[geeks] pci express x8 video card?

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Doug McLaren <dougmc at frenzied.us>
>Date: 2007/02/13 Tue PM 10:13:14 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] pci express x8 video card?

>On Tue, Feb 13, 2007 at 11:03:46PM -0500, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
>
>| Francois Dion wrote:
>| > Looking for an nvidia video card that is pci express x8, if there is
>| > such a thing? All I see is x1 or x16. Anything x4 or x8?
>| 
>| Not that I've ever heard of.  Only x1 and x16.  Why not just use an x1 
>| card in that x8 slot?
>
>I believe the really cheap ECS board that has a GeForce 6150 built in
>also has an x16 slot that runs at x8.  I assume that it can use
>standard x16 PCI-E video cards, but I'm not certain of that.
>
>And I think the x1 PCE-E slots are totally different, and there's not
>much out there that can use them yet.

Unrelated to the original poster, it is important to remember that there is 
more involved than physical compatibility between the card and the slot - for 
instance, I had a system I tried to build that had a 16x, and I had a 4x SATA 
RAID card. While logic tells you that a 4x card fits in a 16x slot, and that 
both are designed to meet PCI Express standards, the MB itself did not 
support 4x cards in the 16x slot - only 1x and 16x cards. There was no 
statement in the manual that said anything other than 1x and 16x cards were 
supported, with no statement to 4x and 8x cards...

The MFG took back the MBs (authorized a 100% RMA for credit to our 
distributor) and we found a different solution...

My advice - never assume a PCI Express card will work unles you can find 
clear indications it will work.

Lionel