PCI-e slot for SLI

[dellguyz]

HI, I'm lookging forward to buy an Asrock X99M Killer or X99 Extreme 4 motherboard, together with two GTX970 graphic cards for SLI gaming rig. Just saw that some graphic cards occupied 2.5 slot space. How to tell if the motherboard I picked are capable for install graphic card with 3 slot spacing?

Thank you.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Do you mean X99 Extreme 4, the ATX board, or X99M Extreme4 the mATX?

The reviews of the Killer point out that the two full PCIe x 16 slots are so close together that water-cooled SLI is the only real option. (see bit-tech)

 

[prit87]

HI, I'm lookging forward to buy an Asrock X99M Killer or X99 Extreme 4 motherboard, together with two GTX970 graphic cards for SLI gaming rig. Just saw that some graphic cards occupied 2.5 slot space. How to tell if the motherboard I picked are capable for install graphic card with 3 slot spacing?

Thank you.

The easiest way is to looks at the motherboard specs .
The X99 extreme 4 supports upto 3 way SLI http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-x99extreme4

 

[dellguyz]

prit87: The spec from both MB stated clearly they support triple SLI, but the PCIe slot on the mATX one seems so close together, wondering if those hot beast could breath freely.... the ATX board should be fine instead

DonkeyOatie: yes, one ATX and one mATX. I'm looking at Zotac AMP! Extreme which is 2.5 slot, do you think if I can run the Zotac in SLI on mATX board?

 

[prit87]

prit87: The spec from both MB stated clearly they support triple SLI, but the PCIe slot on the mATX one seems so close together, wondering if those hot beast could breath freely.... the ATX board should be fine instead

DonkeyOatie: yes, one ATX and one mATX. I'm looking at Zotac AMP! Extreme which is 2.5 slot, do you think if I can run the Zotac in SLI on mATX board?

Its best to use an ATX board for SLI and with SLI the top GPU intake is practically blocked by the bottom card so the card would generate more heat than usual so i would recommend to use the 1st and 3rd PCIE slot for 2xSLI in that way the card could breathe a lot better.
Hope this helps.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

You need to look very carefully at pictures of the ASRock motherboard. The mATX boards have only half of the pins/contacts in the slot furthest from the CPU and so cannot support a wide GPU card; only the two nearby slots have all the contacts.

The chipset allows only x16/x16/x8

The ATX board has a full complement of pins in the first and third full length slots, about 1/4 in the second, and 1/2 in the fourth if you look in this image.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/fullimage.php?image=60195

This board will have enough room (I think).