PCI express

[Martin87]

I was just wondering what else PCI express can be used for other than graphics! Is it worth having to pci express slots or not cause i'm not a big gamer!

[Metier9]

Raid controller cards

[directhex]

they can be used for anything for which cards exist

there's just not a massive array of cards yet

some disk controllers, a few tv cards, that's mostly it

[Martin87]

is it worth havin a board with 2 pci express sockets then or not?

[Metier9]

Depends what you want to do in future, PCI Express allows more bandwidth.

Soundscards are mostly PCI
Gfx cards PCI-e
RAID cards PCI-e, PCI-x
Tv cards like directhex mentioned
Network cards (Wired + Wireless) = PCI or onboard already
Not sure about that RAM storage card...
Can have 2 gfx cards, but as you mentioned your not a big gamer

[moogle]

there was a physics card, but now intel says the dual cores can do that processing. if only all cpus had hyperthreading.

[Funkstar]

PCI will eventually got the way of ISA any all the other slots there has been over the years.

The major advantage they have for board designers is the basic PCI-e 1x slot is far smaller, making placement of other compoents a lot easier, especially on smaller system boards (mini-ITX etc.)