Question PCIE Lanes and Expansion Cards

[Rory McEckron]

System for reference:

Gigbyte z370
i79700k
RTX 2080ti

Hey all,

I am interested in adding a high end sound card and a decent capture card to my computer. I don't have a super strong grasp of how slots share lanes and how they effect each other when they are in use.

Would adding those two things in any way effect my graphics cards ability to perform at its best? below is detailed PCI info if thats at all helpful.

Thanks!

1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
   * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
   * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode.
3. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
   * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the M2Q_32G connector. The PCIEX4 slot will become unavailable when an SSD is installed in the M2Q_32G connector.
4. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
   (All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

 

[richiestang_78]

Short answer no you would be fine. Even the most powerful graphics card doesn't use the full bandwidth of a PCIe slot so even if the lanes were shared there's plenty of bandwidth to go around.

However one thing about sound cards, they really aren't that great to have anymore. Most higher end motherboards have audio on par with most sound cards and if you are after the best sound quality get a desktop DAC and Amp or a combo unit.

 

[Rory McEckron]

about sound card

Short answer no you would be fine. Even the most powerful graphics card doesn't use the full bandwidth of a PCIe slot so even if the lanes were shared there's plenty of bandwidth to go around.

However one thing about sound cards, they really aren't that great to have anymore. Most higher end motherboards have audio on par with most sound cards and if you are after the best sound quality get a desktop DAC and Amp or a combo unit.

Thank you!

I know they are kind of a fading concept but i really like the idea of filling out my board. The card im eyeing comes with a desktop DAC. Its defiantly just a vanity buy for me.

 

[richiestang_78]

LOL no I get it. I have a USB expansion card and will probably being adding a M.2 PCIe card as well.