Which AM5 motherboards support two GPUs at PCIe 5.0 x8/x8 without using the bottom slots?
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MellowQuartz42
I'm planning to replace my AM5 motherboard so I can run two RTX 5070 Ti cards at x8/x8 through PCIe bifurcation. The cards are about 2.5 slots wide, so I'm trying to avoid layouts where the second GPU sits in the last two expansion slots and blocks the motherboard's bottom headers.
The ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator appears to have the spacing and slot arrangement I need, but it costs more than I'd like to spend. Are there any other AM5 boards, preferably under $500, with two suitable PCIe 5.0 slots spaced similarly? I may be describing the slots as 1 and 4 or 2 and 5—I mainly want the second GPU away from the bottom edge of the board.
Answers
You might also want to look at ASUS’s higher-end Crosshair models, although the suitable versions may be around $600 and still need careful checking for the exact slot layout.
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It may be worth checking workstation or server-oriented AM5 boards. Some offer several full-length PCIe slots with x8 or better connectivity, and used server hardware could make the price more manageable. You’ll need to verify the exact bifurcation support and slot spacing for each model.
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Since modern GeForce cards generally don’t use traditional SLI, the reason for running two GPUs matters here. If this is for AI, rendering, compute, or another workload that can use separate GPUs, x8/x8 can make sense; for ordinary gaming, the second card usually won’t provide much benefit.
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The MSI MEG X870E Godlike has the slots spaced far enough apart for this kind of setup, but it’s considerably more expensive than your target budget.
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MellowQuartz42: The intended use is AI and other workloads that can run across two separate GPUs, rather than SLI gaming.