3 GTX 1070's - Hardware & Software

Hey y'all I use my computer for 3D GPU rendering using Octane Render and Redshift. I've just recently upgraded to 2 GTX 1070's and it's incredibly fast but at some point I wouldn't mind getting a third card to speed things up even more. My motherboard is an MSI Z97-G55 SLI with an i7-4790k, and my power supply is a Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 1000W, I have a big enough case to accommodate a third card with plenty of air cooling. I'm wondering what the viability is of running 3 cards within these existing specs is? My main concern from what I've read is that having more than 3 or more cards on certain motherboards can draw a lot of power through the board and damage it. Would this be a possibility with 3 1070's? I've looked into powered PCI-e risers but I still don't quite understand how they work or when I would need one. Thanks!

Should not be a problem. PCI Express specification specifies maximum amount of power card can draw from the slot and any good motherboard should be able to supply that power on all of it's slots simultaneously.

Obviously scaling will be pretty shit in games, but maybe it's not as much of a problem in 3D rendering - you probably know that already, but otherwise I'd check up on it.

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;51648970]Obviously scaling will be pretty shit in games, but maybe it's not as much of a problem in 3D rendering - you probably know that already, but otherwise I'd check up on it.[/QUOTE] Scaling is not really a problem in GPU 3D rendering applications - They don't use SLI. You could pair a GTX 1080, a GTX 260 and a Radeon HD 7870 and it'd utilize all the cards fully. (assuming the scene can fit in VRAM)

Yeah just don't expect it to work at all in games, the 10 series is limited to 2 cards in SLI

[QUOTE=Levelog;51651976]Yeah just don't expect it to work at all in games, the 10 series is limited to 2 cards in SLI[/QUOTE] You can get codes from nVidia that unlock it to 3 way, possibly 4 way.

[QUOTE=helifreak;51651998]You can get codes from nVidia that unlock it to 3 way, possibly 4 way.[/QUOTE] Yeah but don't expect it to be well implemented in drivers whatsoever.

It's strictly for 3d work so I have no need for sli, as paul simon mentioned. Sounds like I'm probably good to go for the extra card!

[QUOTE=helifreak;51651998]You can get codes from nVidia that unlock it to 3 way, possibly 4 way.[/QUOTE] Nvidia dropped this idea back in June. Basically only let 3-4way function for benchmarks.