1. whats the difference between 8x and 16x on the gfx card slots? also what is the gfx card slots called anyway?
2. I have asus crosshair v formula z and im wondering which slots are 16x and which slots are 8x. i cant find out anywhere
The pci on ur mobo should identified if anything ur first 2 should be 16x and the bottom 2 are 8x
There is no physical difference between the two, except for the pins inside the plastic part.
The slot is called "PCI express" Or "PCI-e" And it can be used for anything from a GPU to a network card.
The 8x is half the speed of a 16x slot. In GPUs, this rarely makes a difference. Even in the half speed slot, it will still perform the same.
You can tell which is which, wither through labling of the motherboard, the manufacturer's manual for the board, or by looking into the slot, and seeing if the entire slot is full of gold pins, or if only half of the slot is full. If its only half full, then its 8x.
On most motherboards, the top slot will be x16, the second slot will be x8, and the third will be x4.
The very small ones that you see are PCIe x1. Those are used mostly for Wifi cards, and USB cards, and smaller stuff like that.
the easiest way to find out is to look at the pci slot and see how many pins have been solder into the board.
Thanks!
The difference is bandwidth, 8x being slower than 16x. They called PCIe lanes (Peripheral component intercontinental express). There are three generations of PCIe lanes commonly in use, gen one, two and three. The bandwidth of these is as follows:
PCIe gen 1 @ 1x: 250 MB/s
PCIe gen 2 @ 1x: 500 MB/s
PCIe gen 3 @ 1x: 985 MB/s
This bandwidth is then multiplied by the speed of the lane. In your case; you have the following lane speeds:
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (dual x16 or x16/x8/x8)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode)
2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
(http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/CROSSHAIR_V_FORMULAZ/#specifications)
If you wish to find exactly which lane is which, I would advise looking in your motherboard manual. There will actually, in your case at least be little to no difference between which lane you put your card in, providing it is not the 1x slot.
seriously tho.. buying top of the line mobo, doesnt know where the pci-e slots are..
I would gladly bet that they're running an athlon.
^^ lol
cos i got the money for it and i want to learn so there you go. it wasnt about -where- they are its about what they were called which i know now
cpu - fx 8350