Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
I'm looking for a motherboard (as cheap as possible) which can accomodate a PCIe x8 RAID card. I have had a look round and found quite a few mobos with two x16 slots (SLI/Crossfire) but I am not sure how if they work if it's not a graphics card? Also, most of them appear to downclock the second slot to x1 speed when in SLI mode. In summary the board would need:
1x PCIe x16 slot (for cheap graphics card)
1x PCIe x8 slot (for RAID card, must run AT x8 speed)
2x SATA port
1333MHz FSB (For E6750 etc)
666MHz RAM (For DDR 5400)
As cheap as possible! (have looked around but only found ones at £100+)
Thanks again! :mrgreen:
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
would it not be an idea to get a board with on-board graphics and use the 16x pci-e slot on that. almost all boards will allow you use any card in pci-e slots
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Any PCI-E card would work in 16x slots.
According to the block diagram for nVidia 750i chipsets it looks like it has 4 PCI-E slots, one 16x, one 8x and two 1x which fulfils your requirements, I'm yet to see a modern motherboard will less than 2 SATA ports so lets assume the 750i has them ;).
Scan has two 750i boards, one under £100 - Asus P5N-D
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
alsenior
would it not be an idea to get a board with on-board graphics and use the 16x pci-e slot on that. almost all boards will allow you use any card in pci-e slots
Would this affect general system performance? The machine will be used as a server with no monitor after intial setup (VNC only).
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DDY
Any PCI-E card would work in 16x slots.
According to the block diagram for nVidia 750i chipsets it looks like it has 4 PCI-E slots, one 16x, one 8x and two 1x which fulfils your requirements, I'm yet to see a modern motherboard will less than 2 SATA ports so lets assume the 750i has them ;).
Scan has two 750i boards, one under £100 -
Asus P5N-D
That one has 2 x16 slots (SLI) and 1 x1 slot Asus Website. When it's in SLI mode will the second slot (black one) work with a RAID card?
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
If it doesn't have two graphics cards in it, it isn't going to be in SLI mode.
Or do I have things completely wrong?
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Funkstar
If it doesn't have two graphics cards in it, it isn't going to be in SLI mode.
Or do I have things completely wrong?
I may be wrong but from the way it is written on ASUS's website (see their other motherboard spec page) it sounds like the second slot is not functional unless it's in SLI mode?
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ta2
That one has 2 x16 slots (SLI) and 1 x1 slot
Asus Website. When it's in SLI mode will the second slot (black one) work with a RAID card?
You couldn't run it in SLI mode without 2 graphics cards.
A 16x slot is a 16x slot. You can put any PCI-express card in there and it will work, including a 8x.
Heck, a lot of "16x" slots in past motherboards are actually 8x but with a bigger port to allow graphics cards to be fitted. They will only get the bandwidth of a 8x slot though.
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ta2
I may be wrong but from the way it is written on ASUS's website (see their other motherboard spec page) it sounds like the second slot is not functional unless it's in SLI mode?
Thats interesting if true. Certainly never seen it before.
Can't see why they would do it though, just doesn't make sense.
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
i would think that 16mb or so of missing ram for the on-board card would make little if any difference to the systems performance. especially as ram is so cheap these days.
this would see you right:
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
Re: Cheap Mobo With x8 PCIe Slot?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
alsenior
Doesn't affect system performance much, you wouldn't even notice it.
