Questions tagged [pci-express]

PCI-Express is a high-speed expansion bus which is developed to replace older buses such as PCI and AGP. The most common use of PCI-Express is the GPU installation on motherboards.

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Can I find out if PCI-e slot is 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 in linux terminal?

I'm going to purchase a GPU which is for PCI-e 3.0. But since I don't know what PCI-e slot it is in my computer I need to find it out somehow. Is it possible to find it from the terminal in linux?
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What is a PCI-Express Lane?

I am reading an article bemoaning i7-5820K Will Only Have 28 PCI-Express Lanes compared to its sibling processors having 40 lanes. Isn't 28 lanes already too many? How many lanes would a normal home ...
Blessed Geek's user avatar
31 votes
1 answer
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Motherboard says PCIe 3.0, but chipset only supports PCIe 2.0. Who's right?

As part of integration testing for our product, we received a client machine with a Supermicro X10DRi motherboard in it, with 2 Xeon E5-2620 v4 CPUs and a Quadro P5000. That motherboard is using the ...
William Handrigan's user avatar
28 votes
7 answers
65k views

How do PCIe to SATA expansion cards work, and does my PC support them?

I've recently been looking into getting a PCIe to SATA expansion card, which I think is otherwise known as a port multiplier (which was the first result in Google when I searched for such an adapter). ...
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27 votes
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Is it possible to connect an external GPU via Ethernet?

I have laptop which has working Ethernet port but I always use WiFi . I am wondering if it is possible to run and use a graphics card (with external power supply) connected to the Ethernet port (with ...
Suici Doga's user avatar
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27 votes
12 answers
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Why aren't there PCIe RAM expansions?

Perhaps I may be overlooking some aspect that is an important cause as to why these don't exist, but I feel that having RAM expansions through PCIe would be perfectly feasible. I know that a lot of ...
agweber's user avatar
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26 votes
3 answers
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GPU struggles only in the primary PCIe slot. Is this a motherboard issue?

When my GPU is in the primary PCIe slot, I sometimes get loads of garbled sound when I run the audio through the HDMI. The GPU also performs far worse on benchmarks. In the primary slot I get 30 ...
SuperHanz98's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
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Why is NVMe better than ATA?

SATA M.2 SSDs use SATA on the physical layer and ATA as software protocol for data transmission. NVMe M.2 SSDs use PCIe on the physical layer and NVMe as software protocol for data transmission. I was ...
zomega's user avatar
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22 votes
2 answers
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What are these "notches" on the side of the PCI Express connector?

I was tinkering with my PC yesterday and now I'm wondering about these things. Not that it really matters to me, I'm just curious. Example below:
Petko Petkov's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
74k views

Can I be 100% certain that a PCIe x4 card will fit in a PCIe x16 slot? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Does a x4 PCIe mechanical work in a x16 slot in x4 mode? I know I can place a smaller card in a larger slot. But can I be 100% certain that it works? (if we ignore a broken ...
Simon Verbeke's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
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Are there SSDs compatible with PCIe x1?

My internal hard drive is ticking. It's gonna be dead soon. I've backed up all my data, thanks for your concern. What I'm doubting is, I have an old computer, that I plan on replacing in a year or so....
Shimmy Weitzhandler's user avatar
16 votes
5 answers
26k views

What is the "known hardware incompatibility" that disables PCIe Active State Power Management? How do I fix it?

I'm on Windows 7. I just ran a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report through powercfg -energy and I got this error: Platform Power Management Capabilities:PCI Express Active-State Power Management (...
Egghead99's user avatar
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15 votes
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Determine PCIe device NUMA node

Assuming fairly recent Linux OS, is there an easy way to determine to which NUMA node the PCIe slot, where a device is plugged in, belongs?
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15 votes
1 answer
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How to check if an attached SSD device is SATA or PCIe on Linux?

I have a machine with both SATA and PCIe SSDs attached. Is there a set of Linux commands (on Ubuntu or CentOS) that I can use to check if a given SSD is SATA or PCIe?
Safdar Iqbal's user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
55k views

Can I use a pci-e x16 slot for multple cards?

I have a mini itx pc with only one pci-e x16 slot. There is another old style pci slot. I don't care that much about graphics bandwidth and I'd like to add USB 3.0 support. It's a waste to be using ...
barrymac's user avatar
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How to understand lspci tree format?

I use a Dell G3 3579 to run the lspci -tvv command. Here is the output: -[0000:00]-+-00.0 Intel Corporation 8th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers +-01.0-[01]----00.0 ...
William's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
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Can I insert an M.2 SSD with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 to a PCI-Express 2.0

My motherboard is Asus Z97-PRO GAMER, and the Asus website says: Z97-PRO GAMER includes an M.2 socket with two native PCI Express 2.0 lanes for data-transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. This is the ...
SMMousaviSP's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
13k views

Where does PCI-E link-width negotiation occur?

