Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > What are PCI Express 4x slots made for?

What are PCI Express 4x slots made for?

Forum Motherboards & Memory : General Motherboard - What are PCI Express 4x slots made for?

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Word :    Username :           
 

I have a PCI Express 4x slot on my Asus Crosshair motherboard. It is open ended, but there are capacitors directly behind it blocking any 16x cards. So, what are PCI Express 4x slots for? What would I put there?

Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.

Hi D

The PCI Express 4X connector has 64 pins and is intended to be used on servers, but not limited to servers:

- PCIe x1 card in a PCIe x16 slot will run at PCIe x1 speeds
- PCIe x16 card in a PCIe x16 slot will run at PCIe x16 speed.
- PCIe cards are all backwards compatible, as in a x1,x2,x4,x8 cards will all work in a PCIe x16 slot
- x1,x2,x4 will all work in a PCIe x8/x16 slot
- x1,x2 will all work in a PCIe x4/x8/x16 slot
- x1 will all work in a PCIe x2/x4/x8/x16 slot


Message edited by starams5 on 06-09-2009 at 08:56:55 AM
Reply to starams5
- 0 +

As starams5 mentioned, you can use 1x, 2x and of course 4x in a PCIe 4x slot.
Cards that are made using those can include (but not limited to) SAS/SATA RAID controller, sound card, dedicated A/V encoders, TV tuner..etc.

It just so happens PCIe 16x is mostly used by graphic cards and that's what most users see.

------------------------------ GTL Ref Tweaking Guide - PM for detail
Brand is for the weak-minded, only product matters.
Resilient to marketing.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3850950213_aea6bbbcfe_o.jpg
Reply to wuzy

future hardware, or atm raid cards etc

im supprised nvidia and ati arnt making basic dual display cards for pcie 1x/2x/4x especially for workstations etc needing more monitors

------------------------------ Q6600@3510/1560 + TT BigTyphoon+Mod
8gb Kingston 800mhz
Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
XFX 8800GT/512
Reply to apache_lives

if you are lucky like me, my server's pci-e 4x slot is open ended, meaning i can put any card in (though at reduced speed if it requires 8x or higher)

Reply to mindless728

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately the slot is blocked off by capacitors, so no 8x/16x cards will fit. It seems like every mobo I see has raid built in, so why would need an extra raid card? I guess I'll just treat it like an excess 1x slot. But I never even use my 1x slots.

Reply to dougx1317

The 1x slot is cool, I decided to take advantage of it. My Xonar D2X works well in the 1x slot, sits above all others allowing more space and air flow below.

Reply to starams5
- 0 +

My 1x slot in the HTPC is used by a DVB-T tuner card for example

Quote :

It seems like every mobo I see has raid built in, so why would need an extra raid card?


The software RAID solution which consumer chipset uses functions serves a totally different purpose compared to expensive hardware RAID needed by servers for reliability reason. Also useful for migrating RAID arrays between different motherboards that have different chipset.


Message edited by wuzy on 06-09-2009 at 07:43:59 PM
------------------------------ GTL Ref Tweaking Guide - PM for detail
Brand is for the weak-minded, only product matters.
Resilient to marketing.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3850950213_aea6bbbcfe_o.jpg
Reply to wuzy

dougx1317 wrote :

So, what are PCI Express 4x slots for? What would I put there?



Hardware RAID controller
Gigabit NIC
TV Tuner
10GBe Fiber channel controller

Reply to chunkymonster
- 0 +

starams5 wrote :

The 1x slot is cool, I decided to take advantage of it. My Xonar D2X works well in the 1x slot, sits above all others allowing more space and air flow below.






is that the slot the soundmax normaly sits in ?

Reply to kevchat

kevchat wrote :

is that the slot the soundmax normaly sits in ?



That little sound card uses the x1 slot as well. If you have an older board that came with the SoundMax audio card, the x1 slot was useless because the x1 slot was positioned on the board exclusively for the SoundMax card. ASUS has since made changes to the design to allow other x1 cards to work in the slot. I tried to link you to a pic of the P5N32-E SLI Plus which has offset x1 slots, but maybe I did it wrong.

Reply to starams5

My Asus Crosshair is that way. I can't use the slot for anything else, and I can't put the soundmax card in any other slot.

Reply to dougx1317

dougx1317 wrote :

My Asus Crosshair is that way. I can't use the slot for anything else, and I can't put the soundmax card in any other slot.



Funny how things changed when they came out with the Xonar, there would have been some pissed off D2X customers.

Reply to starams5
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > What are PCI Express 4x slots made for?
Go to:

There are 696 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them