6700k + Maximus VII Extreme + 2 card SLI + Samsung 950 pro = Enough PCIe lanes for SFP+ / 10Gbe NIC?

[GoDSLaYeR]

Using the above combo but keen to add in PCIe 10Gbe or SFP+ card.

Question is will I have enough PCIe lanes to still run both SLI at 8x and my 950 at 4x at the same time?

 

[royfrosty]

You will have 20 lanes max. X8x8 to dual sli. Then the remaining will go to m.2 or last pcie slot.

Your sfp that will convert light to gb lan right?

If so i suspect it will need another x4 for that. I i think you wont have enough.

 

[Allanlee82]

Maximus VII Extreme not using 6700k chipset......
Maximus VII Extreme = 1150
6700k = 1151

 

[GoDSLaYeR]

@royfrosty Thanks for the confirmation. Previously I had read that Skylake have 20 lanes. Since I used SLI, 16 lanes are gone with the remaining 4 lanes taken up by the M.2

The SFP+ or 10Gbe NIC will take require at least another 4x lanes btw.

Anyway, glad I got that sorted out.

Thanks a bunch.


@Allanlee82 Missed another "I". Thanks for reminder

 

[royfrosty]

If that's the case you might wanna consider x99 Liao. Together with 5820k. Make use of 28 lanes in total.

16 for gpu
4 for nvme
4 for your sfp

Left 4 for spare.


Not bad, not many people know about sfp. And I'm surprise that you actually will use it.

 

[GoDSLaYeR]

I just assembled this machine last month. Changing to X99 is out of the question as I dig some of the functions like USB3.1 and Type C natively on board.

SFP+ not so prevalent for home users yet so I can wait for a while still. No biggie. I can still store some more of my HDD inside the chassis till next upgrade.

 

[shadow84]

If u go for SLI + nvme, it would be 8/4/4? Ur 2nd gpu would be running in 4x which isnt good.

 

[royfrosty]

If u go for SLI + nvme, it would be 8/4/4? Ur 2nd gpu would be running in 4x which isnt good.

Sli cannot run on x4.

 

[royfrosty]

Another way is. Run nvme via sata. It is possible to do that.

 

[GoDSLaYeR]

Another way is. Run nvme via sata. It is possible to do that.

Pretty sure no one in his right mind would do that to a new 950 pro. Haha. The performance dip from PCIe to SATA is too much.

Best alternative is to undo SLI when a much better card comes along.

 

[wacko]

the GPU uses PCIe lanes connected to the CPU, while the M.2 uses PCIe lanes connected to the chipset, mutually exclusive. If you want to connect a PCIe card on top of 2 NVIDIA GPU in SLI, you will need to connect the PCIe card to a PCIe slot is not hardwired to the CPU PCIe lanes. question is which slot on the Maximus VIII Extreme is which. my guess is the 6th slot (last) is connected to chipset PCIs lanes, hence ok to be used with a x4 card (I think the PCIe cards you are looking at are x4 in slot length) with 2 cards in SLI.

 

[shadow84]

the GPU uses PCIe lanes connected to the CPU, while the M.2 uses PCIe lanes connected to the chipset, mutually exclusive. If you want to connect a PCIe card on top of 2 NVIDIA GPU in SLI, you will need to connect the PCIe card to a PCIe slot is not hardwired to the CPU PCIe lanes. question is which slot on the Maximus VIII Extreme is which. my guess is the 6th slot (last) is connected to chipset PCIs lanes, hence ok to be used with a x4 card (I think the PCIe cards you are looking at are x4 in slot length) with 2 cards in SLI.

Wun that be running at pcie 2.0 x4 instead of the recommended pcie 3.0 x4?

 

[royfrosty]

the GPU uses PCIe lanes connected to the CPU, while the M.2 uses PCIe lanes connected to the chipset, mutually exclusive. If you want to connect a PCIe card on top of 2 NVIDIA GPU in SLI, you will need to connect the PCIe card to a PCIe slot is not hardwired to the CPU PCIe lanes. question is which slot on the Maximus VIII Extreme is which. my guess is the 6th slot (last) is connected to chipset PCIs lanes, hence ok to be used with a x4 card (I think the PCIe cards you are looking at are x4 in slot length) with 2 cards in SLI.

It will be half the bandwidth. Its gonna be the same as sata based.

And all this while, pcie CPU is provided max 20 lanes. Chipset can go up to 36 iirc. But no matter what, you are still limited by CPU.

