MSI Z97 MPower Overclocking Motherboard Review

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.

Index: 2.875
Optimized: 2x
Max Support: 4x

NVidia SLI
AMD Crossfire
Virtu MVP 2.0

This motherboard will support up to four 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 (#2) and try to avoid using slots 5 and 7 as they trigger the PCI Express dividers.  As strange as it may seem slot 4 is hardwired to 4x PCI Express lanes and connected directly to the Z97 chipset.  Slots 2, 5 and 7 all use bandwidth from the CPU and is why we have a strange division of 8x 4x 4x instead of the typical 8x 8x.  Given the distance between the slots if you choose to enable Crossfire be sure that your bridge connector is long enough to reach.