• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

GPUs blocking pci slots

A

Argaen

n00b
Joined
Sep 1, 2002
Messages
62
Just a random question, so I thought I would put it here. I recently upgraded to a 5820k/Asus X99A setup with a new 980ti. I want to get another 980ti for sli. My problem is that both of them will block the pci 1 slots. I need one slot for my xonar sound card. I tried using the onboard sound, but it sounds terrible in comparison to my xonar. So is there a way to deal with this situation? I haven't been able to find anything concrete on this other than some people trying pci riser cables or something. Thanks for any info this guys. :cool:
 
What about the bottom x16 (actually x4 speed) slot? Or is that also blocked?

You can fit a smaller x1 card into a larger x16 slot.

Otherwise, you're going to have to go with a USB sound card, or hack around with risers.
 
Will having the sound card in one of the x16 slots affect the 16x/8x gpu setup?
 
Depends on how monstrous your coolers are. Only YOU can really answer that one :D

EDIT: didn't realize you already have the soundcard.

You're just going to have to do some research. You can measure the height of your current GTX 980 Ti's cooler above the PCB, and then you can figure out from that how far down the cooler on the second card will extend.

I would leave at least half an inch (one inch preferred) clearance between ther second GTx 980 Ti and the sound card for airflow.

What model 980 Ti card do you already own?
 
Last edited:
No it will not give you a performance decrease in the PCI-e lanes if you use that x16 (x4 capable) slot.

As defaultuser mentioned the only other alternative to get to those slots with those video cards is to use risers to move the cards to a different location.
 
Man did I over-complicate things for you. You have the two cards right now, so you can easily check if the GTX 980 Ti installed in the second PCIe x16 slot conflicts with the sound card in the fourth x16 slot.

Also, you will need to see how much clearance your card would have in the top slot versus the one in the second slot, and see if your motherboard supports x8 in the third slot or not (check your manual).

ACCORDING TO NEWEGG: 28-Lane CPU-
3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 ( x16, x16/x8, x16/x8/x4)

Seriously dude, your 5820k CPU was a bad idea. It massively complicates an otherwise easy build.
 
Yep. The 5820k was a huge mess. Really though, there are just problems all around. Mostly with the fact that I can't get rid of this asus xonar sound card. But I didn't plan on getting an sli configuration and thought one 980ti would be fine. But I really want to turn on hairworks in Witcher 3. :p I'll just have to test if all three work together. Thanks for the help guys!
 
There shouldn't be any issues with that mobo and the number of lanes, there is plenty on the 5820k to drive the dual 980ti's.

You can try placing your GPU's in your 1st and 3rd PCI-E x16 slots and slot your Xonar card in PCI-E 2 slot, right between the GPU's

This assumes that your Xonar card does not have a shielding, and thus will not take up all of its PCI-E slot space. If the card has a shield (I do not believe any Xonar cards have any case shielding), then you are out of luck, the back plate will prevent you from installing the sound card.

I have a similar setup, except I have a Xonar DG slotted between 2 970's. It's tight, but otherwise there are no issues beyond the backplate actually being a hinderance. I am looking into removing it entirely.
 
Have you ever considered using a pci express ribbon cable extension. I used a couple of them in mining litecoins and they worked pretty well. So basically you can get a 1x to 1x cable for your sound card and route it around your video cards to an empty pc expansion card slot in your case. I personally have a Rosewill thor v2 which is xl-atx so it is easy for me. I think they are pretty cheap on newegg or ebay too and the usb3 ones work a little better than the eide ribbon cable ones. Something like this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=pci_express_riser-_-9SIA50M1MW0163-_-Product
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top