Problems with using second 16x pci ex slot?

[Pinion]

I have one gtx 280 video card and I was thinking of moving it down to the second 16x slot on my ex58-ud5 gigabyte motherboard because I'm having heat issues overclocking my i7 920. However in the manual it says to use the first slot with single cards for best performance. Will I really lose any performance using the second slot?

[Nickel020]

Re: Problems with using second 16x pci ex slot?

Try it! On the X58 chipset they're both full 16x speed ports (on the P45 the second one is always only 8x for exmaple). You need to re-install drivers though, so uninstall them before switching the video card.
Run something like 3DMark06 (vantage will only elt you run one time I think) before and after switching, if there is no big difference in the score there's no problem :)

[Pinion]

Re: Problems with using second 16x pci ex slot?

Very little difference. In the second test I remembered to disable my anti virus program. Vista 64 didn't make me reinstall the drivers for whatever reason, I just had to reboot.

slot 1



slot 2

[Nickel020]

Re: Problems with using second 16x pci ex slot?

Great! A little flucutation is perfectly normal, try running it several times (reboot before each run) and you'll there's a little difference even if you don't change anything.