What card for this?

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some_dude

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Hello peoples of the Hard world!

I have this server motherboard...

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O
https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X10SL7-F

It has 2 PCI slots, a large one and a smaller one, the spec says...
  • 1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16) (I'm guessing this is the larger one)
  • 1 PCI-E 2.0 x4 (in x8). (I'm guessing this is the smaller one)
I want a graphics card that can fit in the small slot. When I looked online, all the cards seemed to have a big "connecting interface" that would not fit the small slot.

As you might have guessed, I know nothing about graphics card.

It will be used by a macOS virtual machine. The VM is already up and running but remoting to it is dog slow and drives me crazy. The known solution to this is to have a real card driving the graphics. The card will not be used for anything heavy, no gaming, no cad... Just a test macOS.

So to recap: I want the cheapest (or somewhat cheap or at least good value) graphics card that is compatible with macOS Mojave and that can fit in that small PCI slot (whatever those smaller slots are called).

Thanks!
Eric
 
if you are running masOs on a vm you are better off getting an AMD card.
some_dude said:
Hello peoples of the Hard world!

I have this server motherboard...

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O
https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X10SL7-F

It has 2 PCI slots, a large one and a smaller one, the spec says...
  • 1 PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16) (I'm guessing this is the larger one)
  • 1 PCI-E 2.0 x4 (in x8). (I'm guessing this is the smaller one)
I want a graphics card that can fit in the small slot. When I looked online, all the cards seemed to have a big "connecting interface" that would not fit the small slot.

As you might have guessed, I know nothing about graphics card.

It will be used by a macOS virtual machine. The VM is already up and running but remoting to it is dog slow and drives me crazy. The known solution to this is to have a real card driving the graphics. The card will not be used for anything heavy, no gaming, no cad... Just a test macOS.

So to recap: I want the cheapest (or somewhat cheap or at least good value) graphics card that is compatible with macOS Mojave and that can fit in that small PCI slot (whatever those smaller slots are called).

Thanks!
Eric
Click to expand...


You'll need to use the x16 slot as ti will be hard to find a card that fits in the x8 slot.

For better compatibility with the mac I'd go with AMD, lets say a RX 540X
 
Stoly said:
if you are running masOs on a vm you are better off getting an AMD card.



You'll need to use the x16 slot as ti will be hard to find a card that fits in the x8 slot.

For better compatibility with the mac I'd go with AMD, lets say a RX 540X
Click to expand...

Ok Thx!
 
Just to add:
You can put a full length x16 card in a x8 slot if you carefully cut a notch out of the end of the slot. Whether or not the video card will accept running on 4 lanes of PCI-E Gen 2 is another question entirely.
 
Alternatively, if you are not looking for bleeding-edge performance from the card, you can buy a slot adapter but fitting it AND the card in your case might be a little tricky since the card sits right on top of it. A low profile video card might work easier with this.


Something you might not know: All PCIe slots are the same in that there is a front section, and then the PCIe "lanes" down the back. You can use any PCIe card in any PCIe slot it will physically fit into. This is why the gentleman above suggested carefully cutting the back part of the actual slot on the motherboard, so the card can extend out of the slot. Assuming you don't damage the board or the slot, that should work fine, but I personally wouldn't do it.
 
Armenius said:
Just to add:
You can put a full length x16 card in a x8 slot if you carefully cut a notch out of the end of the slot. Whether or not the video card will accept running on 4 lanes of PCI-E Gen 2 is another question entirely.
Click to expand...

It would be safer to use an x8 risercable or the adapter mvmiller suggested

BTW I why does OP want to use the X8 slot?
 
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