Upgrading but need a PCI slot.

Grubius Doom · 17 Aug 2019 at 22:32

Hey Everyone

I am looking to upgrade from my current PC (Specs in signature).
My issue is I have a soundcard that is perfect for my needs and I don't want to lose it. Sadly it needs a PCI slot which seem to be rare nowadays.

I'm trying to kill a lot of birds here with 1 stone, and not a very big stone at that.

On the new machine i'd like to game a little, (some Elite Dangerous, World of Warcraft, Ark survival evolved, GTA5 etc).
Can't see myself going to 4k any time soon so just 1080.

I Record/Produce music as a hobby hence me wanting the soundcard back in the rig and Cubase and VST's can need a bit of grunt at times.

I am itching like a madman to get into VR and would like a nice smooth experience. After reading the VR forums I will prob pick up the Oculus Rift S as it sounds to be a nice starting headset.

I have always bought Intel and was looking at an i7 8700k, PCI mobo is a bit tricky, perhaps an MSI z370 Pc Pro, as such I picked up a couple parts.

NZXT H500 Case
Corsair RM750x PSU
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Black

Now all I see is Ryzen this, Ryzen that. I did a quick look and found there are boards with a PCI slot on.

Asus Prime X-370 A
MSI B350 Gaming Plus

Are these older boards going to affect performance in VR or is it nothing to worry about?
Also I know nothing about Ryzen except they look cheaper, should I be looking to change teams? lol
What is the Ryzen equivalent of the i7 8700k and would it suit my needs better?
Is the 8700k too much and should I come down a bit and save some money?

The choice ATM is crazy and my poor little brain can't take it haha, any input is welcome.

Sparx · 18 Aug 2019 at 18:19

What's your budget? Likely want a 3600 or 3700X spec of some sort.

What sound card are you using? What's so special about it, that you want to keep it?

B350 is old old chipset now, you'd need a BIOS update to run the new Ryzen 3xxx CPUs, at the very least get a B450 Max mobo.

Grubius Doom · 18 Aug 2019 at 18:45

Hey thanx for the reply

ATM i have £600 for a CPU, mobo and RAM. My plan was to get up and running in VR with the 1660ti I have and if it doesn't do well save for a new GPU.

My soundcard is an old Delta 1010lt and it suits my recording needs perfectly, 8 rca in/out, 2 XLR, S/PDIF and MIDI i/o.
Its the breakaway cables that are important (no stress on the card from plugging in/out all the time).
If I took a small hit from an older mobo I would be ok with that I think.

If anyone knows of a magical new chipset board with a PCI on it I would be very welcome haha.
As I don't have a Ryzen chip would I be able to update bios without one?

bremen1874 · 18 Aug 2019 at 18:53

You can get active adapters that allow PCI cards to plug into PCIe slots. Unfortunately, they're mostly designed for half-height cards.

AFAIK any even remotely modern board with a PCI slot will be using some sort of bridging chip like the PCI to PCIe adapters do. No guarantee that it'll play well with your sound card.

Quartz · 18 Aug 2019 at 19:00

You should be able to get away with a Startech PCI Express to PCI converter card as long as your card is low profile. Alternatively there's the Delock 41341 Riser which operates off a ribbon cable.

NB: I haven't used either myself so can't vouch for them.

Is that sound card compatible with Windows 10?

Grubius Doom · 18 Aug 2019 at 19:00

I never thought of an adaptor tbh but if they are half height then yeah that wont be any good unless I took to butchering the case lol (adjusts welding goggles)

True point there may be an issue with the card working in said slot, I have a working Windows 10 driver for it so was keeping fingers crossed.

The Delock 41341 Riser looks curious, if you could mount it somewhere, not the prettiest of things but if it worked...

Quartz · 18 Aug 2019 at 19:03

Some cases have additional vertical slots meant for mounting a GPU, but you could use them for your sound card off a ribbon cable.

Grubius Doom · 18 Aug 2019 at 19:35

Right, the h500 I have has the vertical option.

So it's either a newer mobo and an adaptor of some kind or an older mobo with a factory fitted slot.

Guess that takes me back to the original question, how much of a hit would I take from using an older mobo?
If the difference is negligible I can probably cope but if its a night and day thing that bears extra thought.

Armageus · 18 Aug 2019 at 21:56

bremen1874 said:
AFAIK any even remotely modern board with a PCI slot will be using some sort of bridging chip like the PCI to PCIe adapters do. No guarantee that it'll play well with your sound card.

Underated post - any additional bridge chip will likely add latency to the sound card as well. Honestly going forward it's probably worth upgrading the sound card, just to give you options in the future - by struggling to find a board now, you are just pushing the problem down the line.

Journey · 18 Aug 2019 at 22:43

I built a system like this not long ago for some in a similar situation, they had some expensive 8-channel professional sound card that was PCI based and didn't want to spend more than the entire PC would cost replacing it.

I ended up using a Biostar X470 board the model was X470GTA and it worked fine once he got the OS sorted out due to moving to Windows 10 at the same time. In fact I am pretty sure he wants to swap the 2600X to a 3700X CPU later in the year, which this board will support.