I recently bought this motherboard, based on descriptions on pcpartpicker.com and B&H’s website. Both sites claim the board has 5 PCIe x16 slots (2x version 4, and 3x version 3). But I have the board in front of me, and while it certainly has full length slots, most of the pins are missing in all but one of them. Closer examination of the MSI website has this to say:
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5x PCI-E x16 slot
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PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU)
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PCI_E2 Gen PCIe 3.0 supports up to x1 (From Chipset)
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PCI_E3 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x4 (From Chipset)
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PCI_E4 Gen PCIe 3.0 supports up to x1 (From Chipset)
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PCI_E5 Gen PCIe 3.0 supports up to x1 (From Chipset)
Have I been swindled? Am I just stupid or ignorant?
This is pretty typical. The slot closest to the CPU is the x16, which would be where you want to slot in your graphics card. Other PCIe devices generally use far less bandwidth and often would see no benefit from a full 16 lanes.
I agree with what you say, but I’m kind of salty that they’re speccing out the length of the slot instead of the bandwidth. I have a couple of x8 cards I was going to use. My old board (that I’m replacing) had slots sized to the actual length of the card (x16 are longest, x8 about half that, etc.)
I’ve already got the board installed, with the CPU and cooler in place. Now I either pull it and return it, or live with it.
You’re both right. It’s common, and it’s bullshit.
The alternative is open ended slots, which no one likes. You should be able to use your x8 cards, they’ll just be limited to whatever spec the slot can handle.
This isn’t new, BTW. It used to be very common to see a full x16, and an x16 (electrically x8). They way you could still connect a second video card, even if you couldn’t use it to its full potential