Help with capture card installation?

[sdsumike619]

I want to get this capture card: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensitypro4k

Specs state:
Computer Interface: PCI Express 4 lane, compatible with 4, 8 and 16 lane PCIe slots.

This is my motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

I attached an image of what my board currently looks like with existing cards. You can't see in the image, but the black slot on the bottom is free.

Question is - which slot should I install the card into, and should anything be specifically set in my BIOS for optimum performance?

Thanks!

[smrpix]

You should check for specs, installation instructions and best practices at Blackmagic's website. All that info is available and free. Their help desk will also be happy to get you going and drive a sale.

[SameSelf]

You have an 1155 board with the Z68 chipset which supports 22 total pci-e lanes. Hence you got:

2 pci-e x16 lanes which can either be run in a single x16 lane or dual x8/x8 lanes (SLI and Xfire). Your gpu is currently installed so that it runs in x16 mode (the other lane is empty). You could install the capture card in the empty pci-e slot but it will drop your gpu down to 8 lanes. You may or may not care about gpu performance.

Alternatively, plug the card into the last, black pci-e slot which runs at a max x4 lanes (now a total of 20 lanes plus two dinky pci-e x1 slots gets your board to 22 available lanes). Since the card only needs 4 lanes you should really put it there and keep your gpu running at x16.

BTW, while you say the last slot is free, but there is something clearly there. What is it?

[sdsumike619]

Thanks, yes GPU is important to me for encoding speed. That item adjacent to the last PCIe slot is just a USB 3 extension thing to give more ports, I can easily move that somewhere else. Thank you for answering my question, I'll use the black slot on the bottom. Will I need to do anything special in the BIOS ?

[SameSelf]

I thought it looked like a USB 3.0 plug. If that is for your case's front panel connectors then it should really be plugged into the USB 3.0 plug that is on the board which your board has (unless you just like having the ports on the back or your case has no 3.0 front panel ports).

As for configuring the BIOS, you shouldn't need to, those lanes are just begging for something to be plugged into them

EDIT: Also, it is doubtful you would see a noticeable drop in encoding speed if your gpu drops to 8 lanes. You have to be doing a LOT of gpu intensive effects to benefit demonstrably from gpu encoding.

[sdsumike619]

No the USB thing is just to give additional ports on the back; it's not for the front, at least not on the case I have. I'll go ahead and install it in that bottom slot, it'll be out of the way down there.

[sdsumike619]

The spec on the mother board says this about that bottom slot:

The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, USB3_34 and eSATA. The PCIe x16_3 default setting is in x1 mode.

Is that going to cause a problem?

[usually_quiet]

The spec on the mother board says this about that bottom slot:

The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, USB3_34 and eSATA. The PCIe x16_3 default setting is in x1 mode.

Is that going to cause a problem?

According to the manual, you need to configure the black PCIeX16 slot's bandwidth setting in the BIOS so that it will function as an X4 slot. Otherwise it functions as an X1 slot.

From the BIOS settings for your motherboard in section 3.5.6 Onboard Devices Configuration, on page 3-22 of the manual

 
[Auto]     PCIeX16_3 slot runs at X1 mode for system resource optimization. (PCIeX1_2 will be disabled.)

[X4 mode]  PCIeX16_3 slot runs at X4 mode for high performance support. (USB3_34,eSATA ports, PCIeX1_1, PCIeX1_2 will be disabled.)

[X1 mode]  PCIeX16_3 slot runs at X1 mode with all slots enabled. (USB3_34 will be disabled.)

The highlighted section indicates that if you use the PCIeX16 3 slot (the black PCIeX16 slot) as an X4 slot for the BMI Pro 4K, you will loose the use of both of the PCIeX1 slots, the eSATA port on the rear panel, and the 20-1 pin USB 3 header on your motherboard (USB3_34 ).

It does not appear that you are using the PCIeX1 slots. What about the eSATA port and the 20-1 pin USB 3 header?

[sdsumike619]

Ah I see.. no I'm not using any eSATA devices. I am however using that 20-1 pin USB 3 header, that's the one that's going down to the port next to the bottom black slot. But that shouldn't be an issue. I can always just get a USB hub if I need those ports. So I should be good to go it looks like