Gigabyte x79 Ud3 PCI express slots

[RobH1986]

Hello everyone, just a quick question I've been trying to find out myself but can't find a definitive answer. I've got a noctua nh d14 installed on a ud3 motherboard which means that the first pci express x16 slot can't be used as its almost covered. I am using one graphics card and I've installed it into the 3rd slot down which I believe to be still 16x. Does anyone know if the slot is 16x when only one card is being used? Thanks

 

[Feronix]

No, the third slot will only be 16x if the first one is being used. It will now run at 8x, which is fine as it's still PCI-E 3.0

 

[RobH1986]

That is slightly annoying knowing its only 8x I think I'll try taking the d14 off and then fitting the graphics card into the first slot and hopefully the graphics card won't get in the way of the noctua. I doubt it but I'm hoping. Thanks for the reply

 

[SnW]

That is slightly annoying knowing its only 8x

Why? you won't notice it........

 

[Feronix]

Indeed, there won't really be any difference in performace. However if you plan on running SLI / CrossifreX I do recommend you get a low profile CPU cooler like an AIO watercooling solution