Can i use the 2nd PCE-Slot for my 970GTX?

[pixeldk]

Hello

I'm going to downgrade in a few days to a M-ATX system. The case i have bought is the BitFenix Prodigy M. I'm a little concern about whether my Gigabyte G1 970GTX will fit.

My system:
XFX core edition pro650w
970 G1 GTX from Gigabyte

The motherboards i'm looking at are these two M-ATX boards:

Z97M-PLUS (1 pci-e x16 3.0 & 1 pci-e x4)
&
GRYPHON Z97 (2 pci-e x16 3.0)

if i can't fit my card in the main pci-e slot, can i use the 2nd slot in both of them? will that work?
What will the performance be compared to the 2nd slot pci-e x4 and 2nd slot pci-e x16?

I want to save as much as possible.. that is why i'm looking at the Z97M-PLUS. Hope someone can help.

 

[C12Friedman]

I would be looking at the Gryphon for what you want to do. While the Gigabyte GTX 970 would likely fit in the second PCIe x16 slot on the Z97M-Plus board, that slot only runs at 4x (reference: Asus Z97M-Plus Motherboard Manual pdf page 1-9, slot #4) and on page 1-10 it shows that a single graphics card cannot run in the second slot. On the other hand the Gryphon runs the second PCIe lane at x16 (reference: Asus Gryphon Z97 Motherboard Manual pdf page 1-23 slot #3) and shows no restrictions on slot usage

 

[pixeldk]

So you saying that the 2nd slot will run full speed? or only x8 modus?

I'm a little confused with all these terms 😛

Have just tried to switch my gigabyte g1 970 to the 2nd slot in my Z87-A. This board also has 2x pci-e 16x slots, but the 2nd slot did run at 16x (8x modus).. also i could actually notice the performance were a little worser than before.

What about the Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-GAMING 5? it's it actually a little cheaper here in Denmark. Will the 2nd port run at full speed here or only half?

 

[C12Friedman]

My understanding from the Gryphon's manual is that as long as the first PCIe slot is not occupied, the second slot (#3 slot according to the manual) should run at x16
The Gigabyte GA-Z97M-Gaming 5 has an x8 restriction on the second slot always (reference: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-Gaming 5 Motherboard Manual page 10)

 

[pixeldk]

Okay.. i have bought the Asus Z97 Gryphon lets hope it works well.