I'm trying to diagnose an underperforming PCI-E card in my system, and I've realized that it's negotiating the wrong link-width. Specifically, from running lspci -vv, I see: LnkCap: Port #1, Speed ...
tonysdg's user avatar
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6 answers
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Can I mechanically modify PCIe connectors to accept wider cards?

From the Wikipedia page on PCI-e: Some slots use open-ended sockets to permit physically longer cards and negotiate the best available electrical connection. The number of lanes actually connected to ...
nanofarad's user avatar
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Does a x4 PCIe mechanical work in a x16 slot in x4 mode?

My question is fairly simple. Can a x4 physical (mechanical component) fit in a x16 PCIe, which is at x4 mode?
Burnzy's user avatar
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5 answers
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Is PCI / PCI-e via USB possible?

Is there a way to interface with PCI/PCI-e hardware, externally; via USB? I want to attach a PCI-e device to my laptop/notebook. FireWire, Thunderbolt, or similar would be equally suitable.
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10 votes
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Why does disabling active power management in BIOS double NVMe speed?

I bought a secondhand Dell OptiPlex 5060 Micro. It seems to be limited in speed to PCIe 2 (2 GB/s) despite clearly being PCIe 3. This is documented to happen on the 3070 OptiPlex micro here: https://...
farta4452's user avatar
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1 answer
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What is PeSATA?

For my computer I am thinking to purchase one of these, which needs two SATA connectors, but I am concerned about not having enough SATA connections on my motherboard (I already have two HDDs and an ...
bgmCoder's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
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How to tell what version of PCI Express slot your system has?

I have just bought Lenovo H50 90C1 desktop system. It has one PCI Express slot, unmarked (does not say 3.0). There is no name on the motherboard other than Lenovo, it is an internal cheap ...
Mark Galeck's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
35k views

Adding a SATA 6 Gbit/s PCI Express controller card?

If I add a SATA 6 Gbit/s PCI Express card to my motherboard, will I get similar speed to native SATA ports built into the motherboard? I ask because I have a SATA 6 Gbit/s SSD and my motherboard ...
Jeffrey Kevin Pry's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

Is it possible to power off a PCIe video card/slot? (eg. hot-plug)

I'm looking at building a system that supports VT-d so I can pass through a high powered loud video card to a Xen/KVM/whatever VM (host will be Linux based). However, when I'm not using the VM I want ...
CR.'s user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
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What would happen if you put multiple PCIe cards in one PCIe slot?

I recently discovered that you can put a PCIe x4 card in a x8 or x16 slot. With that said, what would happen if you took multiple PCIe SSDs and shoved them all into a 16x PCIe slot?
FatalSleep's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
121k views

What are PCI and PCI Express slots used for?

I'm comparing different Micro-ATX motherboards for a home server build and I was wondering what I would use PCI and PCI Express slots for? Are these used for hard-drives, GPUs, RAID controllers, RAM ...
Dean's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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NVMe PCIe x4 SSD on M.2 PCIe x2 slot?

i'm about to get a new SSD for my PC, and before spending the money i have some doubts about my decision i would like to clarify First, my mobo is a B450 Aorus Pro Wifi, it has 2 M.2 slots, one of ...
Confused Newbie's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
66k views

Does M.2 SSD Card mess with PCI express?

My graphic card is MSI gtx970, which uses PCIe 3.0x16. My M.2 SSD card is Samsung 950 pro, which uses PCIe 3.0x4. My motherboard is MSI z-170 pro I am not very familiar with the difference between 3....
shenkwen's user avatar
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8 votes
6 answers
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Can I use a mini PCI-E card in a standard motherboard with PCI/PCI Express slots?

I'm helping someone build a computer and they absolutely insist on having an internal Bluetooth adapter. I've been searching around for a PCI-E/PCI based Bluetooth adapter but I've had no luck ...
White Phoenix's user avatar
8 votes
7 answers
50k views

Can I turn a PCI-e x1 slot into an old PCI slot?

Is it possible to convert a PCI-e x1 slot into an old PCI slot? If so, how?
Faken's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
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A PCI Express 3.0 Video Card into a PCI-E 1.0 x16 slot

Perhaps I'm trying to push my mobo too hard, but I think I have read that PCI-e 3.0 is back compatible to previous PCI-e specifications. But 3.0 into a 1.0, is it possibly asking too much? I'm ...
Karolinger's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
13k views

Do PCI / PCIe buses and devices always enumerate in the same order?

I am looking into a situation where there are multiple, identical (National Instruments) PCIe DAQ modules in a PCI/PCIe chassis, connected via either a single or dual chassis controller. In the worst ...
KevinM's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
31k views

What exactly does the spec “PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (x4)” mean?

