Re: Need advice on which P55 mobo to choose

On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:50:43 -0500, Scott <> wrote:

>Was going to go for a P45 but decided to go for P55 instead but can't
>decide on which of these 3 Gigabytes mobo's to get. My biggest concern
>is the number and type of expansion slots.
>For right now I'm only going to have a graphics card installed but I
>want to make sure I'm ready for any future upgrades. I don't plan on
>using SLI or crossfire.
>
>GA-P55-UD3R
>1 PCIe 2.0 x16
>1 PCIe x16 (@x4 bandwidth)
>1 PCIe x1
>4 PCI
>
>GA-P55-UD5
>2 PCIe 2.0 x16
>1 PCIe x16 (@x4 bandwidth)
>2 PCIe x1
>2 PCI
>
>GA-P55-UD4P
>2 PCIe 2.0 x16
>3 PCIe x1
>2 PCI
>
>Will there ever be anything else besides a graphics card that will use
>PCI x16?

There are some large Raid cards, like the 3Ware 12,16,&24 port models
that require 8 lane bandwidth. Haven't seen them, but multiport 10gig
NICs would likely require 8 (or 4) lanes. Since card population seems
important to you, be mindful that a large video card often will make
an adjacent slot unusable - might be a PCIe-x1 or a PCI slot depending
on the layout of the particular board.

>How prevalent is PCI compare to PCIe x1?
>

Most current boards still have 1 or 2, but they're getting scarcer.
Soon, along with floppy, IDE and PS2 ports, they'll be migrating to
dodo birdland.
----
Pete Gebel pfgebel(deletethis)@crisperiodcom
Have the best day possible - all things considered