What’s the point of putting PCIE x1 slot right above x16 slot in the motherboard? I just don’t get it.
What’s the point of putting PCIE x1 slot right above x16 slot in the motherboard? I just don’t get it.
13 Comments
Because the cost of implementation is low enough that omitting it isn’t worth it; lots of people add similarly priced and featured motherboards to a comparison list and then the one with the most features comes out on top.
Personally, I find it useful many years down the line, then the system gets retired to storage server duty, and you can fill it with single slot HBAs and NICs.
Looks like they can both take a GPU. Does this board support crossfire? Or perhaps they just kept the same spacing even without the support.
This also allows for a wide GPU card to block the next slot, leaving a full-sized slot available for other expansion instead of being limited to a PCIe x 1 slot.
Picking a mobo with the right slot spacing is a real consideration. I would not buy this mobo either. Heck with that kind of spacing, I don’t even think you can use the second PCI-E x16 slot due to how thick some GPUs are these days.
But not everyone is using their PCI-E slots for GPUs so I guess this could be an option for them. I dunno why they’d be spending the premium on this kind of board in that case, but it is what it is.
My frustration is less why is the x1 slot there and more why put two physical x16 slots if they aren’t both electrically x16 slots.
Here’s a use case. My atx board only has 2 nvme slots. I have my gpu verticaly mounted. I was able to use a x1 pcie adapter to add an extra nvme drive to my pc without upgrading my motherboard. Of course it runs at Gen 3×1 so it’s like under 1000MB/s but it works. The second pcie x16 is disabled if I a nvme drive in the second slot.
It might not be work for everyone but it does work for me.
MSI has some of the worst motherboard layout designs. The X670E Carbon has the x16 slot start at Slot 3, so a Lancool 216 is *too small* for its air cooling mode to be compatible in an E-ATX case. This board OP has will not be able to fit >3-slot GPUs in most mATX cases because the x16 slot starts at Slot 2.
I’m not sure what the complaint is.
Most GPUs take up two slots.
The x16 slot can take any smaller card. x1, x4, x8.
If the board was x16 x16 x1, and you had a two slot GPU, you could ONLY put an x1 in the last slot.
I find an x1 slot above an x16 slot very useful for WiFi-less mATX motherboards where a graphics card may end up taking up the space of an x1 slot below it that could house a WiFi card. Its a real niche use case, but there’s multiple more uses for x1 slots then just WiFi cards, and that makes up multiple use cases for anyone on a budget.
You can always use a riser cable off the x16 and retain the x1…
Actually why aren’t there x1 riser cables?!
You can never have to many USB ports… https://www.startech.com/en-au/cards-adapters/pexusb3s7
Because single slot GPU exist,
because the X16 slot use isn’t limited to GPU,
because with riser you can use slot without being limited by the cards size.
I see a point, some people do have a use for these x1 slots but also want a full-size GPU that would cover a x1 slot below the x16, so putting it above makes great sense for those people. It can either be a network card or a card for extra NVME or SATA SSDs, dedicated sound card, you name it, this slot can probably take it.
Obvious downside is that the GPU now sits lower and, depending on the case, may be smoothing the floor, which can impair cooling. Thats the problem I have without even having the x1 slot above my GPU, but its not a huge issue.
Same reason MSI put 2 ancient PCI slots on my B350 motherboard from 2018 – because they can.