Asus Maximus VII Formula VS. Hero?

[StaticDrift]

I will be buying my PC from Newegg, and I was wondering which motherboard was better. The ASUS VII Maximus Formula costs more but I'm not sure if the Hero will be the same for less. I really only might be overclocking the CPU to 4.4 and the GPUS a LITTLE bit. I am going to have an Enermax ELC-LT240-HP CPU cooler. I was wondering if the Formula or Hero had support for SLI, because I will be SLI-ing two gtx 980's. The problem is, is that Newegg won't let me buy 3 GTX 980'S for SLI, only two. Is this a restriction of the motherboard? Also another question I had is will the ZOTAC 90204-10P G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 980 4GB 256-Bit in 2 or 3 way SLI be too big for my corsair 750D? Alot of people keep telling me I should'nt be SLI-ing 2 GTX 980's because It is "Overkill" but I am going to have a 144hz monitor and for that I need 144FPS so one is really underkill. I should also mention my PSU is an EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 80 PLUS GOLD Certified 1300W Active PFC ATX12V v2.31/EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready PSU. I hear this is pretty much the best you can get, and since I will be overclocking a little and I will be running 3 GTX 980's, I need the power. Ok so now I come to the last question. I will be mounting the CPU cooler (watercooling) at the top and having a cable go from the top of the 750D to the CPU and have it push hot air out the top. Then I will have 2 case fans from the front blowing hot air out (thats what I THINK the default casefans on the 750D do) and then case fans on the bottom drawing cool air in. Is this a good cooling setup? Should I change it at all? Thanks for any feedback, and sorry for the long thread.

 

[TheDualshock]

Those motherboards wouldn't handle 3-way SLI very well since the Vii Formula has 2 PCIe 3.0 at x16, and 1 PCIe 2.0 at x4. The Hero Vii has 2 PCIe 3.0 at (x8/x8 when in SLI, x16 single mode) and 1 PCIe 1.0 at x4. You need at least a x8 for SLI with PCIe 2.0 otherwise it will hamper performance gains. Newegg may not be letting you buy more that 2 because they have a certain amount in stock and place restrictions on more than 2. The power supply you listed it a great one but 1300W is alot for a 3 980s, nonetheless, it'll be fine.

I'd suggest to go with 2 980s in SLI instead of 3. And for those graphics card fitting in the 750D, I'm pretty sure you have enough room for 2 980s in SLI. As for cooling, the 2 fans in front of the case is for intake, bottom is for intake and top/rear is for exhaust.

 

[StaticDrift]

Thanks so much for clearing up the case fans for me. What motherboard can you reccomend for these two cards?

 

[TheDualshock]

Thanks so much for clearing up the case fans for me. What motherboard can you reccomend for these two cards?

Out of the 2 you recommended, both of them would make excellent choices. I'd for the Vii Hero since it's cheaper and has all the features you would seem to need. You should be able to overclock fine on that board and 2-way SLIing on it.

 

[StaticDrift]

No I'm saying out of any motherboard I can get for the z97 chipset, since you said these MOBOS will slow my PC down.

 

[TheDualshock]

No I'm saying out of any motherboard I can get for the z97 chipset, since you said these MOBOS will slow my PC down.

Let me rephrase. They won't slow your PC down, those motherboards will just not run SLI 3-way optimally. If you are going to run 2-way SLI (2 980s) then they will be perfectly fine.

 

[StaticDrift]

Oh thank god. Also I have heard that http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500361 take up 3 gpu slots. I s that true

 

[TheDualshock]

Oh thank god. Also I have heard that http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500361 take up 3 gpu slots. I s that true

Nope, that card takes up 2 slots so 2 cards will fit for SLI:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b3126/zotac-gtx-980-amp-edition.html