CPU/Mobo P55 UD4P PCI Express Upgrade problems with Xonar

[Alias]

I was planning on getting an Asus Xonar DX sound card to complement my upcoming MX5021 purchase.

But the issue i found when i checked my Gigabyte P55 UD4P board is that my first PCIe x1 slot is blocked by the heatsink, the 2nd PCIe x1 slot covered by the GTX 260 and third though visible would either block or clash with the dual slot GPU cooler (touch and go).

The other option is to put the sound card in the PCIe x8 slot but i believe this would drop my single GPU PCIe slot down to x8 also.
(It mentions in the manual as putting in a graphics card but i would imagine this would be same for a sound card also.)

Please let me know my options here.

I dont plan to SLI/Crossfire but may upgrade the GPU at a later point so a x16 PCIe slot would come in handy.

Another option i was thinking was to get the Xonar D1 (the PCI brother of DX) but not sure about the availability and price of it in India. Can anybody help me out there on that?

Thanks in advance.

 

[asingh]

^^
I think if only both PCI.Ex16 slots are engaged then the motherboard would auto-arrange to x8 x8 link width. Since you have the VGA as of now, would suggest to move it to the 2nd PCI.Ex16 and check the link width using GPU-Z. When in 2D mode, the link width will probably show v1.1 x 8 link width (not sure about version). When stressed it should move to x16. Run Furmark and inspect the link width. It should stay on x16 (ver 2.0), provided one accelerator is docked to the board.

This way the VGA will be on the 2nd PCI.Ex16 and the sound card can go on the first PCI.Ex1 slot.

 

[Gannu]

Did you actually try the DX on the 1st PCI-Ex 1x slot above the Pci-Ex 16x slot? AFAIK the NB heatsink would not have interference issues with the card since the heatsink seems to have a recess going by this pic.

The other option is to put the sound card in the PCIe x8 slot but i believe this would drop my single GPU PCIe slot down to x8 also.

Nope I don't think that would happen with a sound card and gfx card.

@asingh: I don't think your suggestion would work since the primary card needs to be occupied by the first slot although I'm not very sure of this fact on the newer boards. I can confirm it on my X38 board though. i cannot move it to my second 16x slot.

 

[haraakiri]

Did you actually try the DX on the 1st PCI-Ex 1x slot above the Pci-Ex 16x slot? AFAIK the NB heatsink would not have interference issues with the card since the heatsink seems to have a recess going by this pic.

The P55 UD4P board I have seen doesn't match the one in pic. Can't install xonar dx in the first pcie x1 slot.

 

[Alias]

^^
I think if only both PCI.Ex16 slots are engaged then the motherboard would auto-arrange to x8 x8 link width. Since you have the VGA as of now, would suggest to move it to the 2nd PCI.Ex16 and check the link width using GPU-Z. When in 2D mode, the link width will probably show v1.1 x 8 link width (not sure about version). When stressed it should move to x16. Run Furmark and inspect the link width. It should stay on x16 (ver 2.0), provided one accelerator is docked to the board.

This way the VGA will be on the 2nd PCI.Ex16 and the sound card can go on the first PCI.Ex1 slot.

Its written on the board as well as manual that the 2nd PCIe slot is 8X only. As in case of single card, please use the above slot for 16x.

Did you actually try the DX on the 1st PCI-Ex 1x slot above the Pci-Ex 16x slot? AFAIK the NB heatsink would not have interference issues with the card since the heatsink seems to have a recess going by this pic.

I havent bought the DX yet coz of this. The NB heatsink u show seems to be pic of an early revision of the board.
Coz the board i have comes with a big fat heatsink as shown in the link below
P55 UD4P Product Page

Nope I don't think that would happen with a sound card and gfx card.

Hmm, thats wat i am not sure of coz it doesnt say anywhere as in it drops to 1x or 4x for the 2nd PCIe slot. I would imagine, it would drop to 8x as the 2 PCIe slots share the 16X.

 

[asingh]

I think if one GPU is used, it can be put on any of the PCI.Ex16 slots. And it should run full link width. Is this your motherboard.

