P67 Motherboard that runs Crossfire alongside a sound card without heat issues?

Okay, so I'm trying to find a motherboard that will run Tri-fire (6990+6970), while at the same time having my own sound card (PCI-E x1) installed. I was going to go with the Gigabyte P67A UD7, but I keep seeing that heating with multiple cards is an issue because of the small space between cards (apparently, no space at all). Then I looked at an ASUS MAXIMUS IV Extreme board... and found myself with the same conundrum.

I found an MSI board that I sort of liked, but the same issue remains. I can't tell what the spacing is actually like, so I'm eyeballing it from a picture often. I was hoping somebody here could offer me some assistance as to what motherboard would be the best choice to use for this set up. I originally had a PCI sound card in mind, but that was even worse hunting for a motherboard that would support such a setup.

The three boards I was most focused on, if you guys need links:

MSI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130581

ASUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131700

Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128480


It always seems that I run into either the board's spacing between PCI-E x16 lanes isn't wide enough, or that I can't find a PCI-E lane that I can fit my sound card into without pushing one of my graphics cards out of its slot. I don't care about x16/x8 matchups, the difference is minimal so you can disregard any issues there. Price isn't a concern, so go big if you have to.

I just really need to find a board that can accommodate 2 very large cards while still leaving room for a sound card.

Oh, the sound card if you need the link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271006


This ASUS P67 Deluxe is so far the closest thing to acceptable I've found...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131701

The MIVE (Asus Maximus IV Extreme) is the perfect choice!

Place the 6990 in the 1st slot, then the 6970 in the 3rd. That will leave a gap between them....then you'll still have the black x4 slot at the bottom for the sound card

BTW - the MIVE is by far the best choice anyway

You sure I'll have room to spare for the sound card? Looks a little too tight... I don't want to cover the fan. (on the 6970)


Thanks for the reply though.

1st off, the fan is at the end of that card which is 10.5 inches long, the sound card is probably 7-8 inches long. Secondly, the sound card is low profile, and the fan will be much taller than it. So I could see maybe 25% profile blockage occurring, which might have a 5% impact on cooling considering there will still be some space between them.

My last point is that the 6970 will already be much cooler running than the 6990, which is what you should be concerned with IMO.

Oh, BTW to OCForums

Thanks. I was actually thinking about flip-flopping them and then using whatever slot the 6990 is in as the slot the motherboard recognizes as the main card's slot... I read about this on another forum, I just can't remember the jargon right now. You have to go into the BIOS and change something...

This makes me feel better, because even before the Gigabyte board, I actually had the MIVE as my main board. I'm basically building this at a later point, so I have a bunch of time to flip-flop parts around, and I suppose curiosity got the better of me

eVGA P67 SLI has a great layout for this.