Best thing to put in a PCI-Ex1 Slot?
Saw some great 7.1 Channel sound cards and some RAID controllers, what would be the best PCI-Ex1 device? Not interested in WiFi cards, I use ethernet. Don't need more USB ports either. This is for a roughly $1500 machine, so I love bells and whistles too. Are there any decorative PCIEx1 devices like LED controllers etc also? Have 7Tb roughly total PC storage and numerous extra SATA drives not in use, so kind of leaning towards RAID controller. Already have 2 3.5" HDD's in a M-ATX case. This is a really tight build. MoBo is MSI H81-P33. I've used up every single port/interface/header available on my motherbaord except for that x1 slot and it's bugging me. I have 2 Blu-Ray RW drives, 2 SATA HDD's, a media card reader and a bunch of other junk on all my JUSB headers, all my fan headers are in use, and also have two extra fans plugged into molex adapters. Have a Strix 390x in the only x16 slot. Every single USB port is in use but that's not an issue, have the perfect amount. I just want to max out this motherboard just because I can. Getting closer to my 2011-v3 based build and I want to have lots of neat toys to put on it when I get the new MoBo, CPU, RAM, and SSD's. Anybody have a x1 device they can't live without?
Last edited by Master0fBlunt; Sep 24, 2016 @ 9:58pm
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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments
MancSoulja Sep 24, 2016 @ 9:58pm 
7TB really wont last as long as you think. I bough 2 4TB HDD's 2 years ago, thinking 8TB will last me forever. Now they're both full.. :tgrin:

If you ever consider making YT videos your could get a PCI-E capture card, or something like a TV Tuner. You could even buy a PCI-E SSD which is permanent storage than can be accessed nearly as fast as your RAM.
Last edited by MancSoulja; Sep 24, 2016 @ 9:59pm
Master0fBlunt Sep 24, 2016 @ 10:07pm 
Originally posted by MancSoulja:
7TB really wont last as long as you think. I bough 2 4TB HDD's 2 years ago, thinking 8TB will last me forever. Now they're both full.. :tgrin:

If you ever consider making YT videos your could get a PCI-E capture card, or something like a TV Tuner. You could even buy a PCI-E SSD which is permanent storage than can be accessed nearly as fast as your RAM itself.

Yeah I think I have like only 700Gb left of storage lol, To some people thats their entire C: drive XD I run a local media service (audio/Video/photo), and a WAN security camera, and data/file server, etc off this rig. Everything is HDMI, and I havent seen a x1 HDMI capture card yet that can record the latest HDMI revision in full resolution without encoding, skipping, or encryption issues. As far as a SSD, would rather use up my 2 6gb/s slots on the mobo w/ SSDs than my x1 slot based on sheer volume. Not sure what the latest and greatest x1 SSD size is, but I would rather have a 2.5". Would hate to waste a slot just for an operating system to run off of, fast or not. Sound card would be fun, especially when matched with a 7 channel pair of headphones XD wonder if there's a x1 card with fibre-optic audio.
Last edited by Master0fBlunt; Sep 24, 2016 @ 10:09pm
_I_ Sep 24, 2016 @ 10:52pm 
nothing

esp if the mobo shaes pci-e lanes across slots
Master0fBlunt Sep 24, 2016 @ 11:08pm 
Originally posted by _I_:
nothing

esp if the mobo shaes pci-e lanes across slots


I doubt my 390x is in x16 mode anyway, it shares the x16 lanes with the USB and other stuff on the Mobo anyway right? H series doesn't have a chip for extra lanes to the CPU on this board if I'm not mistaken. That's a Z feature or something. It is 2am here after all. Even if my 390x was in x16 mode, it's not a beast enogh card to see serious drops at my resolution and settings. However above all, I'm building a Z 2011-v3 setup anyway, and transferring the innards of this into that.
Last edited by Master0fBlunt; Sep 24, 2016 @ 11:10pm
_I_ Sep 24, 2016 @ 11:24pm 
on most boards the pci-e x16 has its own lanes or shared with another x16 or x8 slot

on some boards the x1 slots are shared with x4 or x8 slots

usb, sata, lan ect.. are on controllers with their own dedicated lanes

but some m.2 are shared with pci-e slots

h81 chipset can have 1x pci-e x16 2.0 slot
and upto 6x pci-e x1 slots
the pci-e x1 on that board has its own lane

id still keep it empty unless you need it, adding a card can block airflow under the gpu
Last edited by _I_; Sep 24, 2016 @ 11:30pm
Master0fBlunt Sep 24, 2016 @ 11:54pm 
Originally posted by _I_:
on most boards the pci-e x16 has its own lanes or shared with another x16 or x8 slot

on some boards the x1 slots are shared with x4 or x8 slots

usb, sata, lan ect.. are on controllers with their own dedicated lanes

but some m.2 are shared with pci-e slots

h81 chipset can have 1x pci-e x16 2.0 slot
and upto 6x pci-e x1 slots
the pci-e x1 on that board has its own lane

id still keep it empty unless you need it, adding a card can block airflow under the gpu

Yeh I''ve got almost every square inch of this matx tower maxed out. have 2 exhaust fans if you count the PSU, which is 1000W so it's not sweating, and 3 intakes. CPU runs at like 30C, GPU @ 65C mostly. But you're right, the Strix 390x is one of the biggest PCB/Heatsink combos available. Stretches from the rear I/O side to within an inch of the front intake fan, and hovers like 1 & half inch from base of case. I have 2 intakes sweeping the air into/through the gap with a strong 120mm PWM and PSU exhaust vacuum. In retrospect should have gone for a blower card, but man Asus Strix cards are nasty :P. I'm thinking about cutting the sheet metal out of the base of the case and making a 100% exhaust setup forcing all cold air to come in across the face of my card through the new hole in the base of the case.
Last edited by Master0fBlunt; Sep 24, 2016 @ 11:57pm
Bad 💀 Motha Sep 25, 2016 @ 7:04am 
If you dont need anything, then there is nothing to add.

If you have $ to burn, buy a better system.

As all of that stuff is really kind just "blah" now anyways.
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Date Posted: Sep 24, 2016 @ 9:46pm
Posts: 7