Question about PCI-E lanes on X299

[Legend]

If you're using a X299 CPU/mobo option that gives you x28 PCI-E lanes and have 1080Ti in SLI configuration, how limited are you for utilising other PCI-E lanes for SSD, M.2 etc?

This is an area I'm a bit dark on having never run SLI before, but am I right in saying you would run the cards at x16 and x8 (x16 x16 not being possible) leaving x4 PCI-E lanes left for other usage?

It just seems to be you could eat up those lanes REAL quick, having spent a huge amount of money on all your components, only to find you can't run them all!?

 

[Legend]

Yeah, this really seems to be something that AMD have thought more about given the extra lanes Threadripper brings. Seems bang out of order to me that you could buy a board with x3 M.2 drive slots (as many X299 boards have) and find you can't use 1 or 2 of them, or potentially even NONE if you had SLI with a 16 lane CPU? Is that possible??

 

[Legend]

The more I read, the more apparent it becomes that this really is a d**k move from Intel!

 

[Legend]

I think AMD need to be a bit bolder with their strategy here. They don't seem to release much in the way of official info, and X399 motherboards seem very thin on the ground vs X299. AMD would certainly benefit being more forthcoming.

 

[Legend]

To have the ALL their X299 CPU's below $1000 with only 24 or 16 lanes seems an absolutely daft business decision to me. Yes clearly they would want to push those considering the 7820X to spend nearly twice as much for the 7900X, but in light of what AMD are bringing to the table with Threadripper, I can only surmise their thinking behind this stems from pure arrogance and the belief their product is truly that much better and worthy of such a high price tag. They are blinded by their dominance in the marketplace all these years, and must take the consumers for absolute idiots. Still, plenty will hand their money over more than willingly.

 

[Legend]

Discussions on performance are really missing the point though, when due to the PCI-E lane limitation, it's quite possible you could spend nearly a grand on a motherboard and CPU only to find you can't use half the features on the board! It simply defies belief Intel think this is acceptable for an enthusiast level platform. I hope everyone does see sense here and go with Threadripper, because for me personally, the way things are shaping up currently, it's an EASY decision.