PCI-Express slots

[Nekhtanebo]

what 's the advantage of having PCI-Express slots?
also, what do one put in these slots?
suppose a motherboard having 1 pci-express slot and another motherboard having more than 1( say, 4 ) slots. so, which one's better?

 

[Crashman]

what 's the advantage of having PCI-Express slots?
also, what do one put in these slots?
suppose a motherboard having 1 pci-express slot and another motherboard having more than 1( say, 4 ) slots. so, which one's better?

They are card slots. If you want to add a card, such as a high-end graphics card for 3D games, you need a slot to put it in.

 

[clarkjd]

There are different types of slots available for expansion cards. These range from the old ISA(Industry Standard Architecture) to PCI(Peripheral Component Interconnect), to AGP(Accelerated Graphic Port) to PCI-e. Each slot has different electrical characteristics as well as different physical characteristics( They are NOT interchangable. You can't put an AGP card in a PCI-e slot and vice versa) As the PCI-e slot is a newer standard, it will be utilized more and more and the other types less and less.

Now PCI-e comes in several flavors, (x1, X4, x8 and X16) that are somewhat interchangable. You can put a smaller type(x1 in a larger type (x4,X8,X16) slot but not the other way around. The different flavors are just how much bandwidth is utilized.

Hope this helps!

 

[Nekhtanebo]

thanks guys.

 

[Nekhtanebo]

for a high-end graphics card more power is needed right?
if that's true, then, with graphics card upgraded, one also needs to upgrade the power supply unit right?
now my questions are :
1. how do i know what amount of power is being consumed by the card at present?
2. how much more do i need to add?

 

[clarkjd]

Now you've gone from a general question(applicable to all) to a specific question(applicable to you). Before we can answer that, we need to know more about your current system. Please list all components(make and model) including your graphics card and PSU. Then we'll be able to help you more.

 

[doive1231]

Try and get a PCI-e x4 for future SSD cards that will have super speeds. Think there's a throughput limit on x1 PCI-express slots. Could be even more important than SATA 6Gbps.

 

[Nekhtanebo]

actually i love pc games so i am to buy a pc that would be able to run almost all the games that are currently in the market. unfortunately i am a layman about computers. so i am trying to understand various aspects that can influence the performance of a gaming pc.
the following configuration is what i am thinking about:
1. 3.0~3.3 Ghz of cpu(cant decide which one to buy since there are so many; plz suggest that would be good in this case)
also, is the aforementioned range ok for processors, reqd for gaming?
2. ATI 5870/ ATI 5980 gpu (plz suggest if its ok or there's better)
3. 500 GB of HDD
4. 4 GB of DDR IV ram
in view of this i was asking about psu and all the related questions. plz suggest if anything else i need to consider.
PS: my budget 2000$-3000$.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Nekhtanebo]

Sorry the budget isnt 2000$-3000$ but 400$-600$.

 

[clarkjd]

actually i love pc games so i am to buy a pc that would be able to run almost all the games that are currently in the market. unfortunately i am a layman about computers. so i am trying to understand various aspects that can influence the performance of a gaming pc.
the following configuration is what i am thinking about:
1. 3.0~3.3 Ghz of cpu(cant decide which one to buy since there are so many; plz suggest that would be good in this case)
also, is the aforementioned range ok for processors, reqd for gaming?
2. ATI 5870/ ATI 5980 gpu (plz suggest if its ok or there's better)
3. 500 GB of HDD
4. 4 GB of DDR IV ram
in view of this i was asking about psu and all the related questions. plz suggest if anything else i need to consider.
PS: my budget 2000$-3000$.
Thanks in advance.

With a budget of 4-6 hundred Dollars, you could start with the SBM $500 from THG:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-overclock-athlon-ii-x3,2811.html
and replace the hard drive with:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
Going to a graphics card like the 5870 instead of the 460 would double the cost of the graphics card and probably require a bigger power supply, so that would blow the budget past $600, easily.

Obviously with a relatively small budget, you have to make compromises...

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Plus DDR4 isnt out yet
Moto

 

[clarkjd]

Plus DDR4 isnt out yet
Moto

True Dat!