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Moving a card from x16 to x8

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How screwed would I be when I move my 4850 (yes I know it's old, it's getting on a bit but it's getting me by for now) from the x16 PCI-e slot to the x8 PCI-e slot on my board??

I ask because now at the moment my sound card is in the PCI slot that sits right underneath it, and all the hot air gets sandwiched in between these cars making the card fan go batty when ever I want to play the simplest of games.

A picture of what I mean is incoming.
 
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Can you not move the sound card?

You might also want to block those open slots ad they mess up the airflow inside the case.
 

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Shouldn't affect much, do it!
 
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Can you not move the sound card?

You might also want to block those open slots ad they mess up the airflow inside the case.
Na there is only one PCI slot on the mother board for the sound card to fit into

Shouldn't affect much, do it!
Ok then, at the moment i'm only playing Trine, and will soon play Sins of the Solar empire

could you not make room by moving some of that dust out the way:roll:

Yea I did not realise it was that dusty inside. I'll get some compressed air and have it later on in the week.
 
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The effect will be under 5%, if it even exists. Much more powerful cards suffer tiny <5% loss of performance on an X8 link, so don't worry.
 
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So what's the point in having different slots?!?
 
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Why do you even need a sound card if you only play trine or Sins of the Solar empire :p No srsly you can just remove the sound card :D
 

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Just some FYI...

Quote from a Bit-Tech review:
"Don't expect to run SLI or CrossFire in this motherboard though, because the second PCI-Express slot is only an x4, and it's bandwidth is just 2.5GT/s, not the faster 5.0GT/s of PCI-Express 2.0."

The second PCIeX4 slot is shared with JMicron controller and the LAN controller, also.
See block diagram in the manual on page 8.

Info from Gigabytes website:

*1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) (Note 5) (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
*1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) (Note 6)

(Note 5) For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
(Note 6) The PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x4 mode when ATI CrossFireX™ is enabled.

But, as far as, your heat problem... I, believe, from looking at the pic, it is a case of incorrect/lack of/poor airflow.
You need to seal up the gaps/slots, install an exhaust fan in the back of the case and an intake fan directed at the GPU on the side panel(if the panel allows). Looks like the CPU cooler took priority and is just blowing hot air around the case and on the back of the GPU.
Just my observation from the pic.:)
 
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+1 ^^
 
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So what's the point in having different slots?!?

What's the point in PCIe 3.0, SATA3 and so on ?

Future proofing. And there are devices out there than can eat up this bandwidth, just not most GPUs it seems.
 

95Viper

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If you want another option... you could move it (the sound card) with a riser card or cable.

"PCI 32X Riser adapter with Flex Cable"
Risers @ Global America

I in no way endorse or vouch for these stores. The links are for informational purposes only.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Just my opinion, though, I would fix the air flow in the case.;)
 
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Just some FYI...

But, as far as, your heat problem... I, believe, from looking at the pic, it is a case of incorrect/lack of/poor airflow.
You need to seal up the gaps/slots, install an exhaust fan in the back of the case and an intake fan directed at the GPU on the side panel(if the panel allows). Looks like the CPU cooler took priority and is just blowing hot air around the case and on the back of the GPU.
Just my observation from the pic.:)
Thanks for the info, the case is pretty small, and the CPU did take priority. I do like near silent setups, so I think I will look into adding a side exhaust. I am building a new setup in a few months so I am not going to poor money into a system that is only going to get replaced. I think I have a few case fans laying about somewhere anyway.

If you want another option... you could move it (the sound card) with a riser card or cable.

"PCI 32X Riser adapter with Flex Cable"
Risers @ Global America

I in no way endorse or vouch for these stores. The links are for informational purposes only.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Just my opinion, though, I would fix the air flow in the case.;)

Those flex cables may come in handy, and yea, if it does become unbearable i'll look into getting one.

And yea, the air flow is pretty shite, I really hate working with this case, but it'll do for a few more months.
 
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you really should see almost no performance loss, I had a thread awhile back where I was testing my x16/x4 MB to see how an addition 6950 in crossfire would be affected so I tested my card in both slots and benched and the results were very negligible, and that was with a flashed 6950 which I'm sure would use more bandwidth AND that was a x4 slot
 
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