Recently I upgrade PC from 980SLI build to FTW 1080TI SLI. The problem is a large amount of heat between GPUs' 2 slots tight air space is very hard to reduce and the SLI bridge makes it even worse.
My original post is here:
https://forums.evga.com/SLI-Problem-with-FTW3s-heat-sink-m2695129.aspxMy old motherboard is MSI Z97 Gaming 5, middle-level decent board without any issue in 3 years. But the new 1080Ti's heat defeats it.
I considered doing a water cool loop to reduce the heat. But the cost plus tax is almost 700 bucks which are equivalent to a new 1080ti.
So the approach is to increase the spaces between two GPUs with 4-way SLI motherboard.
I paid 200 bucks for an RMAed EVGA Z97 Classified motherboard (all the Z97 now is second-hand or RMAed) because it has 4-way SLI capability and it will be delivered in next 12 hours.
The previous owner said the board is deserted since 2015 because he switched newer motherboard for newer generation CPU and never test the old board when it's returned back.
He RMA it because of the sound card problem and received a new board with a new serial number (with a 3-year warranty left).
I read some reviews on Amazon and Newegg and some other forum said that a faulty Z97 Classified board may kill GPU. Kind of strange to me, I need to test it myself.
The motherboard has PLX switch and the manual (downloaded from EVGA) claims that the board can do x16x16 SLI in PCI lane 1 and lane 4.
But the owner and some other users noticed that the manual is wrong (I have to admit that the manual is a very lazy manual with the lowest amount of detail for an original 300 bucks card) the board can only do x16x16 SLI in PCI lane 2 and PCI lane 4, which is the same 2 slots space compared with my current MSI Z97 gaming 5. This won't reduce the overheating problem.
So the question is if the board is function normally (I'll try with my old 980s first to test the board) and I give up x16x16, can I do x16x8 SLI like this?
or even lower like this? (there is no gold finger lock in PCI 6)
Do I need an auxiliary power for the PCI 6 slot?
post edited by SilentMarket - 2017/07/18 10:58:49