USB 3.0 PCIe card in x1 vs x16 slot

[navyjoe]

Will a PCIe express to USB 3.0 operate in full bandwidth in a X1 slot. I am installing an 8 port 3.0 card for external Drives. I want the full 5GBS speed. I seem to recall the x1 slot will not support 5 GBs. Should I put it in an PCIe x16 slot to get full bandwidth or is that not possible with a PCIe x1 card?

 

[getochkn]

Is it a 2.0 or 1.0 version slot?

 

[wkwilley2]

If it's only an X1 card, inserting it into a slot with more pins isn't going to increase the bandwidth.

Depending on the version of PCI-X you're using, here's what you can expect....newer motherboards are going to have version 3.0 or 3.1 normally.

If you have at least version 2, you will have 4 Gbit/s which will be completely saturated, but version 3 tops out at 7.877 Gbit/s which would give you a little headroom for USB3

 

[navyjoe]

Is it a 2.0 or 1.0 version slot?

It doesn't say, so I assume that means it is 1.0.

 

[navyjoe]

If it's only an X1 card, inserting it into a slot with more pins isn't going to increase the bandwidth.

Depending on the version of PCI-X you're using, here's what you can expect....newer motherboards are going to have version 3.0 or 3.1 normally.

If you have at least version 2, you will have 4 Gbit/s which will be completely saturated, but version 3 tops out at 7.877 Gbit/s which would give you a little headroom for USB3

 

[wkwilley2]

If you look in the user manual for your motherboard it will tell you what spec the PCI-X slots are. It should also tell you the available number of lanes you have as well.

 

[navyjoe]

I really don't know the answere to your question. The card is by Inateck. I suspect it is using current hardware. The computer board is older technology from about 4 years ago ( ECS A790GXM-A).

 

[getochkn]

From the manual

"The PCI Express x1 slots are fully compliant to the PCI Express Gen2 (version 2.0)."

So they will have 500MB/s bandwidth.

USB 3.0 can use 640MB/s. So you won't get full speeds.

2x4 port cards would help spread the load a bit. Not sure if they 4x cards that you could use in the 16x slot.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.enthusiastpc.net/articles/00003/3.aspx
PCI express basics

 

[navyjoe]

From the manual

"The PCI Express x1 slots are fully compliant to the PCI Express Gen2 (version 2.0)."

So they will have 500MB/s bandwidth.

USB 3.0 can use 640MB/s. So you won't get full speeds.

2x4 port cards would help spread the load a bit. Not sure if they 4x cards that you could use in the 16x slot.

 

[navyjoe]

Wow, I totally missed that. Thanks. I have since dug a little deeper and if I understand it all correctly the Amd southbridge chip runs the two PCI X1 connectors in addition to the onboard USB 20 and Sata controllers. So since I am mostly using the USB 3.0 to move data between external drives and SD cards I suppose it would make sense to use the X1 slots anyway. Thanks for the excellent assistance.

 

[navyjoe]

http://www.enthusiastpc.net/articles/00003/3.aspx
PCI express basics

 

[navyjoe]

Thanks for that link. It has helped me to get a much better understanding of how all of this works. I really appreciate the input.