Asus M4A79 Deluxe mother board question

[Kevlon]

I have the Asus M4A79 Deluxe mother board.

 

I recently bought a second HD 6870 Radeon gfx card to use as a crossfire solution on my mother board. But my problem is this : I have also ordered a Revodrive , with must be used on a PCI express slot.

 

Currently I only have one gfx card installed, the second one is ordered and its on its way with the Revo drive. I should get it it the mail in a few days.

But i realized that I might not have enough space for the revodrive, since the gfx cards are so big.

 

Here's my question. Can I install the gfx cards on the BLACK slots on the motherboard? Instad of the BLUE slots ? Is there any difference ?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131361

Edited September 13, 2011 by Kevlon

[MTFDarkEagle]

GFX card 1 goes is the 1st PCI-E (blue) slot

GFX card 2 goes in the 3rd PCI-E (blue) slot

 

You can then install the revodrive in either available PCI-E slot.

 

At least, that's what I think. Best thing to do is to consult your motherboard's user's manual.

[EtherealN]

I agree. If the cards are dual-slot, you can put them into the blue slots and the revodrive in the upper black slot, or use the gfx cards in the top blue and top black and then the revo in either of the bottom PCIe slots.

 

A check in the manual should settle it.

[MTFDarkEagle]

Wasn't the BLUE/BLACK slots some voodoostuff with PCI-E 16x splitting to 8x if not using the correct slots?

[Kevlon]

I agree. If the cards are dual-slot, you can put them into the blue slots and the revodrive in the upper black slot, or use the gfx cards in the top blue and top black and then the revo in either of the bottom PCIe slots.

 

A check in the manual should settle it.

 

The blue slot is the top one

 

I have but I dont understand, It says in the manual the the black slots are PCIe x1 while the Blue ones are x16. I dont know what that means. Will it work if I use a bliue and black slot? I tought thats why they where coloured like that so that you would have to "match it up"

 

The cards are dual-slots and if I use the Blue slots it will block the other PCI express slots, Can I mix it up like that?

[Kevlon]

Wasn't the BLUE/BLACK slots some voodoostuff with PCI-E 16x splitting to 8x if not using the correct slots?

 

this is what it says in the manual.

 

 

 

my prob is that I dont know what the 16x means.. :/ ( It also says its only 1x when using the black ones..I guess thats not too good? )

[-odin-]

As far as I understand this if you set it up like this:

 

Blue: VGA

Black: Revo

Blue: VGA

 

It will by default allocate the following bandwith:

 

Blue 16x

Black 1x

Blue 16x

 

However it also says you can manually change this in Bios, giving it following bandwith:

 

Blue 16x

Black 8x

Blue 8x

 

and according to Tom's hardware it will be sufficient with 8x bandwith for your second VGA card

[Kevlon]

As far as I understand this if you set it up like this:

 

 

 

It will by default allocate the following bandwith:

 

Blue 16x

Black 1x

Blue 16x

 

However it also says you can manually change this in Bios, giving it following bandwith:

 

Blue 16x

Black 8x

Blue 8x

 

and according to Tom's hardware it will be sufficient with 8x bandwith for your second VGA card

 

If i could do what you explained it would not be a problem. The problem is that the graphics cards are so big that they are blocking the black pci express slots, thats why i have to use this

 

Blue: Revo

Black: VGA

Blue:

Black :VGA

[EtherealN]

In case this is what you don't understand: the 16x and so on refer to two things: first the physical size of the slot, and also the amount of "lanes" the slot supports. The lanes you can think of as lanes on a highway - 16 lanes will let more cars pass than 8 or 1 lane, giving higher bandwidth. When you plug in a card, and assuming BIOS configuration is correct, the PCIe controller will "negotiate" with the expansion card (whether it is a sound card, graphics card, RAID controller, storage card or whatever) and establish something they both support. For example, there is no problem inserting a card that only has x1, x4 or x8 into an x16 slot; the controller will just negotiate the amount of lanes that are relevant for the expansion card in question.

 

It gets more complex when there's a lot of cards installed, however, since the controller itself may have less "lanes" than there are lanes on the slots; for example, if your controller has 16 lanes total, and the card has two x16 slots, and you insert two x16 cards in those slots, those cards will operate in 8x mode.

 

When it comes to actual speeds, a PCIe 2.0 lane supports up to 500MB/s per lane, so assuming the revodrive gets inserted into a slot that only operates a single lane, that's the "top speed" you'll see (probably slightly less due to protocol overhead). Note that any card that conforms to the PCIe standard can operate with any amount of lanes up to and including it's physical configuration; an x16 card can operate in 1x, 4x, 8x or 16x, depending on the controller's lane budget. (You can even run an x16 card in a physical 1x slot, assuming the end of the slot isn't closed - in which case you'd have to file it out a bit - but obviously you'd then operate on 1x speed.)

