Dual x16 SLI capability question

[lbeachmike]

If a mobo has dual x16 SLI capability, if one has no intention of utilizing this functionality, can the second slot be used as an ordinary PCIe slot instead? Or is it designed to be only functional for use with a video card?

Thanks.

Mike

[Midknyte]

if you don't plan on using sli, why get an sli board then? :p

according to the Asus manual, you can use either x16 slot for a video card, but it doesn't say you can use it for any other peripheral cards. I haven't seen anything other than video cards that uses x16 PCIe ATM, so it's a moot point.

http://support.asus.com.tw/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
In Single Card mode, you may use either the blue or black slot for PCI Express x16 graphics cards

[lbeachmike]

if you don't plan on using sli, why get an sli board then?

It seems that most of the new boards are SLI boards. If I find a board I really like, as I had, I want to make certain that it's not going to potentially fall short in number of PCIe slots.

You see, I'm kind of confused as to the overall philosphy of the mobo makers right now - at least for the Athlon-based boards, that is.

They are still putting out new boards that are either heavier on PCI than PCIe, or even more straightforward, they're equipping them with a mixture of SATA1 and SATA2, whereas SATA2 is backwards compatible. In fact, many are still richer on PATA support than they are on SATA2 support!

So, if you're going to go cutting edge, wouldn't you go that route across-the-board (pun intended!)

I've never anticipated needing half of what I currently have today. You know how the pace of technology goes - it's only moving faster and faster.

mrk

[Ankun]

The reason they dont have all PCI-E slots is because there are tons of people out there with PCI cards, cards that would never use a PCI-E slot to its full bandwidth potential anyway. Its just like the transition from ISA slots to PCI slots, for several years just about all motherboards had both.

I believe PCI-E was design to be graphics card only, so there would only be graphics cards for it. I dont see why it wouldnt work to have a company make say a NIC card for PCI-E.. but theres no point to it so why bother?

[AllGamer]

yeap PCI-E was designed to replace AGP

[Midknyte]

Actually, PCIe is the standard that will eventually replace PCI. Instead of having the PCI bus and AGP bus, you have just the PCIe bus which is capable of handling way more than AGP and PCI combined.
http://www.motherboards.org/articles/tech-planations/1438_1.html

[lbeachmike]

Yup - while there are indeed a lot of PCI cards out there today that people already own, in many cases, buying a new board eliminates the need for many of your old cards. For example, with a new board, I expect to be able to trash my SATA1 controller card. Others may still have USB 2.0 cards.

In poking around at cards that I might potentially want or need, I've noticed that many new cards are being kicked out as PCIe. As an example, all of the new SIIG SATA2 add-on cards are PCIe x1 thus far.

Considering how quickly PCIe has all but replaced AGP support on new boards, I think that PCI will phase out much more quickly than anybody might have expected.

mrk