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Hi, I want to build a NAS box on a mini-itx platform, but the boards available for current APUs only have a single x16 slot (please let me know if any am4 or lga1151 itx board has this feature). I am looking at the ASRock AB350 motherboard and the A12-9800 for 4 cores and UHD output (I want the fileserver to also be the HTPC in living room). In my reading, I'd rather not use onboard SATA (can't find a board with 8 ports anyway). I want to install a LSI100301 (8-port mini-sas 8087) and use the forwrard mini-sas to sata (4 way) connectors to reach eight 3TB WD Reds. This frees me up to put 2 ssd's on the mainboard SATA for ZIL and L2ARC or to install another operating system besides Free NAS. WIll the LSI HBA work in a x16 slot meant for a GPU??? I want a four-core desktop cpu for plex transcoding, logging, and regular scrubbing, and security (my family will be putting medical records and some business backups on this). Thanks!!

Hi, I just bought Acer Aspire V 15 Nitro (VN7-593G-73KV). It has a thunderbolt 3 port. I wanted to know how many PCIe lanes does it have. How can I check this?

So the title says it all but quick summary on why I wonder. Setup: CPU: intel i5 6600k (oc) GPU: Nvidia gtx 1060 (oc) Motherboard: Asus z170-e +stuff like hdds, ssd.... Here is the deal, I got a super cheap offer on my friends radeon rx 470 (like 40$ and it works). My concern is that I will get bottlenecked if I try to mine with both. AMD is generally better than Nvidia at mining, but I only mine for fun and want to test this out. Will I do fine by running them in x8 pci or do I have to swap board and cpu for it to work optimal?(btw not an option)

I found myself a second-hand GTX 980 to replace my ageing GTX 590, but when I installed it I couldn't get past the BIOS splash screen. Thankfully I have a dual BIOS motherboard (Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z) so I was able to copy the default BIOS from the other chip which let me boot. It seems the problem was the PCI ROM priority was set to "EFI Compatible ROM" instead of "Legacy ROM". What is the problem with "EFI Compatible ROM"? Is there anything wrong with my graphics card? Is there anything I can do to make it work?

I am planing to build a gaming computer. It will have a GTX 1080ti and will be housed in a Masterbox 5 pro RGB. I looked at the case and I think I saw a vertical PCI slot. I wanted to confirm that and if that is one, do I need to buy a bracket to support it or can it support itself? If it needs one what one should I get? http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower/masterbox-pro-5-rgb/

If I were to put a graphics card into the pcie x16 slot, and a sound card in the pci slot, will the graphics card run at pcie x16?

Hi guys. I can generally rely on my intuition when it comes to upgrading my PC, since most issues can be solved by just matching up colours/connectors or some google-fu. However, I'm considering buying a 5.1 surround system in the future, and I'll require a sound card to get the full effect since my motherboard doesn't have all 5 ports needed. I'll need to purchase this ASUS Sonar DG 5.1, which according to ASUS uses a PCI interface https://www.asus.com/au/Sound-Cards/Xonar_DG/overview/ *note the connector for the card which has three bars*. My motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H, and hey, it isn't much, but it works fine if you're a budget builder http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/GA-B75M-D3H-rev-10#ov. On my motherboard I cannot see a port that matches the three bar PCI connector on the sound card. My best guess is that I'm supposed to put it in the blue slot, but I need to be sure since the size of my graphics card means I'll have some trouble putting it into the white one. In essence, my question is: Can this sound card go on my motherboard or do I not have the required port?

Hi. I'm not entirely sure this is the correct place for this but I've started a new build. I had a 4770k in a z97a motherboard and I've been using SLI GTX 970s. I got myself an Asus pro gaming z170 motherboard and a 7700k and I can not get it to detect anything in pci slot 2 however 1 and 3 both work. The weird thing is that if I put my card in slot one it says it's running at 16x, but if i put in my second card at the same time I'm told that slot one is 8x instead which I'm sure is supposed to happen but yet slot 2 continues to say not detected. Obviously then when I boot into windows I have one card showing up. I've tried various configurations with the cards and they show up on the screen in slots 1 and 3 but not in slot 2. Has anybody got any idea if this can be fixed? Whether it's a problem with the bios or hardware and if so is it the cpu or motherboard likely? I've checked and there's no visibly bent pins on the cpu socket and the pci 2 slot looks fine too. I'm confused now it's driving me crazy and I'm not sure what to do.

