Why so many PCI slots on the new boards?

[warpedwoof]

I haven't built a system in about 5 years, so I'm advancing forward to the world of duo/quad cores, ddr2/3, sata and pci-e. However, allowing for the odd legacy item like an ide controller, I don't quite understand why the latest motherboards are still offering up to 3 pci slots -- especially the high-end ones from Asus. Why devote so much valuable real estate to low-speed bandwidth in boards aimed at a high-speed audience -- and I don't just mean overclockers? Am I missing something here?

mucho thanks for any thoughts............ Paul

 

[Peter]

Welcome to Anandtech forums!

We're in transitional times ... and very much like in the ISA-to-PCI transition, there are two factors: Firstly, people don't generally like to throw "perfectly good" stuff away, particularly if it cost a substantial amount not too long ago. Secondly, there are still certain types of cards where PCIE versions are unavailable or ridiculously expensive - TV and sound for example, or the simple stuff like extra printer or serial ports, or even something current and popular like wireless networking.

 

[warpedwoof]

Ah yes, how I remember the ISA-to-PCI transition..........those fond days immersed in Windows' Device Manager for hours on end. With a little hindsight, I could have answered my own question. ............thanks for the quick welcome and reply, Peter.

 

[coolpurplefan]

I guess that's where they came out with the "introducing the 8 day work week" expression.

 

[tcsenter]

In addition, the migration of traditionally PCI-based stuff like mass storage, RAID, LAN, and integrated audio to their own dedicated internal I/O hubs has relieved a lot of the pressure on PCI's shared bandwidth. PCI is still perfectly viable for things like sound cards, modems, network adapters, USB or Firewire controllers, and TV tuners.

 

[fr]

My three slots on my DS3R are already maxed out:

1. 2nd NIC
2. HDTV tuner
3. Sound Card

 

[SerpentRoyal]

There aren't many toys today that could max out PCI. Folks are not going to dump their PCI cards for a more expensive PCI-E card without any improvement in bandwidth. Per another post, other high speed components already have their own dedicated pipelines. I don't see wide adaptation of PCI-E untill the HDD can deliver more than 133MB/sec of write speed.

 

[Idontcare]

And to look at it from the other perspective - there are not too many add-in cards that are PCIe just yet. A consumer's choices are fairly limited even when buying new add-in boards.

 

[rbV5]

Usually, I find they don't offer enough PCI slots on the PCIe boards. Many of the highend Graphics cards take 1 or 2 of those 3 PCI slots out right off the bat with their cooling solutions and force you use the slots immediately below if you have any addin boards. Sucks for heat producing TV and soundcards and Furnace graphic cards.