I am thinking about buying a PCIe x8 RAID controller (ie ARC-1210) and plug it into one of the x16 slot of a NForce4 SLI motherboard I'm planning to buy. The specifications of various NForce4 SLI motherboards I have seen all indicate that the two x16 slots normally operate at x16 and x1 bandwidth respectively with a single x16 graphics card but will operate in only x8 and x8 bandwidth in SLI mode.
So if I "up plug" an x8 RAID controller into the second x16 slot, is it going to operate at x1 bandwith only?
That is still better than a PCI-X or 64-bit PCI controller sitting in a 32-bit/33mhz PCI slot though.
Is there any NForce4 motherboard that can operate both x16 slots, not necessary in SLI mode, in full bandwidth?
Thanks.
-jl
So if I "up plug" an x8 RAID controller into the second x16 slot, is it going to operate at x1 bandwith only?
That is still better than a PCI-X or 64-bit PCI controller sitting in a 32-bit/33mhz PCI slot though.
Is there any NForce4 motherboard that can operate both x16 slots, not necessary in SLI mode, in full bandwidth?
Thanks.
-jl