What ya using your 1x slots for?

Was hoping to get a 10GBe Network card to fit a 1x PCI Slot. Cant find one.
I suspect the issue is that customers would complain about a 10 gigabit card that couldn't actually reach anywhere close to 10 gigabits per second. Even PCIe 3.0 maxes out at around 8 gigabits per second per lane.

I suspect we will see x1 10 gigabit cards eventually, but probally only after PCIe 4.0 trickles down to x1 slots.

Was hoping to get a M.2 expansion card to fit a 1x PCi slot. Cant find one.
They do exist, what card you need depends on whether your M.2 drive is SATA or PCIe.

Ones for SATA M.2 drives are quite common, but ones for PCIe M.2 drives are much rarer (most PCIe slot adapters for PCIe M.2 drives are x4, presumably again because people expect their drives to run at full speed), I did find a couple though.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MS64UBB/
https://www.amazon.com/M-key-Vertic...A6D190DCEA6&psc=1&refRID=HM2V1PPRMA6D190DCEA6
And for brits reading this here is one that can be bought in the UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MZHOU-NVME...d_r=22F2RYN3JQFE9N7QYJJ5&psc=1&qid=1582470599
 
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  • X-Fi Titanium HD
  • FL1100-based USB 3.0 host controller card (because a quad-sensor Oculus Rift CV1 setup practically demands it)
  • PEXHDCAP/SC500N1 video capture card
I was thinking of migrating to quad-controller USB 3.0 and a Datapath VisionRGB capture card for upgrades, but both of those require a x4 slot each, which means that consumer platforms with only 16 PCIe lanes off the CPU and x4 being squeezed through DMI to everything else on the motherboard (or AMD's equivalent) suddenly become woefully inadequate, especially as NVMe becomes the norm for SSDs and take up 4 lanes per drive.

Yes, it's because of this one issue that I'd consider 3rd-gen Threadripper for a gaming build, because I can't say no to all of those PCIe lanes. I'd even be fine with just 8 CPU cores, but 16 + 4 PCIe lanes just isn't enough any more. Both Intel and AMD need to step it up to 28-30 lanes on the mainstream desktop platforms; I'd be content with that much.
 
  • X-Fi Titanium HD
  • FL1100-based USB 3.0 host controller card (because a quad-sensor Oculus Rift CV1 setup practically demands it)
  • PEXHDCAP/SC500N1 video capture card
I was thinking of migrating to quad-controller USB 3.0 and a Datapath VisionRGB capture card for upgrades, but both of those require a x4 slot each, which means that consumer platforms with only 16 PCIe lanes off the CPU and x4 being squeezed through DMI to everything else on the motherboard (or AMD's equivalent) suddenly become woefully inadequate, especially as NVMe becomes the norm for SSDs and take up 4 lanes per drive.

Yes, it's because of this one issue that I'd consider 3rd-gen Threadripper for a gaming build, because I can't say no to all of those PCIe lanes. I'd even be fine with just 8 CPU cores, but 16 + 4 PCIe lanes just isn't enough any more. Both Intel and AMD need to step it up to 28-30 lanes on the mainstream desktop platforms; I'd be content with that much.
X570's 4x PCIe 4.0 link shouldn't be holding you back.
 
i have a syba 4 sata port raid 1x card in a computer that has 9 dvd drives.
good for what?
Good to use as storage drives on the netwokr... for movies, software, and other data that's not being accessed every day but will have decent speed.
 
My Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H (Yes I am still using an old i7-4790K as my main PC) has three x1 slots and I am using all of them

I have a USB Internal card reader with 4 USB 3.0 ports (The plugin card is actually a PCI-e 1x to a standard 20 pin USB 3.0 header, and no I did not pay $150 for it I paid about $25)

I also have a Intel AX200/BT5 adapter with a converter card I also bought a better Antenna

my 3rd PCI-e x1 slot has an old LSI Concorde that I pulled from an eMachines computer that was being thrown out (I know the link says HP but the card is the same just with an Acer part # and not HP)

I am using the modem for my onscreen caller ID and call blocking software
 
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I use an SD card reader, since my case doesn't have front 5.25" or 3.5" bays.

delock sd1.jpg
delock sd2.jpg


Delock PCI Express Card > 1 x external SDXC Slot (91743)

https://www.delock.com/produkte/575_internal/91743/merkmale.html?setLanguage=en
 
I use an SD card reader, since my case doesn't have front 5.25" or 3.5" bays.

View attachment 287024View attachment 287025

Delock PCI Express Card > 1 x external SDXC Slot (91743)

https://www.delock.com/produkte/575_internal/91743/merkmale.html?setLanguage=en

Neat I did not know those even existed. I do know about the Compact Flash to E-IDE as those are commonly used to replace the spinning disks on older computers for faster storage that is easiler to interface with a modern PC (that has a Compact Flash reader even those are getting difficult to find in modern PCs as standard)
 
Of my 6 desktops, 3 of them have PCIe x1 WiFi cards and 3 have it build into the MB. That's the only thing I've used a x1 slot for that I can recall. I think I may have x1 USB 3.0 adapter in my server that only supported usb 2.0, but that's kind of niche case at this time.
 
