GPU PCI 3.0 16x

The D man

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Aug 8, 2014
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I have to say I've learn so much in this site going thru the forums in the past 3 months. You guys know your shit for sure.

Anyways I have a question about the PCI 3.0 x16, I know its always the first PCI at 16 and I know it's for GPU bandwidth. I was reading another forum on the new X99 extreme V motherboard that it can run 2 cards at 16x and a third at 8x with a 5930k or 5960x since it has 40PCI lanes.

Is that remotely true?

I don't know if the dude was just blowing smoke. I though motherboards only run cards at 16x/8x

If it's not understandable, I'll try to re-word it. Thanks!
 
Solution
Yeah its true, they can run 2 x16 and 1 x8.

The enthusiast platform adds a few features, that is one of them.
This means you can have four GPUs installed if the motherboard has enough slots available.

On the mainstream Z97 boards, they have 20 PCI lanes, so the boards only have two slots capable of x8. With one card installed in the first slot, it will run at x16. Install a second card and both the first slot and second slot will run in x8.

For Mainstream: Because of the limit of only two x8 slots, unless your motherboard has a PLX chip, you can only have two Nvidia cards installed. This is because Nvidia cards require x8 bandwidth.

If you are using AMD GPU, the third slot running at x4 will be able to accept a third card, enabling...

bradsctt

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Yeah its true, they can run 2 x16 and 1 x8.

The enthusiast platform adds a few features, that is one of them.
This means you can have four GPUs installed if the motherboard has enough slots available.

On the mainstream Z97 boards, they have 20 PCI lanes, so the boards only have two slots capable of x8. With one card installed in the first slot, it will run at x16. Install a second card and both the first slot and second slot will run in x8.

For Mainstream: Because of the limit of only two x8 slots, unless your motherboard has a PLX chip, you can only have two Nvidia cards installed. This is because Nvidia cards require x8 bandwidth.

If you are using AMD GPU, the third slot running at x4 will be able to accept a third card, enabling 'trifire'.
 
Solution

fl-gators-fan

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Oct 11, 2010
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I'm currently running an I7-4790K with a Gigabyte Z97X Gaming GT motherboard that allows 4 way SLI and 2 way at 16x16. My 2 GPUs which are the EVGA GTX 770 Super Clocked editions are both running at PCI-e 3.0 at 16x16 speeds.

It is possible to run 2 GPUs on the Z97 platform in PCI-e 16x16 speeds, but you'll need a motherboard with 4 way SLI support to do it. Plus a good amount of cashflow....lol!