gotta agree with this 110% going on hardware deisgn and physical feel, for sure.



Anusha said:


> the prices are down these days because of the Golden Week discounts in Japan. it might go up next week. shame that there aren't any reviews from major sites about the board.



Not too sure why that is. I've had mine for quite some time now, just no chips, so reviews are some weeks out yet for me. I got six reviews to do with IVB so far, probably a couple more down the road too. Unitl I get a chip ,I'm sitting here waiting, can't do much without it.


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## Anusha (May 3, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> I gotta agree with this 110% going on hardware deisgn and physical feel, for sure.


then i know what i should buy. =)


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## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> I gotta agree with this 110% going on hardware deisgn and physical feel, for sure.
> 
> 
> 
> Not too sure why that is. I've had mine for quite some time now, just no chips, so reviews are some weeks out yet for me. I got six reviews to do with IVB so far, probably a couple more down the road too. Unitl I get a chip ,I'm sitting here waiting, can't do much without it.


Tell Wiz to hand one over here to help out... looks like you have a backlog and Im finally coming out of mine!!!


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## DerRichter (May 7, 2012)

Cadaveca I've just seen your preview and... oh gosh, I can't SLI in my micro-ATX case if using G1.Sniper M3, 'cause the third slot doesn't work with SB and my case has only 4 PCI-E slots! So... I think I MUST go with the Maximus V GENE, right?


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## kajson (May 7, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> i've got the m5g in my vga bench system and haven't found anything wrong with it. there is no native dual link dvi, only dvi via hdmi adapter = single link. won't matter if you dont plan on using the integrated graphics.
> edit: none of the three boards offer dual link dvi. looks like you can get high resolutions only via displayport
> 
> some huge cpu coolers might block access to the first slot (which is the one you want to use because it's the only one with pcie x16).
> ...




Not that I want to hijack your thread, but I was actually planning on ordering a m5g this week, and using a hdmi>dvi plug. 
http://www.icidu.com/index.php/hdmi-m-to-dvi-f.html

The plan was to use the new lucid vmp technique, so it can switch between the igp of the 3570k and my 6950. 

Am I correctly surmising from your post that this is only possible if the mobo has a native dvi-d outlet? 

Because that would send me back to the drawing tables  An alternative would be the Asus P8Z77-V Pro...


fyi I'll be using an LG w2253v-pf monitor which has a dvi and a hdmi option, but no display port. native res 1920x1080.


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## cadaveca (May 7, 2012)

kajson said:


> fyi I'll be using an LG w2253v-pf monitor which has a dvi and a hdmi option, but no display port. native res 1920x1080.



W1zz has 2560x1600 monitor. 1920x1080 should be OK(works fine with single-link DVI).


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## kajson (May 7, 2012)

ok but using single link DVI does not somehow prohibit me from using a combination of the igp and a discrete videocard? (virtu mvp)


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## cadaveca (May 7, 2012)

kajson said:


> ok but using single link DVI does not somehow prohibit me from using a combination of the igp and a discrete videocard? (virtu mvp)



It should not, in theory. In practice, I have yet to test, but there is no reason for me to believe it would. The issue revolves around the number of TMDS links available, and how they work.


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## illli (May 27, 2012)

EarthDog said:


> Out of those, if you game, the Sniper is the best choice, if you are looking to benchmark I would go with the MVG. If the Fatality-M is as good as its full sized brother, thats also a good choice.
> 
> To me it honestly comes down to features you NEED as all boards will overclock IB or SB quite well. Just the Sniper offers better sound and NIC so thats why I picked that if you primarily game.




i was going to post here asking about ASUS Maximus V GENE vs. all the others, and which one was better etc. i think this helped answer my question


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## Steven B (May 28, 2012)

BTW 4-pin power is more than enough, even from some extreme:







How does this mean anything? Let me explain beucase it is my setup. BTw no need to call me crazy, i have already been reminded. 

those two readouts on top of the PSU are two zalman current monitors, the read the 12v rail(in this case set to watts) for the CPU power connector. Each can only read up to about 260W, so i use too for big watt CPU systems like SBe or BD. That is the power(like 98% of it) being pulled by the CPU in the motherboard as modern CPUs need clean input power, and to reduce interference manufacturers tend to use the 12v-4 or 8 pin power input just for the CPU VRMs, so the iGPU, VTT/SA, and VCore will get their power from the 12v CPU pin, and that is what those two are measuring. You have to add them together, as it seems power really doesn't like to equally disburse itself in actual practice. 

Anyways that is all going through the 4-pin, call me crazy but that is almost 250W, i highly doubt you can even burn out that connector no air with ivy Bridge, it uses less power than sandy bridge, as sandy bridge was able to pull 200W+ on air with high 5G+ OC, Ivy wont be doing 5G+ on air/waters for 24/7 anyways, unless you are super lucky, which even if you are 4-pin is okay. Also those 6 phase VRM is just fine. It just looks like it can't OC lol, but i understand confidence is a big factor. 

I say go either M3 or M5G.  

NVM yea display port is the only way to get above 1920x1200 on these boards, i think both M5G and M3 have displayport, right? 

BTW one more thing, the M3 has a different slot layout than the other micro Z77 boards, I think GB did it this way to facilitate its use in a full size case with two triple slotted GPUs(i guess so it really is just a cheaper G1 board), but the first and last 16X slots are to be used for multi-GPU, so the middle slot is a 4x to the PCH, but 8x to the CPU like on the M5G and others.


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