Quote Originally Posted by raab View Post
Just wondering if someone can clarify the PCIe lanes on the ASUS P5Q Deluxe, sorry if its already been answered before but not sure what to search for:

2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots, support ATI CrossFireX™ technology at x8 link
(PCIe x16_1 blue, PCIe x16_2 black*)
1 x PCI Express x16 slot at max. x4 link(black)
2 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots
*PCI Express x16_2 slot (black at max. x8 link)

I'm running a single graphics card, 8800gt, running at x16. I want to get a PCIE raid card (Areca 1210) which is a PCIE x8 card so I'm confused as to whether it'll have any affect on the graphics card. If I plug it into the first black PCIE slot will the card run at x8 and will the graphics card slow down to x8 or still run at x16?

1 x PCI Express x16 slot at max. x4 link(black) - is this the second black PCIE slot? And if I plugged the raid card into that would it run at x4?

Cheers!

This is Not Fact by any stretch of the imagination, but this is my understanding. Top x16 slot will run at x16 with 1 VGA card and will still run x16 if the 2nd x16 slot has a card running at x1, otherwise if both slots are occupied then each slot will run at x8.

As to your Raid card running in the x4 slot, which is the lowest x16 length slot, that all depends on how your card runs. I run my U320 Scsi Raid card in the lowest x16 slot at x4 and it runs just fine. My thoughts are to either wait until someone with your card and or config replies, or search around here and or 2cpu forums to see if anyone has asked this before. Best I can do.

Larry