Asus M2N SLi deluxe motherboard PCI layout issues

[AD-15]

hello, I am about to purchase a system with the ASUS M2N bla bla bla....

However, if you look at the layout:

(Picture from SCAN website)


You can see that the space is very constricted. If I were to install TWO XFX 7950 GX2 graphics cards, then would I be able to use all the PCI/PCI-X slots? If not, which would wouldn't I be able to use?

Thanks!

[Noni]

Hi there,

Yes there is not alot of space. I would say that you may be able to use the bottom PCI slot but the top PCI slot will be blocked.

Good luck.

[Hans Voralberg]

You can use the bottom PCI and the tiny PCI-watever-it's-called above the second PCI-E slot.

[Rys]

You can use the bottom PCI and the tiny PCI-watever-it's-called above the second PCI-E slot.

Yet another PCI Express slot, you mean?

PCIe 16X
PCIe 4X
PCIe 1X
PCIe 16X
PCIc
PCIe

in that order.

[AD-15]

Hello,

So I will not be able to use the PCI-Express x4 slot or the 32bit PCI slot next to the secondary PCI-express x16 slot?

What it is the point of ASUS doing this layout, when they know their customers for this motherboard will all be very high end users!!?!?!?

[whoatethepies]

Hello,

So I will not be able to use the PCI-Express x4 slot or the 32bit PCI slot next to the secondary PCI-express x16 slot?

What it is the point of ASUS doing this layout, when they know their customers for this motherboard will all be very high end users!!?!?!?

So far nothing I know of uses 4x or 1x PCI-E slots, so I wouldn't worry about them too much. As for the layout, they only have so much space to play with! The cards are so big, and the mobos aren't growing to cope... You may also want to be wary what CPU heatsink you get. I'm getting this board but worked out most of the bigger passive heatsinks simply won't fit. I *think* the new Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 will fit, and it seems pretty decent, though the fans a bit rubbish.

[FatalSaviour]

If it's as similar to the A8N32-SLI DLX as it looks, the space taken up by the wireless card is a tad annoying. There's not really a lot else they could do given the circumstances however AD-15...unless I'm missing something here?
OK, so they could have swapped the 4x and 1x PCIe slots around, but that's about it as far as I can see...

[AD-15]

I was thinking of installing two graphics cards, a sound card, a TV card, and leaving one free. Is this possible?

Also, when will the PCI-X slot hardware start to roll out? Do you think any soundcards will use it in the future?

[nvening]

There is not driver support for two 7950s atm afaik

[AD-15]

sorry, I meant two 7900 GTX's

Do you think I should go ahead with this motherboard? Or do you think 1 slot isn't enough? Because that's all I think I can use on that board if I install 2 7900 GTX's....

[whoatethepies]

You won't fit everything you want on there unfortunatly. A quick look at the other boards avaliable seems to suggest its a common problem. Guess you may have to wait for something better to come out, otherwise just use the onboard sound...

[FatalSaviour]

I was thinking of installing two graphics cards, a sound card, a TV card, and leaving one free. Is this possible?

Also, when will the PCI-X slot hardware start to roll out? Do you think any soundcards will use it in the future?

You're thinking of PCI Express, PCIe, as opposed to PCI-X I think.
Anyhoo.....there's 2 PCI slots on that MB, so if you were to use a sound card and a TV card, both in PCI flavours, then you wouldn't have any spare slots...although there's not tooo much else that you'd probably use them for.
If you were to use 7900GTX's, you would also lose another PCI slot, due to the stock dual slot cooler used.
You could use both PCI slots with 7900GTs, as the coolers are single slot solutions, but not their bigger brothers without modifiying the coolers.

The maximum number of slots (with any combination of PCIe and PCI) you could have would be 7 AFAIK.

Not having a wireless module would make space for another slot, but apart from that, there's not too much that any board manufacturer can do unfortunately.

[GoNz0]

i will let you know later today, i have the A8N32SLI and have my 2nd 7900GTX arriving, as far as i can see, just the middle PCI slot is going to be free for my X-Fi..

[FatalSaviour]

That's correct Gonzo