Complications with New Motherboard and SLI

Samuel Marlow · May 11, 2014

Hey.. i was thinking of getting a new Motherboard soon and this is what i have come up with so far: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VI_GENE/

My problem is that is has 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. But it says that if i use 2 graphics cards on it.. The slots will only run at x8 x8.. will this effect everything? will my graphics cards only perform at half strength so there would not be a point in getting a second graphics card?? what does it mean??

VincentP · May 11, 2014

All socket 1150 processors have 16x PCI-E lanes (v3.0).
They also have a link to the motherboard chipset (DMI 2.0) which has much lower bandwidth than these lanes.
Good Crossfire and SLI motherboards for these processors split the 16 lanes between the two PCI-E x16 slots, hence each slot runs at x8 speed.
This is actually more than enough for any currently available single GPU graphics card.

Cheaper motherboards for these processors will run the first PCI-E x16 slot at PCI-E 3.0 x16 speed but the second slot only runs at PCI-E 2.0 x4 speed making use of the link to the motherboard chipset (DMI 2.0). This has a much bigger effect on performance than just splitting the available 16 PCI-E lanes.

If you want a motherboard capable of running two cards at the full x16 speed, you need to step up to socket 2011. These processors have 40x PCI-E lanes but they are much more expensive.

Samuel Marlow · May 11, 2014

VincentP :

so.. using the x8 x8 for SLI... will i notice any difference in performance over the x16 x16? i will be using 2 GTX 770 2Gb's and only 1 monitor at 1400p.. will the performance be less? or the same?

and what does it mean when it says.. 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0

VincentP · May 11, 2014

Samuel Marlow :

x8/x8 will be a little slower than x16/x16 in some situations but it is not a big difference. Not enough of a difference to want to spend hundreds of dollars extra on a socket 2011 motherboard and processor for most people.

I run a 1440p monitor on a GTX 770 and can get 50 FPS in Far Cry 3 with MSAA and PostFX disabled. Many other games run at 60 FPS. The frame rates are prettty good. Where I am going to run into problems is limited graphics memory rather than rendering power.

If you are going to go with two GTX 770 cards, make sure they are 4GB models. 2GB isn't enough for the highest settings at 1440p.

Depending on your budget, you may just decide to go with a higher end card instead of SLI. A GTX 780 or an R9 290 with a good cooler will give you 60 FPS in most games, and close to 60 FPS in any game with the right settings. Remember there is always something new around the corner and what you save now could be better spent on a new card in two years.

Samuel Marlow · May 11, 2014

VincentP :

Samuel Marlow :

x8/x8 will be a little slower than x16/x16 in some situations but it is not a big difference. Not enough of a difference to want to spend hundreds of dollars extra on a socket 2011 motherboard and processor for most people.

I run a 1440p monitor on a GTX 770 and can get 50 FPS in Far Cry 3 with MSAA and PostFX disabled. Many other games run at 60 FPS. The frame rates are prettty good. Where I am going to run into problems is limited graphics memory rather than rendering power.

If you are going to go with two GTX 770 cards, make sure they are 4GB models. 2GB isn't enough for the highest settings at 1440p.

Depending on your budget, you may just decide to go with a higher end card instead of SLI. A GTX 780 or an R9 290 with a good cooler will give you 60 FPS in most games, and close to 60 FPS in any game with the right settings. Remember there is always something new around the corner and what you save now could be better spent on a new card in two years.

Ok, thanks a lot.. you have given me lots to think about... perhaps a 780ti will do me for a minute... we will see

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