What slot I can connect PCI Express x2 card with SATA ports?

Astralv

Distinguished
Hey there

I have Startech 4 ports card that supposed to be connected to PCI Express x2. Asus support says- Asus motherboard 270Z Hero has only PCIE X16, X8 and X 1 and they don't know where the X2 goes. I thought- it should fit in to any slot. Please, advise. Thank you.
 
Solution
"This card will work in slots of additional lanes such as X4, X8 and X16."

that is the key, each X number is the amount of lanes the slot provides, the card needs 2 lanes or at least a 2x slot, since there is not really any 2x slots put it in a 4x or an 8x or an 16x slot, as long as the card is installed in a slot faster than 1x (at least 2 PCI lanes) you are good to go.

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
PCI Express generation 2, is a different measurement than PCIe x1 x2 x4 x8 and x16
each generation will have the same x values, but the maximum speed each can acheive will vary depending on the generation of the PCIe slot.
example a x16 generation 1 PCIe slot has half the bandwidth that a generation 2 x16 slot has.

All the slots on your board are Generation 3, and exceed the needs of the card.
it will fit any slot.
 

Astralv

Distinguished


Thank you for your reply. It does not say "PCI Express 2." It says "PCI Express X2 Slot" The Asus tech support says- there may be other boards that support X2 slot.
Actually it has small manual and it says "This card will work in slots of additional lanes such as X4, X8 and X16."

Also it says it driver is for Win XP through Win 8. Is it safe to install in Win 10 system with Kaby Lake? Thank you.
 

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
"This card will work in slots of additional lanes such as X4, X8 and X16."

that is the key, each X number is the amount of lanes the slot provides, the card needs 2 lanes or at least a 2x slot, since there is not really any 2x slots put it in a 4x or an 8x or an 16x slot, as long as the card is installed in a slot faster than 1x (at least 2 PCI lanes) you are good to go.
 
Solution

grmnlxndr

Honorable
May 17, 2012
438
0
11,160
You could install the x2 card in any pci-express slot. If you place it in a x16/x8/x4 slot, it will run at x2 speed. If you place at a x1 slot (it should be one open-ended slot in order to place it) it will run at half speed.

The drivers you should try if it works. You could try installing the w8 one, run it in compatibilty mode or at last, try to manually install the .inf driver file through device manager.

Best Regards