Sound Card on PCIEx16 on Gigabyte Motherboard

saturn144

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Feb 14, 2016
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I'm planning to buy a Sound Blaster Z and install it on the 2nd PCIEx16. But this is what the Gigabyte website says about the 2nd PCIEx16:

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 will operate at up to x8 mode.
(All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

So will the sound card affect the performance of the GPU (1st PCIEx16)?

I did consider installing it on PCIEx1, but that might block one of the GPU's fans.
 
Solution
Yes, if you plug the sound card into the 2nd pciex16, and your GPU will run at x8 speed. But it does not matter, there is small difference in performance between x8 and x16. https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/
Yes, if you plug the sound card into the 2nd pciex16, and your GPU will run at x8 speed. But it does not matter, there is small difference in performance between x8 and x16. https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/
 
Solution