PCI-E Slots

Hello guys .

I was looking @ motherboards on TigerDirect and noticed that the ones that have a PCI-E slot have this little slot under it as well.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=I69-2146

I did some searching and apparently the big ones are PCI-E x16 and the small ones are x1.

My question: What is the smaller one used for?

Secondly I also noticed (on that same aforementioned page):
"...fully supports PCI Express, the latest I/O interconnect technology that speeds up the PCI bus."

What is "I/O interconnect technology"?confused

Is it anything like SLI or Crossfire or something?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the "noobish" questions .

Thanks,
True_Snake

 

I dont know but its basically saying that PCI-E is faster than normal PCI

As far as PCI-E 1x goes, there are actually some video cards for it. im not sure what else though, its not very commonly used

 

I/O interconnect is tech lingo for "way to plug a device in" I/O is input output, nothing special.

the PCI-E 1X is the same speed as the old PCI standard (just shows how far we've come). Currently I know of network adapters, tv cards, and some sounds cards that use the 1x connector.

PCI-Express is not simply a slot, its a revision of the PCI bus, which is the backbone of the motherboard. PCI Express allows for far greater bandwidth than PCI, which is required for the incresing bandwidth that modern CPU's, GPU's and RAM use.

 

PCI and PCI-E x1 are not the same speed.

ISA 16 MBps
EISA 32 MBps
PCI 132-264 MBps
PCI-X 66 264 MBps (old server boards)
PCI-X 133 512 MBps (old server boards)
AGP x1 264 MB/s
AGP x2 528 MB/s
AGP x4 1056 MB/s
AGP x8 2112 MB/s
PCI-E x1 500 MB/s
PCI-E x2 1000 MB/s
PCI-E x4 2000 MB/s
PCI-E x8 4000 MB/s
PCI-E x12 6000 MB/s
PCI-E x16 8000 MB/s

 

Ah, gotcha' guys .

Thank you very very much!

True_Snake