Which PCIe slots to use?

[NotionCommotion]

I have a ASRock H97 motherboard with six PCIe slots. Slot 1/3/4/5/6 are PCIe 2.0 x1 slot and slot 2 is PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

I expect the graphics card goes in slot 2, right?

I have a solid state hard drive which will store the operating system, a mechanical hard drive which will store everything else, and a DVD which will likely never be used. Which slots should I use for each?

Thanks

 

[AUnlikelyPotatoe]

So, you slot 2 for a graphics card. And what do you mean about the hdd and ssd and cd drive? Unless you have a pcie ssd, those use sata, not pcie.

 

[NotionCommotion]

So, you slot 2 for a graphics card. And what do you mean about the hdd and ssd and cd drive? Unless you have a pcie ssd, those use sata, not pcie.

Ah, yes, thank you.

So, which SATA3 connectors to use for each? I have 0 through 5.

Just curious, what might one do with those extra PCIe slots?

 

[CDdude55]

You can use any SATA3 ports, though generally most put their boot device in port 0 and then go on down the line with other drives.(makes things easier to manage, especially in BIOS)

You can use any of those other PCI-e slots, for other PCI-e devices lol. As mentioned, you can use a PCI-e based SSD in that x1 slot (actually nevermind, they're x4, so it wont work i believe), or other expansion cards. Though of course, a x1 slot is smaller, so you can't fit PCI-e cards that need more bandwidth (x16 etc).

 

[NotionCommotion]

Thanks CDdude55,

Probably getting off topic, but when would one want to buy devices that utilize PCI-e over SATA3?

 

[CDdude55]

Thanks CDdude55,

Probably getting off topic, but when would one want to buy devices that utilize PCI-e over SATA3?

PCI-e is used for more things than SATA, but keep in mind they aren't in competition with each other, they're just different protocols.

PCI-e SSD's are capable of higher throughput, so that's a very good reason to go with a PCI-e based SSD vs a SATA one. SATA Express is changing the game up as well though (SATA drives, using the PCI-e protocol).

SATA3 drives are generally far more affordable though.