Are 7 expansion slots enough?

[Leonell12]

So i'm planning to buy a NZXT H440 for my case, the thing is it has 7 expansion slots at the back, my question is simple, with a MSI Z97 Gaming 5 mobo, are the 7 expansion slots enough for 2 cards in sli and a wireless network adaptor in the pci x1 slot?, maybe the possibilities of a sound card as well (although thats probably never going to happen)

 

[cball1311]

Well, your GPU's would obviously go in the top two PCIe 3.0 slots. This will leave the very top PCIe x1 slot open which would allow for your wireless card. The case has enough slots to handle the number of slots on the motherboard. And you would still have the PCIe 2.0 slot at the bottom for a sound card if you want. Really not necessary as the motherboard has 7.1 channel sound already.

 

[Leonell12]

Well, your GPU's would obviously go in the top two PCIe 3.0 slots. This will leave the very top PCIe x1 slot open which would allow for your wireless card. The case has enough slots to handle the number of slots on the motherboard. And you would still have the PCIe 2.0 slot at the bottom for a sound card if you want. Really not necessary as the motherboard has 7.1 channel sound already.

k thks for the quick reply, the gpu's em talking about are 780s, and as far as I know these cards (the same with high end gpus) need two expansion slots?, one for their i/o connectors and the other for exhaust?, and I'm not sure if the gpus would go in the very top slots, i mean there seems to be a lot of gap between the pci-e 16x slots, i dunno... here's the gaming 5 website, http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z97_GAMING_5.html#hero-overview

 

[cball1311]

 

[Leonell12]

Ok thks man that helped a lot, one more quick question. since the wifi cards and sound card will be pretty much right infront/back of the gpu,how much will it affect cooling? the case is already a silent enclosure so I don't wanna hinder cooling any further, you know the fans on the gpu? are they the intake or exhaust?

 

[cball1311]

Well, the top card should be fine with the wifi above it. The GPU fans will point downwards and they pull air into the GPU. So the bottom one might be hindered a bit, for cooling, if you put a sound card in that bottom PCIe slot. Unless you are doing some music production, you will not need a sound card. The integrated sound from the motherboard will be fine.

 

[Leonell12]

ok thanks for your help!

 

[cball1311]

Sure. No problem man. Post back if you have more questions.