Asus p8p67 pro - Can you use second PCI-e port without affecting the first one?

[ritditditdidoo]

Hi all, I want to buy a network card for my PC but I'm not sure I have room.

I have an Asus p8p67 pro and I have a 980 GTX graphics card which is wide so it covers one of my PCI ports. I also have a sound card which uses the other PCI port, and a USB3 slot in the back covering the last PCI-E slot.

So all I have left is the second PCI-E port which is for a second graphics card in SLI. The specifications say "2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)" so does that mean if I put a network card in that second slot, it will make my graphics card run at x8 instead of x16? Or would that only happen if it was a second graphics card?

Thanks in advance.

p.s. Here is a googled picture that shows the layout:

And here is a photoshopped diagram of what my board looks like:

 

[Dahak]

Yes, both those slots will run at 8X
For affecting your Graphics performance, it will be very slim, not enough to be noticeable

 

[ritditditdidoo]

Ahhh thank you! Very helpful.

 

[master_shake_]

did the network card on the motherboard die?

 

[ritditditdidoo]

It is working but sorta flaky It takes a long time to wake up when the PC starts and the PC is semi frozen while it is trying to start, so rebooting takes a while. It's not a huge big deal but I would have liked to fix it, and it dying completely would be a real pain.