Question M.2 /PCIE2

[ronopp]

From My manual: Asrock Z97 extreme 6:

- 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2/PCIE4: single at x16 (PCIE2); dual at x8 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4))
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE5: x2 mode)
- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots
- 1 x mini-PCI Express Slot
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
- Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™ and SLI™
- 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE2)

*If M2_1 slot is occupied, PCIE2 slot will run at x8 mode, and PCIE4 slot will run at x4 mode.

I have had a graphics card in slot PCIE2 since I built my system. so I am finally getting ready to upgrade and read about my current board to see what I want to take from it and read the bold line above, JEESH ……..have I been bottlenecking my card because I have a SSD in the M2_1 slot as well? I game at 1080P on a ultra wide(35") monitor. I will be moving the card of course. for those knowledgeable, any idea what/ if performance increases will I be seeing as a result?
ANY input will be appreciated.

 

[Topweasel]

Not much. Watch the tests of the 5500 on PCIe 3.0 8x. The 4GB card saw a major shift and the 8GB card almost none when running on a PCIe 4. 8x slot. Basically the vram size is the biggest decider on how much PCIe bandwidth you need. The fast the card you might see a bigger difference but honestly anything over 4GB probably will barely notice the difference

 

[ronopp]

Looks like I will leave it alone …. Been a card there for 6 years.LOL Getting the upgrade bug sooooooooo Ill be posting a lot soon!!

 

[katrinax3]

Can someone explain the PCIe x1 x4 x8 x16 slots to me and how can you tell where the slots are at on the different motherboards?. That's what i'm really struggling with the most right now. Also how can you tell the socket names?

 

[PingSpike]

Can someone explain the PCIe x1 x4 x8 x16 slots to me and how can you tell where the slots are at on the different motherboards?. That's what i'm really struggling with the most right now. Also how can you tell the socket names?

You really will have to check the motherboard manual to be sure. But generally the numbering starts from the top. PCIE1_1 would probably be the topmost (closest to cpu) PCI-e 1x slot. PCIE16_1 would the first graphics card slot. But there is no standard naming convention that I'm aware of here.

 

[Topweasel]

Can someone explain the PCIe x1 x4 x8 x16 slots to me and how can you tell where the slots are at on the different motherboards?. That's what i'm really struggling with the most right now. Also how can you tell the socket names?

As ping said. Depends on the board but the manual usually lists them and in the warnings like the one above they are labeled in the manual to match.

As for 1x. The littlest slot used usually for expansion USB3 or basical Gigbit or wireless addons. 4x is usually a little longer generally used for 10Gb or PCIe SSD stuff (its also typically what all M.2 connectors use). 8x and 16x are the typical graphics slots. Anything that does 8x is typically using a slot that is the same size as 16x but does 8x bandwidth.

The reason for this particular situation is that unlike Ryzen which has 4x PCIe lanes dedicated to NVME connections. Consumer Intel does not. Just 16x for the graphics and 4x to the chipset. So this is a way around that. 8x to the first Video slot and 4x to this M.2 port means that M.2 port isn't going through the chipset (where it may have 4x to the chipset, but then all chipset com including the SSD would go through a 4x connection).

 

[katrinax3]

You really will have to check the motherboard manual to be sure. But generally the numbering starts from the top. PCIE1_1 would probably be the topmost (closest to cpu) PCI-e 1x slot. PCIE16_1 would the first graphics card slot. But there is no standard naming convention that I'm aware of here.

Okay thank you !

 

[UsandThem]

Can someone explain the PCIe x1 x4 x8 x16 slots to me and how can you tell where the slots are at on the different motherboards?. That's what i'm really struggling with the most right now. Also how can you tell the socket names?

Every motherboard I've used has the slot, DIMM, etc. number printed onto the PCB (motherboard).