Question Broke my PCIe x16...can I get away with using PCIe x8 for a while?

[RXS78]

Hi all

Real schoolboy error! Swapping out for a new GPU, but I accidentally used a little too much force - basically I thought I had disengaged the latch but clearly not fully, and pulled the black housing off in error.

I'm running an i5-4670k with a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H board. Slot 2 seems to be a PCIe x8. I was swapping out my old GPU for a newer one. The plan was to upgrade the CPU/mobo/RAM in 6-12 months.

Do you think I can get away with using the PCIe x8 slot for the GPU for that long or am I going to have to bring forward my upgrade? I've put the old GPU back in for now just in case.

Did a brief test on CS:GO and the FPS doesn't seem to have been hampered significantly, although the first boot did crash to reboot just watching YouTube. I'm just concerned that I don't want to end up shorting/frying anything else and ending up without a PC at all at any point as I do use it for personal use and working from home as well, and have a lot of personal data to back up (which obviously I'll make a start on sooner rather than later!).

And "season's greetings" to you all by the way!

 

[COLGeek]

Using the alternate slot will be fine until you replace the motherboard. No worries.

 

[RXS78]

Using the alternate slot will be fine until you replace the motherboard. No worries.

Thanks for the reply COLGeek, and apologies for the late reply.
It seems I must have shorted the mobo with my mishap because I suddenly started to BSOD every time I logged in. So...a quick replacement of CPU/mobo/RAM later and I'm back online Looks like I got a little Xmas treat for myself in the end!

EDIT - for anyone else with a simiolar issue, the second PCIe slot did seem to work, but I clearly did more damage to my mobo than I thought.

 

[COLGeek]

Glad you are up and running. I use an alternate PCIe slot in one of my systems due to clearance issues with the CPU cooler. I see no performance hits at all.