Upgrade Advice

[Ozstar21]

Hi guys....

Im new to the forums have some questions i would like to ask, this is going to take time to explain and ask a couple of questions so please bare with me 😉

I have recently build my desktop and its all good and running the specs are

CPU- i7 2700k
MBOARD- Maximus Extreme Z
Ram- G-skill 16x2Gb(1600mhz)
GPU- ASUS 7970 Direct CUII TOP
SSD- OCZ Agility 3 120GB
PSU- silverstone Strider 1200W Gold Evolution ST1200G
Cooling- XSPC Rasa 750 RS360 Universal CPU Water Cooling Kit
Case- Coolmaster HAF X

That is what i would call as the stage one of what i would like to work up to, i have 3 stages in my mind which i plan to upgrade over time.

Stage 1 is stated as above, Stage 2 would be to upgrade to crossfire and stage 3 would be to water cool everything.

My questions are regarding step 2 and upgrading to crossfiring my graphics card. I would like to get the same one again to make things easier, but since the ASUS 7970 Direct CUII TOP is a tri-slot card it takes covers up my PCI/E X-16 2, the next available slot is the PCI/E X-8 3.

1. Would i notice any real performance difference running both of the cards in PCI/E 1 and 3.
2. Would it be easier to get a normal dual-slot card like the, MSI Radeon HD7970 Lightning 3GB or Gigabyte Radeon HD7970 Overclocked 3GB, then put that in the first PCI/E slot then move my existing card down.

I'm open to all ideas and suggestions.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Hi there! 🙂 I think the manual suggests crossfire to be run in slot 1 and 3 anyway.... x8 x8

[Ozstar21]

Woops i realised i made a question error.

Since the graphics card is tri-slot the pcie- 3 slot is cover by the fans there is slot 4 which is x8 and slot 5 which is x16. But that is assuming that i get the exact same card, so would i be better off getting the same card for looks and performance get putting it in slot 4 or 5.

Or getting a normal dual slot card, putting that card in slot one and moving the tri-slot card down to pcie 3 slot?

Daniel

[Retired]

isnt it nf200 on that board?

Maximus 4 extreme?

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Yes, this numbering is confusing..... it depends if you look at the layout picture or the table on the next page :confused:. The recommended slots for Xfire are the first PCIe slot and the fourth one down (x8 x8) .....so you should have no problem apart from two tri-slot cards would cover all the PCIe lanes between them.

[Ozstar21]

Ok i can live with the pcie slots covered for the awesomeness of the crossfired graphic cards.

Thanks for the help