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Despite searching since a few days, no one seems to have such scenario, world being filled now with high end GPU fans :-)

I have an ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F, powered with an i9-9900K.

Available MB PCIE lanes: CPU: - 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16, x8/x8)

Intel® Z390 Chipset: - 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (max. at x4 mode)* - 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots

  • The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with SATA6G_56. The PCIe x16_3 is set at x2 mode by default.

  • slot1: PCIe 3.0 x1_1

  • slot2: PCIe 3.0 x16_1
  • slot3: PCIe 3.0 x1_2
  • slot4: PCIe 3.0 x16_2
  • slot5: PCIe 3.0 x1_3
  • slot6: PCIe 3.0 x16_3

Motherboard specs are as follow for configuring the CPU Lanes (first 2 PCIEX16 slots): - The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with SATA6G_56. - The PCIe x16_3 is set at x2 mode by default.

VGA Configuration Single VGA/PCIe card: - PCIEX16_1: x16 (Recommend for single VGA) - PCIEX16_2: N/A

Dual VGA/PCIe card: - PCIEX16_1: x8 - PCIEX16_2: x8

Hyper M.2 X16 configuration: 2 Intel® SSD on CPU support - PCIEX16_1: - - PCIEX16_2: x4+x4

Hyper M.2 X16 configuration: 3 Intel® SSD on CPU support - PCIEX16_1: x8+x4+x4 - PCIEX16_2: -

I don't need a dedicated GPU as I mainly rely on CPU tasks. I always used built in CPU intel graphics and I don't plan to put any dedicated GPU on this board. I also need all the 6 SATA ports for now, so I can't afford using the PCIEX16_3 slot in 4x as it will cut off the 5th and 6th SATA ports.

I plan to buy a 10Gb PCIE 4x Lan card, the ASUS XG-C100C.

Will my motherboard allow it to work in 4x mode if plugged in one of the first 2 PCIEX16 CPU slots ? Will the intel CPU accept the LAN card or these lanes can only accept NVME and GPU cards ? Also, will the MB displayport/HDMI ports be disabled ?

The rare answers I found were that this depends on motherboard. But, except these specifications on the MB manual, there is nothing other mentioned about the use of the first 2 lanes for different devices. The CPU specs talk about graphics dedicated lanes. Also, on an intel forum, they answered that the built in intel graphics doesn't use the dedicated 16x Lanes on MB.

Hope someone can help me before I buy the 10Gb lan card

The other option is to buy NVME drive and remove current SATA 5 and 6 drives to be able to plug the LAN card on PCIEX16_3 slot in 4x mode. However, if I can avoid this expense it would be great.

Best regards

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2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately motherboard manuals are often not great.

My understanding is that on most modern systems you can plug anything into any slot, but there are a few older systems out there that would disable the integrated graphics if you plugged anything into the x16 slot.

My advice would be to get the card and plug it in, if it works (and I think it will) great, if not then you can consider contingency plans.

Also it appears you can use the "PCIe 3.0 x16_3" slot at the same time as the extra SATA ports, you are just limited to x2 operation if you do.

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I got the PCI-E x4 10Gb LAN card and it works properly at full speed when plugged in the two dedicated CPU PCI-E lanes So yes, the CPU lanes on this MB accept also a LAN card

Best regards

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