Motherboard specification questions

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tanw

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Jun 20, 2013
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Hi,
I am looking to build my first ever PC and would like to ask some questions.I am looking at the specs of some motherboards and saw some things which i do not understand.I hope that you guys can help me out.
1.)I am looking at MSI Z87-G43 and under PCI-E Gen,it says gen3(16),gen 2(4)..does it mean PCI 3.0 running at 16x?What does gen 2(4) means?
2.)ASUS Z87-A has spec listed 2*PCIe 3.0/2.0x16
1*PCIe 2.0x16

what does 2.0x16 mean when the bottom has 1*PCIe 2.0x16 already?

Thanks for yr help!!
 
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Madn3ss795

Madn3ss795

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Mar 19, 2013
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1) Z87-G43 has 2 pci-e x16 slots ( 2 long blue slots ). The one above supports pci-e 3.0 ( and devices using previous pci-e versions ) at x16 bandwidth. The blue slot below supports pci-e 2.0 ( and previous pci-e versions ) at x4 bandwidth only.

2) ASUS Z87-A has 2 PCI-E X16 slots ( 2nd and 5th slot, counting from the top ). Both of them supports pci-e 3.0 ( and devices using previous pci-e versions ) at x16 bandwidth. If you put 2 identical VGA into the Z87-A ( for a SLi/Crossfire setup ), both of them will run at PCi-E 3.0 x8 bandwidth maximum ( "x16 or dual x8" ).
 
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T

tanw

Honorable
Jun 20, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi,
I think i understood the MSI one.
But for the ASUS,i am still confused.For example ASUS Z87-C,its spec is
1*PCIe 3.0x16
1*PCIe 2.0x16

But for the Z87-A it has the extra "/2.0x16" after the 1*PCIe 3.0.?
 
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Madn3ss795

Madn3ss795

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Mar 19, 2013
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As you can see, Z87-C only has 2 PCi-E slots. 1 at 3.0 x16, the other one at 2.0 x4, equals to MSI Z87 G43's slots. Z87-A has 3 PCi-E slots, 2 at 3.0 x16 and 1 at 2.0 x2 only.

The extra "/2.0x16", as I mentioned above, means supporting for pci-e devices using previous pci-e versions, too, including 2.0, 1.1, 1.0,... , not just 3.0 devices.
 
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