you can have all the 16x slots you want, but you won't find a motherboard that doesn't down clock them to 8x or 4x. intels best single socket cpu has 40 pcie lanes, you could call it 40x. the motherboard manual will detail this here is my fancy all 16x slot intel board. when populated, it equals 40x Slot No. Slot Description 1 PCIe 2.0 x16_1 slot (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode) 2 PCIe 2.0 x16_2 slot (x8 mode) 3 PCIe 2.0 x16_3 slot (x4 mode) 4 PCIe 2.0 x16_4 slot (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode) 5 PCIe 2.0 x16_5 slot (x4 mode) 6 PCIe 2.0 x16_6 slot (x8 mode)
Yeah I was noticing this. On my current Asus board I have a firepro plugged into the other X16 speed slot, and it doesn't seem to slow down the graphics at all to drop to 8x, which I'm assuming the board is doing. I don't know how to check it though.
The only problem with AMD is Intel has already stolen all of their decent IP. Other than that Intel/AMD is a hardware choice. There are not really very many "speed or performance" differences between the two companies. Apples to Apples - do you want a red Porsche or a blue Porsche? A green pinto or a black one?
The Intel's may remain stable to higher temps though, I've heard people run prime95 tests at 80c on i7's without lockups.
I use a MSI Big Bang XPower motherboard. It has a similar configuration, with 6 x PCIe x16 slots. But one word of caution, from my own experience: Although they provide 6 PCIe X16 slots (to be used in various modes), I couldn't get the FIFTH graphics card working. 4 cards (EVGA 8400GS, which uses PCIe X16) work perfectly fine, driving 8 monitors. As soon as added fifth card, at whatever mode (I don't know), system unstable. Can't remember the details as it's been over 2 years ago. Blue screens, crashes, errors, things of that nature. And no 9th monitor ever. Since I needed only 2 more to make 10 monitors, I settled with dangling 2 SIIG USB-to-VGA Pro and left it at that and not spent any more time in trouble-shooting, which is very time consuming. So if one is thinking of buying a board to house 6 graphics cards, try before you buy or buy it and test it right away if all 6 cards will work.
AMD systems arenât less reliable than Intel. I agree with the poster who said itâs like comparing apples to apples. AMDâs processors tend to be cheaper and maybe a little weaker computation-wise, but some AMD processors are also pretty good. Iâd say the OP was unlucky and got a faulty motherboard.
Which Dell models did you have? My experience with Dell Precision workstations has been superior. (Had a couple of Vostros once... they were a little flaky. Currently have 5, Precisions in home network... all run "smooth as a gravy sandwich".)
They were Latitudes... They are krappy compared to these Lenovos... not outstanding difference in any one area but better in a lot of small, satisfying ways and all those little things add up to enhance the experience.. Like driving a Cadillac vs a VW bug...