PCIe vs PCIe x16 Question, Please. . . .

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uluvbs

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
134
Hi, all.

I made a mistake and have now realized that my PCI sound card will not work with my new mobo, which has one single PCIe x16 slot.

Anyhow, there don't seem to be any PCIe x16 sound cards out there. I assume a PCIe x1 will work fine with it?

Thank you.
 
A PCIe x1 card should work in a PCIe x16 slot.

However some motherboards will disable the onboard graphics if any card is placed in the x16 slot making it impractical to use the slot for anything other than grahics. Unfortunately motherboard vendors never seem to document this in the manual and motherboard reviewers never seem to test it. So the only way to find out if your motherboard suffers from this is to try it.
 
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This build has been such a nightmare -- I hope plugwash's scenario does not prove true.

I am using the Asrock H81M-ITX.

Thank you.
 
Well, two things:

-1- One of my main reasons for building a desktop rather than just hooking a monitor up to my laptop is I wanted good-quality sound.
-2- Given that I am not sure I want to go through the hassle of ordering a new sound card (and given the possibility it could disable onboard graphics, depending on the other replies I get), I may just go ahead and use my mobo audio.
 
"Good-quality" sound is subjective. Onboard sound has improved over the years to suit many users' tastes. Plus, not all add-on sound cards can be considered "good."

I know it's moot now, but which sound card were you trying to use?
 
plugwash,
for what it's worth, people on the Asrock-linked bulletin board Tweaktown are claiming they've never heard of this before (i.e., that using a sound card in the slot would disable the onboard graphics).
 
Good to know.

The problem i've found is that noone seems to discuss the use of non-graphics cards in the "graphics slot" at all. So i've no idea how widespread the issue is nor have I any idea whether it is limited to older motherboards. I've certainly seen motherboards where it works and ones where it doesn't work but my sample size has been way to small to draw any conclusions beyond that.
 
uluvbs said:
I'm surprised you say onboard would be that good, as most people seem to think even a decent dedicated card is better than none?
Click to expand...

The simple-yet-understated answer is that onboard sound has improved to the point that it's usable for most people's needs. I didn't say that it was better than a quality dedicated sound card -- the high-end Asus Xonar, Creative/Sound Blasters, and professional-level sound cards are still leagues above onboard sound.
 
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