I've always used single card solutions but I'm now tempted to go the multi-GPU route...say for example a motherboard has 4 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots...if I'm using 2 GPU's can I place them in any of the x16 slots or do they have to be in slots PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2?...in other words can I place them in slots 2 and 3 or 3 and 4?
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newbish SLI/Crossfire question
- Thread starter polonyc2
- Start date
sirmonkey1985
[H]ard|DCer of the Month - July 2010
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2008
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- 22,412
typically you need to use the pciex16_1 slot then you can put the second card anywhere.. just make sure that the slot your putting it in is not a x4 slot.. some boards have x16/x8 or x8/x8/x4 or x8/x8/x8/x8 im sure you get the point.. really just depends on what the board supports.. usually they will have that information in the manual that comes with the motherboard..
typically you need to use the pciex16_1 slot then you can put the second card anywhere.. just make sure that the slot your putting it in is not a x4 slot.. some boards have x16/x8 or x8/x8/x4 or x8/x8/x8/x8 im sure you get the point.. really just depends on what the board supports.. usually they will have that information in the manual that comes with the motherboard..
but if the first card has to go in slot pciex16_1 then doesn't it mean that the second card will only be able to go in pciex16_2 as don't they use that bridge connector thing to attach the 2 cards?...and the connector is only a certain short length right?
but if the first card has to go in slot pciex16_1 then doesn't it mean that the second card will only be able to go in pciex16_2 as don't they use that bridge connector thing to attach the 2 cards?...and the connector is only a certain short length right?
You can get different lengths of bridges... my old 680i board i had to use the top PCI-E slot and the very bottom PCI-E slot... the middle slot was only x4
You can get different lengths of bridges... my old 680i board i had to use the top PCI-E slot and the very bottom PCI-E slot... the middle slot was only x4
so the motherboard manufacturer will supply the bridges if they are not standard size?
Puget assembled my system - and they had to go to eBay to get a 10cm long crossfire bridge to put my cards in the only two full x16 slots on my motherboard.
you would think the motherboard manufacturer would supply this since they built the board with the 2 x16 slots so far away from each other...if a standard bridge doesn't fit then it should be their responsibility to supply one
Not to steal the thread, but theoretically wouldnt the performance be capped if the second card was put in a slot with only 8 lanes instead of 16?
I have thought about doing this for better air flow between my sandwiched GTX280s, but I have not because my third PCIe slot has only 8 lanes instead of 16 like the first two slots on my Asus P6T.
I have thought about doing this for better air flow between my sandwiched GTX280s, but I have not because my third PCIe slot has only 8 lanes instead of 16 like the first two slots on my Asus P6T.
you would think the motherboard manufacturer would supply this since they built the board with the 2 x16 slots so far away from each other...if a standard bridge doesn't fit then it should be their responsibility to supply one
In this instance, the board is manufactured by EVGA, which only puts SLI bridges with their boards. They don't make crossfire bridges.
PlatinumPC
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2008
- Messages
- 315
Not to steal the thread, but theoretically wouldnt the performance be capped if the second card was put in a slot with only 8 lanes instead of 16?
I have thought about doing this for better air flow between my sandwiched GTX280s, but I have not because my third PCIe slot has only 8 lanes instead of 16 like the first two slots on my Asus P6T.
I was running my cards x16 and x4 PCI-E and can say that there was only a few percent difference.
x8 vrs x16 on your GTX260 won't be anymore than a 2% difference.
I've seen conflicting tests on exactly at what res you would start to be bottlenecked... But many of them were tests run right after P45 mobos were launched and CF still had scaling issues, drivers could've come a long way since then (if it wasn't really a PCI-E slot bottleneck issue) so yea, best bet is testing it yourself.