MSI Z87 MPower Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Thursday, July 11, 2013
Multi GPU Index
The 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.
Multi-GPU Scorecard
Index: 3.25
Optimized: 2x
Max Support: 3x
Optimized: 2x
Max Support: 3x
Technologies Supported
NVidia SLI
AMD Crossfire
Virtu MVP 2.0
AMD Crossfire
Virtu MVP 2.0
This motherboard will support up to three graphics cards and is optimized for dual card operation.
For best video performance you will want to populate the top most PCI Express slot with your video card and try to avoid using the secondary slot. The secondary slot is in fact hardwired to 8x PCI Express lanes and only active if the slot is populated. Given the distance between the slots if you choose to enable Crossfire be sure that your bridge connector is long enough to reach.
Boards like this are really quite fun to mess with and even though the last slot is hardwired to 4x lanes you can still run a third card either as a dedicated PhysX processor or play with 3-way Crossfire. The best option would be to reserve it for hardware RAID controllers or leave it open for better dual card cooling.
For best video performance you will want to populate the top most PCI Express slot with your video card and try to avoid using the secondary slot. The secondary slot is in fact hardwired to 8x PCI Express lanes and only active if the slot is populated. Given the distance between the slots if you choose to enable Crossfire be sure that your bridge connector is long enough to reach.
Boards like this are really quite fun to mess with and even though the last slot is hardwired to 4x lanes you can still run a third card either as a dedicated PhysX processor or play with 3-way Crossfire. The best option would be to reserve it for hardware RAID controllers or leave it open for better dual card cooling.
