Pci and Pci-e slots explained

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tom_gr7

Life Serving
Hey everyone,

Though I'd post a thread explaining the basics of pci and pci-e slots. There is little difference if any in performance between the pci and pci-e, however, installation and placing can effect other components. I think its important to plan ahead when creating ya dream rig, although PCS will install components in the best suited slots, however, when adding two gpu's and two pci/pci-e devices you may have a few minor problems. I will explain where each slot is.

If you look at this picture below, its a p7z77 v motherboard, it supports both sli and crossfire.

I have circled the different slots,
pics%2520of%2520pci%2520slots.png


- the two slots circled in blue are what ya gpu/gpu's will be connected in/plugged in.
- the two slots circled in green are the PCI slots, can be either a soundcard or a network card, or perhaps other devices.
- the two slots circled in red are PCI-E slots, again can be either a soundcard or a network card, again other devices too.
- The black slot at the bottom, can be used too for adding another gpu, however, this is not really needed, also you will need a massive case, with very good cooling!

Most new high end graphics cards are normally dual slot now days, (apart from low end gpu's) so that means the card chosen most likely cover two slots on the motherboard, always the slot below. soundcard/network cards are usually single slot cards, however, the positioning can effect other devices.

So if for instance we installed a gpu on this motherboard.

The gpu would be installed into the highest pci slot, (in blue circle) it will also block the pci-e slot below it (circled in red)you can't see the blocked slot, but we know its there. You can just about make out the pci slot (green) right below the gpu, this slot can still be used, but may block one of the fans on the gpu, depending on the model of gpu. (some gpu's have dual fans, some have a single fan) So in this circumstance we have two spare PCI slots (green), and one spare PCI-E slot (red) above the gpu. As well as another slot to add another GPU (blue), This can be seen on this pic below (my rig different mobo, but the same layout)
SDC10877.JPG

We can see the PCI-E (red) slot that is still available see the picture below
SDC10893.JPG

We also have slot for a gpu, however, if we added a another gpu it would again block the PCI slot below. Therefore now we only have one PCI slot free, however, its right under the top GPU, so not an ideal place, (NOTE it could still be used) Or the black slot right at the bottom, (may be hard to make out) not a ideal place to slot a card either. So if we added another GPU to the rig, it would now look like this, See pic below,
SDC10945.JPG

We do have a PCI-E slot above the gpu's that can be used without effecting the gpu' at all. :) Such as a sound card or a network card,
See the picture below where I have added a soundcard.
SDC10967.JPG

I hope this help people understand how PCI and PCI-E slots effect a Rig,
 
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ellspeedy

Enthusiast
Really good post tom, helped clear up alot of issues and question i had!

+rep

Would you be able to point out various other slots on the mobo, not related to the PCI/PCI-E but just so we know what they are? IE im not sure how/where usb 3.0 is?
Would be perfect then :D
 

Diem

Bronze Level Poster
Bah, now I need to go back and edit my spec to move the network card from PCI to PCI-E :D

Thanks Tom
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Would you be able to point out various other slots on the mobo, not related to the PCI/PCI-E but just so we know what they are? IE im not sure how/where usb 3.0 is?
Would be perfect then :D

pics%2520of%2520mobo%252C.png


EDIT - This is a P8Z77 V PRO, I aint labelled any of the fan headers as they are far to small to make out, and differ from board to board.

Bah, now I need to go back and edit my spec to move the network card from PCI to PCI-E :D

Thanks Tom

Glad It helped mate :)
 
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harfle

Active member
very helpful thanks. although it does make the Motherboard seem a little ... 'under-productive' but I guess its only what they are capable of doing.

cheers.
 

stripe3211

New member
I'm a bit of a noob to this, and understood practically nothing of that :wacko: But what confuses me is if I need one of these to connect to wireless, I may of missed something there talking about that (sorry if I did). When I look at the drop-down box for Network faciclities I see this 10/100/1000 gb Lan port, Does this mean I can only go on LAN gaming?

That might of made no sense so sorry for that!
If you could offer any advice as this is a huge amount of money I'm about to pay and I don't want to get anything wrong.

Thanks
-Laurence
 

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
I'm a bit of a noob to this, and understood practically nothing of that :wacko: But what confuses me is if I need one of these to connect to wireless, I may of missed something there talking about that (sorry if I did). When I look at the drop-down box for Network faciclities I see this 10/100/1000 gb Lan port, Does this mean I can only go on LAN gaming?

That might of made no sense so sorry for that!
If you could offer any advice as this is a huge amount of money I'm about to pay and I don't want to get anything wrong.

Thanks
-Laurence
The 10/100/1000 gb Lan port is for connecting your PC to your router with an ethernet cable,
these are standard & you will still have this option if you select a wireless card or homeplugs.
Connecting with an ethernet cable is the best option,so if you can do so, that's all you need.
If that isn't possible you need to select a wireless card,PCI or PCI-E,or a better alernative would be homeplugs.
Homeplugs are basically a wired ethernet connection through your domestic wiring,
plug one homeplug in to a socket next to your router then connect an ethernet cable from the homeplug to your router,
plug the other one in to a socket next to your PC & connect an ethernet cable from that to your PC.
 
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