Abit IP35 Pro question

SKaRT

SKaRT

SKaRT

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Joined
2 Aug 2003
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366
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Albany, New York
Quick question regarding my motherboard. I'm currently using an Asus 4870x2 on this board along with an Asus Xonar D2X in the normal layout - GPU in PCI-E slot 1, sound card in PCI-E slot 2. In the manual it states if you put a single GPU into slot 2 it will drag it down to a 4x slot, but can I run with my GPU in the second slot and sound card in the first without performance loss? The reason I want to do it is the sound card is so close to the face of the GPU that it's running far hotter than it needs to because it can't get enough cool air in.

If I can't do it on this board are there any that can? Any other solutions that would help are also appreciated, basically getting an increase in idle temps of around 10°C on the GPU due to this.
 
A P35 board will run the top slot at 16x and the lower one at 4x due to limitations of the chipset. A P45 board will run both slots at 8x but it is PCI-e 2.0 which is the same bandwidth as your current boards 16x slot. For a pair of full speed PCI-e slots you will need a X38/48 board. However, you could just look out for a board with a better layout so that you can stick the soundcard in a PCI-e 1x or 4x slot. Something like the layout of the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L should be ok.

Basically, if you stick your X2 in the lower slot on your current board you will cripple it.
 
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pastymuncher said:
A P35 board will run the top slot at 16x and the lower one at 4x due to limitations of the chipset. A P45 board will run both slots at 8x but it is PCI-e 2.0 which is the same bandwidth as your current boards 16x slot. For a pair of full speed PCI-e slots you will need a X38/48 board. However, you could just look out for a board with a better layout so that you can stick the soundcard in a PCI-e 1x or 4x slot. Something like the layout of the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L should be ok.

Basically, if you stick your X2 in the lower slot on your current board you will cripple it.
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Rather annoying. I think a second hand x38/x48 is probably my best bet. Any recommendations as to what x38/x48 boards to look for or avoid? Will be using it to overclock my CPU again so something good along those lines preferably.
 
Why dont you just put the sound card into the 2nd PCIE (4x) slot? theres quite a lot of space between the 2 slots? - or is that what your doing at the moment?
 
Theguy said:
Why dont you just put the sound card into the 2nd PCIE (4x) slot? theres quite a lot of space between the 2 slots? - or is that what your doing at the moment?
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That's what I'm doing at the moment but the GPU is so big it almost covers 3 slots which means it has about 2cm clearance off the back of the sound card.
 
Diggsy said:
Is there any reason why you haven't installed the sound card in the slot above the 1st full length PCI-E slot?
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The sound card is PCI-E and the board only has two PCI-E slots so I don't have any choice in where I put it if I want it to actually work.
 
Rather than spending a big wedge on a X38/48 board how about the P43 board i linked to in my first post? Providing you don't need crossfire that will do very nicely. Should be a half decent clocker too.


Scratch that. I just saw the Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 Intel X48 for only £99.99. That's a fantastic price for that board. Very good spacing between the PCI-e slots too.
 
pastymuncher said:
Rather than spending a big wedge on a X38/48 board how about the P43 board i linked to in my first post? Providing you don't need crossfire that will do very nicely. Should be a half decent clocker too.


Scratch that. I just saw the Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 Intel X48 for only £99.99. That's a fantastic price for that board. Very good spacing between the PCI-e slots too.
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Yeah it is a bargain for that board. I've spotted a second hand DFI X48-T2RSB PLUS on the cheap somewhere else so will see if I can get that for a good price first. Failing that I'll just order the Gigabyte board.
 
Diggsy said:
I take it it's full length PCI-E then? As there is a PCI-E x1 slot above the 1st full length slot.
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Can't believe I hadn't noticed that before. The card is only a 1x size so should in theory fit. Will give it a go when I get home. I'm all for saving £100, not got any reason to change board besides that! Thanks!
 
No worries.

If it is a 1x card then it will fit so long as it isn't too wide. I have a soundcard in that very slot in my system now. There's not a lot of room between it and the graphics card, but it fits okay.
 
Diggsy said:
No worries.

If it is a 1x card then it will fit so long as it isn't too wide. I have a soundcard in that very slot in my system now. There's not a lot of room between it and the graphics card, but it fits okay.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's my only worry really, the graphics card is an absolute beast and the sound card has a full shield over it as well so I'm hoping it'll squeeze in the gap. If I can get the air flow back to the front I'll be pleased.
 
Tried it and it won't fit :( not even because of the size of the graphics card, just because the sound card is too long and the ram slots get in the way. Looks like I'm still gonna have to shell out.
 
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