PCIE-16 in a PCIE 1X?

[killem2]

I just wanted to know if I could stick say my 8800gt into a 1x pci-e for pysx so i can use my new ati card as primary.

Will that work? Or do I have to have at least 16x slots (even if they run at 4 or 8x)

[Jo3f1sh]

Short answer: no, it won't fit, and ATI and NVidia don't mix.

A PCI-Express 1x slot is much shorter than a 16x slot, so it wouldn't fit. However, a PCI-E 1x card can be installed in a 4x or 16x slot. It will just always run at 1x.

Also, you can't mix videocard technologies. They must either be all ATI based or all Nvidia based. Also, to run multiple cards, your motherboard must have at least 2 PCI-E 16x slots and support either Crossfire for ATI, or SLI for Nvidia, or both.

Hope this helps.

[torin3]

Short answer: no, it won't fit.

A PCI-Express 1x slot is much shorter than a 16x slot, so it wouldn't fit. However, a PCI-E 1x card can be installed in a 4x,8x, or 16x slot. It will just always run at 1x.

This is correct.

Also, you can't mix videocard technologies. They must either be all ATI or all Nvidia. Also, to run 2 cards, your motherboard must support either Crossfire for ATI, or SLI for Nvidia, or both.

Hope this helps.

This is not. You can mix cards using the Nvidia as a PhysX card and the ATI as a primary card. You need to install both drivers in the system. And it can be done in a motherboard that doesn't support SLI or Crossfire (though Crossfire is usable on some board that don't explicity support it). You won't get SLI or Crossfire working on a motherboard with 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia card, but you can get both cards working.

However a quick search shows that it will depend on OS and driver version as to whether or not you can get it to work properly (Vista can't handle it, XP and Win 7 can):

http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/16223-nvidia-disables-physx-when-ati-card-is-present.html

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/09/28/mix-ati-and-nvidia-lose-physx/1

http://hothardware.com/News/Here-We-Go-Again-Modders-Reenable-ATINVIDIA-PhysX-Combination/

http://www.techspot.com/news/36436-nvidia-cuts-physx-if-amd-card-is-present.html

[killem2]

Thanks, I didn't know for sure if the size was a hindrance or not. Not a real big deal to me though.

[Jo3f1sh]

This is not. You can mix cards using the Nvidia as a PhysX card and the ATI as a primary card. You need to install both drivers in the system. And it can be done in a motherboard that doesn't support SLI or Crossfire (though Crossfire is usable on some board that don't explicity support it). You won't get SLI or Crossfire working on a motherboard with 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia card, but you can get both cards working.

However a quick search shows that it will depend on OS and driver version as to whether or not you can get it to work properly (Vista can't handle it, XP and Win 7 can):

http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/16223-nvidia-disables-physx-when-ati-card-is-present.html

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/09/28/mix-ati-and-nvidia-lose-physx/1

http://hothardware.com/News/Here-We-Go-Again-Modders-Reenable-ATINVIDIA-PhysX-Combination/

http://www.techspot.com/news/36436-nvidia-cuts-physx-if-amd-card-is-present.html

Wow. This is the first i've heard of this. I'll gladly admit I was incorrect.

However, i was referring to taking advantage of multiple GPU processing rather than just Physx.

[Bobnova]

Some 1x slots have no back wall, so you can put 4x/8x/16x cards in them.
If you can get it into the slot (some people cut the back end out of the 1x slot) it will work just fine.

[torin3]

Wow. This is the first i've heard of this. I'll gladly admit I was incorrect.

However, i was referring to taking advantage of multiple GPU processing rather than just Physx.

No problem, we're all here to learn. :thup: I'd heard about mixing cards before, but hadn't known that Nvidia was blocking that ability until I went to pull up the links for backup. (I like providing additional reading for those that are interested in it...and I never liked the 'you're wrong because I say so' types of posts.)

And yeah, I've never heard of anybody able to make cross-brand systems work with SLI or Xfire either. But I run a lot of folding on GPUs, so I've run across people who have had mixed brand systems, though again, not SLI/Xfire.

[Evilsizer]

Some 1x slots have no back wall, so you can put 4x/8x/16x cards in them.
If you can get it into the slot (some people cut the back end out of the 1x slot) it will work just fine.
^
X2

if it does have a back wall, that's why we have dremels... :salute:

[toddbailey]

I tried this on a HP ml 570 g3 server with 8x slots run at that 4x speed and none of the 16x cards I tried work.

When the machine is booted up the video cards doesn't appear to be visible.

I can't say for certain that it doesn't work for others but in my situation the 2 nvidia cards I tried don't function in the modified slot.

Maybe I should try a 1x video card instead, any one bench a zotec ion card?:salute:

[Moto7451]

In your case Todd, did you check to make sure those slots were enabled/configured? Sometimes fancier hardware is less intuitive and needs some software setup to get basic things like slots working.

[Randyman...]

FWIW some older MoBo's with x16 PEG slots aren't happy with a PCIe x1 card (like a PCIe NIC in an x16 slot, etc).

I was also unaware that you could physically modify a PCIe x1 slot and an electrical x4-x16 card would still work! Now that's news to me!

:cool: