From your description, it sounds like the two operating modes are:
1) x16, x8, x8 in the 3 slots, respectively
2) x16, x16, 0 in the 3 slots
However, even if you go with mode 1, many boards have problems with mixing video and non-video cards in those slots.
------------------------------e2160@3GHz: OCing my way to Ubuntuland!
Reply to Mondoman
Last question first:
I don't think you will see any performance improvement in gaming with raid-5 or with 15k sas drives.
The velociraptor or using only 10% of a wd caviar black 1tb drive is about as good as you can do with conventional drives.
If you have the funds for a good raid controller and sas drives, then I suggest two intel x25-m ssd's in raid-0.
First question X16,x8,x8 should be fine. The GTX280 can hardly saturate the bus.
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