PCI E Slots question.

[A Traveller]

Hi All.

Would anyone be kind enough to advise me on whether or not there would be any difference between running a Geforce GTX 260 graphics card in motherboard 1 and motherboard 2 below (taken from Gigabyte website). The first one only has one slot running at 16x, whereas the second one has two slots running at 16x.

This may be a really stupid question but I have seen some GTX 260 cards being described as 'PCI-E 2.0 Dual Slot'. Does this mean that they are plugged into two actual PCI E slots on the motherboard? If this is the case, are all of the 260 cards dual slots or are there any that are single slots?

Motherboard 1:

1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1) (Note 4)
2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4_1) (Note 5)
(The PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX4_1 slots support ATI Hybrid CrossFireX technology and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
3. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots (The PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3 slots share the same PCIe bus with the PCIEX4_1 slot.) (Note 5)
4. 2 x PCI slots


Motherboard 2:

1. 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (The PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slots support ATI CrossFireX technology, and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
2. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
3. 2 x PCI slots


Thanks for any help.

[rallynavvie]

They don't plug in to two PCI-E slots but they are big cards that end up blocking an adjacent PCI slot. Some boards keep a space between the x16 slots so that there is room for those big video cards but with the space on motherboards for PCI slots you're really losing a PCI slot either way it's built.

You'd need a picture of the motherboard to know how a double-wide GPU will fit. What other PCI devices are you planning to install?

[Xylob the Destroyer]

You'd need a picture of the motherboard to know how a double-wide GPU will fit. What other PCI devices are you planning to install?

And see if you can download a copy of the owners manual for the mobos in question so you can reference the IRQ conflict chart - if a card is going to block another slot and you have multiple cards that you need to put in other slots you could have problems.

[A Traveller]

Thanks for the replies. I wouldn't know how to check if the graphics card would fit by looking at the picture or know how to check the conflict chart, as that is beyond my knowledge. I have provided the links below if anyone would like to indicate what I need to be looking for.

At the moment, I will be needing only one graphics card. I will need a sound card. I definitely will have an Ethernet card. I am not sure what else I am going to need in the near future.

Motherboard 1

Picture
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/Image/mb_productimage_ga-ma785gt-ud3h_big.jpg

Manual
http://europe.giga-byte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-ma785gt-ud3h_e.pdf

Specs
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherbo...A-MA785GT-UD3H


Motherboard 2

Picture
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/Image/motherboard_productimage_ga-ma790fxt-ud5p_big.jpg

Manual
http://europe.giga-byte.com/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual-ga-ma790fxt-ud5p_e.pdf

Specs
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherbo...-MA790FXT-UD5P

Thanks.

[rallynavvie]

Both are identical in PCI slot layout so you'll be able to do one of the following:
- fit a single double-wide GPU and you will have room for two PCI-E x1 devices, one PCI-E other device, and two 32-bit PCI devices
- fit a second double-wide GPU and you will lose the PCI-E other device and a single 32-bit PCI device from the above
- fit single-wide GPUs to use all of the available slots

This is physical limitation only. Some PCI devices don't like to fit next to others, but for the most part their size constraints are standardized to allow for other devices around them.

[Noahtuck]

I definitely will have an Ethernet card.

Why ?

Most good motherboards have a LAN jack on the mobo, and so do both of those.
Hell the second one has TWO onboard!!

[A Traveller]

Thanks rallynavvie. I understand it a little better now.

Thanks Noahtuck. You've just saved me some money then!

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I will be needing only one graphics card.

One of those has built in video with DVI-D out, HDMI out, and a d-sub...

I will need a sound card.

BOTH have built in 7.1 surround!

[rallynavvie]

Yeah you may not need any expansion cards right away if the onboard audio/video supports what you're trying to do. If you aren't doing much high-end gaming the onboard options may be just fine for you. It would at least be worth testing after putting everything together. You can always add a video and/or sound card later.

[Noahtuck]

I will be needing only one graphics card.

One of those has built in video with DVI-D out, HDMI out, and a d-sub...

I will need a sound card.

BOTH have built in 7.1 surround!

In all fairness, onboard video SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!
Regardless of who what when or where. 8)
okay, in all fairness, anything you want to do that might be "highend", you want a videocard.
No matter what i am doing i have always had to have a add on videocard.

As for the sound, yeah onboard might be okay but personally i prefer to add a good aftermarket sound card.

I just put a system together for my son maybe 4-6 weeks ago with this board.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=3141

With a AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.80GHz Dual Core Processor, threw in 4gb's of DC ramm & went a week and ordered a video card because he could not stand the onboard video either.

He use's the onboard audio and it sounds fine but he does not crank it and just has a quad speaker system with a sub.

[A Traveller]

Thanks for the advice.

Xylob the Destroyer, yes I realised that one of them has built in video and audio, but for video, I would prefer a separate card. In any case, the onboard video doesn't allow simultaneous output for DVI and HDMI and I will be running a dual monitor setup. I thought only one of them had Dolby surround. That would be more than adequate. For some reason, I have always avoided using onbaord video/audio. Maybe now that motherboards come with audio that's not totally garbage, I could consider that. I usually listen on earphones anyway. As a matter of fact, I've been meaning to ask, if audio is going to be via earphones plugged into the headphone socket on the speakers, is it the quality of the sound card or quality of the speakers that needs to be considered?

rallynavvie, as mentioned above, I need (and want, haha) a good separate card.

Noahtuck, you're thinking along my lines!

I'm slightly puzzled about why the higher end motherboard supports up to 1333 memory, whereas the lower one supports 1666! It's basically going to be a choice between higher speed memory or two PCI E's at 16x. Probably the former.

Thanks

[rallynavvie]

rallynavvie, as mentioned above, I need (and want, haha) a good separate card.

From the clarification on your use case it does sound like you'd need a dedicated card. I normally recommend a dedicated video card but if people are just getting a computer for internet/office work there's almost no need to get a dedicated GPU. However your display configuration obviously warrants one since the physical connections for both your displays do not even exist with the onboard video.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

onboard video & audio are fine for my jukebox/music server as the monitor is only used for gui in mediaplayer and the audio is line level out to a receiver...
All other PCs in the house do have video cards (none of those mobos have on board video anyway).
Using onboard audio on all though.
For the HTPC I had a creative labs card with all kinds of fancy shit and it also took up on of the front bays. It was constantly causing problems... I eventually got so ******* fed up with the bullshit that I pulled it out and tried the onboard 6.1 and it is freakin' awesome. Again, line level signal (digital coax in this case) to a receiver.

[A Traveller]

Ok, thanks for all the good advice.