# GTX 1070 SLI on ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming



## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

Hi guys!

Any mobogods out there who might answer my noob question?

I have an ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming (6600K) and I´m running 1070 SLI.
I got myself a HB SLI-bridge but unfortunately I ordered one that was "too long"... 

My question is:

Can I plug in my second card in the third PCIE-slot or will that have a serious negative effect on performance?

Any tips/info will be much appreciated!

/CptKaboom


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## P4-630 (Oct 31, 2016)

Try it?


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

P4-630 said:


> Try it?



Ha ha ha, that will be the obvious first! I´m at work now and thinking about ordering the right SLI-bridge and just thought I´d throw the question out there to see if someone knew.


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## infrared (Oct 31, 2016)

I'm fairly sure the bottom slot goes through the PCH and not directly back to the cpu, it might work but if it does I'd expect a performance hit or weird issues. Your mobo should have come with the right length sli bridge, have you doubled checked the box?


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

infrared said:


> I'm fairly sure the bottom slot goes through the PCH and not directly back to the cpu, it might work but if it does I'd expect a performance hit or weird issues. Your mobo should have come with the right length sli bridge, have you doubled checked the box?



I´m using the bridge that came with the mobo right now so the system is up n running (even though BF1 totally refuses to make use of the SLI) but the HB-bridge is much "cooler"! 

Worst case scenario I´ll just return it and get the right one.


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## FreedomEclipse (Oct 31, 2016)

It will have a negative effect  -- 3rd slot is only 4x and not 16x


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> It will have a negative effect  -- 3rd slot is only 4x and not 16x



Ouch! Then I believe I´m screwed for sure. I don´t think SLI works in x4 at all...


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## FreedomEclipse (Oct 31, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> Ouch! Then I believe I´m screwed for sure. I don´t think SLI works in x4 at all...



It does, you just wont be getting full bandwidth/performance out of your setup


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> It does, you just wont be getting full bandwidth/performance out of your setup



I´ll have a go when I´m off from work, just out of curiosity.


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## FreedomEclipse (Oct 31, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> I´ll have a go when I´m off from work, just out of curiosity.



Why would you want to waste your time?

Also. Im having no problems with sli in bf1


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## brandonwh64 (Oct 31, 2016)

Did you order a hard SLI bridge? The last one I had that was hardened did 3way SLI but only ones I have seen lately are the ribbon cable kind.


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Why would you want to waste your time?
> 
> Also. Im having no problems with sli in bf1



I'm actually getting more fps if I disable SLI. 
So while waiting for the right bridge I might as well play around a little and see what happens.


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

brandonwh64 said:


> Did you order a hard SLI bridge? The last one I had that was hardened did 3way SLI but only ones I have seen lately are the ribbon cable kind.



Yeah, I ordered the hard HB SLI Bridge from EVGA. 
I'm using the flimsy one right now and it does the job but for estethic reasons it would be cool to use the HB-bridge that matches my cards.


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## Vayra86 (Oct 31, 2016)

Out of curiosity, what brought you to SLI two 1070's so early in the lifespan of the cards?

That money could've almost bought a Titan XP


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

Vayra86 said:


> Out of curiosity, what brought you to SLI two 1070's so early in the lifespan of the cards?
> 
> That money could've almost bought a Titan XP



A fair question! 

It's really only cause I can afford it and really, REALLY, don't like it when the fps dips below that magic 144. 

It's silly and I know it...


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## Slizzo (Oct 31, 2016)

Vayra86 said:


> Out of curiosity, what brought you to SLI two 1070's so early in the lifespan of the cards?
> 
> That money could've almost bought a Titan XP



Well, a Titan X(p) is still around $300 more... That's quite a bit of dough.


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## FreedomEclipse (Oct 31, 2016)

Would of bought a single 1070 to tie me over then sold it on for a 1080ti later on


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## CptKaboom (Oct 31, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Would of bought a single 1070 to tie me over then sold it on for a 1080ti later on


Yeah, a Ti would be sweet but I'm kind of workin with 4 year cycles when it comes to hardware. 
Buy now and be done with it for a while.


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## cadaveca (Oct 31, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> Hi guys!
> 
> Any mobogods out there who might answer my noob question?
> 
> ...


SLI requires each VGA have a minimum PCIe x8 link, so no, it will not work. Return the bridge and get the right one.


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## Vayra86 (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> A fair question!
> 
> It's really only cause I can afford it and really, REALLY, don't like it when the fps dips below that magic 144.
> 
> It's silly and I know it...



Fair enough, it's allowed to be silly  Though you may run into a VRAM bandwidth issue at times - its an awful lot of horsepower to push through 256bit.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

So, it ended up with the PSU being in the way so I didn´t even get to test it.


