Intel Core i7-5820K Features Fewer PCI-Express Lanes Than Predicted

There were reports circulating that the upcoming Intel core i7 Haswell-E HEDT processors would feature more PCI-E express lanes, but it looks like the opposite is true. It was hoped that the chip would feature a slimmer PCI-Express root complex, but the new manual for the Gigabyte Socket LGA 2011-3 motherboard let slip the real specifications.

The manual stated that while Intel’s $500-$750 Core i7-5930K and $1,000+ Core i7-4960X offer up 40-lane PCI-Express Gen 3.0 root complexes; the Core i7-5820K features a narrower 28-lane one.

So what does this mean? Put simply, your options for multi-GPU configurations on systems with this chip won’t be any different than those running on the LGA1150 Haswell platforms. You’ll be able to run a full 16x slot on the 1st card, but the second slot will be capped at 8x and the third at 4x, a fourth one would simply run out of bandwidth. So why would you choose this setup? The trade off is that you get six Haswell cores, with twelve logical CPUs enabled, 12MB of L3 cach, quad-channel DDR4, making this an attractive setup for those only using one or two high-end GPUs.

Thank you TechPowerUp for providing us with this information.