Best 5 GPU Z87 Motherboard "MSI Gaming Z87-GD45" vs. Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H or?

[wand3r3r]

I have tried the Z87-K with 2 GPUs on the 16x slots but the 1x slot won't work at all with 1x->16x powered risers (the second one is covered by a GPU).

I am looking at the MSI Z87-G45 and Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H. My plan is to have 2 16x slots in use for occasional gaming, and 2 or 3 1x to 16x risers for additional cards strictly for mining. Which of these is the proven option.

Windows 8.1
i7 4770k
MSI Z87-G45 or Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H

2 290x's
1-2 79xx cards
1 69xx card

The only thing I care about is 2x slots for gaming/mining, and 2-3 1x slots to use for risers (at the same time).

UD4H manual

The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2/3 slots.
The PCIEX1_2/3 slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z87x-ud4h_e.pdf
So the UDxH with the one extra PCI-E 1x slot should support the first slot and then the three long PCI-E slots? At least it doesn't claim to disable the first PCI-E 1x slot.

The MSI G45 Gaming on the other hand, doesn't say anything about the PCI-E 1x slots. It does say you can use 3 cards in the 16x length slots at 8x, 4x, 4x.
http://us.msi.com/service/download/manual-20920.html

It seems hard to find anything which can use most of the slots and they seem to disable certain slots depending on how you populate them.

My thought on the Z87-G45 Gaming would be to use the first and last slot with 1x to 16x risers, and the 2 PCI-E 16x slots with cards in them.

https://i.imgur.com/x6nzE6J.png?1

[wand3r3r]

How about something with 4x larger PCI-E slots such as the Gigabyte Z87-OC?

[Burninj]

I'm running 6 cards rigs with MSI Z87-G45, all with risers...

[my_veles123]

powered risers?

[wand3r3r]

I'm running 6 cards rigs with MSI Z87-G45, all with risers...

1. Does it matter which of the 7 slots you choose?
2. Are you using 16x risers where there are long slots, and 1x risers for the 1x slots?
3. Did you have to set something in the BIOS (for example use PCI-Express 1.0 instead of 3.0)?

Thank you for the information!

Edit: Ordering the Gaming board.

[Dimrain13]

Could you not run 7 cards on that board? With a few powered risers?

[N[e]wBie]

I have the z87 g45 board and I am dissapointed to find that ethernet drivers are a huge issue, I can't figure out how to get internet with it on linux at all. Windows, you have to install via cd or usb tradeoff before it will work, bummer.