SLI placing on MSI X99S SLI Plus

[Alpha0mega]

I am just purchased this board for my new 5820k build.

I am planning to go with 970 SLI, but I have read that the spacing of the first two PCIe x16 slots is a little too close and won't be optimal for cooling. I was wondering if I could just skip the second x16 slot and put the second 970 is the third x16 slot, using a longer SLI bridge. Will that be possible?

This is what the board's manual says:

So, must I do E1 and E3? What happens if I put the second 970 is E5? Card doesn't get used? No boot?

 

[Bubbleawsome]

It should work but nvidia can get annoyed with that stuff. It may or may not work, but hte E1 E3 spacing is ok, just not optimal.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I am just purchased this board for my new 5820k build.

I am planning to go with 970 SLI, but I have read that the spacing of the first two PCIe x16 slots is a little too close and won't be optimal for cooling. I was wondering if I could just skip the second x16 slot and put the second 970 is the third x16 slot, using a longer SLI bridge. Will that be possible?

This is what the board's manual says:

So, must I do E1 and E3? What happens if I put the second 970 is E5? Card doesn't get used? No boot?

You have even less LANE'S with this CPU, you will take a small hit with E5 a loss of %1 maybe.

 

[Alpha0mega]

I am aware of the 5820k's 28 lanes. Placing the cards in E1 and E3 will have them run at 16x and 8x, as per the table, and placing three cards in E1, E3 and E5 will have them all run at 8x. But what's not clear is what happens if I have two card, in E1 and E5? Will they still be 16x and 8x, or 8x each?

Honestly, I would be ok with the cards at 8x each, as long as I have the option for E1 and E5. Any performance difference will be insignificant, and cooling should be better.

This is my first time going with SLI, so I was when I read a couple of reviews mentioning that the first two PCIe x16 slots were close together, which could lead to cooling concerns, I wasn't sure if you could run the cards in anything but E1 and E3, the reason being that if E1 and E5 was possible, wouldn't that mitigate any cooling complaint?