Will it overheat?

justalex81 · 4 Oct 2011 at 21:29

Hi all

i have 2 6870's coming for some crossfire action. trouble is i also have a asus xonar d2x sound card. looking in my case the other day, the only way it all fits is if the sound card is mounted in the slot next to the first graphics card. there would be literally a few mm between them.

Will the heat from the graphics card cause the sound card problems?

i have an asrock z68 extreme 4 mobo and an antec p182 spcr case.

Can i mount the graphics cards in slots 2 and 3 instead of 1 and 2 and still crossfire?

cheers guys

Surveyor · 4 Oct 2011 at 21:51

It'll be fine the way you were first thinking with the sound card in the x1 slot above the graphics card.

If you use the third PCI-E x16 slot for a graphics card you could reduce the performance as the slot only works at x4 speed.

Faztastic · 5 Oct 2011 at 01:26

what does this mean, it might help me and him but i dont understand it.

Compared with others Z68 chipset motherboard which brings limited PCI-E lanes, ASRock Z68 motherboard break the limitation and offer sufficient PCI-E lanes solution by embedding PLX PEX8608 chip onboard. Users can simply enjoy all PCI-E devices.

With PLX PEX8608 chip, it generates more PCI-E lanes for PCI-E devices, so that all PCI-E devices are able to work at the proper speed simultaneously!

With traditional switch, if users want to run the PCI-E x4 slot at PCI-E, then the other 3 PCI-E x1 slots can not be used. If users install device in any of the PCI-E x1 slot, then the PCI-E x4 slot will suffer to downgrade running at PCI-E x1.

Surveyor · 5 Oct 2011 at 01:44

The Z68 chipset doesn't have enough PCI-E lanes to run 2x8, 1x4, all the x1 slots and the other things.

The additional chip on the ASRock board adds a few more PCI-E lanes so you can have 2x8, 1x4, all the x1 slots and the other things.

Essentially what it adds up to is that instead of a x1 speed slot on most Z68 boards you can have a x4 speed slot on the ASRock board.

justalex81 · 5 Oct 2011 at 12:32

thanks for the input guys. So just to clarify, only slots 1 and 2 can be used for crossfire due to the third slot only being 4 lanes?

and it's fine for my sound card to be mounted directly next to the first graphics card without overheating or interference issues?

Do you think i need to upgrade my case for better cooling or is the antec p182 spcr adequate?

cheers again

Surveyor · 5 Oct 2011 at 14:58

The third slot can be used for Trifire but it only runs at x4 speed.

It can't be used for triple SLI if anyone wonders.