Help me find Motherboards with 4 PCIe 16x Slots (PCIe 2.0 is fine)

[neko77025]

UPDATED EDIT
I am not doing corssfire/SLI.. this is for VM passthrough .. THE slots need to be 16x to fit the FIREPROs / QUADRO I am going for (CHEAP with HDMI) ... The GPUs will only run at 4x not 16x, Just need 16x slots for them to FIT !!

As stated in the title, Looking for motherboards with 3-4 PCIe 2.0min 16x Slots. LGA 1155,1366,1150, 2011.
Anything that is DDR3 any chipset. 3x PCIe slots and integrated GPU support or 4x PCIe slots.

(Edited in , From factor / Dual Socket is ok also )

If you know of A motherboard that is ^ , plz list it below. However, I dont care for the crazy priced stuff like EVGA SR2/SRX, ASUS Rampge(s) ect ect..


Why.

HDhomerun Prime. With DRM (HBO / movie channels ) requires Xbox One/S, Nvida Shield (soon) OR Windows 10 PC.

Want to Make A ESXI box with 3 -5 USED / OLD / CHEAP $20.00 Firepro(s) / Quadro(S) that are 1gb+ & have HDMI out. Going to use HDMI & USB over Cat6 Extenders to bring the VMs to Ea room. Need to run 3x VMs with 2cores and their own cheap GPU. (the USB over cat6 is for A keyboard/mouse/Remote )

Been doing some testing and this seems like it will be the best / cheapest way to do it ... Streaming VMs to Steam links ... looks too bad. /

Before you ask ... why not unRaid.... I have tried it .. i find it very picky on what hardware it will work it , and now that everyone is using it .. the old used hardware that does work with it is over priced to the point I would just rather build it out of new stuff vs using unraid.

Thanks Guys... (also feel free to make any suggestions that will help me accomplish my goal)

 

[Norton]

Afaik any socket 1155/1150/1151 board would need a PLX bridge chip onboard to go beyond 16 pcie lanes. You will need an X58, X79, or X79 for Intel chips... on AM3+ a 990FX board should also work for you.

 

[Bow]

I have a AM3+ 990FX board I can sell you.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/pc-part-out-sale.237471/

 

[neko77025]

Afaik any socket 1155/1150/1151 board would need a PLX bridge chip onboard to go beyond 16 pcie lanes. You will need an X58, X79, or X79 for Intel chips... on AM3+ a 990FX board should also work for you.

I was only going too run them at 4x ea ... however I would prefer A X58/ x79 ... already have 2x X58 Xeons .. so that would be best

 

[Shou Miko]

If u r planning to do 4way SLi u need at least x8 for that, AMD is more flexible they can do x4 in Crossfire.

 

[neko77025]

If u r planning to do 4way SLi u need at least x8 for that, AMD is more flexible they can do x4 in Crossfire.

i dont think you read any of what i posted ... nothing about SLI

 

[chevy350]

Asus Z97-WS

 

[StrayKAT]

edit: Err... sorry, I posted a 1151 board

 

[Tomgang]

If you al ready have two xeons for X58 and that is the chipsæt you want and dont care about over pricing. Then go for X58. Its a nice plat form, but get a second gen X58 if possible, cause these boards has also Sata 3 and USB 3.0 onboard, first gen dosent have these features.

I have Asus P6X58D Premium that is a second gen X58 board and it has this PCI arangenment.

3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x8/x8 or x16/x16/x1 mode)
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI

 

[neko77025]

Naw care about overpricing ...... Everyone is basing their prices on ebay. Thing is .. you see many parts for sell / listed but they never sell. However, then you get people assuming that is what the price should be. But thanks for that board ... willl keep that on my ebay search list ... (Damn that is one of the nicer X58 boards I have seen ) has USB 3.0 .. wow

 

[FordGT90Concept]

HDhomerun Prime. With DRM (HBO / movie channels ) requires Xbox One/S, Nvida Shield (soon) OR Windows 10 PC.

Um...yeah...why not just go with Xbox One S or the Shields? Shield can be had for ~$200 and Xbox One S can be had for ~$250. HDHomeRun app works great on the Shields so that covers Prime. Should be able to use the HBO Now or Go app for HBO. No need for VMs at all. What you're aiming to do sounds very expensive without even looking at the client side of the equation.

Shield is really good in terms of usability on TVs.


Edit: I have an Xbox One S coming now...

