Questions PCI Layout and Future SLI

Originally posted by KJ EVGA X58 LE Edition SLI (versus the now 3SLI MB)  but wondered what is meant by "better PCIe lane placement"   -  myself  I want to go with Dual 480's in SLI but not for about a month or so later..... never more than 2 Video Cards for me so ....

Well basically the LE just had weird PCIe lane placement:



There was a dead space above the first PCIe lane, so PCIe slot 1 actually starts on your case's second expansion slot, plus on top of that the second x8 lane is three slots down from the other x8 lane. That means if you want to do triple SLI or CF on the LE on the x16/x8/x8 lanes with double lane GPUs you would need a case with at least 8 expansion slots to manage it. Which is a lot, not many cases have more than 7.

The SLI3 doesn't have that odd 2 slot gap between its x8 lanes, meaning triple GPUs will be in slots 1, 3, and 5. I'm not sure if the SLI3 has a dead spot above its first lane like the LE did, but even if it did you would need at most a 7 expansion slot case to do triple GPUs. If it doesn't have the dead slot then you'd only need 6 expansion slots.

which leads to my next question  - 2) when ready to go with SLI and stick in the next 480 what will I need since I am only going with 1 - 480 at this time - and yeah I know the motto "go big or go home"  but it was about the money on hand thing  ;-) I did upsize my Power supply to a 1200W and wondered  would I need an SLI bridge thing ?  how about a cable(s) to the PS or are they going to be there ready to go maybe when I purchase the next 480 free stuff in there comes in the box ...  maybe.. just maybe  ;-)

You'll just need a SLI bridge, which comes with a DS rig. Everything you need will come with the DS rig, all the extra cables and other things that come with your component selections that they did not need when putting together your rig.

They'll include everything that came with your selected components. I mean basically they have the retail version of everything, as if you had bought them off of Newegg yourself or whatnot, I think you can even ask for them to send you the empty boxes along with the rig if you wanted them badly enough.

I believe its the cases that come with a SLI bridge, so if they don't use it in your rig because you didn't select two GPUs then they just pack it up in the box of extra stuffs and send it along with the rig. Also in that box will be all the extra unused cables that came with everything else, like extra SATA cables that came with the motherboard, extra power cables that came with the PSU, wheels that came with the case, stuff like that.

No? Most cases come with 4 little wheels that you can attach to the bottom instead of the little rubber pad things, in case you have it sitting on a flat ground and move it often. Like little furniture wheels.