SLi on MSI X99S Gaming 7 ? how ?

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 17:36

Hi guys.
I am offered a Core i7 5820K, 8GB DDR4 2400mhz ram and a MSI X99S Gaming 7 motherboard, and I am really hooked on trying it out for my second rig. However I have two MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G cards OC'ed to 1300Mhz core and 7.8Ghz Vram in my current rig with core i7 4930k, 16gb ddr3 1866mhz and MSI X79GD-45 Plus motherboard - and here there is at least 2cm spacing between the cards so they can breathe with the twinfrozr 5 cooler.

The issue is I am worried that the two cards won't be able to run as fast in that X99 setup setup because as far as I can see the MSI X99S Gaming 7 supports 2 way SLI at pci-e 1 and pci-e 3 meaning that the cards with sit right next to eachother. Is it possible run SLi with the pci-e1 and pci-e5 ports so at least there is some spacing between the cards ? I'm not sure if I should say yes to the offer if the cards can't breathe ??
Here's a picture of the board in question with 2x 980's with the same TwinFrozr 5 coolers:

stulid · 17 May 2015 at 18:16

I wonder if you can put it in slot number 5 (the 3rd long one counting down) and that then gives you 8X/8X as it shares bandwidth with the top slot.

Should work in theory.

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 18:24

stulid said:
I wonder if you can put it in slot number 5 (the 3rd long one counting down) and that then gives you 8X/8X as it shares bandwidth with the top slot.

Should work in theory.

Yea that is also what I'm wondering about and perhaps some one has tried it ? If if doesn't work then it's a bit expensive lesson to learn

stulid · 17 May 2015 at 18:26

Cant you ask him to try it, if he wants to sell it then it might not be a hassle for him, only thing is getting a 2way bridge that reaches that far.

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 18:31

stulid said:
Cant you ask him to try it, if he wants to sell it then it might not be a hassle for him, only thing is getting a 2way bridge that reaches that far.

Problem is he only has one 970 card

I have a long enough SLI bridge though.

stulid · 17 May 2015 at 18:43

Also looking at what you currently have it its not a big upgrade and a downgrade on the RAM amount.

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 18:53

stulid said:
Also looking at what you currently have it its not a big upgrade and a downgrade on the RAM amount.

Yea I would cash out for an extra 8gb set though. It's just the price - it's very tempting (£385, 6months old).

stulid · 17 May 2015 at 18:56

Could you take your two cards to him and test if it works.

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 19:28

Just found this after countless google search combinations.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2440511/msi-x99s-gaming-5820k-780ti-sli.html
This guy placed the cards in pcie 1 & 5 and wondered why they didn't run x16/x8 but x8/x8 - so it seems like it will work with x8/x8 after all

stulid · 17 May 2015 at 19:39

Excellent find.

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 19:55

Yea and just discovered this photo with a MSI X99S SLI plus, ci 7 5820k and 2x 980's. And the MSI X99S SLI has the same pcie lanes layout as the Gaming 7 - so it'll work

http://www.instagramal.com/photo/kpoloboy916/972474584112009936_1774591507

Gripen90 · 17 May 2015 at 20:28

Done deal now - got the lot for £385

Gripen90 · 22 May 2015 at 11:11

Well I ended selling it all again with a bit profit.
I knew I would be getting another 8GB kit for 16GB in total, but then I found out that X99 doesn't run on Windows Vista which my X79 platform is running. So that would mean go out buying an new copy of Windows 7 or 8.1 to run X99... and then reinstall everything again.
That just seemed to bee too much hassle and too expensive for me to buy 8GB more ram and a new Windows copy. I am not interested in buying a new Windows license when Windows 10 is lurking and I'm getting that OS for both PC's.
So the money I gained is going to the "GTX 980Ti savings account"