PCI-e slots

[jlynch1]

I am building my first PC and I had a question about PCI slots.

the motherboard I'm using is the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
with 2 470GTX's in SLI.

My question is, can I still add a PCI networking card or do I need to switch to USB? The specs on the motherboard talked about 2 x16 slots and 2 x8 slots but I wasnt sure if they could, or even should, all be used at the same time?

Thanks

 

[badge]

PCIe and PCI slots are two different interfaces. The PCIe slots you referred to are for graphics cards. PCI slots can house the PCI network card you referred to.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#sp

Quote:

1.2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2) (Note 2)
2.2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2) (Note 3) (The PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2, PCIEX8_1 and PCIEX8_2 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
3.2 x PCI Express x1 slots
4.1 x PCI slot

 

[jlynch1]

Best answer selected by jlynch1.

 

[4745454b]

Just wondering out loud here, whats wrong with the onboard NIC? Don't tell me you are getting one of those "Gaming NICs".

 

[tecmo34]

The issue for the OP will be that the PCI slot will be covered with the 2nd GTX 470 so it will be useless. Your two cards will cover all but 1 PCIe x 16 at the bottom of the board and two PCIe x1.0 at the top.

If you want a network card, you will need it to be a PCIe x1.0 or just stick with the on-board LAN, as 4745454b hinted to.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

I wouldn't bother with a NIC on the PCI bus. You're limited to the bus speed. The best NIC cards to get are 1x PCIe gigabit NIC. ANything else is a waste of money. You're onboard NIC should be PCIe anyway.