Question Why do so many motherboards have two PCIe 5.0 slots?

[thegreatdelcamo]

When it's clear that virtually no one uses two GPUs, and certainly not two GPUs that need PCIe 5.0?

So why would anyone use that second 5.0 slot with the effect of cutting the GPU's bandwidth by half? Take the Godlike MB, for example.

It makes more sense to me to have one 5.0 slot, with the second and third (or even fourth) at 4.0 or even 3.0. Gigabyte does this the way it makes sense to me.

Indeed, If I have a fancy 5090 GPU, I sure do not want its potential bandwidth path cut in half by a puny little 4.0 card.

Or am I missing some use case that everyone knows about but me?

Wouldn't be the first time...

 

[QyInvoLing]

I tried installing another A380 for video cutting, but I don't think it's useful for most users.

 

[QyInvoLing]

"potential bandwidth path cut in half" won't happen, 5.0x8=4.0x16>>>5090's ability

 

[CountMike]

When it's clear that virtually no one uses two GPUs, and certainly not two GPUs that need PCIe 5.0?

So why would anyone use that second 5.0 slot with the effect of cutting the GPU's bandwidth by half? Take the Godlike MB, for example.

It makes more sense to me to have one 5.0 slot, with the second and third (or even fourth) at 4.0 or even 3.0. Gigabyte does this the way it makes sense to me.

Indeed, If I have a fancy 5090 GPU, I sure do not want its potential bandwidth path cut in half by a puny little 4.0 card.

Or am I missing some use case that everyone knows about but me?

Wouldn't be the first time...

There are other uses for PCIe v5.0, like for instance NVMe SSDs. Since CPUs and chipsets already have lanes to support V5.0 why not make them available? It doesn't cost them any.

 

[steveb1976]

dont forget some people use capture cards, streaming cards, additional nvme add-in cards. and and some people might have a 2nd card running that has a function or feature that their gaming card does not have,,

also maybe nvidia will revive "sli" again..

 

[Misgar]

You might well ask why this motherboard has three PCie v5.0 slots and two PCIe v4.0.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/asrock-trx...-atx-workstation-motherboard-socket-str5.html

P.S. I love the four cooling fans on the VRMs?

 

[thegreatdelcamo]

So how much bandwidth does a 5090 card use? I know that a 4090 doesn't saturate PCIe 4.0 x 16, so halving a 5.0 slot doesn't harm the 4090. But what about the PCIe 5.0 5090?

 

[Eximo]

We'll know more about bandwidth requirements once reviews for the card are in.

Boards like the Godlike still support SLI for that rare dual 3090 Ti user. It will be interesting to see if the 5090 can finally de-throne that configuration.

 

[logainofhades]

You might well ask why this motherboard has three PCie v5.0 slots and two PCIe v4.0.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/asrock-trx...-atx-workstation-motherboard-socket-str5.html

P.S. I love the four cooling fans on the VRMs?

That platform has a lot more lanes at its disposal than a normal consumer board.

 

[thegreatdelcamo]

That platform has a lot more lanes at its disposal than a normal consumer board.

And a good friend actually suggested that I might think Threadripper, given all I'm trying to do... But, that seems to be such a big step up... And so I've tried to find a consumer board that will do what I want.