pcie 8x in 16x

[dowxp]

I'm looking to get an 8x raid card installed in a 16x slot. would it be compatible since the slot may or may not be graphics intended?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813182065

 

[ch33zw1z]

It is compatible. You can use PCI-E cards with less lanes in slots with more lanes, which is what you're trying to do. However, you cannot use a cards with more lanes in slots with less lanes, ie: a 16x in 4x slot.

 

[SuperNaruto]

slot is a slot, doesn't matter what you put in

u can put a x8 into a larger slot but not the other way around.. x8 wont fit in a x4 or x1..

i mean you CAN put a pci video card into the pci slot and use the x16 for raid.. kinda a waste but itll still work..

the slot is design for anything that fits.. just that graphic manufacture makes x16 video card

 

[dowxp]

not really a waste because it is going into a datacenter

 

[ionoxx]

w00t! to headless servers!!! I habe a HighPoint RocketRaid 2310 (PCIe x4) is a PCIe x16 slot in one of my servers. The motherboard is a Tyan K8E S2865G2NR in a 1U rackmount.

Have no worries!

 

[SuperNaruto]

i meant kinda a waste that they dont cater to our needs and make x16 cards ..

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: ch33zw1z
However, you cannot use a cards with more lanes in slots with less lanes, ie: a 16x in 4x slot.

Actually, I believe that you can. When the Dell SC420 came out, with its strange PCI-E 8X video slot in a PCI-E 16X connector, some folks successfully installed PCI-E 16X video cards in that 8X slot.

Dell was trying to prevent folks from using 16X video cards in the SC420. But Dell didn't want to create a whole new motherboard design. So they used a PCI-E connector that LOOKED like a 16X connector, but had extra separators built into the connector to prevent the insertion of a 16X video card. Folks got around this but burning away the separators. Those special PCI-E 16X connectors did NOT have all the pins connected. The pins were only connected for an 8X slot and were missing the 16X pins.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I understand that you may be able to use a 16X card in an 8X slot. But the card has to be designed to allow it.

A short discussion of the SC420 16X card in 8X slot.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: ch33zw1z
However, you cannot use a cards with more lanes in slots with less lanes, ie: a 16x in 4x slot.

Actually, I believe that you can. When the Dell SC420 came out, with its strange PCI-E 8X video slot in a PCI-E 16X connector, some folks successfully installed PCI-E 16X video cards in that 8X slot.

Dell was trying to prevent folks from using 16X video cards in the SC420. But Dell didn't want to create a whole new motherboard design. So they used a PCI-E connector that LOOKED like a 16X connector, but had extra separators built into the connector to prevent the insertion of a 16X video card. Folks got around this but burning away the separators. Those special PCI-E 16X connectors did NOT have all the pins connected. The pins were only connected for an 8X slot and were missing the 16X pins.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I understand that you may be able to use a 16X card in an 8X slot. But the card has to be designed to allow it.

A short discussion of the SC420 16X card in 8X slot.

Yes. Technically speaking, all PCI-E devices are supposed to be both upwards and downwards compatible in speed -- a "16x" device should be able to run at 8x speed if you have a slot that fits a 16x card but only has some of the pins connected (some motherboards/NB chips allow you to change the configuration so that some slots have more or fewer PCI-E "lanes"). And you should always be able to run a 1x/4x/8x card in a 16x slot.

I do think that 8x/16x slots provide more power (or at least are required to provide more power) than 1x/4x ones, however. So a device expecting to get 75W out of a 16x PCIe slot may not work right if you wrangle it into a 4x slot.

 

[RaiderJ]

Originally posted by: SuperNaruto
slot is a slot, doesn't matter what you put in

u can put a x8 into a larger slot but not the other way around.. x8 wont fit in a x4 or x1..

i mean you CAN put a pci video card into the pci slot and use the x16 for raid.. kinda a waste but itll still work..

the slot is design for anything that fits.. just that graphic manufacture makes x16 video card