my new GTX275 SLI setup PCI-E x16...and PCI-E x 4!!!

So anyway, some of you guys may be interested. I pulled out my single PCB GTX295 and replaced with 2 overclocked GTX275's (factory 670mhz)
1. thing I noticed....wtfzorrs, whilst my EVGA X58 SLI LE has 4 PCIE slots, they are set as such according to the manual:
slot 1 (from top down...forget PCI etc) = PCI-Ex16
slot 2 = PCI-E x 8
slot 3 = PCI-E x 4
slot 4 = PCI-E x 8

hmm slot 1 check...slot 2..covered by GTX275 in slot 1
slot 3 ok...slot 4, won't fit as there are the connectors and no room at the back of the case anyway!!!!!!!!!
so expecting the worst, I installed them in slot 1, and slot 3 and setup.

ran vantage and got a great size jump in performance over the GTX295
I don't think that the x 4 lane is a problem afterall

the cards do generate more heat, but are ALOT quieter than the GTX295, perform better, bit cheaper, and look cooler..they also will hold value a bit better IMO
Oh and yes this I'm still using the stock cpu cooler, this case is pretty good though at keeping temps reasonable.

Put them in slots 2 and 4 so you have both running at x8, and see if that improves your scores. Single-GPU cards don't saturate PCI-E 2.0 x8 slots; I'm not sure whether or not they can saturate x4.

nice rig!

quick! get yourself a new heatsink!

evilsofa said:

Put them in slots 2 and 4 so you have both running at x8, and see if that improves your scores. Single-GPU cards don't saturate PCI-E 2.0 x8 slots; I'm not sure whether or not they can saturate x4.

Click to expand...

when they did the crossfire scaling I think 8x made little difference but 4x proved to be more of a bottle neck. it was very game dependent though

evilsofa said:

Put them in slots 2 and 4 so you have both running at x8, and see if that improves your scores. Single-GPU cards don't saturate PCI-E 2.0 x8 slots; I'm not sure whether or not they can saturate x4.

Click to expand...

Slot 2 is fine, but slot 4 won't fit for a few reasons: but most importantly due to the motherboard connections are intefering and even if I were to get extensions or something...the back of the case seems to block the dvi ports as there is not enough space for a dual slot card there.

After just ruunning some more, games...I'm definately getting a good 10-20% more peformance over the GTX295..so I don't think it's possible I'm bottlenecked in any way.

You're only running at 1680x1050, so it isn't surprising that you wouldn't see much of a deficit from running one of the cards in a 4x slot since even a single GTX275 would be fast enough to max out just about anything at that resolution. If you were running at 1920x1080, 1920x1200, or 2560x1600, you would probably see bottlenecking from the lower bandwidth.