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Maximus V Extreme SLI Problem?

DoZZa
Level 7
Hello, I have just registered here, tried a few days ago and could not register. But I am here now.

I have just competed a build using the Maximus V Extreme.

I have two ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU II cards in SLI.

Problem is that the card in slot 1 is running at x8 and the card in slot 2 is at x16. I was under the impression that this board and run both cards in slot 1 and 2 at x16.

I have set Gen3 in the BIOS but this has made no difference.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks 🙂
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10 REPLIES 10

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
Keep the cards set at Gen 2, you won't notice a difference between 2 and 3. Double check your User Manual and make sure you've put the cards in the right slots for Dual SLI 🙂

Thanks for the reply.

The manual does not tell the truth!

According to the manual the slots function in the following way.

5 x PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slots (single at native x16, or dual at x8/x8 mode, triple at x8/x16/x8, quad at x8/x16/x8/x8)

Now, I am currently at x8/16 in a DUAL SLi mode. But according to the manual it should be at x8/x8.

So I am confused here a little!

HiVizMan
Level 40
Where are you seeing this? In BIOS?

Which slot do you have your two cards in?
To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

HiVizMan wrote:
Where are you seeing this? In BIOS?

Which slot do you have your two cards in?


I am seeing the link speed displayed in the BIOS, and also GPU-Z reports slot 1 as x8 and slot 2 as x16.

I used the GPU-Z render test to see if the link speed would increase. Al that happens is the link speed in slot two changes from x16 3.0 to x16 1.1. The card in the first slot does not change at all.

I am using the top two slots.

One other thing I noticed in the BIOS is that the card in slot one is reported at Native, and card in slot two is reported as being PLX. If that makes any difference I dont know.

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
I dunno what PLX is, but I just had a quick look through the Manual for your Motherboard and it says you should insert your 2nd 680 into slot 3, not slot 2.

Ftruck
Level 7
It's reported as PLX because that PCI slot is multiplexed through the PLX chip... The manual has pretty clear instructions for dual SLI. first card into slot 1 second card into slot 2B (third one down, should be black). In this configuration both will be running as native x8.

8_Pack
Level 12
^^^ Correct config. With slots 1 and 2b then they run directly from the CPU lanes which means much lower latencys are involved.

The above is correct. You must read your manual carefully. It clearly says that if you are going to run two (2) cards in SLI then you should run them in slot one (the red slot nearest the CPU) and slot 2b (the black slot between the middle two red slots).

It maybe that you can use others, but if you follow that configuration, you will be running each of the two cards X8 PCIe 3.0; and that is equivalent to X16 PCIe 2.0. Further, the board will run both slots "natively" meaning the PLX chip will not be used. This is the most efficient method to use two cards in SLI on the Maximus V Extreme.
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