Question about x470 PCIe setup
Question about x470 PCIe setup
You're planning to adapt an x470 board for home server use. This setup avoids heavy GPU requirements. Connecting the GPU to one of the bottom slots should allow the system to start up. Using a 10G NIC in the top PCIe slot is a good choice for performance. Switching to a 2x8 SLI configuration lets you utilize both PCIe lanes if needed. Others have confirmed this works, though some top slots are limited to GPUs.
You don't have to configure SLI settings; slots will switch to two 8-channel slots automatically when you add another card. You can place a video card in the first slot and a 10G card in the second, both receiving PCIe X8 from the CPU unless the BIOS insists they must be separate video cards. The bottom PCIe X16 slot supports PCIe 2.0 x4, offering up to 2 GB/s (500 MB/s per lane). After accounting for overhead, actual transfer is around 1.9 GB/s between the slot and chipset. Note that a dual 10G Ethernet card works well here since it rarely runs both ports at full speed together. If one port is busy, it can still handle full 10 Gbps. Using both ports on a single 10G card typically delivers 700-800 MB/s per port.
I understand your idea about adjusting the SLI setting in BIOS, but it would add unnecessary complexity without clear benefits. It seems unlikely you'd need dual high-bandwidth cards, so keeping the GPU in slot 1 makes sense. Regarding the chipset connection, a 4-lane PCIe 2.0 slot could work, though a server setup wouldn't really require a GPU at all. You might just use a USB-based GPU if possible, but you'd likely face POST issues.