Will PCI-E x1 fit in PCI-E x16?

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ComputerBox34

[H]F Junkie
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Here's my question in pictures:

Will something like this:

pci_e_lan_gigabyt1.jpg


fit into this? (the x16 slot)

pci_express_001.JPG


In an argument with my friend about it - want to make sure I'm not crazy. (I'm saying no)
 
yes, but your picture for the x4 x8 x16 slots are wrong. the notch is on the wrong side.
 
or the image is just rotated. anyways, look on a real motherboard and you'll see.
 
ComputerBox34 said:
Let me rephrase my question....yes it will fit, but will it work?
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The card will work in an x16 physical slot. But if that x16 slot is the primary graphics card slot, why would you want to put a low-bandwidth non-graphics device in it? Or why would you want to drop the primary x16 graphics card slot to x8 bandwidth by putting such a slow card in the other x16 slot (if your motherboard operates the two slots in x8/x8 with both slots occupied)?
 
because, what if you're using integated gfx. and only have one pci-e slot?
 
lsun22 said:
because, what if you're using integated gfx. and only have one pci-e slot?
Click to expand...

That situation is rare. It depends on the board - and on some motherboards, plugging in anything in the primary x16 slot automatically disables the onboard gfx (with absolutely no way at all whatsoever to manually re-enable the onboard gfx). If that occurs, the system will not even POST at all because the BIOS expects an actual gfx card in that slot.
 
who said anything about putting the gfx into a non x16 slot? or who said anything about even using a x16 gfx card?

anyways, you put a x1 card into a non x1 slot b/c your mobo has no x1 slots.

of course it's not using the full bw potential of the slot but it doesn't matter.

and gfx using x16 bw vs x8 bw. doesn't make much of a difference in perfomance.
 
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lsun22 said:
anyways, you put a x1 card into a non x1 slot b/c your mobo has no x1 slots.

you're assuming all mobos have x1 slots, which is wrong.
Click to expand...

No. I am assuming that the primary x16 slot is the only PCI-e slot of any kind, and all of the other slots on that board are legacy PCI slots. A PCI-e x1 card will not work at all in any legacy PCI slot since the two are both physically and electrically incompatible with one another. And of those boards whose primary x16 slot is the only PCI-e slot of any type, some of those automatically disable the onboard gfx when any PCI-e card is plugged into the primary x16 slot (the selections for the onboard gfx of such boards, as displayed in the BIOS, have only two choices: Auto or Disabled). That limits that x16 slot strictly to discrete gfx cards.
 
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You can also put an x16 GPU in a x1 slot too. The GPU will just default to x1 speed. However, some you will actually have to cut the pins off from the GPU as the exposed pins might cause problems on the motherboard if it touches the surrounding circuits.
 
E4g1e said:
No. I am assuming that the primary x16 slot is the only PCI-e slot of any kind, and all of the other slots on that board are legacy PCI slots. A PCI-e x1 card will not work at all in any legacy PCI slot since the two are both physically and electrically incompatible with one another. And of those boards whose primary x16 slot is the only PCI-e slot of any type, some of those automatically disable the onboard gfx when any PCI-e card is plugged into the primary x16 slot. That limits that x16 slot strictly to discrete gfx cards.
Click to expand...

this was all just a hypothetical discussion anyways.
 
E4g1e said:
The card will work in an x16 physical slot. But if that x16 slot is the primary graphics card slot, why would you want to put a low-bandwidth non-graphics device in it? Or why would you want to drop the primary x16 graphics card slot to x8 bandwidth by putting such a slow card in the other x16 slot (if your motherboard operates the two slots in x8/x8 with both slots occupied)?
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This is not for a video card...it's for a high-spec audio card on a server board/build.
 
ComputerBox34 said:
This is not for a video card...it's for a high-spec audio card on a server board/build.
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Without knowing the exact board that you'll be using that audio card with, I cannot tell you whether the card will actually work in the x16 slot or the system will simply refuse to POST. I do know that the x1 card does work in secondary or non-graphics PCI-e slots of any length.
 
E4g1e said:
Without knowing the exact board that you'll be using that audio card with, I cannot tell you whether the card will actually work in the x16 slot or the system will simply refuse to POST. I do know that the x1 card does work in secondary or non-graphics PCI-e slots of any length.
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This is the board:http://www.asus.com/Server_Workstation/Server_Motherboards/Z8PED12/

There are plenty of non-graphics PCIE slots and it has VGA built in. It also has a convenient header on the board that allows me to choose between the built in VGA and the PCIE x16 slot for graphics with a jumper. (The top PCIE x1 slot is MIO only, some proprietary ASUS standard for cheap sound cards. It will not work with a regular PCIE card) Graphics is not really an issue though, since this will be a server not doing anything remotely graphics intensive.
 
ComputerBox34 said:
This is the board:http://www.asus.com/Server_Workstation/Server_Motherboards/Z8PED12/

There are plenty of non-graphics PCIE slots and it has VGA built in. It also has a convenient header on the board that allows me to choose between the built in VGA and the PCIE x16 slot for graphics with a jumper. (The top PCIE x1 slot is MIO only, some proprietary ASUS standard for cheap sound cards. It will not work with a regular PCIE card) Graphics is not really an issue though, since this will be a server not doing anything remotely graphics intensive.
Click to expand...

In this particular case, use one of the two white x16 physical/x8 electrical slots farthest away from the blue x16 slot.
 
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E4g1e said:
In this particular case, use one of the two white x16 physical/x8 electrical slots farthest away from the blue x16 slot.
Click to expand...
The colors of the connectors are not a standard though are they? I have a p8p67 pro with pci-e x16 blue, white, and black. The blue and white are 16x (8x if both are used) and the black is said to be 4x.
 
bigdogchris said:
The colors of the connectors are not a standard though are they? I have a p8p67 pro with pci-e x16 blue, white, and black. The blue and white are 16x (8x if both are used) and the black is said to be 4x.
Click to expand...

I know the colors are not standardized. I was speaking only for the server board the OP has in question. On that board, the blue x16 slot is the only one that's electrically x16 (this is only to distinguish the true x16 slot from the other x16-length slots that are electrically x8). In addition, putting a card in the x8 slot that is right next to the blue slot will drop the blue slot's bandwidth from x16 to x8.

And not only that, but both the Asus P8P67 PRO and the Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H boards I have also have an x16-length slot that's electrically x4 (both of the x16 physical/x4 electrical slots in my systems are filled with PCI-e x1 TV tuner cards) although on the Asus board that x4 slot runs in x1 mode by default. This is in addition to both boards having dual x16-length slots that run in x8/x8 with both slots occupied.
 
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