Looking for a mobo

Mrnob · 19 Jan 2012 at 13:40

I was thinking of moving to a 1155 mob and getting the i5 2500k, aswell this i need it to have 3 pci e slots due to having 2 570s with arctic coolers on which use 3 slots each. So i was looking at a mobo with these that both could run at full x16.

Blackwhite · 19 Jan 2012 at 14:41

SLI is only x8 on these boards I'm afraid.
What is your budget?

stulid · 19 Jan 2012 at 14:48

The only 16X/16X boards are the ones with the NF200 chip to add extra PCI express lanes.

But they are like £200±

Surveyor · 19 Jan 2012 at 16:05

stulid said:
The only 16X/16X boards are the ones with the NF200 chip to add extra PCI express lanes.

And some of them default to x8/x8 with 2 cards and only use the extra PCI-E lanes from the NF200 chip with more than 2 cards.

stulid · 19 Jan 2012 at 16:07

Surveyor said:
And some of them default to x8/x8 with 2 cards and only use the extra PCI-E lanes from the NF200 chip with more than 2 cards.

Such as?

Surveyor · 19 Jan 2012 at 16:14

stulid said:
Such as?

Such as the Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z.

This is supposed to be better than running x16/x16 using the NF200 chip.

While the board carries with it the NF200 chip, when running two cards in CrossFire/SLI, those cards will run at x8/x8. ASUS says this is because x8/x8 is faster due to the lack of latency which exists when you start to go through the NF200 chip.

If that's true then if you're only running 2 cards you might as well not get a board with an NF200 chip.

stulid · 19 Jan 2012 at 16:40

Just the one motherboard and its P67 counterpart?

Surveyor · 19 Jan 2012 at 17:01

stulid said:
Just the one motherboard and its P67 counterpart?

Funnily enough I haven't checked every board.

I said that some work at x8/x8 even though they have an NF200 chip and they do.

If the OP has their eyes on a particular board then it can be checked for them.

The ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 does run 2 cards at x16/16 utilising the extra lanes provided by the NF200 chip.

Mrnob · 19 Jan 2012 at 21:08

CHeers for the responses, i see i need something like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-174-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990 then

Surveyor · 19 Jan 2012 at 22:12

Mrnob said:
CHeers for the responses, i see i need something like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-174-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990 then

Regarding the PCI-E slots that's really no different than any other board which will operate at x8/x8 with 2 graphics cards installed.

Depending on any other specific features you're after you can get boards from around £100 which will do the same.

Mrnob · 19 Jan 2012 at 23:13

After looking around a bit i see theres not much difference between the x8 and x16 so ill just for x8.

Mrnob · 19 Jan 2012 at 23:33

I was looking at buying this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-054-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990.

Would i be able to use my cards in both those slots and use sli?
I am currently doing it like this on my mobo, not sure it works like that on all.

Reason for the spacing is because the gpus both have 3 slot coolers on them.

Davefran · 20 Jan 2012 at 00:34

No, the bottom slot would run at x4.
You'd need to put the first card in the top slot (circled green) and the second card in the centre PCI-E slot just below " Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 " written on the board to get SLi at x8 / x8

PCIE slots:
PCIE1 / PCIE3 (PCIE 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express cards with x1
lane width cards, such as Gigabit LAN card, SATA2 card, etc.
PCIE2 / PCIE4 (PCIE 3.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x16 lane
width graphics cards, or used to install PCI Express graphics cards to
support CrossFireXTM or SLITM function.
PCIE5 (PCIE 2.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x4 lane width graphics
cards, or used to install PCI Express graphics cards to support
3-Way CrossFireXTM function.

1. In single VGA card mode, it is recommended to install a PCI Express
x16 graphics card on PCIE2 slot.
2. In CrossFireXTM mode or SLITM mode, please install PCI Express x16
graphics cards on PCIE2 and PCIE4 slots. Therefore, both these two
slots will work at x8 bandwidth.
3. In 3-Way CrossFireXTM mode, please install PCI Express x16
graphics cards on PCIE2, PCIE4 and PCIE5 slots. Therefore, PCIE2
and PCIE4 slots will work at x8 bandwidth while PCIE5 slot will work
at x4 bandwidth.
4. Please connect a chassis fan to motherboard chassis fan connector
(CHA_FAN1, CHA_FAN2 or CHA_FAN3) when using multiple
graphics cards for better thermal environment.
5. To run the PCI Express in Gen 3 speed, please must install the Ivy
Bridge CPU which supports PCI Express Gen3. If you install the
Sandy Bridge CPU, the PCI Express will run only at PCI Express Gen
2 speed.