 

I believe your BIOS should allow you to use 8x speed for the slot that will house the Revodrive, which would give you a lot of margin, but even at 1x you'll still have half a gigabyte of bandwidth per second.

 

My recommendation would be to put the main graphics card in PCIe_x16_1, slave card in PCIe_x16_3, and revodrive in PCIe_16_2, and then configure it as Odin suggesten (16/8/8). If your revodrive unit is less than 500MB/s throughput, you can even leave that slot at x1 with no big penalty.

[EtherealN]

If i could do what you explained it would not be a problem. The problem is that the graphics cards are so big that they are blocking the black pci express slots, thats why i have to use this

 

Are those triple-slot cards? Because if they're double-slot, the only blocked PCIe slot should be the lower black one. A double-slot card in the top blue would block the white PCI, but not the black PCIe.

 

If they're triple-slot, inserting in the lower blue would also block all your auxiliary connectors at the bottom of the motherboard, which would be a problem.

[Kevlon]

In case this is what you don't understand: the 16x and so on refer to two things: first the physical size of the slot, and also the amount of "lanes" the slot supports. The lanes you can think of as lanes on a highway - 16 lanes will let more cars pass than 8 or 1 lane, giving higher bandwidth. When you plug in a card, and assuming BIOS configuration is correct, the PCIe controller will "negotiate" with the expansion card (whether it is a sound card, graphics card, RAID controller, storage card or whatever) and establish something they both support. For example, there is no problem inserting a card that only has x1, x4 or x8 into an x16 slot; the controller will just negotiate the amount of lanes that are relevant for the expansion card in question.

 

It gets more complex when there's a lot of cards installed, however, since the controller itself may have less "lanes" than there are lanes on the slots; for example, if your controller has 16 lanes total, and the card has two x16 slots, and you insert two x16 cards in those slots, those cards will operate in 8x mode.

 

When it comes to actual speeds, a PCIe 2.0 lane supports up to 500MB/s per lane, so assuming the revodrive gets inserted into a slot that only operates a single lane, that's the "top speed" you'll see (probably slightly less due to protocol overhead). Note that any card that conforms to the PCIe standard can operate with any amount of lanes up to and including it's physical configuration; an x16 card can operate in 1x, 4x, 8x or 16x, depending on the controller's lane budget. (You can even run an x16 card in a physical 1x slot, assuming the end of the slot isn't closed - in which case you'd have to file it out a bit - but obviously you'd then operate on 1x speed.)

 

I believe your BIOS should allow you to use 8x speed for the slot that will house the Revodrive, which would give you a lot of margin, but even at 1x you'll still have half a gigabyte of bandwidth per second.

 

My recommendation would be to put the main graphics card in PCIe_x16_1, slave card in PCIe_x16_3, and revodrive in PCIe_16_2, and then configure it as Odin suggesten (16/8/8). If your revodrive unit is less than 500MB/s throughput, you can even leave that slot at x1 with no big penalty.

 

ok thanks a bunch for the explanation, that is realy helpful! . I'll give it a try and post how it went.

[Kevlon]

Are those triple-slot cards? Because if they're double-slot, the only blocked PCIe slot should be the lower black one. A double-slot card in the top blue would block the white PCI, but not the black PCIe.

 

If they're triple-slot, inserting in the lower blue would also block all your auxiliary connectors at the bottom of the motherboard, which would be a problem.

 

No they are double, (and a half it seems )...I can see the black slots, but you cant insert anything into them , since it would be touching the GFX cards.. its that tight.. It would not even fit

Edited September 13, 2011 by Kevlon

[EtherealN]

Ah, ouch. I take it it's the card's cooling assembly that is protruding further than the standard dual-slot configuration?

 

That's a bit unfortunate, but yeah, then I see what you mean.

[Kevlon]

Ah, ouch. I take it it's the card's cooling assembly that is protruding further than the standard dual-slot configuration?

 

That's a bit unfortunate, but yeah, then I see what you mean.

 

jepp, their just a fraction too big :/

Edited September 13, 2011 by Kevlon

[MTFDarkEagle]

What specific GFX card are we talking about? Just the standard XFX model? Or some kind of different cooler?

[Kevlon]

What specific GFX card are we talking about? Just the standard XFX model? Or some kind of different cooler?

 

Powercolor

[MTFDarkEagle]

This one?

 

[EtherealN]

That's a 6970, not a 6870. ;)

[MTFDarkEagle]

For real! :D I need to go to bed ;)

 

Take 2!

 

This one?

 

[Kevlon]

thats the one