PCI(e) slots

[garywood84]

I am considering a PC with the Asus P6X58D-E motherboard. I understand that this board has the following PCI(e) slots:

1x PCIex1
3x PCIex16
2x PCI

I'd have a soundcard (Creative Fatal1ty Pro), which I assume would fit in the PCIex1 slot (right?). An nVidia GTX465 would go in the first PCIex16 slot, and I think this would obstruct the first PCI slot because of the cooler. So, if I'm right so far, this would leave the following slots free:

2x PCIex16
1x PCI

I plan to fit my Hauppauge WinTV Nova S-Plus in the PCI slot, leaving 2x PCIex16 free.

So, now to my question: can I use the remaining PCIex16 slots in future to fit other card that are NOT graphics cards? I have no intention to have multiple graphics cards, but I may want to add other cards types of cards (e.g. a network card) to the machine and want to be sure there's slots free to do this.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[Zeplini]

Hi gary yes you are correct, as long as you buy compatible PCIex cards you can use the spare graphics slots
​

 

[PCS]

Yes - an x16 PCI-E slot can accommodate 1x, x4, x8 and x16 PCI-E cards.

 

[garywood84]

Thanks for clarifying this for me.

One more vaguely related question: I've just noticed that this motherboard (Asus P6X58D-E) doesn't have any eSATA ports, and I can't decide if this matters or not. I don't have any devices that would connect this way at the moment. Does anyone think I'm likely to miss this functionality in the future, or will current eSATA devices start to switch over to USB3?

Gary

 

[PCS]

If you don't have any use for eSATA now, it's not something that you need to worry about too much. Most external hard drives can connect by eSATA or USB. If you ever did need an eSATA port though for around £15 you can buy an eSATA card which you can connect to one of your spare x16 ports: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161336

 

[Sleinous]

Also most wireless cards, like the one PCS has, are PCI, and as you can see theyre in the middle of the PCIe x16s so if you put the GTX 465 at the top slot, then the PCI below itw ill become unusable as the 465 covers it. You would then have to use that other PCI slot above the last PCIe x16 slot for your network card. This would mean (doesnt matter for you as youre not interested in SLI) that you can no longer place another fermi GTX 400 series in the middle PCIe x16 (above the bottom PCI) as its too thick and would get in the way of said netwrk card. Then lastly, (usually) the PSU as it sits on the bottom comes just underneath the bottom of the mobo and with all the cabling that connects to the bottom, makes it impossible to connect another fermi card as again, not enough room. So, going from the top down, one pciex1 slot for your sound card, one gtx 465 in the top pciex16 slot, nothing in teh PCI slot below that as no room, then you have a PCIe x16 that you can use for anything that is one thickness, then the PCI for suff like wireless network card, then another PCIe x16 that you can use for 1 thickness cards.