Question about PCIe x1 sondcards

[techboy21]

My old pci sound card recently died so I bought a soundblaster recon 3d PCIe x1 card. The motherboard i'm using is a Asus P8Z77-V LK with a 660ti in the top pci express slot. My question is, can I put the sound card in one of the other 2 open pci express slots? I think i heard pcie 1x cards can fit in a full size pcie slot.Will this cause any problems or slowdown for the video card? The reason i want to do this is because if I use the 1x slot it will be right on top of the video card and I'd prefer to have better airflow on the parts as possible.

 

[Sakkura]

PCIe x1 cards work fine in x16-sized slots.

But putting it in the top slot, right above the graphics card, doesn't affect airflow much, only to the back of the card which isn't where most of the cooling takes place (the graphics card's cooler is on the other side).

Putting it in the second full-sized PCIe slot might make the motherboard split the 16 PCIe lanes from 16 to the graphics card to x8/x8 for the two occupied full-sized slots. But that shouldn't be an issue if you put it in the third full-sized PCIe slot, at the bottom.

 

[bryonhowley]

Putting the Sound Card above the GPU would be just fine it is not going to impact the airflow at all. I have my SB Recon 3D above my first GPU and it has been just fine.

 

[Sakkura]

Yeah it should be absolutely fine. But it'll be just as fine in the bottom slot. Pick what looks better. 😀

 

[techboy21]

Thanks for the quick reply's everyone, I think i'm going to use the bottom pcie slot then.

 

[computertech82]

Actually, it will change the bandwidth of the bus. like x8 and x8 in the first two slots. According to the motherboard specs, there are 2 pci x1 slots on your board.

 

[Sakkura]

Actually, it will change the bandwidth of the bus. like x8 and x8 in the first two slots. According to the motherboard specs, there are 2 pci x1 slots on your board.

It won't if he puts it in the bottom slot or the top (x1) slot. Only if he puts it in the middle x16 slot. That's exactly what I explained above.