Question Difference between pciE electrical an mechanic

Sep 19, 2019
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Hello forum

I want to buy a new mainbaord
I have an Gtx 1050 ti
It says I need pciE slot 3.0 x 16

But mainboards can have mechanical or electric PciE ports

What’s the difference between those pciE types and what type do I need for my graphicscard ?
 
What is your current motherboard and cpu?
Why do you need a new motherboard?

Mechanical - means physical size of slot. It can be x16, x4, x1.
Electrical - means pcie lanes that are electrically connected (some can be not connected).

Fot example, you can have x16 physical slot, where connection is only x8 or x4. So electrical connection will always be smaller or same as physical size of slot.

Here illustration:
upper x16 slot (long yellow) - x16 physical, x16 electrical.​
lower 2 x16 slots (long black) - x16 physical, x8 electrical.​
4 short yellow are x1 slots.​

53235-asus-z87-annotated.png
 
Last edited:
Sep 19, 2019
69
0
30
Wow thanks 😊
Nice explanation

But when I buy a motherboard this should not be something I have to look at or ?
Each mainbaord got at least one pciE x 16 slot who also is 16 electrical
 

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