Need motherboard for i7 that has 4 PCI Express ports

[macrotrader]

I'm building a PC that requires 4 PCI Express ports so that I can plug in 4 specific video cards. The Intel P67 and X79 boards don't seem have enough PCI express slots...unless I am reading the specs wrong...so they are out.

Can anybody throw a brother a bone here and mention the name of a board that supports the LGA 1155 socket, and supports 4 PCI express video cards?

 

[sosofm]

EVGA Z68 FTW 160-SB-E689-KR LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188098
X79 SOCKET 2011 :
ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional LGA 2011 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157288
GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128532
ASUS Rampage IV Formula LGA 2011 Intel X79 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131808

 

[jaquith]

LGA 1155 - ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution - http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8P67_WS_Revolution/#specifications

LGA 2011 - ASUS P9X79 WS - http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/P9X79_WS/

Actually there are several ASUS X79's with 4 PCIe slots for PCIe v3.0 (x8/x8/x8/x8). If the goal is 4-WAY SLI then no LGA 1155 is supported.

 

[macrotrader]

Ok...i've been doing some reading about PCI-E...and i have another question...If i have 4 identical video cards...will there be a problem plugging 1 into a PCI-E 16x slot...2 into PCI-E 8x slot, and 1 into a PCI-E 4x slot ??

I understand that the 16x, 8x, and 4x designations are describing the speed of the bus to the slot....i'm just wondering if my (4) Radeon HD3450 512MB video cards will show any different output given the different bus speeds.

And..will they physically fit on the board..these things seem kinda large?

And, yes, i know that my 3450 video cards are not the best video cards out there (understatement)...but for older business specific software requirements...i am required to run Windows XP..and XP only supports 2 video outputs per video card...hence the requirement for 4 video cards with dual outputs...so that i can create a...wait for it...an 8 monitor rig.

 

[thently]

LOL 300 dollar mobo for 4 3450 since this is not for gaming should not cause an issue just make sure that all 4 slots are for or can be used for video and it should not be an issue also make sure it is 16x physical even if it is 4x electrical so your card will cram in there.

Thent

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I got confused a bit, when you said you looked at P67 and X79 but then said socket 1155 was only one under consideration.

$250 Asus WS Revolution (P67):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131714

- PCI Express 2.0 x16
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (@ x16 or x8);
2 x PCIe 2.0 x 16 (@ x8)


$340 ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z (Z68)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131760

-PCI Express 2.0 x16
4 (x16 or dual x8 or x8, x16, x16)


$370 - ASUS Rampage IV (LGA 2011)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131808

PCI Express 3.0 x16
4 (x16; x16/x16; x16/x8/x16 and x16/x8/x8/x8, red)

The x4 slot would be slow but from the sound of things, you're not looking for speed.

 

[jaquith]

The HD 3450 won't touch x4 on PCIe 2.0. This seems like a 'Monitoring' system?!

I'd get the ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution as I linked above and call it a day, it offers perfect double width PCIe spacing.

 

[aqe040466]

I'm building a PC that requires 4 PCI Express ports so that I can plug in 4 specific video cards. The Intel P67 and X79 boards don't seem have enough PCI express slots...unless I am reading the specs wrong...so they are out.

Can anybody throw a brother a bone here and mention the name of a board that supports the LGA 1155 socket, and supports 4 PCI express video cards?

Here are two MB that have 4 PCIe slots

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131760

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131700