Abit AB9 Pro PCIe x16 Slot usage

[maniax]

Hi Folks

I'm trying to find out if the x16 PCIe slot on the AB9 Pro is hard wired in any way so that it will only accept graphics cards

I've got a x4 (non graphics) PCIe card and the only slot it will physically fit in to on the AB9 Pro is the x16 (I've read a number of articles that say a x4 card will work in a x16 slot, see here for example)

Despite what the above link says I'm concerned that there's some fancy jiggery pokery been done to the x16 slot so that it will only work with graphics cards because the AB9 Pro manual says "Install PCI Express x16 graphics card into slot 'PCIEXP1'"

Obviously the wording in the manual could just be because ABit are only expecting people to use the board with high spec graphics cards rather than because of any technical limitation in the usage of the slot.

The project I'm working on doesn't require decent graphics so I'm happy to make use of a low end PCI display adaptor leaving the x16 slot free for other uses

Has anyone got any experience of using non graphics PCIe cards in the only x16 on a modern motherboard?

regards

-maniax-

 

[Peter]

Depends on where that slot is coming from, really. I've seen "graphics only" restrictions on desktop chipsets, but with more workstation or server oriented chipsets, this is not the case. These typically have lots of PCIE ports, all created equal.