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## puma99dk| (Nov 1, 2016)

cadaveca said:


> SLI requires each VGA have a minimum PCIe x8 link, so no, it will not work. Return the bridge and get the right one.



my exact thoughts bcs it's only Crossfire that works with x4.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

puma99dk| said:


> my exact thoughts bcs it's only Crossfire that works with x4.



I have requested a return of the HB-Bridge and will just disable SLI for the moment. Since I only play BF1 and it actually performs worse for me when SLI is activated...


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## Vayra86 (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> I have requested a return of the HB-Bridge and will just disable SLI for the moment. Since I only play BF1 and it actually performs worse for me when SLI is activated...



If you have the opportunity, guard yourself for future facepalms and also return one of them 1070's, forget about SLI and just start gaming for a half year and go from there.

You'll thank me later.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

Vayra86 said:


> If you have the opportunity, guard yourself for future facepalms and also return one of them 1070's, forget about SLI and just start gaming for a half year and go from there.
> 
> You'll thank me later.



I have had 680 SLI now for some years and it´s worked pretty much perfectly for me but I´m gonna consider swapping the 1070´s out for a 1080.


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## FreedomEclipse (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> I have had 680 SLI now for some years and it´s worked pretty much perfectly for me but I´m gonna consider swapping the 1070´s out for a 1080.



Not worth the extra money.

A single 1070 is said to offer around 80% of the performance of a 1080 for a saving of 40-65% of the price. If you check TPUs 1070 reviews you will see it that all 1070s perform better than stock 1080's with a slight overclock. Its a no brainer. If you have to upgrade though keep the 1070 and hang on for the 1080ti as i mentioned earlier. dont just throw money away unless youre filthy rich.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Not worth the extra money.
> 
> A single 1070 is said to offer around 80% of the performance of a 1080 for a saving of 40-65% of the price. If you check TPUs 1070 reviews you will see it that all 1070s perform better than stock 1080's with a slight overclock. Its a no brainer. If you have to upgrade though keep the 1070 and hang on for the 1080ti as i mentioned earlier. dont just throw money away unless youre filthy rich.



He he, I´m nowhere near filthy rich!  Just like to treat myself to a decent rig every 3 or 4 years.

The only thing I really need/want is for the rig to spit out a constant 144 fps and what I´ve found is that almost no single card solution can manage it. Even though I´m only on 1080p.


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## FreedomEclipse (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> t. Even though I´m only on 1080p.



Again, If you bother to check out TPUs reviews before each purchase an overclocked 1070 does around 140fps on 1440p Im sure that amount to an extra 20-30fps or even more on 1080p. 1070SLi for 1080p is way overkill - Understandable if youre running (or plan to run) 4k, VR or a screen with high refresh rate -- either 144 or 165hz.

There's '_treating yourself'_ then there's blatantly just throwing money down the drain


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Again, If you bother to check out TPUs reviews before each purchase an overclocked 1070 does around 140fps on 1440p Im sure that amount to an extra 20-30fps or even more on 1080p. 1070SLi for 1080p is way overkill - Understandable if youre running (or plan to run) 4k, VR or a screen with high refresh rate -- either 144 or 165hz.
> 
> There's '_treating yourself'_ then there's blatantly just throwing money down the drain


I´m not sure which reviews you manage to find but the one I read an EVGA 1070 SC manages an average of 132 (in BF4) in 1920x1080? I have an ASUS screen withh 144hz and want to make use of it.

Of course 1070 SLI is overkill at the moment (I believe I read that in BF1 it would manage like 200 fps on ultra, 200%) but I just want the rig to last for a while and don´t want to upgrade until I buy the next one in 3 or 4 years.


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## FreedomEclipse (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> I´m not sure which reviews you manage to find but the one I read an EVGA 1070 SC manages an average of 132 in 1920x1080? I have an ASUS screen withh 144hz and want to make use of it.
> 
> Of course 1070 SLI is overkill at the moment (I believe I read that in BF1 it would manage like 200 fps on ultra, 200%) but I just want the rig to last for a while and don´t want to upgrade until I buy the next one in 3 or 4 years.



There are only a handful of reviews, but my comment doesnt carry any weight anymore as I (We) have established that you run a 144hz monitor. No GPu setup will guarantee you a sp;od 3-4years unless youre not very demanding when it comes to graphical fidelity (turning the settings down...)

Ive been on the Dual GPu boat for a long time, I had 4870s, 5850s, 6970s from AMD and 680s & my current 970s from Nvidia. Maybe in the earlier days you could keep the older cards running as there wasnt many super demanding games that would really push them depending on the kind of games you play. In my case the Vram of my 970s has become the limiting factor and drives my desire to upgrade. 970 Sli will easily pump out the frames on ultra though. but some maps that have a lot of textures hurt the performance. Ive had 970s since they were first released about 2 years ago i think. I could just dial down the settings but I dont like playing games that look like shit.

