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" rel="nofollow - I have an EVGA 1080ti FTW3 in PCIE 2 (#1 x16 slot). I also have a SoundBlaster ZxR (PCIe x1 + daughter board with decent length of cable) to fit in there someplace, but am realizing now that I don't think my options are ideal. PCIE 1 would not do the gpu/cpu any favors with cooling. PCIE 3 is blocking two of the three gpu fans. PCIE 4 definitely would reduce lanes for the gpu. PCIE 5 I think would also reduce lanes.
I can't find an exact map of lanes, but I think all three of the x16 slots use the CPU lanes. I was hoping the third would use the chipset lanes, but the manual only references that slot as being part of an 8/4/4 configuration with three graphics cards. It makes no mention that I can find about that slot if used without anything in PCIE 4 (the #2 x16 slot). Am I correct thinking this would reduce the gpu lanes to 8 (hence 8/0/4)?
I also have two NVME SSDs, and now realize they will be potentially bottlenecked if in use simultaneously since they need to fit through the 4 lanes between chipset and CPU.
So if I'm correct about this:
1) does it even matter in real usage terms?
2) which would be the best slot for the sound card (I'm thinking it has to be PCIE 5 with the daughter board above it)?
when researching this board, it had the features I wanted. I guess I didn't think the top ASRock board would actually end up limiting me in these ways. Or is it?
EDIT: I found in a video review that the bottom PCIe slot is actually an x4 on the chipset, which makes it an ideal slot for the sound card. I couldn't find that info in the manual - just for my own education, can anyone point me to where this is clarified in the manual? Perhaps I read it but didn't recognize this specifically...
EDIT: this video apparently has that wrong. All three appear to be on the CPU (not 2 CPU and one PCH - see below).
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