MSI X99A Godlike Gaming 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: 6.75
Optimized: 2x
Max Support: 4x

Index: 5
Optimized: 3x
Max Supported: 3x

NVidia SLI
AMD Crossfire

As indicated by the PCI Express layout chart there are a total of five 16x PCI Express slots on this motherboard with all five 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.

The five 16x slots all use bandwidth directly from the CPU.  This configuration changes if you are using a 28-Lane processor where slot #7 only get 4x lanes of bandwidth. Slots #3 and #4 share 8x lanes each which are borrowed from slot #1.  If slot #3 is populated then #4 is disabled completely.  

For best video performance you will want to populate slots #1 and #5 with video cards.  For proper triple card configurations you'll populate slots #1, #3 and #5.  Slot #7 is really an extra slot on the X99A Godlike much like slot #4 so unless you have a 40-lane processor you will want to avoid using them.