Motherboard with extra PCI lanes

[Firix]

Hi,

 

Iin the build i am planning i would like to have 2 graphics cards (EVGA GTX970 ACX2.0 - newegg sells them for £225) in SLI. (Note: i will be buying these at different times, so dont suggest a 2011v3 board/cpu).

 

Unfortunaltly this will leave me without the option to add any more cards because i am planning on using the i5 4690k, a 1150 socket CPU with 16 lanes. And you require a minimum of 8 lanes for SLI. After some research i have found that most motherboards are in a 16 0 0, 8 8 0 then 4 4 4 if you use all the 16x PCIe lanes, but in someone mentioned a board with an onboard chip that let the board use a 8 8 4 configuration that would let me have a last card. Although it appeared that the card had reduced speeds, that doesnt really bother me. You might ask why i need a 3rd card. Well, whats the point on having 3 16x slots and 7 all together if you cant utilise them, but also because i may need to have a WiFi card. But also the option to expand with out having to a ) get a board and CPU on the 2011 socket, which are much more expensive or b ) wait till skylake comes out, but it will be expensive and i only get substantial amounts of money for my birthday and christmas, which is why 2 GTX970 would work for me, but a 2011 wouldnt.

 

TL;DR

 

Mobo that can run SLI with another card on the 1150 socket.

 

Thanks in advance, matt

 

 

I didnt add my PCPartPicker build because i didnt think it would be relevant, but if you want to see it is on my Bio.

[Godlygamer23]

If the last slot is PCIe 2.0 x4, it goes through the PCH.

[Linux User]

Little things like wifi and sound cards use chipset lanes instead of cpu lanes if you use the right slot

[Firix]

Little things like wifi and sound cards use chipset lanes instead of cpu lanes if you use the right slot

Is this with all motherboards of just certian motherboards?

 

thanks for the reply, put me at rest a bit.

[Geldar]

You can use a board like this http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97%20Extreme9/

 

It uses a PLX chip which, long story short, it creates 'fake' or 'virtual' lanes allowing you to use more lanes than physically available. The technology could be comparable to Hyper-Threading on cpu's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLX_Technology

[Godlygamer23]

You can use a board like this http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97%20Extreme9/

 

It uses a PLX chip which, long story short, it creates 'fake' or 'virtual' lanes allowing you to use more lanes than physically available. The technology could be comparable to Hyper-Threading on cpu's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLX_Technology

It's not needed. It's only needed if you're running three or four way SLI/Crossfire.

[Karen Lynn]

If you aren't set on Intel(if Intel has advantages that are absolutely necessary, go with them) then think of AMD. The lanes are set by chipset. The 990FX Chipset has 38 usable lanes. A decent cpu and mother board will only run $150-200USD.

[Godlygamer23]

If you aren't set on Intel(if Intel has advantages that are absolutely necessary, go with them) then think of AMD. The lanes are set by chipset. The 990FX Chipset has 38 usable lanes. A decent cpu and mother board will only run $150-200USD.

If the bottom slot is PCIe 2.0 x4, it goes through the PCH. The only lanes right now that are controlled by the CPU's onboard controller are PCIe 3.0.

[Karen Lynn]

That may be, but SLI requires x8 or faster. Some boards will actually down grade an x16 or x8 slot if you use one of the lower slots. By using a 2.0 x4 accessory, he could break his SLI link.

[Godlygamer23]

That may be, but SLI requires x8 or faster. Some boards will actually down grade an x16 or x8 slot if you use one of the lower slots. By using a 2.0 x4 accessory, he could break his SLI link.

He won't. If it's a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot, it goes through the PCH. I know what SLI requires. PCIe 2.0 is controlled by the PCH, not the CPU's onboard PCIe 3.0 controller.

[Linux User]

Is this with all motherboards of just certian motherboards?

 

thanks for the reply, put me at rest a bit.

Its with almost every motherboard. For example on this motherboard, the PCI-e 1x slots and the second physical 16x are powered by the chipset, but the 16x electrical slot is Gen3 16x. A good motherboard for you would be something like an ASRock Z97 Extreme4, as it has room for 2 GPUs in CF/SLi, and a Wi-Fi card