Graphics card must be in first slot? (H170M Pro4)

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   The H170M Pro4 manual says:
2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1: x16 mode; PCIE4: x4 mode)

And:
PCIe Slot Configurations
                                          PCIE1  PCIE4
Single Graphics Card                      x16    N/A
Two Graphics Cards in CrossFireXTM Mode   x16    x4

Due to a wide CPU cooler, I wouldn't be able to use the PCIE1 slot. Does the above mean I wouldn't be able to use a single graphics card in the PCIE4 slot, i.e., I wouldn't be able to use a graphics card at all? Or if it's possible (and the manual is just misleading), would it only work in x4 mode?

Edited by Stefan Pochmann - 18 Apr 2016 at 12:11pm

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Stefan Pochmann Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11 Apr 2016 Status: Offline Points: 9	Post Options Post Reply Quote Stefan Pochmann Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Graphics card must be in first slot? (H170M Pro4) Posted: 18 Apr 2016 at 9:25am
	The H170M Pro4 manual says: 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1: x16 mode; PCIE4: x4 mode) And: PCIe Slot Configurations PCIE1 PCIE4 Single Graphics Card x16 N/A Two Graphics Cards in CrossFireXTM Mode x16 x4 Due to a wide CPU cooler, I wouldn't be able to use the PCIE1 slot. Does the above mean I wouldn't be able to use a single graphics card in the PCIE4 slot, i.e., I wouldn't be able to use a graphics card at all? Or if it's possible (and the manual is just misleading), would it only work in x4 mode? Edited by Stefan Pochmann - 18 Apr 2016 at 12:11pm

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Apr 2016 at 12:35pm
	You should be able to use your video card in the PCIE4 slot. I have used video cards in slots other than the PCIE1 slot on several ASRock boards, and they worked fine. But, the PCIE4 slot is electrically an x4 slot. So the video card will only run at x4 speeds.


Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25073	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Apr 2016 at 2:21pm
	As Parsec stated it will work fine but be restricted to PCIe 3.0 x4. Something worth noting though is that PCIe 3.0 x4 is roughly equal to PCIe 2.0 x8 which is roughly equal to PCIe 1.0/1.1 x16 when it comes to bandwidth. I would hazard a guess that only current generation upper mid range GPUs would be able to fully saturate PCIe 3.0 x4 so a GTX 970 or R9 390x may bottleneck slightly in an X4 (3.0) slot. You should not see any bottlenecking on GPUs below that however and that I can say with certainty as I have tested my GTX 960 in my H170's x4 3.0 slot and seen absolutely 0 difference in benchmarking/gaming performance. In fact I would have loved to use my GPU in the lower slot for aesthetic reasons if there wasn't a drive bay in the way in my chassis.


Stefan Pochmann Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11 Apr 2016 Status: Offline Points: 9	Post Options Post Reply Quote Stefan Pochmann Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Apr 2016 at 9:28pm
	Ok, thanks. Good to know it would at least work at all (really think the manual should be improved there). I'm still a bit worried about speed, I'm not interested in gaming but only about calculations like for machine learning, and I couldn't find any relevant measurements (and I don't know much about it yet). Also, if I get one, it might be with the upcoming Nvidia Pascal, so maybe it would make more of a difference there. Oh well, I guess I'll stick with this board for now... Edited by Stefan Pochmann - 18 Apr 2016 at 10:20pm