Can I use either PCI-E Port On Asus P5K?

[sitalchauhan]

I am only planning to put one 8800gtx in the bottom pci-e slot of the P5K for space convenience, instead of the top pci-e port.

Does it make any difference between which port I use? Is it ok to use the bottom port instead of the top one?

I read that if you use 2 gfx card on this board, then one will run at 16x and the other at 4x. This just made me think as to wether the top port is 16x and the bottom is max 4x... Or is it that if using one gfx card, whichever port you put it into it will run at 16x?

Thanks

 

[sitalchauhan]

The manual says "2x PCI-E (Blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4 or x1 mode)"

Does that mean that if I put my 8800gtx in the black slot (the bottom one), it would only run at x4 and not x16?

Thanks

 

[novemberrain]

If it is 16/4, it will run 4x. Those specs are physical and can't be changed on driver-level. Running a 8800 at 4x does cause some slowdown, but if you'd have a 8800 at 16x and another card for Sli or just for extra displays difference would be rather small.

Edit: Try it and tell us how much difference there is or if it works at all.