Dear Forum…
It’s my first post here but i hope i can find a solution because after carefully plan my build i encountered this problem at first boot
I own an X99M-WS with 2 gpus installed.
1) Nvidia 1070 in Pcie 16x Slot1
2) Nvidia 710 in Pcie 16x Slot2 (not the 1x)
I can’t find any settings in ASUS Bios to force wich is the primary GPU and if i plug HDMI/DP/Dvi on the GTX710 no post and no output. It always post from the higher slot gpu…
If i invert the gpus the POST with GTX710 is successful but for airflow i need the 1070 in the first slot and the GTX710 as primary to POST so i can Passthrough the 1070 in ESXI.
The gpu section on bios correctly recognize both but doesn’t allow to choose wich is the primary
Is there any possible setting or maybe a bios mod to force the primary GPU? Anyone tried something similar?
Thanks in advance
Andrew
I guess I assume Asus? 
This sentence doesn’t make sense, or you explained it funny and I’m not getting it >> and if i plug HDMI/DP/Dvi on the GTX710 no post and no output.
Which card is installed in which slot? That info would help a lot. Either card should work fine in the first slot, if it does not then you need to update that cards vBIOS.
Which slot do you want to be the primary GPU? I am not sure what you are asking is possible, boards are designed for the first PCIE slot to be the main one, unsure if BIOS setting alone can change this (it’s not same as setting PCIE over onboard first etc)
Maybe @davidm71 knows if this is possible via BIOS.
If you want to try updated vBIOS for the 710, dump your vBIOS with GPU-z and I’ll see if I can update it for you.
Sorry, i updated the title so it’s more clear…
and now i try to explain my problem:
Working configuration (but not the desired one):
PCIE Slot1 (16x): GTX710
PCIE Slot2 (1x): Nothing
PCIE Slot3 (16x) GTX 1070
PCIE Slot4 (16x) Nothing
With this configuration the primary GPU is the GT710, the system uses this GPU as primary and shows post on this GPU
The 1070 is free and can be passthrough in Esxi
This configuration has the worst airflow
Not Working Configuration (But Desired)
PCIE Slot1 (16x): GTX 1070
PCIE Slot2 (1x): Nothing
PCIE Slot3 (16x) GTX 710
PCIE Slot4 (16x) Nothing
With this configuration the primary GPU is the GTX 1070, the system uses this GPU as primary and shows post/bios on this GPU
The 1070 is hoocked as shell gpu and i’m unable to passthrough to a VM.
The 710 is free and can be passthrough in Esxi (but it’s not what i need)
This configuration has the best airflow
My needs is for the second configuration BUT i need to POST/BIOS on the GT710 so the 1070 will be free to be passthrough
-------------------
This evening i’ll post both the vbios with GPUZ
Another solution still good for me could be to find a replacement for the GT710 that can allow this kind of modification… the only requirement: must be a single slot GPU.
Thanks for your help
I know nothing about passthrough in Esxi, so may not be able to help. The only thing I can think of is try updating the GTX 710 vBIOS’s GOP/EFI module, unsure if that has anything to do with this though, do you know?
Sounds like this card (or it’s vBIOS) is not compatible with >> passthrough in Esxi
Or maybe I see that wrong? Now I see you said both do the passthrough in Esxi fine, correct? Maybe the 1070 needs updated, so it’s not hooked? Sorry, I don’t know about any of that.
As I understand you want to have your 1070 in the top primary slot and have the ESx passthrough work through the second slot but this does not work because passthrough only works through the primary first 16X slot?
Unfortunately I am not familiar with how passthrough works but have had my share of issues with Asus motherboards such as the Z170-WS not posting to the correct primary gpu as was desired. My solution was to make sure my SLI dual gpu configuration had matching vbios which is impossible for your needs. I had to flash the same vbios on both cards to get it to work properly as my board was defaulting to the gpu with the latest or earliest vbios version.
I also had found that different bios version particularily older pre 3000 version releases behaved differently but I desired the latest bios release. In anycase my bios did allow selecting which GPU was primary in the BOOT section of the settings though I felt it never NEVER worked! So for your needs as you are concerned about air flow I would use a riser cable and mount the gpu where you want it and just use another slot ignoring the primary slot if possible.
Hope you figure it out though. Wish I was more familiar with VM passthrough to help further.