This blue thing is a PCI Express 2.0 slot... right?

[KevinWI]

I posted this on another forum and nobody really knew the answer. I bought this EVGA nForce 680i motherboard from Newegg. I realized while it was en route to my house that I want a PCI-Express 2.0 slot so I can get a screaming video card, but Newegg's specs page only lists a "PCI Express Graphics expansion slot". I posted it on the other forums, and everybody told me that it wasn't a PCI-E 2.0 slot.

So, I was looking at something else, when I discovered that the same motherboard was listed as having a 2.0 slot. So, I went to Newegg and looked at some of the product pictures, and the mysterious 'expansion slot' sure looks an awfully lot like 2.0 slots I saw via google images.

Picture here.

So, that blue slot labeled "PCI graphics expansion slot" is a PCI-Express 2.0 slot, right?

 

[badge]

You would see PCIE 2.0 listed in the specs if the MB was equipped with that feature. PCIE 2.0 became available with 790i.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188019

 

[jonyb222]

even if it's not a 2.0, it'll make little or no diff, unless I'm mistaken not even the GTX 280 uses the full 1.1 (though I may be wrong)

 

[KevinWI]

So, what? That blue port is just redundant?

 

[badge]

The board you have pictured has two PCI express 1.0 x 16 slots. They are the blue and black connectors labeled PCIE 16x on the picture. It's not redundancy that puts those two PCIE 1.0 x 16 slots there. It's the board's capability to run two PCIE express cards and in SLI if you wish.

 

[zoker]

680i has pci express 1.0 and 1.1 slots , not 2.0.

 

[KevinWI]

Ok, starting with the PCI-Express x1 slot on the left side.

Black PCI-E x1
Black PCI-E x16
Black PCI-E x1
Blue PCI-E x16?
White PCI
Black PCI-E x16?
White PCI?

It has three PCI-E x16 slots?

 

[cjl]

That sure sounds right for a 680i.

 

[KevinWI]

But I can use 2.0 video cards in the blue 1.1 slot?

 

[homerdog]

^Yes

 

[KevinWI]

Excellent. That's the only reason I cared, anyhow.

 

[Nik_I]

But I can use 2.0 video cards in the blue 1.1 slot?

you can. all pci-e cards are backwards are forwards compatible, but they may be limited by the bandwith of the slot.

 

[pcgamer12]

Yes, it is NOT redundant. PCI-E 1.0 and 1.1 kick ass for now, you only need 2.0 for CF/SLI with very high bandwidth cards.

 

[ausch30]

The blue slot doesn't run at 16x. Physically it is a 16x slot which means it fits 16x cards but electronically it runs at 8x.

 

[badge]

Nvidia is inviting you to buy a third GTX 280 with the 'expansion' slot. Redundancy? You bet.

 

[badge]

Ausch30 is right.

 

[homerdog]

you can. all pci-e cards are backwards are forwards compatible, but they may be limited by the bandwith of the slot.

*May* being the key word. A 16x PCIe 1.x slot can transfer 4 GB/s in each direction; that is plenty of bandwidth for current gen and most likely even next gen cards. PCIe 2.0 is handy when you're working with 8x slots, since you can get the 8GB/s of bandwidth with only 8 lanes