New Build Concerns (PCI-E 3.0 Lanes)

Robert Snedden

Honorable
Mar 23, 2013
6
0
10,510
PSU: 750W Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750M, Modular, 85% Eff' , 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX PSU


CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i Hydro Series CPU Cooler, LGA 115x, 1366, and 2011 & AM2, AM3, FM1 and FM2

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K, 1150, Haswell, Quad Core, 3.5GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo, 1250MHz GPU, 35x Ratio, 84W, Retail

GFX: 2GB EVGA GTX 770 SC ACX, 28nm, PCIe 3.0, 7010MHz GDDR5, GPU 1111MHz, Boost 1163MHz, Cores 1536, DPort/HDMI/DVI

HDD: 2TB Seagate ST2000NM0033 Constellation ES.3 Enterprise 24x7 SATA 6GB/s 7200rpm 128MB Cache 8ms NCQ OEM

RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Red, PC3-19200 (2400), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 11-13-13-31, XMP, 1.65V

Case: Zalman MS800 Plus USB 3.0 ATX Mid Case w/o PSU

What concerns me:

MOBO: MAXIMUS VI HERO - Asus ROG Maximus VI HERO, Intel Z87, S 1150, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), HDMI, ATX
PCI Express Configurations 1x16, 2x8

In the future I'd like to SLI the GTX 770 cards.
I'm not clued-up about the PCI-E lane speeds, and the 2x8 (SLI) concerns me. Is it possible to get a 2x16 lane SLI supporting motherboard?

Is there anything else in the build that isn't great?
This system is costing around 1400 GPB from my local hardware supplier (scan.co.uk) which I have found to be reasonable cost.
 
Solution
No, 2x8 lanes are what you want for SLI. That is standard.

If this is for gaming, get an i5 and 8gb RAM.

I would also ditch the closed loop water cooler for a good air cooler. It will cool basically just as well but make WAY less noise.

Robert Snedden

Honorable
Mar 23, 2013
6
0
10,510


Thanks for the advice.

What is the reason you would go for an i5 over the i7, and also why less RAM (this RAM is good spec/speed as far as I know).