X16 vs x8 slots

[domthebomb]

which is better

x16/x16

or

x16/x8/x8

pertaining to SLI configurations

 

[Henry Chinaski]

16x/16x means that you can install up to 2 graphic cards and the bandwidth will be 16x (the highest nowadays).
16x/8x/8x means that you can install up to 3 graphic cards and the bandwidth will be 16x for one of them, and 8x for the other two.
Anyway, 3xSLI graphic cards will always give you more performance than 2xSLI at those conditions. So 3xSLi at x16/8x/x8 is better than 2xSLI at x16/x16

 

[Baladya]

Hey Henry, my friend told me that the graphics only uses 8 lanes not the whole 16... is this true? Or is this like for some graphics... plz explain

 

[Henry Chinaski]

Hey Henry, my friend told me that the graphics only uses 8 lanes not the whole 16... is this true? Or is this like for some graphics... plz explain

Here you have a very interesting report from TechPowerUp about this matter:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-Express_Scaling/1.html