RIV-Formula PCIe slot question (SLI and 3-SLI with Soundcard)

[bkc6j]

I recently bought the RIV-Formula and have a question I am hoping someone can help me with as I haven't been able to find the answer with any of my research.

One of the reasons I got the RIV is it was one of the few motherboards that offered x16-x8-x16 PCIe for 3-way SLI. I'm going to be going with GTX Titans, so figured that every bit of PCIe bandwidth could help.

But I also like using an external sound card, and have a new Soundblaster Z. Even though this card fits in a x1 slot, I understand that I could go ahead and put it in the last full size PCIe slot. But if I do this, will it knock my PCIe bandwidth down to x16-x8-x8-(x8) because there would be something in the final slot (even though it is just a sound card)?

Assuming I am right about being able to do it that way, are there real ramifications to x16-x8-x8 vs. x16-x8-x16? Or is there really enough bandwidth either way?

[HalloweenWeed]

bkc6j welcome to the Asus ROG forums.
You could just try it, it doesn't hurt anything to swap them around in PCIe slots. You can use CPU-Z to tell you what the PCIe slot lane value is or you could just look in the BIOS under GPU Post; for that matter you can:
Use the BIOS PCIe lane simulator to simulate whatever configuration you want.
Extreme tweaker -> GPU/DIMM Post -> PCIe lane simulator.

[mrmojorisin]

bkc6j wrote:
I recently bought the RIV-Formula and have a question I am hoping someone can help me with as I haven't been able to find the answer with any of my research.

One of the reasons I got the RIV is it was one of the few motherboards that offered x16-x8-x16 PCIe for 3-way SLI. I'm going to be going with GTX Titans, so figured that every bit of PCIe bandwidth could help.

But I also like using an external sound card, and have a new Soundblaster Z. Even though this card fits in a x1 slot, I understand that I could go ahead and put it in the last full size PCIe slot. But if I do this, will it knock my PCIe bandwidth down to x16-x8-x8-(x8) because there would be something in the final slot (even though it is just a sound card)?

Assuming I am right about being able to do it that way, are there real ramifications to x16-x8-x8 vs. x16-x8-x16? Or is there really enough bandwidth either way?

No. No. No! I learned this the hard way. If you try your Titans in slots 1 and 4 with the sound card in slot 6 (which sounds like what you are contemplating) it will not work. Period. N-O-T. You can, however, put the sound card in slot 2 (if there is clearance) which will still leave your cards running at x16 in slots 1 and 4. Please refer to page 2-9 of your manual. I would just use the PCIe2.0 x1 slot near the #2 PCIe3.0 x16 slot. It won't matter to the sound card; you'll get better air flow for Titan #1 and preserve full bandwith for the two Titans.

Not sure I was clear. You cannot populate slots 1, 4 and 6. Won't work. Tried it. You can populate all four, of course, which will reduce bandwith on slots 2, 4, and 6. You can populate slots 1, 2, and 4 and still have full bandwith on slots 1 and 4.

Never mind. I do apologize. You're talking about 3 Titans?!?! I don't think you can do that without reducing the bandwith on slots 2, 4, and 6. But WTF! Are you thinking of setting up your own electrical power grid? What are you going to do with 3 Titans? I don't think there's a game out there that can take advantage of them even with 3 monitors. But I envy your ability to have such a rig, that's for sure :)!

[Sprayingmango]

I am running almost the exact same setup as mrmojorisin except GTX 680s in 2-way currectly and a Creative ZxR sound card. I want to add a third 680 but I too am worried about the x16 x8 x8 setup as a result...I'm wondering how that would play out.....

[HalloweenWeed]

Sprayingmango wrote:
I am running almost the exact same setup as mrmojorisin except GTX 680s in 2-way currectly and a Creative ZxR sound card. I want to add a third 680 but I too am worried about the x16 x8 x8 setup as a result...I'm wondering how that would play out.....

If you don't have troubles like a few on here W/enabling GEN3 and use the Nvidia X79 PCIe 3.0 hack script: The current vid cards don't even begin to saturate the PCIe x8 3.0 bus - so it's not an issue. You could run 3x x8 and still not be bottlenecked. FYI.

[ZeroInfinite]

I've got a similar configuration, 3-Way SLI with GTX Titans and SoundBlaster ZxR but I have a different question, is it possible to route the audio from the sound card instead of the built-in audio on RIV Extreme? I've tried disabling the sound built into the mainboard but that didn't help.

I want to route it to the headphone jack on the front of the cosmos 2 ultra chasis which is currently hooked to the board.

Thanks