OTOY Forums

Hi. I am now looking at a new motherboard to build an octane rig. The motherboard I am looking at is this one:
MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130686

However, the specs on the pci express slots are as such: PCI Express 3.0 x16: 3 (x16/x4/x4, or x8/x8/x4)

Considering my current graphics card, a Gigabyte Windstream gtx 770 4gb, does this motherboard make sense understanding that I do plan on adding a second 770 in the future.

I guess I'm wondering if the pci express slots being used at x8 will make a difference or not.

Thanks!
Jarrett

the bus speed will only effect the import speed, but will have no effect on render speeds.

Keep in mind, that bottom PCIe slot will not be usable with a double wide card (like any good GTX card) because there isnt enough space. so there are 2 slots for cards. you could use that 3rd slot for a single width card for display.

So what do I look for in good motherboard that will let me run two double width cards? This multi gpu building is new to me, and I haven't built a pc in a couple of years.

I was hoping to use an intel chip with onboard hd4000 for display for now. Would haswell chips/motherboard be good for this?

Thanks for the great help! Saving me headaches and money!

Hi, the HD 4000 ifs fine for octane as display card, the new HD 5000 from haswell is more better.
Here is a list of motherboards for 2-4 cards from Nvidia.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technol ... therboards

Keep your power supply in mind if you like to add a second card later.

Cheers, mib.

that board will work for 2 double width cards, but you wont be able to upgrade to a 3rd card.