Intel Dual NIC PCI-E x4 to x1 mod/hack - possible?

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tankman1989

Gawd
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Aug 21, 2009
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I have some dual NIC gigabit cards that are PCI-e x4 and I've been told that dual NIC's really only need pci-e x1 and I've seen reports of people either cutting the card to make it fit into a x1 slot, using a riser card or a connector ribbon. I've seen people do this with an HP card that looks almost identical to my Intel card (D33682). I'd like to free up my x16 slots that are being used for 2 dual NIC cards and use my unused x1 slots. SO, I stumbled across this mod for the HP mod and wondered if anyone knows anything about how card interfaces work.

http://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/dual-nics-on-pcie-x1-slot-recommendation.471/
 
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It's about bandwidth vs practicality. If you don't have a way of getting 500MB/s (I think around 4 Gb/s) through your network, x1 would be fine for you.
 
This is WAY easier than it might seem....

Just cut the back of the 1x slot open. I usually use a nail-clipper. Then the 4x card will slip right in, with the rest of the connector simply hangling out of the back of the 1x slot.

Not much different than using a PCI-X card in a PCI slot really, though that didn't involve having to cut anything.
 
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