Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P Motherboard Review

The Hardware Asylum Multi-GPU index is a portable set of data we can use to determine the multi-GPU potential of any motherboard.  A higher index number indicates a favorable condition for multiple graphics cards while a lower number indicates a hindrance in one of our leading indicators.  Since the Index is not dependent on system architecture it can be applied to any motherboard regardless of processor or chipset generations.

Index: 6
Optimized: 2x
Max Support: 4x

NVidia SLI
AMD Crossfire

As indicated by the PCI Express layout chart there are a total of four 16x PCI Express slots on this motherboard with all of them using bandwidth earmarked for video cards.  The configuration is rather unique because you are given a choice of bandwidth allocations depending on your system configuration and given ample air space when using the typical dual card SLI or Crossfire.

This configuration changes slightly if you are using a 28-Lane processor where slot #7 is disabled completely.  For best video performance you will want to populate slots #1 and #5 with video cards.  If you are looking to run 3-way with a 28-lane processor use slots #1 #3 and #5 and use the smaller of the SLI bridges.  On 40-lane processors it is best if you use slots #1 #5 and #7 to allow the primary card to have the most bandwidth.  For proper quad card configurations you'll populate slots #1, #3, #5 and #7.