Asus P8Z77-V Delux Vs Asus P8Z77-Premium

[The Penguin]

Hello all,

As the tittle suggest, any recomendation between these 2 mobos?

Which is the best for xfire?

My current dilemma is the following:

Deluxe: Only 8 sata +2 esata, i need at least 10 sata ports
Good IO in the back

Premium: Has 9 sata + 2 esata
Awful IO in the back

I also need at least 1 pcie x1 free to use, so i f you see the mobo's layout you'll see that the deluxe has more pcie x1 slots., however the lack of sata ports might be a deal breaker, however..

I was able to either buy myself a pcie x1 extender card that might have 2 sata ports or use 2 esata to sata cables, connecting the cables from the external esata back to the main sata drive/hdd.

Currently i can get the Deluxe for around $300 and the premium for $373.
Is worth more the premium or should i stick to the deluxe?

Finally, the gpu's i might be using are 2 sapphire 7970 oc+boost that might require more than 2 bay extension, making difficult to install any pcie x1 card.

Muy gut goes to the deluxe because has more pcie x1 slots and perhaps i might be able to use 1 card for the dedicated audio and one for the sata III extension card.

Thanks to all

cheers!

 

[The Penguin]

Forgot to add:

Will do Raid 0 on 2 SSD's on the Intel Sata III port.