Z790/X670 Motherboards PCIe slot expansion

snadge

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Feb 1, 2023
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Hi everyone, new member here looking to upgrade to latest and greatest.

I am using Intel HEDT platform at the moment and have been extremely happy with it.

Intel i9 9980X 18 cores running at 4.8Ghz
EVGA X299 Dark Motherboard.
64Gb DDR4 3600 RAM
1080TI GPU

I have twin custom loop so separate cooling for GPU and CPU.

I'm looking to upgrade in near future to either AMD or Intel, depending on suitability for my needs.

I have 3 PCIe Audio DSP cards I use so I have been looking for a motherboard with at least 5 ACCESSIBLE expansion slots available, so 4 spare after GPU which will probably be a waterblocked RTX 4090, that gives me 1 spare for future expansion.
Yes, I do game.

All the latest boards seem to come with a max of 3 slots, usually 2.

Anybody able to help?
 
What physical size (x4, x1, ?) are those DSP cards?

Off the top of my head UAD Octo PCIe3 x1 , 2*Powercore cards both PCIe3 x1, physical size 200mm max in length.

I would prefer X670 so staying with win10 is possible (Win 11 is needed for full function of Intel E cores), also for the extra PCIe lanes

Another possibility could be to use M2 slot for some sort of M2 to PCIe slot converter thing and just manufacture a bracket in a larger case to hold cards.
 
Last edited:
So you’ve hit on the issue. Consumer boards don’t have the slots or lanes to do what you want - that’s why I still have x299 boards and sTRX4 boards running.

You have two options right now, with a third coming:

1. Get a board with thunderbolt and use an external PCIE enclosure.

2. Take a swing at using an M2 to PCIE adapter if they’re x4 cards or lower. May god have mercy on your soul and all that.

3. Wait a bit. Sapphire rapids is about to release - w790 will do what you want, we just don’t know pricing (new Intel HEDT). Alternatively Storm Peak is coming in late September if you want AMD.
 
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