 

[Tomgang]

Naw care about overpricing ...... Everyone is basing their prices on ebay. Thing is .. you see many parts for sell / listed but they never sell. However, then you get people assuming that is what the price should be. But thanks for that board ... willl keep that on my ebay search list ... (Damn that is one of the nicer X58 boards I have seen ) has USB 3.0 .. wow

Yeah its a nice board for sure and oc great. Had my i7 980x up to 4.77 ghz on air cooling. Else you can also look after asus rampage 3 extreme. Same second gen board but with even better pcie lay out and has pcie x4 you want, but it is a premium boaed so prices are properly there after.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I don't believe you are going to find a board with 3 or 4 PCIe slots where all operate at x16 at the same time.

Even that ASUS Rampage 3 Extreme only lets you run 2 at x16. Same with the Z97-WS.

 

[agent_x007]

Well, it's simple math really :
4 x 16 = 64.
4 x 8GB/s = 32GB/s
So, CPU needs 32GB/s interface to keep all PCIe devices fed in max. throughput scenario (in case of chipset based solution).

AMDs Threadripper has 60+4 lanes, so in theory it barely makes it, but in reality it can't do it since that "x4" lanes are permanently linked to X399 chipset (and they can't be linked to other 60 lanes).

Next up is EPIC with 128 lanes (no problems there, just a small question of price).

On Intel side :
You have to go for dual socket (LGA 2011 has 40 lanes per socket, with two CPUs it's 80 lanes total).

LGA 1366 doesn't have any lanes build-in, but X58 chipset can have up to 36.
With two 5520/X58 chipsets, you can have 72 lanes max. (IDK if such boards exist tho)

I'm assuming you don't need all four x16 type devices to be plug into one CPU (if you do, EPIC is your only option), and you want a native support - not 16/32 lanes with switches on PCB that make programs like AIDA64 and GPU-z display a nice "x16" number (when in reality, it's x8 or less).

 

[Aquinus]

Want to Make A ESXI box with 3 -5 USED / OLD / CHEAP $20.00 Firepro(s) / Quadro(S) that are 1gb+ & have HDMI out. Going to use HDMI & USB over Cat6 Extenders to bring the VMs to Ea room. Need to run 3x VMs with 2cores and their own cheap GPU. (the USB over cat6 is for A keyboard/mouse/Remote )

You don't need a lot of PCIe bandwidth for that, just a CPU capable of doing PCIe pass-through (Intel's VT-d and AMD's IOMMU.) Be careful with nVidia cards though because they've been known to not be thrilled about people doing this. It has something to do with GPGPU in the server-space and being a cheaper alternative but, what you're looking for is a main-stream Xeon chip, any AMD CPU, or a HEDT Intel CPU. I've seen several X79 parts (I even bought some from @Norton,) but, just the other week I saw a C2 3930k and a MSI board going for an amazing price. Honestly, if heat isn't an issue, I would look for skt2011 parts. It's a lot of hardware for a good price since some of this stuff when it was released would have been 600-800 dollars for the CPU + motherboard so, it's not bad hardware either, just dated but, not overly so.

If you're going to buy new, then AMD is going to be your best option monetarily but, there is some really good used hardware that can be had and skt2011 seems to be a sweet spot if you can get over that it's a power hungry platform.

 

[Devon68]

Take a look at this. Dont know the price.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11885/the-asrock-z270-supercarrier-motherboard-review

 

[agent_x007]

Take a look at this. Dont know the price.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11885/the-asrock-z270-supercarrier-motherboard-review

Broadcom PEX 8747 chipset that provides the extra 48 PCIe lanes that this motherboard needs

"x8" in quad setup, if it's enough - great.

 

[neko77025]

I don't believe you are going to find a board with 3 or 4 PCIe slots where all operate at x16 at the same time.

Even that ASUS Rampage 3 Extreme only lets you run 2 at x16. Same with the Z97-WS.

Not running them @ 16x .. only going too run them @ 4x.

Only reason I need 16x slots (size) is for the 2gb Firepro and/or quadro cards. (workstation cards with HDMI). Need the workstation part for PCI passthrew ... need the HDMI for video /souind and have cheap extension. Can grab these cards for $10 - $20ea.

Will not be playing any games or anything that requires 16x .. other then the slot ... they can Be 4x wired .. but need the slots to be 16x.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Not running them @ 16x .. only going too run them @ 4x.

Only reason I need 16x slots (size) is for the 2gb Firepro and/or quadro cards. (workstation cards with HDMI). Need the workstation part for PCI passthrew ... need the HDMI for video /souind and have cheap extension. Can grab these cards for $10 - $20ea.

Will not be playing any games or anything that requires 16x .. other then the slot ... they can Be 4x wired .. but need the slots to be 16x.

Considered riser's,you can get x4 to 16 ,might make some boards play ball with your plan that wouldn't otherwise.
I've a few rigs with two slots with cards and two on riser's that work well.
Since i was after cheap i got an fx 6300 and gigabyte ud3 fx mobo though it's got mostly pciex1 slots so i can't recommend it for you but it is a cheap mining option .