Do sound cards or wifi cards even need 4x or is 1x more than enough? I haven't looked at these numbers since I have no idea when.
 
1x is more than enough for a sound card and up to 8Gbps for networking.
 
A 1x PCIe m.2 adapter card, for my Intel wifi/bt card. Would use it for a sas card I have, but it's 4x and the durn slot is closed-ended.
 
USB expansion on an old server. Also, if you melt/carve out the little bit of the end of the slot so that longer cards fit, they run fine, just at reduced speed. I have a GT 710 in an x4 slot in a server running fine this way. For plain old video like desktop or even 4K video, data rate is sufficient, the card does the hard work of decoding.
 
Once had a 1x Firewire card to make some older video backups, but pulled it when done.
Only other occupant I can think of is a wireless adapter when needed.

Seems like such overkill. 1 lane of 3rd gen, @ 4 lanes of 1st gen, where each Gen1 lane is the two Gigabit connections. Wireless is not gigabit, so less than 12.5% usage of the single Gen 3 lane is even possible. PCIE gen exponential scaling has been pretty awesome.
 
1Gbps Intel NICs on my NAS and router. On another machine I have an adapter to use a m.2 Intel AC wifi NIC on a desktop slot. Oh, and SOUND CARDS. :)
 
Most of my boards, the 1x slot isn't even in a good space. It's like directly underneath or over the primary 16X slot for the GPU, that or the one way at the bottom that is un-usable in most mid-tower cases. I never end up using them, and instead have to use the other 16X slots with my 1x cards. It's pretty lame, but honestly doesn't matter since those 16X slots aren't getting used for SLI anymore anyways.
 
Yep - this slot layout pisses me off. It blocks this fan for the GPU entirely...going to get a riser or something and relocate the sound card.

 
Yep - this slot layout pisses me off. It blocks this fan for the GPU entirely...going to get a riser or something and relocate the sound card.


This is why I decided about a year back to just rip out my soundcard and move to an external DAC. With the way windows 10 handles virtual surround now with something like Dolby Atmos, I just saw no reason for the soundcard anymore, and how there just weren't any good places for it. Not to mention you can get something like the Schiit Hel that way out-performs the highest end soundcards for about the same amount of money.
 
That's not that bad–my uatx board has m.2, 16x, then two 1x slots directly below. Both the 1x slots are unuseable without a riser in a case with the fan (or psu) directly below the motherboard and a gpu in the 16x slot.
 
This is why I decided about a year back to just rip out my soundcard and move to an external DAC. With the way windows 10 handles virtual surround now with something like Dolby Atmos, I just saw no reason for the soundcard anymore, and how there just weren't any good places for it. Not to mention you can get something like the Schiit Hel that way out-performs the highest end soundcards for about the same amount of money.

Dang I like that idea. I've been happy with this Xonar Essence STX ever since I got it, drives my ATH-900X very well but in Windows 10 it randomly has a bug to where it starts an extremely high pitch tone that is deafening...apparently it's an issue with Windows 10 - quite unpleasant.

How do external DACs connect/show up in Windows? Are they amplified or...? One feature I use a lot is the sound card's switch between Speakers & Front Panel audio for headphone time.
 
Dang I like that idea. I've been happy with this Xonar Essence STX ever since I got it, drives my ATH-900X very well but in Windows 10 it randomly has a bug to where it starts an extremely high pitch tone that is deafening...apparently it's an issue with Windows 10 - quite unpleasant.

How do external DACs connect/show up in Windows? Are they amplified or...? One feature I use a lot is the sound card's switch between Speakers & Front Panel audio for headphone time.
Depends on the DAC and/or amp you get.

Schiit Hel is a DAC & AMP. Like most USB DAC's it just presents itself as two channel 'Speakers' within Windows. It's got a pre-amp output jack on the back that you could pass to powered speakers or a speaker AMP if you want. It'll pass the audio through both the pre-amp output and the headphone amp, so when you aren't using the headphones you can just take them off. No need to turn down the headphone volume knob unless it annoys you.

With something like Dolby Atmos Headphones enabled on a standard stereo USB DAC, Windows 10 on the software side automatically fools software into thinking you are running a multi-speaker surround setup, and of course Dolby Atmos does the magic needed for virtual surround stuff.

It's a far simpler setup, and you don't need to worry about any weird drivers either.

And yes, my STX is what I ditched. As good as it was, it just can't rival a decent DAC these days. Not to mention the driver issues.
 
Plastic dust covers on the board that actually has them.

Never having seen a board with those, I collect dust in mine.

Other than possibly a USB-C port, or a sata card if I build a DIY NAS I don't see myself ever putting something in them now that built in wifi has become standardish in mid/upper end boards.
 
I use an Asus Xonar Essence STX in an x1 slot
My Mellanox Connectx-2 is a PCI-Epress x8 fiber card.
I do not think you are going to find 10Gbit network cards using an x1 slot.
 
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