Its the same theory as a x99 with 5820k. You can have 40 lanes in total, but limited by CPU 5820k which is only 28 lanes.

 

[GoDSLaYeR]

the GPU uses PCIe lanes connected to the CPU, while the M.2 uses PCIe lanes connected to the chipset, mutually exclusive. If you want to connect a PCIe card on top of 2 NVIDIA GPU in SLI, you will need to connect the PCIe card to a PCIe slot is not hardwired to the CPU PCIe lanes. question is which slot on the Maximus VIII Extreme is which. my guess is the 6th slot (last) is connected to chipset PCIs lanes, hence ok to be used with a x4 card (I think the PCIe cards you are looking at are x4 in slot length) with 2 cards in SLI.

Would it be accurate to say that I still can slot in a x4 NIC to a slot linked to chipset PCIe which would link to CPU via DMI?

If by doing do won't affect my SLI and M.2 that is great news indeed!

 

[wacko]

Wun that be running at pcie 2.0 x4 instead of the recommended pcie 3.0 x4?

why would it be running at PCIe 2.0? the Z170 chipset PCIe lanes are 3.0.

It will be half the bandwidth. Its gonna be the same as sata based.

And all this while, pcie CPU is provided max 20 lanes. Chipset can go up to 36 iirc. But no matter what, you are still limited by CPU.

Its the same theory as a x99 with 5820k. You can have 40 lanes in total, but limited by CPU 5820k which is only 28 lanes.

number of CPU PCIe lanes is dependent on CPU (for Intel), and chipset lanes are chipset lanes. Skylake all have 16 CPU lanes, and Z170 have max 20 lanes (up to motherboard to make use of). this is in contrast with Haswell-E/X99 combination, where the CPUs have 28 or 40 PCIe lanes, and chipset 8 (and only PCIe 2.0).

 

[wacko]

Would it be accurate to say that I still can slot in a x4 NIC to a slot linked to chipset PCIe which would link to CPU via DMI?

If by doing do won't affect my SLI and M.2 that is great news indeed!

notice I tried not to be committal in my suggestion, and that is because I can't find any information on the design of the PCIe lanes versus slots of the Maximus VIII Extreme. the below link should give you a pretty good idea of what the PCIe lanes distribution is like, it's for a very similar CPU/mobo combination.

http://techreport.com/review/28737/asus-z170-a-motherboard-reviewed

I haven't been in touch with computer hardware tech for many years now, and have only started reading up for about a week, as I intend to replace my aging system. incidentally, to a combination like yours, hence my interest in this thread.

 

[Elijahonli]

To be safe u need a mobo that can have 4 way sli i guess

 

[wacko]

looked through the Maximus VIII Extreme manual in greater detail, it looks like the 6th PCIe slot shares bandwidth with Sata ports 5 and 6, and to enable x4 on this slot will disable the 2 Sata ports. the M.2 shares bandwidth with the U.2 port, so that shouldn't be compromised for you.

 

[royfrosty]

looked through the Maximus VIII Extreme manual in greater detail, it looks like the 6th PCIe slot shares bandwidth with Sata ports 5 and 6, and to enable x4 on this slot will disable the 2 Sata ports. the M.2 shares bandwidth with the U.2 port, so that shouldn't be compromised for you.

The last slot always share x4 with either the m.2 slot or 2 sata ports. If it takes 2 GPUs he is only left with x4. And usually for that he still can choose to put a m.2 and leave out the sfp+ card which needs another x4. Which in all he has not enough lanes to meet all criterias.

Not unless he swap the m.2 to a sata based, then yes he can accommodate all. But no one is in a right state of mind to put a nvme on sata based as it will only give him a total of 1/2 the speed advertised.

 

[wacko]

The last slot always share x4 with either the m.2 slot or 2 sata ports. If it takes 2 GPUs he is only left with x4. And usually for that he still can choose to put a m.2 and leave out the sfp+ card which needs another x4. Which in all he has not enough lanes to meet all criterias.

Not unless he swap the m.2 to a sata based, then yes he can accommodate all. But no one is in a right state of mind to put a nvme on sata based as it will only give him a total of 1/2 the speed advertised.

the manual states that the last slot shares with 2 Sata ports, and not the M.2 port. so the lanes distribution in theory on the Maximus VIII Extreme can support 2 SLI GPUs, 1 M.2, and 1 PCIe x4 card simultaneously.