3930, Rampage Extreme, 16Gb RAM - all the rest is the same as the siggy Well, the old set up was entirely different - but temps weren't an issue to be fair. Unsure what temps this new set up will now run at, one of the sticks of RAM is/was faulty and so I had issues re-installing OS - exchanged it with SCAN this morning - will be working on it over the weekend. Aiming on 5Ghz - but we'll see
Don't you have a long (ROG branded) SLI cable in the box for slots 1-3? Looks super lovely, but I can't work out the loop. What's at the bottom (pump?) and in the front (res)?
Correct Hmm, I know, but my EK link block is only 2 slots wide. They are PCIE3 slots though - and doesn't PCIE3 = 2x PCIE2 - i.e. a PCIE3 x 8 is really a PCIE2 x 16 ... desperate sound of straw clutching ... I do, but as above, EK link block is the limiter Bottom = 120 rad ... middle RHS = XSPC dual bay res/ pump
2 x 670's in SLi is a distinct possibility Neverthless, I know that 570's are not PCIE3 - but the lanes are So, a PCIE3 x 8 lane is also a PCIE2 x16 ... I think ... maybe ... please tell me it is or else I'll be going out to buy a triple SLi link block
It may be a PCIE 3.0 slot, but it's still running at PCI-E 2.0 if there's a PCI-E 2.0 card in it I think.
Triple SLI link block it is then, those 570s wont be able to use the potential 8GT/s bandwidth of the pcie3 lanes, only 5(4)GT/s
Yes it is, but it runs at Gen2 x8, because you have GTX 570s in there. Pook and I are pointing out you need a Gen 3 graphics card and CPU to make it work at Gen-3 speeds, and on SB-E not all Gen-3 graphics cards are compatible iirc, so run at Gen-2 anyway.
Baiscally; PCi-E 3.0 is faster timings, the double-speed comes from a shift to a different encryption system and a shorter set of timings, so roughly double the information is sent in the same timeframe, hence the lane doubling, a PCI-E 2.0 card can't run at that speed, so it's only running at 2.0 speed, and it's still only recieving 8 lanes, so you're only getting the 8X bandwidth, not the 2.0 16X equivilent bandwidth you'd get from having a PCI-E 3.0 card in that socket. At least; that's my understanding of how the PCI-E bus works. I'm likely wrong there. TL;DR: PCI-E2.0 cards, like your 570s, aren't capable of running at 3.0 speeds, this forces the CPU to provide them with only 2.0 speeds over the eight lanes. It can't magically turn it into 16 lanes by converting it from 3.0 to 2.0 (Although that could be an awesome idea, Bindi; Pass that on to Asus R&D).