Hey Friends, My parents are buying me the https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M3Z2YA6/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B01M3Z2YA6&linkCode=as2&tag=arteuk-21 as a present when they visit next week. I am stoked but I am confused that there aren't any 60GHz PCI cards that I can buy and throw into my many PCs & servers. Does anyone know a 60GHz PCI card that I can buy? Or am I not understanding 60GHz correctly? Do existing cards support it? Thank you for taking the time. Sincerely, -Cyrus Halcyon

So i just wanted to know if the intel i7 7700k with its 16 PCI Lanes how dose it work if im running a an GTX 1080ti and a m.2 if the 1080ti takes and 16 lanes and the m.2 takes 4 lanes. im just a little lost.... and why dose intel only put 16 lanes

Hi. I have a gigabyte ga-z68a-d3h-b3 motherboard. I want to get a wifi adaptor. What slot should I use? I have a i5 2500k. That means it has pcie 2.0 and i basicly run my 970 at 8x 3.0 lanes. I don't want to use more cpu lanes or my gpu will run at 4x and i don't want that. Can someone explain me the diagram? Which slots doesn't use pcie lanes? I can use either pci or pcie.

My budget video editing PC's motherboard only has one PCIe slot, just enough to fit a slim graphics card. The only other ports available to me are two PCI slots and one Mini PCIe slot that stuck straight out instead of being parallel with the board. So when I realized that, in the PC's current spot, it could not connect to the internet through any ethernet cable I had in any easy fashion, my mind immediately went to WiFi cards that fit into a normal PCI socket. After a short bit of looking, I came across the TP-Link TL-WN851ND, an affordable option that fit my incredibly tight budget. Sure, a few years out of date, but hey, 300Mbps was faster than anything available where I live, so it was more than good enough to suit my needs. So I picked it up from Fry's and popped it into my computer with its fresh installation of Windows 10 Pro + Creator's Update. The card foreshadowed the coming nightmare by making Windows start up so incredibly slowly I left to use the restroom and came back to it just as it finished booting. Then the computer froze irreversibly before the desktop could finish loading. I reinstalled Windows. I hadn't done anything with it yet anyways; I had nothing to lose. Then, again, it froze before the desktop finished loading. You know something's gone terribly wrong when Ctrl+Alt+Del doesn't do anything at all. A few more troubleshooting ideas, and now it lets me reach the list of available IP's before freezing. Frustrated, I take the card out and decide to install the drivers on the CD included before putting the card back into the machine. It boots up and runs like a charm. Definitely a compatibility issue. But that's not the only compatibility issue on my hands. The driver programs refuses to run on anything besides Windows XP-7. So I set it to run in Windows 7 Compatibility Mode, understanding the stability problems I might run into later and deciding that it's better than my computer being a $200 paperweight when a WiFi card is in it. The program installs fine and I set the installed file to also run in CM. Now I insert the card again. It once again takes forever to boot and when I get to the desktop I'm able to enter the WiFi password and hit enter before it freezes. This is simply too much to handle. I give up and break out my Win7 disc. Not that I have anything against Windows 7, I simply love that OS, but I just would like to have the latest software on my video editing PC. Call it OCD or whatever, I call it "avoid being made fun of by rich people on tech forums". Thankfully, the card installs perfectly under Windows 7! The day is saved! ... Except for the fact that the signal is terrible and constantly cuts out. Though Windows reports 100-150Mbps, I feel like I may as well be using satellite internet out in rural Kansas or something. This is quite an issue, as it can become annoying when downloading an image to use in a video takes about twenty seconds. I later heard that this was due to the antenna design. WiFi for PC's isn't a terrible idea, but you need the antennas to have a long wire so you can attach them to a wall, set them on your desk, or something like that. This card simply had two plastic sticks poking out of the back of the case, surrounded by wires and a metal shell. This results, supposedly, in the signals getting too scrambled to be very useful at all. This would explain the DSL speeds. Also, I'm pretty sure it's just a generally crappy product. I became so fed up with its inconsistent performance - not to mention the fact that the PC still occasionally froze up while performing intense internet data transfers - I ended up yanking the crummy thing out and buying a stupidly long ethernet cable. Sure, it'll be a pain, but it'll be less of a pain than using THIS THING. I would sell it off for something like five dollars, but I don't like ripping people off. Included are images of it, simply so that, if you ever see one, you know to tape it to the bottom of your shoe and do a tap-dancing routine. I guess, in order to make this review "legitimate" I need to give the thing an actual score. Well, considering the experience, ease of use, and functionality, I give it a solid NO.

does your gaming pc have a empty dvd drive? i found a useful solution to fill them up. you can get 12 usb 3.0 on your computer! 7 on the front 5 on the back. all for under 35 dollars. here are the links to the two parts you need. [Link removed] the first link is a pcie to 5 usb 3.0 ports. you install in in your pc and you have 5 ports and a extra 15 PIN USB 3.0. this is where the second link comes in. a 7 port usb usb 3.0 shaped as a DVD drive to put infront of your computer. you connect the 15PIN usb 3.0 to the pcie and BOOM you have 12 extra ports of Usb 3.0! share this post to people who need this! Thanks for reading

