I’m thinking of getting a 10 GbE NIC for my computer, but I only have a spare x4 PCIe 3.0 slot. The NICs with x4 connectors are all around $90-100.
I can get an older Intel one for under $40 but they all come with x8 PCIe 2.0 connectors. I can physically plug them into my x4 PCIe 3.0 slot because it has an “open back”, so they will fit and I know they will still work.
But the question is - will I get full speed. x4 PCIe 2.0 should be able to do around 2 GB/s, so even after overheard it should be able to deliver the ~1.2 GB/s that is 10 gigabit. But is it wired in a way that it can do that is the question.
What do you think, should I try it?
It may be worth trying, but it’s possible/likely you won’t get full speed out of it. Your card will only support PCIe 2, so, your system will have to downgrade those channels to be compatible.
It’ll only run as if it was in a 4x PCIe 2.0 slot, so 2000MB/s.
Ok so it’ll be fine then?
The PCIe spec says you should be anyhow
It COULD work but the final results would depend on your MoBo and the drivers playing nicely.