pci-e slots,sound and graphics card question

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
vikingvirus

vikingvirus

Distinguished
Jan 19, 2011
10
0
18,520
hi guys

I have the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 motherboard which has 2 x16 pci-e slots and it says in the manual to use the lower slot for the graphics card and to have the daughter board in the top pci-e slot. However with the GTX560ti twin frozr II in the lower slot the pci slot where i could fit my sound card is so close when i fit the sound its almost touching the graphics card fan.

If i put the graphics card in the top slot with no daughter board at all will it affect performance or does that little daughter card need to be in the other slot?

Will i damage the graphics card or mobo by trying?

My soundcard is the X-Fi music i much prefer the sound on this than the meagre options and sound quality on the mobos built in sound.

Thanks
 
Solution
unoriginal1
You won't damage anything doing that. You may get a slight performance decrease. I haven't looked into your mobo, but somethings you'll get x8 (won't notice it yourself, wouldn't only see it on a benchmark test) or x4 performance by not using the proper slot. (depends on the mobo, bios etc.) Someone can prolly clarify for you.

Do the graphics card and sound card physically touch? If not i'd use the properly slots and just make sure you have good air flow going directly between the two to move the hot air produced by the graphics card out and away.

Also... Do you have a daughter board of some type? Typically those are just extensions to the mobo for various reasons. I was unsure if you actually had one from your description or...
Sort by date Sort by votes
unoriginal1

unoriginal1

Distinguished
Apr 11, 2012
1,529
0
19,960
You won't damage anything doing that. You may get a slight performance decrease. I haven't looked into your mobo, but somethings you'll get x8 (won't notice it yourself, wouldn't only see it on a benchmark test) or x4 performance by not using the proper slot. (depends on the mobo, bios etc.) Someone can prolly clarify for you.

Do the graphics card and sound card physically touch? If not i'd use the properly slots and just make sure you have good air flow going directly between the two to move the hot air produced by the graphics card out and away.

Also... Do you have a daughter board of some type? Typically those are just extensions to the mobo for various reasons. I was unsure if you actually had one from your description or were just reading the manual and trying to follow it to a T.

But regardless. You will not damage your mobo or card.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
vikingvirus

vikingvirus

Distinguished
Jan 19, 2011
10
0
18,520
No they don't physically touch there about 5mm clearance between the 2, i just noticed when i first installed both that it was close enough that it was reducing the airflow that could be pulled into the fan raising the temp by 15c or so.

a small daugter board that came with the mobo is meant to be in the top slot and grfx card in bottom, i think it just enables the lower pci-e slot, but its recomended to have it this way.

it has 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 so if i put the card in the top slot shouldent it run just as fast?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
unoriginal1

unoriginal1

Distinguished
Apr 11, 2012
1,529
0
19,960


Well the way PCI-E lanes work.. X16 just means you have 16 lanes, x8 = 8, x4 = 4 etc.. All types can fit into PCI-E slots. For example. A x1 card (sound cards, modems are typically this) can fit into x16 slots. And x16 cards. (your video card) can fit into a x1 slot IF the mobo manufacture leaves the back end of the slot open. Some do and some don't.

What I was meaning by reduction of speed is.. For example u have two 560 Ti's in both of the x16 PCI-E slots. They will be reduced to x8 when both slots are in use. The reason for this is that MOST mother boards.. If you look at the lanes (connectors from the slot to the memory chip) you can physically count them. The 2 x16 pci-e slots will actually share the same lanes. So when both slots are in use. They basically are reduced to half of the speed (one uses 8 the other uses 8 account for all 16 lanes) Now.. The exception here... Is your daughter card probably will not use as much bandwidth or even close to what your GPU is going to. Also with a x8 vs x16 lanes with your GPU you'll notice no visible difference. So it really doesn't matter.

Also.. Like I said above it depends on the motherboard too. Checking the details I can see your motherboard is this way. Notice on the specifications under expansion slots it says "2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 support ATI CrossFireX™ technology(@dual x8 speed) " The @ dual x8 speed is basically saying those 2 PCI-e slots use the same 16 lanes to transfer the data back and forth.

So.. You can put the card in the top and probably notice no difference from it being in the bottom tbh. It won't hurt or ruin anything either. If you want to put it in the bottom slot that's fine too. You said you got about a 15c degree difference. What is the total temp? And what case do you have and fan configuration? Is the front fan pulling air in and the back/top being used as the exhaust?

If any of that didn't make sense let me know :) I tried to explain it in a easy to understand fashion without getting technical.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom