Intel D955XBK... 2x PCI-E x16, but quick questions

[aNtHrAx323]

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d955xbk/index.htm

I'm building a file server for a local orthodontist's office (because 15+ years worth of data is currently residing on a freakin Dell Optiplex, 3 of which have died in his office in the past 4 months... it's fun coming in and playing cleanup). I'm strongly considering this board due to the fact that it uses the Intel ICH7 southbridge, the integrated SATA controller supports RAID5. However, I've got a couple concerns about the two PCI-E x16 slots. One, the primary, is described as being for graphics cards, and the other is an x16/x4 slot (simply called "secondary"). Do the two slots share resources? What would be the repercussions for running, say, a PCI-E graphics card in the primary and a SCSI RAID controller in the other? I'm trying to get this squared away for the sake of knowing what future expandability will look like. I'd appreciate any info I can get. Thanks!

BTW, I'm looking at this board because Intel's server boards (non-Xeon) don't support the Pentium D series. This is a relatively budget-oriented server due to the fact that it will only be serving ~15 clients through a SQL database and various SMB file shares. Thanks again!

 

[Dan_D]

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d955xbk/index.htm

I'm building a file server for a local orthodontist's office (because 15+ years worth of data is currently residing on a freakin Dell Optiplex, 3 of which have died in his office in the past 4 months... it's fun coming in and playing cleanup). I'm strongly considering this board due to the fact that it uses the Intel ICH7 southbridge, the integrated SATA controller supports RAID5. However, I've got a couple concerns about the two PCI-E x16 slots. One, the primary, is described as being for graphics cards, and the other is an x16/x4 slot (simply called "secondary"). Do the two slots share resources? What would be the repercussions for running, say, a PCI-E graphics card in the primary and a SCSI RAID controller in the other? I'm trying to get this squared away for the sake of knowing what future expandability will look like. I'd appreciate any info I can get. Thanks!

BTW, I'm looking at this board because Intel's server boards (non-Xeon) don't support the Pentium D series. This is a relatively budget-oriented server due to the fact that it will only be serving ~15 clients through a SQL database and various SMB file shares. Thanks again!

The secondary slot can be used for anything on the motherboard in question.