Multiple video cards (non-SLI) on P35 boards?

[nullptr]

Hi -- I'm currently researching boards for an upcoming PC purchase. The P35 boards are appealing, but I'd like to be able to add an additional video card at some point in the future for supplemental displays (not for gaming or SLI).

There are several P35 boards with two PCI-EX x16 slots, but the second slots are marked as having "x4 lanes" ... I can't find any video cards (or other devices, for that matter) which could make use of this slot. Is this something that will be useful in the future?

Thanks in advance.

 

[nullptr]

Here's an example board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128047

 

[Heidfirst]

there are physically x16 so plenty of gfx cards will fit in them (indeed their primary purpose is to run Crossfire dual gfx setups).
x4 PCI-E is about the same as AGP x8 so apart from high end gaming you're unlikely to be bottlenecked by it.

 

[JasonCoder]

With the ASUS P5B Deluxe you have the option of specifying x2 or x4 mode for the 2nd PCIe slot. This will allow you to still use the PCIe x1 slot without hogging up all the lanes for simple 2d mulit-monitor setups. x2 is plenty for 2d.

 

[aka1nas]

PCI-E devices are designed to scale down to smaller amounts of lanes as long as they physically fit in the slot.