I'm looking at the Asus Maximus XII Hero. Its webpage says it supports the following: MULTI-GPU SLI®/ CFX SUPPORT​ 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 Safeslots (x16, x8/x8)​ 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (x4) I understand ...
Vahid Pazirandeh's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
6k views

Why do some serial interfaces have many pins?

Various hardware connectors that are dubbed "serial", e.g. USB and PCI-express, have many more than 2 pins/wires. In fact even the good old "serial port" has them. But since they are serial, not ...
Bart van Heukelom's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
66k views

I plugged an 8-pin EPS (CPU) cable into the GPU's PCI-E port. Is it damaged?

The r9 290x I wanted to use needs 16 pins, my PSU which I thought had 1 PCI-E 6 + 2, 1 PCI-E 6 and 1 PCI-E 8-pin setups, actually had a second 8-pin EPS cable. I don't currently have something to ...
chiloutus's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
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Will a regular PCI Express card work in a "PCI Express x16 Graphics (PEG)" slot?

I have a Shuttle SG31G2 that has an Intel G31/ICH7 chipset, one PCI slot, and one 16x PCI Express slot. I want to add a better gigabit NIC to it, and the PCI slot is already in use by a SATA card. ...
Kaypro II's user avatar
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7 votes
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How to tell if an empty PCI Express slot is 1.0, 2.0 etc? (general test, or enquiry command, not refer to spec)

Is it possible to run a test on an empty PCI Express slot to definitively determine that the slot is PCI Express 2.0 or not? My reason for asking is to see if I get the most out of USB3.0 with my ...
therobyouknow's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
5k views

Ryzen 2400: will the GPU part of the APU still be usable for compute if I have a discrete graphics card installed?

I want to use an AMD Ryzen 2400g, but I will be using OpenCL on three discrete AMD Radeon RX580s installed in it. Will the Vega compute units on the APU still be available if I install the Radeons? Or ...
Thomas Browne's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
38k views

Powershell - PCI/PCIe slot occupation

Given a Windows 10 system with Windows Powershell 5.0 ran as Administrator, I need to list all the motherboard slots and the name of the devices that occupy them, if any. Win32_SystemSlot, with Get-...
BowPark's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
26k views

Does PCIe 3.0 x8 provide enough bandwidth for a dual QSFP 40Gbit NIC?

I'm researching dual QSFP 40GBit network cards for a work project and have a few questions regarding PCIe 3.0's theoretical max bandwidth. I'm currently looking at a dual QSFP PCIe 3.0 x8 card on CDW ...
SPARCpenguin's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
26k views

Using a PCIe 4.0 GPU on a PCIe 3.0 motherboard

I'm thinking of building a new PC, and I'm wondering about this. I want to buy ASRock RX 5500 XT 8G, which has PCIe 4.0. The thing is that motherboards with PCIe 4.0 support are quite expensive, when ...
Tendero's user avatar
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2 answers
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Why can't PCIe devices share lanes?

On older chip-sets it was not possible to have a dedicated graphics card in the PEG slot and have the Integrated Graphics Device (IGD) enabled at the same time. After looking online I found this was ...
RJSmith92's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
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5 x 3GB drives and 4 x 1500GB drive best raid setup?

I am building a file server my plan is the have the Operating system on one raid partition and the data storage on another partition. I currently have 5 x 3GB IDE drives that i would like to put the ...
Zen_Silence's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
4k views

How are the CPU-chipset lanes shared on X570 motherboards?

The basic question is: If there are four PCIe lanes between the CPU and chipset on an X570 motherboard, then how can everything connected to the many chipset lanes be on equal footing with the direct ...
MrArsGravis's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
40k views

Is a PCIE X1 card for USB 3.0 worth it?

I have a portable HDD on USB 3.0, and soon I'll have a 32gb flash drive on USB 3.0 as well. My motherboard is pretty old - and the next time I'll upgrade it is when I get a new CPU/mobo/ram. Slots ...
Amir's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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PCI Express - Clarification about BAR, Memory addressing and physical memory

I'm an absolute beginner starting to understand the PCI Express protocol and I need some clarifications about its mechanics. I understood that a PCI Express endpoint device may have some memory BAR ...
Jacopo Reggiani's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
4k views

Positioning triple slot graphics cards

If there are two gtx 570 dc ii's: On a Gigabyte z68x-ud7-b3 motherboard, in slots PCIe16_1 and PCIe8_2: Will the headers for front panel connections be blocked, or will there be enough flex in the ...
theraven's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
7k views

Add DisplayPort output to PC

I have a PC with an AMD Kaveri APU running Linux. I'm just fine with the internal GPU but would like to connect to a displayport display and my motherboard does not have a connector. Is there any (...
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