This link, mentions that either slot can be used (single) to get the full x16 width. But before you get the sound card, please do verify what I suggested -- by putting the VGA in the second slot. Desecrator's logic could be correct too.

The UD4P's pair of PCIe x16 slots is far more promising. Both stem from the Lynnfield CPU, which means you get either a full 16 lanes of bandwidth to one slot or eight lanes to each of them. CrossFire support is a given, of course, and this board is also SLI-certified.

EDIT:

The Descrator, is correct. The 2nd slot is fixed at x8. My bad. Sorry.

 

[Gannu]

I havent bought the DX yet coz of this. The NB heatsink u show seems to be pic of an early revision of the board.
Coz the board i have comes with a big fat heatsink as shown in the link below
P55 UD4P Product Page

Then that design is a total flaw! One cannot put any card on that slot then.

I can vouch for the slot below though. You can safely plonk a card on the other slot. Your card would still run at 16x.

 

[Alias]

Then that design is a total flaw! One cannot put any card on that slot then.

I can vouch for the slot below though. You can safely plonk a card on the other slot. Your card would still run at 16x.

Yup, its a design flaw unless ur card is less than 3 inches long! :huh:

Btw, how can u vouch that it wont drop the top PCIe slot to 8x? Coz it says on the mobo and on forums though they havnt mentioned anything other than video cards.

 

[Gannu]

Btw, how can u vouch that it wont drop the top PCIe slot to 8x? Coz it says on the mobo and on forums though they havnt mentioned anything other than video cards.

Experience with my present setup. The X38 supports dual 16x crossfire though.

In any case, what video card do you use? Is it a dual slot one? If not, you can use the slot above the 8x one and still manage to not block the air inlet to the gfx card fan. Do give a try.

 

[asingh]

Guys, am getting confused now. If the VGA is put on the 2nd slot will it still run X16 link. One card only. I said this originally but refuted it.

 

[Gannu]

Guys, am getting confused now. If the VGA is put on the 2nd slot will it still run X16 link. One card only. I said this originally but refuted it.

Nope. The P55 chipset does not support dual 16x. But the fact is, so long as the resolution is limited to 1920 x 1080, games do not take a hit. However at 2560 x 1600, it takes a huge hit and the dual 16x ones such as the X58 board really shines.

See this chart for eg.

Sorry for the OT.

 

[gokufan]

Guys, am getting confused now. If the VGA is put on the 2nd slot will it still run X16 link. One card only. I said this originally but refuted it.

bro unless you sli or crossfire your gpu will get x16.you should have no problems

Nope. The P55 chipset does not support dual 16x. But the fact is, so long as the resolution is limited to 1920 x 1080, games do not take a hit. However at 2560 x 1600, it takes a huge hit and the dual 16x ones such as the X58 board really shines.

See this chart for eg.

Sorry for the OT.

actually at higher resolutions with aa the difference between x16x16 and x8x8x is lesser.

 

[Alias]

Experience with my present setup. The X38 supports dual 16x crossfire though.

In any case, what video card do you use? Is it a dual slot one? If not, you can use the slot above the 8x one and still manage to not block the air inlet to the gfx card fan. Do give a try.

Yes, urs is a dual 16X crossfire board. Different case here.

GPU is GTX 260 which is a dual slot. Could maybe manage to squeeze it in but surely with the Xonar size, fan will be closed.

Guys, am getting confused now. If the VGA is put on the 2nd slot will it still run X16 link. One card only. I said this originally but refuted it.

No, for the P55 or at least this board the 2nd slot will run 8x only.

Nope. The P55 chipset does not support dual 16x. But the fact is, so long as the resolution is limited to 1920 x 1080, games do not take a hit. However at 2560 x 1600, it takes a huge hit and the dual 16x ones such as the X58 board really shines.

See this chart for eg.

Sorry for the OT.

Hmm, for my GPU it may not take a hit. PCIe 8x has a transfer rate of 4 gbps so unless your card is much faster than that eg 5870, u wont have problems. That i understand, but for an upgrade point of view as in change GPU later, limiting to 8x is an issue.

bro unless you sli or crossfire your gpu will get x16.you should have no problems

P55 boards are different.