P8Z68-V Pro - no PLX bridge - should I care

[lamp]

Hello,

I've recently read a review on the P8Z68-V Pro which concluded, when referring to the lack of a PLX bridge:

"The real reason why we can’t hand the win to the P8Z68-V Pro is its compromised expansion card slots." (TH)

If I'm running a setup in which I have 3 Hard Drives (1 SATA 3), 1 Video Card (x16), 1 Sound card (PCI x1), possibly a PS/2 card (to be able to boot computer from keystroke - unless this can be achieved by a USB keyboard), and possibly a wireless adapter card: am I going to see system degradations? Should I reconsider my P8Z68-V Pro in favour of the P8Z68 Deluxe?

Thanks.

[shank15217]

A PLX bridge doesn't give you more bandwidth, in fact it adds latency to your system, what it does give more flexibility due to a larger number of pci-e ports.

[lamp]

A PLX bridge doesn't give you more bandwidth, in fact it adds latency to your system, what it does give more flexibility due to a larger number of pci-e ports.

Interesting. Thanks.

[Waco]

If you're only using a single PCIe slot then it won't matter either way.

[LoneWolf15]

It only matters if you need to use more PCIe lanes than the Z68 chipset has available.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that Intel has upped the number of PCIe lanes available with next year's upcoming 7-series chipsets, so waiting would be of no benefit either.