Dual GPU whilst maintaining PCIE x16 speeds for both?

[kandsmerlin]

Hi wonderful people! I have a burning question I'd like to get a little insight on. I know that when it comes to PCIE slots, having just one GPU in an x16 slot and nothing in any of the other slots means you're going to get full x16 speeds and if you were to add a second GPU to the second PCIE x16 slot, that you'd only get x8 speeds on each card. My question therefore is this:

Is there any way to have 2 GPUs in a system and yet still have each card function at full x16 speeds?

 

[ChumP]

Yes it is possible by buying a CPU that offers plenty of PCIe lanes...
For example the AMD Threadripper 1950x has 64 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes.... on this CPU is possible to have a quad GPU setup with each card running at x16 speeds.

Also NVME SSDs can take up to 4 PCIe lanes(that's why they are labeled as M.2 PCIe x4 SSD), but those lanes are usually taken from the motherboard chipset(it's the same case for other expansion cards...PCIe wifi cards take 1 PCIe lane from the chpset).

An I7 7700k has only 16 PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes, that's why when running a dual GPU setup each card will run at x8 speeds.

 

[kraelic]

Mainstream CPU have 16 lanes, high end desktops have more but they cost a lot more also. Some mainstream motherboards also have a PLX chip to take the 16 lanes of the cpu and make 32 lanes for the motherboard.