Couple of case/mobo questiosn (re: PCIe/SLI/XF)...

[Syphon Filter]

Hi Chaps,

I'm looking at putting a new system together and have a couple of questions.

Are there any mobos that have 16x PCIe slots (physical and lanes) arranged such that GPUs can be installed in XF/SLI but with a gap between them?

Does that make sense?

Also, it seems things have changed (I've been out of the game a while) and PSUs are now mounted in the bottom of the case. If the 2nd GPU is quite low down then is there a possibility that the PSU itself will restrict airflow to the 2nd card?

In an ideal world I would like to have a build that looks like like the following:

Slot 1. Card 1 in 16x/16x slot
Slot 2. Card 1 - Cooler
Slot 3. SPACE
Slot 4. Card 2 in 16x/16x slot
Slot 5. Card 2 - Cooler
Slot 6. SPACE
-------------------------
PSU

Is this possible?
Will I just end up with one card running at 16x and the other at 8x (or maybe even 4x)?
Does any of this even matter?

Any tips/advice would be much appreciated.

TIA

SF

 

[tiraides]

A lot of higher-end motherboards are designed to have a slot in-between two dual-slot video cards. If you go with Socket 1150 (Z87) or Socket 1155 (Z77), motherboards usually perform dual x8. If you want dual x16, you need to go with either Socket 2011 (X79/X79 Express) or AMD. (There is a performance boost with dual x16 versus dual x8, but for many users, the boost isn't worth the added expense.)

Cases that support PSUs on the bottom are designed to allow the PSUs to draw air from the bottom. There are vent holes all along the bottom where the PSU would go.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. I am looking at the Gigabyte Z87X-OC but I can't work out which slots would be used for SLI/XF and what the respective bandwidths would be.

I understand the first card would go in Slot 1 (nearest the CPU socket). Would card 2 go in the 2nd or 3rd orange PCIe slot?

 

[Dangman]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. I am looking at the Gigabyte Z87X-OC but I can't work out which slots would be used for SLI/XF and what the respective bandwidths would be.

That motherboard isn't a good choice for the money since there are far more reliable motherboards out there like the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING or the Asus Z87 Pro. BUt to answer your question....

I understand the first card would go in Slot 1 (nearest the CPU socket). Would card 2 go in the 2nd or 3rd orange PCIe slot?

From what I can see, for optimal performance you want it to go in the 2nd orange PCI-E since the 3rd and 4th orange PCI-E slots max out at x4 speeds. However, that's not a good configuration from a cooling standpoint obviously. Hence another reason why I recommend the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING or Asus Z87 Pro motherboards since they have a both an optimal setup for cooling and performance for SLI/CFX.