Ive been thinking about ditching SLi for a while and going with a simple single GPu upgrade as im getting tired of waiting for driver support and the other problems that constantly plague that platform.

If youre from the UK. I'll even consider buying a 1070 off you if you've decided to sell -- so long as its not an FE model


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

FreedomEclipse said:


> There are only a handful of reviews, but my comment doesnt carry any weight anymore as I (We) have established that you run a 144hz monitor. No GPu setup will guarantee you 3-4years unless youre not very demanding when it comes to graphical fidelity.
> 
> Ive been on the Dual GPu boat for a long time, I had 4870s, 5850s, 6970s from AMD and 680s & my current 970s from Nvidia. Maybe in the earlier days you could keep the older cards running as there wasnt many super demanding games that would really push them depending on the kind of games you play. In my case the Vram of my 970s has become the limiting factor and drives my desire to upgrade. 970 Sli will easily pump out the frames on ultra though. but some maps that have a lot of textures hurt the performance. Ive had 970s since they were first released about 2 years ago i think. I could just dial down the settings but I dont like playing games that look like shit.
> 
> ...



I hear you! My 680`s are still fast enough for Ultra-ish but 2 Gb just don´t cut it anymore. Mentioned earlier in the thread that I wanted 144 fps and that makes no sense unless I have a monitor that supports it.  I might be silly, but not THAT silly! 

I´m hoping that the 8 Gb on the 1070´s will last me a couple of years on Ultra/high and then "treat" myself something new. With that said, right now I´m only running on one card and hoping that Nvidia sorts the SLI mess for BF1 out. I´m far from the only one having problems... Different forums are full of other users with 10XX cards experiencing shitty fps when running SLI.


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## Vayra86 (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> I hear you! My 680`s are still fast enough for Ultra-ish but 2 Gb just don´t cut it anymore. Mentioned earlier in the thread that I wanted 144 fps and that makes no sense unless I have a monitor that supports it.  I might be silly, but not THAT silly!
> 
> I´m hoping that the 8 Gb on the 1070´s will last me a couple of years on Ultra/high and then "treat" myself something new. With that said, right now I´m only running on one card and hoping that Nvidia sorts the SLI mess for BF1 out. I´m far from the only one having problems... Different forums are full of other users with 10XX cards experiencing shitty fps when running SLI.



I've had the 1070 for a couple of days and I also run high refresh (120hz/fps) and the 1070 had no trouble delivering in most games. In the games that it doesn't, even a 1080 won't make it.

For 1080p, a single 1070 is the go-to card for 120fps, and a 1080 will only rarely add frames at such high FPS - in most cases you will end up being CPU limited before GPU.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

Vayra86 said:


> I've had the 1070 for a couple of days and I also run high refresh (120hz/fps) and the 1070 had no trouble delivering in most games. In the games that it doesn't, even a 1080 won't make it.
> 
> For 1080p, a single 1070 is the go-to card for 120fps, and a 1080 will only rarely add frames at such high FPS - in most cases you will end up being CPU limited before GPU.


When I disable SLI my 1070 will sit around 110 fps in BF1 with dips to maybe 90 when a lot of stuff is going on. 110 fps is absolutely playable but still want to use those extra 34 fps. 

I´ll just have to wait for Nvidia to release a new driver and see if it fixes the problem....


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## slozomby (Nov 1, 2016)

based on the performance of the last coupla drivers NVidia released. going back to an older driver ( I had to revert to 373.06 to fix problems in apps/games)  might help you out.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

slozomby said:


> based on the performance of the last coupla drivers NVidia released. going back to an older driver ( I had to revert to 373.06 to fix problems in apps/games)  might help you out.


Been there, done that... 

It´s really strange since my 680´s worked fine in BF1.


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## Vayra86 (Nov 1, 2016)

CptKaboom said:


> When I disable SLI my 1070 will sit around 110 fps in BF1 with dips to maybe 90 when a lot of stuff is going on. 110 fps is absolutely playable but still want to use those extra 34 fps.
> 
> I´ll just have to wait for Nvidia to release a new driver and see if it fixes the problem....



BF1 is relatively new. Don't base your decision on one or two games, because in most cases, the issue is with the game and not the GPU. Also, BF is notorious for high CPU loads in higher player count-multiplayer maps, which will end up being your bottleneck anyway.

SLI is great for average FPS, but does little to nothing for *minimum* FPS - min. FPS is highly CPU dependant when you go above 100 fps.


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## CptKaboom (Nov 1, 2016)

Vayra86 said:


> BF1 is relatively new. Don't base your decision on one or two games, because in most cases, the issue is with the game and not the GPU. Also, BF is notorious for high CPU loads in higher player count-multiplayer maps, which will end up being your bottleneck anyway.



Yeah, you´re right! 

I will just play without SLI for the time being and I´m sure the will fix it. Just hope it will be sooooon!


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