What I am getting at is the fastest slots are used but those other slots right underneath get sacrificed because videocards are dual slot anymore, and Scaling beyond 2 goes downhill.
Its supposed to be blocked electrically it wont work. This post is more about the "Lucid Chip" and less about the motherboards features. So let me fill you in 4 of them run at 16X Yes 4, not 2 like yours. Like i said all the features aren't listed here so maybe you didn't know that. Anyway motherboard makers know about the spacing this when looking at a board u know what slots will be blocked. Its as optimized as it going to get so i dont know what u mean about that. People continue to say that about every board but dont stop to think.
If your only going to crossfire ud still have 2 16X PCIE free + PCI for a sound card or anything else. Thats if u use the first 2... And since 4 of them run at 16X you woudlnt have to use the first 2 to crossfire. You could use the next 2 down. The switches AT THE TOP of the board next to the buttons turn them on and off. Since u can do this to 4, scaling wouldn't go down. And the on-board sound this one is the full Supreme FX (no bs). Theres no reason to add a card.
You wouldn't buy this kind of motherboard to be server or full media center ect. "using all the ports" They have motherboards for that, ppl who trifire/quadfire have one thing on there mind. People who buy boards like this OC for fun or game. Its a monster board.