Vertical and Horizontal SLI Question

[jefftm95]

Hello everybody,

 

I have been thinking about purchasing another 1080ti to SLI for a frame boost on 4k, which is what I primarily game and stream at.

 

My question is: are there SLI mounts that would accommodate a vertical and horizontal gpu combination in SLI? I've seen some flexible ones on google, but they are very cheap and I'm not sure what to think about them.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Kalm_Traveler]

Not sure what you mean exactly. If you have both cards horizontal they would just need to be spaced apart for an HB SLI bridge to connect. 

 

Do you mean having 1 horizontal and 1 mounted directly to the MB? 

[jefftm95]

On 5/21/2018 at 10:34 PM, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

Not sure what you mean exactly. If you have both cards horizontal they would just need to be spaced apart for an HB SLI bridge to connect. 

 

Do you mean having 1 horizontal and 1 mounted directly to the MB? 

1 vertical and 1 mounted to motherboard

[Kalm_Traveler]

4 minutes ago, jefftm95 said:

1 vertical and 1 mounted to motherboard

ah yeah sorry I misunderstood on the first read.

AFAIK there are no high-bandwidth bridges that would work for this setup, but you won't be losing a huge amount of performance by using 2 ribbons.

[jefftm95]

16 minutes ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

ah yeah sorry I misunderstood on the first read.

AFAIK there are no high-bandwidth bridges that would work for this setup, but you won't be losing a huge amount of performance by using 2 ribbons.

I'm not understanding, 2 pcie ribbons? But the gfx cards wouldn't be in sli?

[Lathlaer]

9 minutes ago, jefftm95 said:

I'm not understanding, 2 pcie ribbons? But the gfx cards wouldn't be in sli?

@Kalm_Traveler1 means flex SLI bridges - the ones that came with your motherboard.

[jefftm95]

3 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

@Kalm_Traveler1 means flex SLI bridges - the ones that came with your motherboard.

Okay so sort of like this? 

My maximus hero X came with a plastic bridge, so I assume I'll have to get those flexible ones. Are there any ones you'd recommend for an Asus Strix 1080ti?

From that video, there really seems to be negligible difference between high bandwidth bridges and the flexible ones.

 

Thanks for both of your help!

[Lathlaer]

16 minutes ago, jefftm95 said:

Are there any ones you'd recommend for an Asus Strix 1080ti?

I don't think it matters here what company the bridge is from - just make sure it's long enough. Though to satisfy my inner OCD I would not go with non-Asus bridge on Asus cards. Is perfectly fine but irks me the wrong way ;-)

 

But then again, going for flex bridge means forsaking the looks already so it really doesn't matter.

[jefftm95]

6 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

I don't think it matters here what company the bridge is from - just make sure it's long enough. Though to satisfy my inner OCD I would not go with non-Asus bridge on Asus cards. Is perfectly fine but irks me the wrong way ;-)

 

But then again, going for flex bridge means forsaking the looks already so it really doesn't matter.

Good call, I’m not sure how ugly it’ll look considering the configuration. Are there ones long enough to connect this vertically mounted gpu to a hypothetical horizontal gpu straight in the mobo? 

[Lathlaer]

2 minutes ago, jefftm95 said:

Are there ones long enough to connect this vertically mounted gpu to a hypothetical horizontal gpu straight in the mobo? 

Will it even fit there? Not sure but from this picture it looks like it would be a tight fit. 

 

Besides, you can certainly bend a ribbon SLI bridge but you shouldn't do it too much. From the looks of it, you would have to move the riser to a lower PCIE slot to accomodate another GPU and now you will have to connect GPU1 from above to GPU2 which will have SLI connectors towards GPU1. It might be so close you will not even be able to bend it that much.

[jefftm95]

2 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

Will it even fit there? Not sure but from this picture it looks like it would be a tight fit. 

 

Besides, you can certainly bend a ribbon SLI bridge but you shouldn't do it too much. From the looks of it, you would have to move the riser to a lower PCIE slot to accomodate another GPU and now you will have to connect GPU1 from above to GPU2 which will have SLI connectors towards GPU1. It might be so close you will not even be able to bend it that much.

I'm assuming that since there are a stack of horizontal gpu slots, it will fit. However, worst case scenario i just run dual horizontal mounts. Shame though, because the vertical looks dope.

[Lathlaer]

1 minute ago, jefftm95 said:

I'm assuming that since there are a stack of horizontal gpu slots, it will fi

Yeah, well, just because there are horizontal PCIE slots and there is a vertical GPU slot doesn't mean that the case manufacturer made it possible to mount both at the same time  Usually it's one or the other. Asus' cards are pretty beefy, I'd measure the width of yours and then check if you have enough space.

[jefftm95]

1 minute ago, Lathlaer said:

Yeah, well, just because there are horizontal PCIE slots and there is a vertical GPU slot doesn't mean that the case manufacturer made it possible to mount both at the same time  Usually it's one or the other. Asus' cards are pretty beefy, I'd measure the width of yours and then check if you have enough space.

It wouldn't fit I don't think, especially if i waterblocked it.

 

I'll just run horizontal if i choose to grab another 1080ti. My brother has a tower 900 that I built him that could definitely do this, though.

[Velcade]

@jefftm95 what vert mount are you running?

[jefftm95]

16 minutes ago, Velcade said:

@jefftm95 what vert mount are you running?

Its the stock one on the Thermaltake View 71, using a pcie riser cable. Built my twin a comp a few weeks later using the Thermaltake Tower 900 Snow, which IMO is super nice and unique. The gfx card hangs from the top.