Questions about SLI

[Drunken Monkey]

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1536MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX580 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 100MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W PRO SERIES (HX1000) 80+ MODULAR PSU (£169)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£59)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

I decided to hold off the 480 till the new one came out and this is the pc i bought the other day last week. My question is see where the motherboard says ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
does that mean it can have up to 3 graphic cards going at once? Or does the motherboard not have support for 3 graphics cards, or would my case not fit them in ?

Also does anyone know if PC specialist have a post purchase upgrades service... where you can buy components and other bits and bobs like extra ram that you can install yourself, Just so you can be sure that it'll actually work with the system?

thankyou, and have a happy new year!!!
Korey.

 

[Gorman]

Hi Korey,

Your machine should accomodate tri 580's but two will be overkill for anything availiable to play today and for the near future.

Yes we do sell components to existing customers for upgrades.

 

[Drunken Monkey]

Thankyou for the reply.
I had to ask because it really confused me, since when i tried to configure that same spec with 3 580s it said the following...

We've checked your specification for compatibility. Please see our suggestions below:

1.Unfortunately the motherboard you have selected does not support 3 graphics cards - the maximum number of supported graphics cards is 2. This may be due to the motherboard not having enough x16 PCI slots available or alternatively because the location of the x16 slots limits the number of graphics cards that can be installed. Please select a different motherboard or alternatively remove your 3rd graphics card choice.


Any idea's whats taking up the extra 16x PCI slot or is it a case issue ?

 

[JSG10]

It may just be a mistake with the configurer.

Or it could be the size of the cooler blocks one of the slots? I'm not sure how large it is. Although saying that there should be loads of room in that case.

Beast of a machine by the way Very nice.

 

[Gorman]

Depending on the size of your power supply i think the website is marking the bottom PCI-e slot as unsuitable for a dual bay card. Most cards worth having take up two bays or more.

 

[Drunken Monkey]

thankyou guys!!!

edit: i've amended my order and changed the motherboard to ASUS® RAMPAGE III EXTREME: 3-Way SLI & CrossFireX, SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0
and the power supply to CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES GOLD (AX1200) 80+ MODULAR PSU