This might be a pci lane related problem so I'll start with the details of my rig- I got this mATX motherboard and an i5-6400 (click for links). Inside I've attached a GTX 950 and a TP-Link Wifi Adapter onto the mobo. The front IO panel has 1 usb 2.0 which I don't use and a couple audio jacks. In the back I have 2 usb 2.0 for which I use the mouse+keyboard. Also there are 4 usb 3.0 jacks. I use them for these peripherals - An external Hard disk which utilizes usb 3.0, an Xbox gaming controller, a Phone charger and USB headphones. Inside I've used 3 of the four SATA cable slots for 2 HDD's and an SSD. The issue- Whenever I've tried charging my bluetooth speakers it would charge for 5 seconds and I would hear the not charging anymore sound. It used to be that if I unplugged everything else in the back it would charge but ever since I added a second monitor it has stopped. Now I charge my speakers with a wall socket USB adapter. I also noticed that I can't get iTunes to detect my phone. I can read the folder in 'This PC' but I can't sync it or anything since it doesn't even show up. File transferring on my SSD or the external seems to not use its full capabilities at always caps at around 80mbps. (mega bytes) Have I run out of Pci lanes in my PC? Could this be why the speakers dont charge or my phones not being detected in iTunes? I never have had a full understanding of how pci lanes are utilized.

Anyone knows what this is Part or serial number: 29F04G08AANB1 Remmoved from NEC Versa pcie slot Brand: Intel

So i just found a card i had in storage that i hadnt really looked at yet, its a Matrox 757-00 REV B card with the power vr logo on the chip (pic below) Its a PCI card from 1997. I really dont know how to use it and i was wondering if anyone has come across one of these before. i do have a few questions: how would i use it in a late 90's era machine and what would it benefit Can i run it alongside a slightly newer GPU from 2007 like a e-geforce 8600 gts? i also have an old mini itx motherboard in an sff case that i feel like could benefit from something like this but like i said idk if it works like that (basically the integrated graphics on the board are garbage) If anyone has info on this thing id appreciate it

Is there anyone who knows about a cheap mini PCI-e Bluetooth card? I know I could buy a USB one, but I have a tendency to break those kinds of things.

hello all. so im looking to reconfigure parts of my setup, and for the purposes of doing so, im looking for a capture card thats compatible with an older 3,1 model mac pro, now im not sure whats all available to support the mac pro, and im trying to stay below the $200 mark. my aim, is to capture 1080p60f.

I have been trying to set up two way SLI with my two GTX 970s with the Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard. The BIOS has only been recognizing the 970 in the first slot, I've swapped cards between slots and it still only recognizes the one in the first. On other forums I have heard that the lanes are set up by default as x16 with the others not activated at all, and that they have to be changed within the BIOS to run at x8, x8 and the last to not run. How do I change this to x8 and x8?

I'm building my first PC and having this problem: My brand-new motherboard has 2 PCIe slots, a x16 and a x4. The GPU will only fit in the x16 slot when the board is in the case. When the GPU is plugged into the PCIe16 slot video signal is still coming from the on-board graphics. In the BIOS it's set to output from that PCI slot. I tried installing the driver but installation could not complete because no applicable hardware was detected. I also tried my wireless card on that slot and it didn't work (it worked fine on the PCIex4 slot). This led me to believe that the problem was with the PCI slot and not the GPU. As a final test I removed the MB from the case and tried the GPU in the PCIex4 slot and it was able to produce the video signal. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could try? I think I may have to return the MB...

I have a PCI audio card which I want to use, but my only problem is at the the only PC I have spare which has PCI slots is currently being difficult and not working, as it is not detecting the SATA drives on boot, is detecting USB, so when I try to install windows onto it, none of the drives appear, apart from short periods when they do appear, which ends when ever I try to do something to the Drove, I know the drives work, as I have used them in other PCs. So I need convert a PCIE of another PC into a PCI, what is the cheapest way of doing this, as the cheapest converter I can find is £7.50, and I'm wondering if there is any way of doing this cheaper??? If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix the problem I'm having with SATA though I would love to hear your suggestions.

so question. can any PCIe fit an old PCI (not not PCIe) slot?

Just bought a Samsung T3 SSD, but only get 250MB/s read on standard USB 3.0. Thinking about buying this: Gigabyte USB3.1 Type A with USB3.0/2.0 Backward Compatibility but I'm not sure about compatibility with my system or performance.

Using a P6X58D-E mobo, and I currently have a GTX 1070 installed. Now I know its a pretty old chipset (X58) but my question: is using a soundcard and wifi adapter in the other PCI-e slots affecting the available bandwidth of my GPU? On a semi-related note my soundblaster zx didn't give stellar performance in the mini 1.1 slot so had to bump it up to a pci-e x16 slot.

Hey guys, I was considering buying a used audio card for my PC, as my mobo does not have any onboard audio (I'm using a supermicro board). And I can't choose between the Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 2G and the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi SB0460. On one hand, the Auzentech card is newer but the Creative is much more popular and had a higher MSRP. Right now the Auzentech is going for 14 USD and the Creative for 10 USD. Should I even be considering these options?, if so which one?; or should I just save till I can but something like a Creative Sound Blaster Z?, also feel free to leave suggestions for other cheap sound cards. Thanks in advance for the help