[SOLVED] PCIe Slots on the ASRock B450 Steel Legend

[DDTM16]

Hi,

I was wondering how far apart the PCIe 3.0 x16 slots were from each other on the ASRock B450 Steel Legend. I want to upgrade my motherboard because my motherboard doesn't have enough room for a second GPU on it.

Thanks.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the PURPOSE of the second graphics card? Are you looking for additional video outputs or are you intending to run a dual GPU gaming configuration like Crossfire or SLI?

I know, a question in return for a question, but it's actually quite relevant, especially since that board doesn't support SLI at all, anyhow, and dual graphics card gaming configurations are pretty much dead now with developers really not offering support for Crossfire or SLI profiles on the majority of games. That means that while you might see tremendous FPS on benchmarks, in reality there is terrible problems with real world performance, stuttering, performance that does not scale accordingly, etc.

For this reason alone, not even counting the requirement for much larger power supplies and a few other additional considerations that might be chipset specific, it is recommended that most users focus on single card solutions. SLI and Crossfire are pretty much dead technologies.

 

[velocityg4]

Not a good choice. You want an x570, x470 or x370 motherboard so the PCIe is split to x8/x8. With those PCIe lanes going directly to the CPU. Not all x570 and x470 offer this so look at the specs.

On that motherboard and other B450 motherboards. The second PCIe x16 slot only works in x4 mode. As B450 doesn't support bifurcation of the x16 PCIe lanes. Also it isn't CPU direct but shared over the chipset with a bunch of other components. Which compete for bandwidth. Also if you have an M.2 SSD in the M2_1 slot. PCIE4 is disabled.

Slot spacing is a part of the ATX standard. Each slot is spaced 20.32mm apart. That motherboard would be spaced at 60.96mm between the two PCIe x16 slots.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Just answering the question.

Assuming you're using dual slot width cards, the second PCI-Ex1 expansion slot is how much space would be between the two graphic cards (or as velocityg4 states, 20.32mm).

-Wolf sends

 

[DDTM16]

Just answering the question.

Assuming you're using dual slot width cards, the second PCI-Ex1 expansion slot is how much space would be between the two graphic cards (or as velocityg4 states, 20.32mm).

-Wolf sends

Thank you, both of the graphics cards are dual slot and this answered my question very well.

 

[DDTM16]

Not a good choice. You want an x570, x470 or x370 motherboard so the PCIe is split to x8/x8. With those PCIe lanes going directly to the CPU. Not all x570 and x470 offer this so look at the specs.

On that motherboard and other B450 motherboards. The second PCIe x16 slot only works in x4 mode. As B450 doesn't support bifurcation of the x16 PCIe lanes. Also it isn't CPU direct but shared over the chipset with a bunch of other components. Which compete for bandwidth. Also if you have an M.2 SSD in the M2_1 slot. PCIE4 is disabled.

Slot spacing is a part of the ATX standard. Each slot is spaced 20.32mm apart. That motherboard would be spaced at 60.96mm between the two PCIe x16 slots.

Well, I'm trying to run one 144hz monitor off of one, 60hz monitor off another. With two monitors connected, I cannot record gameplay without having horrible lag. I have two SSDs, a Adata SU750 and a Samsung EVO 860. I don't think either of them are M.2. Thank you for the answer, I didn't originally have this in mind, and i'm glad that you said that.

 

[DDTM16]

What is the PURPOSE of the second graphics card? Are you looking for additional video outputs or are you intending to run a dual GPU gaming configuration like Crossfire or SLI?

I know, a question in return for a question, but it's actually quite relevant, especially since that board doesn't support SLI at all, anyhow, and dual graphics card gaming configurations are pretty much dead now with developers really not offering support for Crossfire or SLI profiles on the majority of games. That means that while you might see tremendous FPS on benchmarks, in reality there is terrible problems with real world performance, stuttering, performance that does not scale accordingly, etc.

For this reason alone, not even counting the requirement for much larger power supplies and a few other additional considerations that might be chipset specific, it is recommended that most users focus on single card solutions. SLI and Crossfire are pretty much dead technologies.

I'm trying to run a 144hz monitor off of one graphics card, a 60hz off the other because I cannot record like high graphics quality videos while running two monitors off of one gpu. I'm not sure what power supply I have, I'm going to have to check that and if it can power more than one gpu before buying anything, thank you for your reply.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I have the same setup. One 144hz 32" LG 1440p display and one 27" 1080p 60hz display, and I have no such issue with recording gameplay or with recording desktop activity on either monitor. In fact, I also have a third HDMI TV connected as well, which is 60hz, and can record activity on that display as well. I'd look to your recording software as the culprit, first, and then elsewhere.

 

[DDTM16]

I have the same setup. One 144hz 32" LG 1440p display and one 27" 1080p 60hz display, and I have no such issue with recording gameplay or with recording desktop activity on either monitor. In fact, I also have a third HDMI TV connected as well, which is 60hz, and can record activity on that display as well. I'd look to your recording software as the culprit, first, and then elsewhere.

I've used three recording softwares, OBS Studio, Streamlabs OBS, and Bandicam, the same thing always happens. I tried to record Rocket League and Fortnite with all three of them, always get tons of lag. What graphics card do you have?

 

[Darkbreeze]

RTX 2060 Super XC Ultra gaming.