01-14-2014 11:15 PM - last edited 3 weeks ago by ROGBot
01-16-2014 05:40 AM
01-17-2014 03:16 PM
01-17-2014 07:46 PM
01-18-2014 02:46 AM
05-16-2014 05:26 AM
08-12-2014 10:40 AM
08-23-2014 10:01 PM
InFAMAS-ONE wrote:
Hi all!
It can depend on what socket your motherboard has, or your motherboard in general. The number of available PCI-E lanes for devices such as GPU's or PCI-E SSD's, and the layout of the slots does differ between CPU socket types, and even motherboards on the same socket. On the Intel platform, LGA1150 and LGA1155 CPU's only offer 16 PCI-E lanes. This is why if you connect one Graphics card to your motherboard, it will run at X16, but if you put 2 in there, they will both run at X8 lanes each. Nvidia cards require a minimum of 8 lanes, so if you have a board that supports 2-way SLI, 3-Way Crossfire, you might think "Oh, I have 3 slots here, I can put the RAIDR in slot 3" - no. Here's why:
With Crossfire, when you install 3 cards, they run at these speeds
Card 1: X8
Card 2: X4
Card 3: X4
Total: 16 lanes.
With nvidia cards, as previously stated, they require a minimum of 8 lanes
Card 1: X8
Card 2: X8
Total: 16 lanes - no lanes left to support a device in Slot 3.
This means, that with 2-way SLI on an LGA1150, or LGA1155, the CPU does not offer any more lanes to support a device in the third slot. If you try to put something in there, there are no longer enough lanes for the video cards, and things stop working.
Some motherboards have an additional PCI-E X4 2.0 slot, which is controlled by the Motherboard chipset, not the CPU; the smaller X1 slots are controlled this way too. If your motherboard has this, then you should be able to run 2 nvidia cards in SLI, as well as the RAIDR.
However, if you do put the RAIDR in there, the X1 slots will most likely no longer function.
I personally chose to go for the Rampage IV Black Edition for my motherboard, as it's the LGA2011 Platform, and I'm using nvidia GPUs. LGA2011 CPUs support a total of 40 PCI-E lanes, instead of the usual 16 lanes in other socket CPUs.
I have my graphics cards in slots 1 & 3, with the RAIDR in slot 2 as shown below:
Card 1, Slot 1: X16
RAIDR, Slot 2: X8 (the RAIDR only uses 2 lanes, but the slot has 8 available to it)
Card 2, Slot 3: X16
Total: 40 lanes, but only 34 in use (if you take my meaning). I could also drop a third card in, but then my second card would no longer run at X16. SLI would still work though, as the lanes would be allocated to the slots in the following way:
Card 1, Slot 1: X16
Card 2, Slot 2: X8
Card 3, slot 3: x8
RAIDR, Slot 4: X8 (But again, it only uses 2 lanes)
Total: 40 lanes.
If your Motherboard is LGA1150, or LGA1155, supports 2-way SLI, OR 3-Way Crossfire, and doesn't have the separate PCI-E X4 2.0 slot, then in order to use a RAIDR, and 2 cards, you are pretty much limited to AMD Graphics cards. Remember, AMD/ATI cards, need a minimum of 4 lanes, so it would work out like this:
Card 1, slot 1: x8
Card 2, Slot 2: X8
Slot 3: Empty
Total: 16 Lanes
OR, With the RAIDR, and 2 ATI Cards:
Card 1: X8
Card 2: X4
RAIDR: X4
Total: 16 Lanes
I hope this helps. I was originally going to wait for the Maximus VII Formula, but after reading this, I hope you understand why I got the Rampage IV Black instead 🙂
09-08-2014 01:29 PM
09-08-2014 01:59 PM
RanDyz wrote:
Hello first to all. I have the folowing system:
Motherboard : Maximus VII formula
CPU : I7 4790k
Ram : Kingston DDR3 16384MB (4 x 8192) 2133MHz CL11 HyperX Predator
SSD : Kingston HyperX 3K 2.5 SATA3 240GB
PSU : Enermax Platimax 1000W
Video Cards : 2 x Gtx 680 MSI Lighthing
Im planing to buy the Asus ssd RAIDR Express and the sound card Sound Blaster ZxR .Now my question is : Will work all this 4 devices ? 2 x gtx 680 in sli + Asus Raid Express + Sound card Sound Blaster ZxR ?