CPU PCIe lanes and motherboards

[rarzer]

Newbie question here.

I've seen some of the newest Intel i7 Broadwell-E cpu's ranging from 40 to 28 PCIe lanes.

Yet, looking at Asus x99-e ws motherboard I've found these configurations:

40-Lane CPU-
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)

28-Lane CPU-
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)


Does this mean you can use more PCIe lanes with this motherboard than your CPU actually have or what? I find this quite confusing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[alexoiu]

The board features 2 PLX chips, therefore the available lanes.